Sinclair Research

Sinclair Research Ltd was a home computer company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England, originally as Sinclair Radionics in 1961 developing hi-fi related equipment. In 1966 Sinclair created but never sold the world's first pocket television. In 1972 they marketed the world's first pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive. In the 1980s Sinclair entered the personal computer market with the ZX80 at £99.95, at the time the cheapest personal computer for sale in the UK. The Sinclair C5 electric vehicle introduced in 1985 bankrupted the company, and a year later Sinclair's products were sold to Amstrad. Sinclair still exists today, continuing to market Sir Clive Sinclair's newest inventions.

History

1961 - 1980

On 25 July, 1961 Sir Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics, a company developing hi-fi products such as amplifiers, speakers and radios, calculators and scientific instruments. In 1963, Sinclair Radionics introduced their first radio with the "Sinclair Slimline" in kit form at forty-nine shillings and sixpence. A year later in 1964 Sinclair released the "Micro-6", match-box 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 poorly acclaimed due to technical difficulties, though in the far-east illegal clones of the product were being produced. Sinclair's final 1960s radio kit was the 1967 "Micromatic", it was billed as "the world's smallest radio" like Sinclair's earlier radios. The "Micromatic" was a reasonable success well 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.

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Sinclair "Stereo 25" from 1966

In 1966 Sinclair Radionics 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", which 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 It was eventually superseded by the more advanced "Project 80" kit in 1974. In September 1973 Sinclair purchased "Ablesdeal" so that he would be able to avoid the delay of incorporating a company if it became convenient for him to shift his ambitions away from Sinclair Radionics. In May 1973 Sinclair Radionics generated £1.8m turnover.

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Microvision TV1A

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 1976 it was sold as a revised version, the "Microvision TV1A/MON1A" at £99.95. Supply succeeded demand, and 12,000 units were left unsold until they were sold off cheaply. This resulted in a £480,000 loss for Sinclair. Sir Clive Sinclair was certain that the TV1B model released in 1978 would be more successful, but sales were disappointing. The technology was sold to Binatone.

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 pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive, for £79.95. The calculator only included basic math functions, and the LED display required lots of power. It is often credited as being the world's first attractively-styled calculator, that didn't require mains power to be used like prior calculators. The executive was a phenomenal success, earning Sinclair £1.8m in profit. In 1973 the "Executive Memory" was introduced at a far cheaper price of £24.95.

In August of 1975 Sinclair released the Sinclair Scientific, a scientific pocket calculator for £99.95. It used RPN, and displays only in 5 digit mantissa or 2 digit. In 1977 a revised model, the "Scientific Programmable", was released at £29.95. The Scientific Programmable Mark 2 was later released, reducing the price to £17.22. Sinclair attempted to capture the top-end calculator market with the Sinclair Sovereign, available in plated gold or silver, it was critically acclaimed for its excellent engineering and design and enjoyed short success.

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Sinclair Black Watch

In 1975 Sinclair Radionics introduced the "Black Watch" at £17.95 in kit form and £24.95 ready-built. Including a 5-digit LED display, it suffered from technical flaws related with the battery and accuracy. The company began to see significant commercial losses because of the product. In August 1975, Sinclair changed the name of Ablesdeal to "Sinclair Instrument Ltd". Exactly a year later the National Enterprise Board bought a 43% stake in Sinclair Radionics for £650,000. Finding it inconvenient to share control of his company, Sinclair encouraged Chris Curry, who had been working for Radionics since 1966, to leave and get Sinclair Instrument started.

Sinclair Instrument developed the "Wrist Calculator" to generate cash, it soon became a commercial success selling in surprising figures. In July 1977 Sinclair Instrument Ltd was renamed to "Science of Cambridge Ltd". Around about the same time, Ian Williamson showed Chris Curry a prototype computer based around a National Semiconductor SC/MP and some parts taken from an earlier Sinclair calculator. Curry was impressed and encouraged Sinclair to adopt this as a product; an agreement was reached with Williamson but no contract was ever signed, Nat Semi had offered to redesign the project so that it used only their components and they also offered to manufacture the boards.

In June 1978 Science of Cambridge launched a microcomputer kit, marketed as the MK14, based around the National SC/MP chip. By July 1978, a personal computer project was already underway. When Sinclair learnt that the NewBrain could not be sold at below the sub-£100 price that he envisaged, his thoughts turned to the ZX80 instead. In May 1979 Jim Westwood started the ZX80 project at Science of Cambridge, it was launched in February 1980 at £79.95 in kit form and £99.95 ready-built. In November Science of Cambridge was renamed to "Sinclair Computers Ltd".

1981 - 1986

A variant of the Sinclair ZX81

ZX Spectrum (1982)

In March 1981 "Sinclair Computers" was renamed to "Sinclair Research Ltd" and the Sinclair ZX81 was launched at £49.95 in kit form and £69.95 ready-built. In February 1982 Timex obtained a license to manufacture and market Sinclair's computers in the USA under the name Timex Sinclair. In April the ZX Spectrum was launched, priced at £125 for the 16K RAM version and £175 for the 48K version. In July Timex launched the TS 1000 (a version of the ZX81) in the US. In March 1982 Sinclair made an £8.55m profit on turnover of £27.17m, including £383,000 government grants for flat screen.

