Founding and early years On 25 July 1961, Clive Sinclair founded his first company,
Sinclair Radionics Ltd. in
Cambridge. The company developed
hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments. When it became clear that Radionics was failing, 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 (a
shelf company he had bought in September 1973 for just such an eventuality) to Westminster Mail Order Ltd. The name was changed to Sinclair Instrument Ltd in August 1975. Finding it inconvenient to share control after the
National Enterprise Board became involved in Radionics in 1976, Sinclair encouraged
Chris Curry to leave Radionics, which he had worked for since 1966, and get
Sinclair Instrument operational. The company's first product was a watch-like Wrist Calculator.
Calculators The
Sinclair Executive was introduced in 1972 as the first calculator which could easily be carried in a pocket. It was also significantly cheaper than similarly featured 4-function calculators available at the time. The
Sinclair Cambridge was launched in 1973 as a basic calculator and later in several enhanced versions supporting memory, advanced mathematical functions, and programmability. The
Sinclair Scientific featuring trigonometric and logarithmic functions and employing
Reverse Polish Notation was introduced in 1974.
Development of the ZX80 In July 1977, Sinclair Instrument Ltd was renamed
Science of Cambridge Ltd. Around the same time, Ian Williamson showed Chris Curry a prototype
microcomputer based on a
National Semiconductor SC/MP microprocessor and parts from a Sinclair calculator. Curry was impressed and encouraged Sinclair to adopt it as a product. In June 1978, Science of Cambridge launched its
MK14 microcomputer in kit form. In May 1979,
Jim Westwood, Sinclair's chief engineer, designed a new microcomputer based on the
Zilog Z80 microprocessor. Sinclair Instrument Ltd introduced the computer as the
ZX80 in February 1980, as both a kit and ready-built.
Commercial success and home computers (1982) The company was being known as
Sinclair Research Ltd at the launch of the
Sinclair ZX80 in January 1980, but as late as March 1981 it was still going by the
Science of Cambridge name. In March 1981, Sinclair Computers was renamed
Sinclair Research Ltd and the
Sinclair ZX81 was launched. In February 1982,
Timex Corporation 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. In July Timex launched the
TS 1000 (a version of the ZX81) in the United States. In March 1982 Sinclair Research Ltd made an £8.55m profit on turnover of £27.17m, including a £383,000 government grant to develop a flat screen. In 1982 Clive Sinclair converted the Barker & Wadsworth
mineral water bottling factory at 25 Willis Road, Cambridge, into the company's new headquarters. (Following Sinclair's financial troubles, the premises were sold to Cambridgeshire County Council in December 1985.) In January 1983 the ZX Spectrum personal computer was presented at the
Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show. In September the Sinclair
TV80 pocket
television was launched, but was a commercial failure. In 1983 the company bought Milton Hall in the village of
Milton, Cambridgeshire, for £2m, establishing its
MetaLab research and development facility there. In late 1983 Timex decided to pull out of the Timex Sinclair venture which, due to strong competition, had failed to break into the United States market. However, Timex computers continued to be produced for several years in other countries. Timex Portugal launched improved versions, the
TS 2048 and
2068; that company also developed and launched the
FDD3000, a
floppy disk system, although it was not well received by the market.
Mid-1980s developments The
Sinclair QL was announced on 12 January 1984, shortly before the
Apple Macintosh went on sale. The QL was nowhere near as successful as Sinclair's earlier computers. It suffered from several design flaws, and
Your Sinclair noted that it was "difficult to find a good word for Sinclair Research in the computer press". Fully working QLs were not available until late summer and complaints against Sinclair regarding delays were upheld by the
Advertising Standards Authority in May of that year. (In 1982 it had upheld complaints about delays in shipping Spectrums.) Especially severe were allegations that Sinclair was cashing cheques months before machines were shipped. In the autumn Sinclair was still publicly predicting it would be a "million seller", and that 250,000 would be sold by the end of the year. QL production was suspended in February 1985, and the price was halved by the end of the year. The ZX Spectrum+, a repackaged ZX Spectrum with a QL-like keyboard, was launched in October 1984 and appeared in
WHSmith's shops the day after release. Retailers stocked the machine in large numbers in expectation of good Christmas sales. However, the machine did not sell as well as expected and, because retailers still had unsold stock, Sinclair's income from orders dipped alarmingly in January. The Spectrum+ had the same technical specifications as the original Spectrum. An enhanced model, the ZX Spectrum 128, was launched in Spain in September 1985, with development funded by the Spanish distributor Investronica. The UK launch of this was delayed until January 1986, because retailers had large unsold stocks of the previous model. At the January 1985 Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, Sinclair re-entered the United States market, announcing the "FM Wristwatch Radio", an
LCD wristwatch with a
radio attached. However, the watch had several problems and never went into full production. Sinclair had long had an interest in electric vehicles, and during the early 1980s he worked on the design of a single-seater "personal vehicle", eventually starting a company called Sinclair Vehicles Ltd in March 1983. He launched the
Sinclair C5 electric vehicle on 10 January 1985, but it was a commercial disaster, selling only 17,000 units and losing Sinclair £7,000,000. Sinclair Vehicles went into liquidation later the same year. The failure of the C5, combined with those of the QL and the
TV80, caused investors to lose confidence in Sinclair's judgement.
Amstrad acquisition of assets Sinclair Research had reportedly intended a public offering of shares on 12 March 1985, but this offering was postponed, ostensibly due to turmoil in the microcomputer industry, with
Acorn Computers undergoing refinancing, and other companies such as Sinclair's competitor
Oric and distributor Prism entering receivership. Although the collapse of the latter was not expected to have a significant effect on Sinclair's ability to reach customers, the observation was made that "Sir Clive would not be trying to go public unless he thought he could use the cash", indicating that the postponement of an offering whose timing would have been planned for optimal effect would be a setback for the company. On 28 May 1985, Sinclair Research had announced it wanted to raise an extra £10m to £15m to restructure the organisation. Given the loss of confidence in the company, the money proved hard to find. In June 1985,
business magnate Robert Maxwell announced a takeover of Sinclair Research, through Hollis Brothers, a subsidiary of his
Pergamon Press. However, the deal was aborted in August 1985. The deal did not include the company itself, only its name and products.
Spin-offs Sinclair Research was reduced to an
R&D business and a
holding company, with shareholdings in several new "spin-off" companies formed to exploit technologies developed by the main company. These included Anamartic Ltd (
wafer-scale integration), Shaye Communications Ltd (
CT2 mobile telephony) and Cambridge Computer Ltd (
Z88 portable computer and
satellite television receivers).
Return to invention Since 1986, the company has continued to exist, but in a completely different form. In 1993, 1994, and 1995 Sinclair made continuing losses on decreasing turnover. Investors became worried that Clive Sinclair himself was using his own personal wealth to fund his inventions. By 1990 the company's entire staff had been reduced to just Sinclair himself, a salesman/administrator, and an R&D employee. By 1997 only Sinclair himself was working at his company. In 1992, the "
Zike" electric bicycle was released, Sinclair's second attempt at changing people's means of transport. It had a maximum speed of , and was only available by mail order. Much like the
C5, the "Zike" was a commercial failure, and sold only 2,000 units. In 1999 Sinclair released the world's smallest radio, in the form of 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 underwater propulsion unit. July 2006 saw the release of the
A-bike, a
folding bicycle invented by Sinclair, which was on sale for £200. It had been originally announced two years previously. In November 2010, Sinclair Research announced the X-1 two-wheel electric vehicle, which failed to reach production. == Products ==