Sinclair Research Ltd

Sinclair Research Ltd was a home computer company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England. Sinclair's emphasis had always been on developing cheap, consumer-oriented electronic products that were quick to market and cheaper than their competitors.

On 25 July 1961 Clive Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics, a company developing hi-fi products such as amplifiers, speakers and radios, calculators and scientific instruments.

In September 1973 Sinclair bought an off-the-shelf company called Ablesdeal Ltd 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.

This proved to be necessary when losses caused by delays in the Black Watch project meant Radionics had to seek extra funds to be able to complete a mini-TV project that had been in development for over 10 years. In February 1975, Sinclair changed the name of Ablesdeal to Westminster Mail Order Ltd, which was then changed to Sinclair Instrument Ltd in August 1975.

In August 1976 the National Enterprise Board bought a 43 per cent 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 off the ground.

In order to generate some cash, Sinclair Instrument quickly developed the Wrist Calculator, which sold in surprising numbers. In July 1977 Sinclair Instrument Ltd was renamed to Science of Cambridge Ltd. Around about the same time, Ian Williamson showed Curry a prototype computer based around a National Semiconductor SC/MP and some parts scavenged from a Sinclair Cambridge 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.

Curry took Nat Semi up on its offer and in June 1978 Science of Cambridge launched a microcomputer kit (marketed as the MK14) based around the National SC/MP chip.

In July 1978, a computer project was got underway at Radionics. 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. In July 1978 Jim Westwood got the ZX80 project underway at Science of Cambridge.

The Sinclair ZX80 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.

In March 1981 Sinclair Computers was renamed to Sinclair Research Ltd (SRL) and the 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 products in the USA. In April SRL launched the ZX Spectrum, priced at £125 for the 16K RAM version and £175 for the 48K version. In July Timex launched the TS1000 (a version of the ZX81 ) in the US.

In January 1983 the Spectrum was launched at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show. In September the Sinclair flat-screen pocket TV launched.

The Sinclair QL was launched in January 1984. By May SRL had taken 13,000 orders but had delivered only a few hundred. Fully working QLs were not available until late summer; Sinclair was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The Spectrum Plus was launched in October and appeared on WHSmith's shelves the very next day. Retailers stocked the Plus in large numbers in expectation of good Christmas sales. The Plus did not sell in the numbers expected and, because retailers still had unsold stock, SRL's income from orders dipped alarmingly in January.

The Sinclair C5 was launched on 10 January 1985. It did not sell in anything like the numbers hope for and, on 13 August 1985, production stopped. The C5, combined with the failures of the QL and the flat screen, caused investors to lose confidence in SRL.

On 28 May 1985, SRL had announced that it wanted to raise an extra 10-15 million pounds to restructure the company. Given the loss of confidence in the company, this proved hard to find. In 1986, SRL sold its entire computer product range and 'Sinclair' brand name to Amstrad. This deal did not involve the company, merely its products. Sinclair Research Ltd continues to exist and its founder continues to work in research, recently inventing an ear-piece radio and an electric bicycle motor.

Recently, Sir Clive Sinclair announced that his company is working on a new version of the electric car called C6, that should be released in 2004.

Sinclair products were in some ways typical of British engineering of the period, sometimes huge successes, and sometimes embarrassing commercial failures. Some of Sinclair's products were also underdeveloped and occasionally unreliable - the calculator watch, for example, required so much power from its meager battery that the battery would often have expired by the time the watch was purchased. The ZX series of microcomputers, although fantastic commercial successes, were also well known for their various bugs and glitches with both software and hardware.

Sinclair's early products are now often highly sought after. A ZX80, for example, can fetch up to £200 in an online auction on eBay. The range of calculators are also extremely popular with collectors, as is the 'DIY' digital watch.

External links

Sinclair computers, derivatives, and clones