In January 1983 the Spectrum personal computer was introduced at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show. In September the Sinclair TV80 television was launched, using flat-screen technology unlike Sinclair's previous CRT televisions, the TV80 was a commercial failure only selling 15,000 units and not covering its development costs of £4m.

In late-1983, Timex decided to pull out of the "Timex Sinclair" venture, which had failed to break the US market as expected due to strong competition. However Timex computers continued to be produced for several years in other countries. Timex Portugal, with the TS 2048 and 2068, launched improved versions capable of displaying more colors, and a better circuit design. They also developed and launched the FDD 3000, a special Floppy disk system, that didn't ever really got much acceptance from the market.

The Sinclair QL was launched in January 1984 shortly before the Apple Macintosh. By May 13,000 orders had been taken but only a few hundred units delivered. Fully working QLs were not available until late summer; Sinclair was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority. The QL was not as successful as Sinclair's earlier computers, mostly because of its strong competition.

The "Spectrum Plus" was launched in October and appeared on WHSmith's shelves the day after release. Retailers stocked the machine in large numbers in expectation of good Christmas sales, however it did not sell in the numbers expected and, because retailers still had unsold stock, Sinclair's income from orders dipped alarmingly in January. Between 1981 and 1988 Sinclair created ten peripherals for their computers, including joysticks, a printer, hard drive, and memory expansion modules. Some of the peripherals were developed by Amstrad but still marketed under the Sinclair brand.

In January 1985, Sinclair released the "FM Wristwatch Radio", an LCD wristwatch with a radio attached. The aerial was built into the strap and the battery was hidden in the clasp, presumably in an attempt to balance out the considerable weight of the watch. The watch had several usage problems, and never went into full production, making it one of the rarest Sinclair products.

Sinclair C5

Sinclair attempted to enter the vehicle market with the Sinclair C5 electric vehicle on 10 January, 1985. The battery powered vehicle aimed to solve environmental problems and be the first truly affordable vehicle at £399. It was a commercial disaster, selling only 17,000 units and losing Sinclair £7m. The C5, combined with the failures of the QL and the TV80, caused investors to lose confidence in the company.

On 28 May, 1985, Sinclair had announced that it wanted to raise an extra £10-15m to restructure the company. Given the loss of confidence in the company, this proved hard to find. In 1986, the company sold its entire computer product range and the "Sinclair" brand name to Amstrad. This deal did not involve the company, merely its name and products.

1990s - Present

Today the company still exists, specializing in wheelchairs, radio equipment and bicycles. In 1997 Sinclair invented the world's smallest radio with the "Z1 Micro AM Radio". In 2003, the Sinclair ZA20 Wheelchair Drive Unit was introduced, designed and manufactured in conjunction with Hong Kong's Daka Designs, a partnership which also led to the SeaDoo Sea Scooter, an underwater propulsion unit. Sinclair recently announced that they will release a folding bicycle, named the A-Bike, in 2005.

Financial Data

	Profit	Turnover
1971	£85,000	£563,000
1972	£97,000	£761,000
1973		£1.8m
1974	£240,000	£4m
1975	£45,000	£6.3m
1976	-£355,000	£5.6m
1977	-£820,000
1978	-£1.98m	£6.39m
1980	£131,000	£640,000
1981	£818,000	£4.6m
1982	£8.55m	£27.17m
1983	£13.8m	£54.53m
1984	£14.28m	£77.69m
1985	-£18m	£102m
1988-1989	-£183,015	£7,825
1989-1990	£618,389	£4,754
1989-1990	-£271,734	£5,486
1991-1992	-£592,600	£1,115
1992-1993	-£169,197	£379,836
1993-1994	-£194,826	£510,943
1994-1995	-£303,630	£435,742
1995-1996	-£122,873	£255,826
	Profit	Turnover

See also

• Sir Clive Sinclair
• Sinclair BASIC
• Sinclair C5
• Sinclair Executive
• Sinclair Scientific
• Sinclair Radionics
• Sinclair QL
• Sinclair ZX80
• Sinclair ZX81
• Timex Sinclair
• Timex Sinclair 2068
• Timex Sinclair 2048
• TV80
• ZX Spectrum

Further Reading

• Tedeschi, Enrico (1986). Sinclair Archeology, Hove Books.
• Dale, Rodney (1985). The Sinclair Story, London: Duckworth. ISBN 0715619012.
• Adamson and Kennedy (1986), Sinclair and the Sunrise Technology, Penguin Books
• Practical Wireless magazine, various issues
• Practical Electronics magazine, various issues
• Everyday Electronics, various issues
• The Radio Constructor, various issues
• Sinclair User magazine, various issues
• Sinclair Programs, various issues
• Sinclair Projects, various issues
• Your Sinclair magazine

References

• Dale, Rodney (1985). The Sinclair Story. London: Duckworth. 184 pp. ISBN 0715619012.

External links

• Sinclair Research Corporate website
• Sinclair Nostalgia Products
• Sinclair Heaven website
• The Sinclair Story book extract
• Planet Sinclair
• 'Move over Segway, I'm planning the C6'