Sinclair Radionics
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|
Cambridge, England (1961) | |
Fate | Renamed Sinclair Electronics Ltd. (September 1979) |
---|---|
Key people | Sir Clive Sinclair, Founder, Nigel Searle |
Products | Sinclair Executive, Sinclair Scientific, Black Watch |
Revenue | £6.3 million GBP (1975) |
Sinclair Radionics Ltd was a company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments.
History
After raising funds to start the business by writing articles for Practical Wireless magazine, and borrowing £50,[1] Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics Ltd. on 25 July 1961. Sinclair initially worked alone in the evenings in a room in London (he was still a technical journalist during the day), selling radio kits by mail order.
Radios and Hi-Fi
Radionics initially developed hi-fi equipment; it released its first product, the Sinclair Micro-amplifier, in December 1962.[2] The assembly and distribution of this product were contracted out to Cambridge Consultants. In 1963 Sinclair Radionics introduced their first radio with the "Sinclair Slimline" in kit form at forty-nine shillings and sixpence (£2.47½).
A year later, in 1964, Sinclair released the "X-10" amplifier, one of the first commercial Class-D amplifiers.[3][4] In the same year, Sinclair released the "Micro-6", matchbox-size radio, which the company claimed was the "world's smallest radio"—it could also be worn on your wrist with the "Transrista".
In 1965 the "Micro-FM" debuted as "the world's first pocket-size FM tuner-receiver", but was unsuccessful due to technical difficulties. Despite problems, illegal clones were produced in the far east. Sinclair's final 1960s radio kit was the 1967 "Micromatic", billed as "the world's smallest radio" like Sinclair's earlier radios. The "Micromatic" was a reasonable success and was sold until 1971. In May 1971 Sinclair Radionics made £85,000 profit on £563,000 turnover; the following year profit increased to £97,000 on turnover of £761,000.
In 1966, Sinclair Radionics re-entered the hi-fi market with the "Stereo 25", a low-cost pre-amp control system. Production was halted in 1968 due to low supply of transistors which had been purchased in 1964 as rejects from other manufacturers. In 1969 it was replaced by the "Stereo Sixty". This soon became Sinclair's most successful audio product, being the second product of the "Project 60" range. The "Project 60" products sold well and were supplemented by the "Project 605" kit in 1972. It was eventually superseded by the more advanced "Project 80" kit in 1974.[5] In May 1973 Sinclair Radionics generated £1.8 million turnover. The last Sinclair Radionics hi-fi product was the System 4000, in 1974.
Another Sinclair Radionics product that was introduced in 1964 and failed was the first class D amplifier kit rated at 10 watt RMS:[
Sinclair Radionics launched the System 2000 amplifier, FM tuner and loudspeaker in 1968. followed by the System 3000 in 1972.
Calculators and test equipment
Year | Turnover | Profit | Loss | % |
---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | ? | ? | ? | ? |
1972 | 761,000 | 97,000 | − | 13% |
1973 | 1,800,000 | ? | − | ? |
1974 | 4,000,000 | 240,000 | − | 6% |
1975 | 6,300,000 | 45,000 | − | 1% |
1976 | 5,600,000 | ? | 355,000 | N/A |
1977 | ? | ? | 820,000 | N/A |
1978 | 6,390,000 | ? | 1,980,000 | N/A |
In 1972, Radionics launched its first electronic calculator, the Executive, which was considerably smaller than its competitors' by the use of hearing-aid-sized batteries. What had made this possible was it had been discovered that there was considerable latency in the display and memory and that, with the addition of a timer, power could be withheld from these battery-draining components for much of the time, thus greatly extending battery life.
During the majority of the 1970s, Sinclair focused on building the most affordable pocket calculators with the best design. In 1972 Sinclair released the world's first slim-line pocket calculator, the
In 1975, Sinclair Radionics launched the
In 1974, Radionics launched the DM1 digital multimeter.[7] Such scientific instruments were to form a quiet backbone of Radionics business for the rest of its existence. In marked contrast to the rest of the Sinclair range, the instruments gained a reputation for reliable conventionality rather than often unreliable idiosyncrasy.[8]
Black Watch
In August 1975, Sinclair introduced the
Portable televisions
In 1966, Sinclair Radionics developed the world's first portable television, the "Microvision", but never attempted to sell it because development costs would have been too high based on the complicated design the Microvision used.
In April 1976, the
Demise
In July 1977, the NEB increased its stake in Radionics to 73%. By June 1978 Sinclair Radionics was working on the NewBrain microcomputer project, which was later taken over by Newbury Laboratories.
In May 1979, the NEB announced that it intended to sell Radionics' calculator and TV interests; they were bought by the ESL Bristol group (as Radionic Products Ltd.) and Binatone respectively. In July Clive Sinclair resigned with a £10,000 golden handshake. In September the NEB renamed what was left of Radionics (i.e. the scientific instrument business) as Sinclair Electronics Ltd.; in January 1980 this was changed to Thandar Electronics Ltd. In 1989, Thandar Electronics Ltd merged with Thurlby Electronics Ltd, forming Thurlby Thandar Instruments Ltd. This company now does business under the name Aim and Thurlby Thandar Instruments (Aim-TTi).[11]
Sinclair Instrument and Science of Cambridge
When it became clear that Radionics was failing, Clive Sinclair took steps to ensure that he would be able to continue to pursue his commercial goals: in February 1975, he changed the name of Ablesdeal Ltd. (an
Finding it inconvenient to share control after the NEB became involved in Radionics, Sinclair encouraged Chris Curry, who had been working for Radionics since 1966, to leave and get Sinclair Instrument up and running.
Sinclair Instrument developed the "
Notes
- ^ "The Pace Setters". BBC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ Sinclair Radionics advertisement in December 1962 issue of Practical Wireless magazine.
- ^ "Planet Sinclair: Audio: Amplifiers: X-10".
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ISSN 0161-7370.
- ISSN 0032-4558.
- ^ Arnold, William (9 January 1975). "Sinclair keep it lean". Electronics. 48 (1). New York: McGraw Hill: 76–77. "...introduced a 3 1/2 digit multimeter based on a LSI chip and continues to make audio equipment". "Sinclair Radionics has only 250 employee and expects to make about $17 million for its fiscal year ending in March [1975]".
- ^ Owen, Chris (13 November 1985). "Multimeters". Planet Sinclair. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ISSN 0032-4558.
- ^ Owen, Chris. "The Black Watch". Planet Sinclair. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ "About Aim-TTi". Retrieved 10 June 2021.
References
- Sinclair: A Corporate History
- Nigel Tout. Clive Sinclair and the Pocket Calculator, 2003. Archived 3 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Aim and Thurlby Thandar Instruments (successor to Thandar Electronics Ltd and Thurlby Thandar Instruments Limited).