Freeplay Energy Ltd (formerly BayGen Power Industries, Freeplay Energy Group), is a manufacturer and distributor of portable electrical or electronic products such as radios and lights, generally powered by hand cranked generators that charge rechargeable batteries. The company is based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK. The company focuses on creating and developing the international market for self-sufficient energy products, and states that such a focus will help promote education and access to important information throughout the developing world.

Clockwork Torch

While Baygen, the company introduced a clockwork torch

Flashlight

A flashlight is a hand-held electric-powered light source. Usually the light source is a small incandescent lightbulb or light-emitting diode...

. Weighing about 1 kg, the clockwork torch incorporates two improvements over the clockwork radio. First, the on/off switch halts the spring from escaping. Secondly, internal energy storage keeps the torch shining while the spring is rewound. One version of the clockwork torch is enclosed in clear plastic so that the inner workings can be seen.

The Clockwork Radio

While watching the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 documentary Tomorrow's World

Tomorrow's World

Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.- Content :...

 in April 1994, corporate accountant Christopher Staines realized the potential of an innovative idea from British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 inventor, Trevor Baylis

Trevor Baylis

Trevor Graham Baylis OBE is an English inventor. He is best known for inventing the wind-up radio. Rather than using batteries or external electrical source, the radio is powered by the user winding a crank for several seconds. This stores energy in a spring which then drives an electrical...

. The Clockwork Radio

Clockwork radio

A windup radio or clockwork radio is a radio that is powered by human muscle power rather than batteries or the electrical grid. In the most common arrangement, an internal electrical generator is run by a mainspring, which is wound by a hand crank on the case. Turning the crank winds the spring...

, as the device was first known, was proposed as a means of providing better communication and education in undeveloped areas of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, which could lead to an effective measure in stopping the rampant spread of AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

. Traditional radio, although widespread, relied on an electrical supply or the availability of disposable batteries - both of which were in short supply across the continent. Staines and his business partner, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n Rory Stear, immediately realized that the potential for self-sufficient electronics could go much further than radio and Africa. In 1995, they started BayGen Power Industries in Cape Town, South Africa, which would be renamed in 1999. Starting with a grant from the British Government to develop the Clockwork Radio idea, subsequent investors have included Liberty Life, Gordon and Anita Roddick (of The Body Shop International PLC), The General Electric Pension Trust, South African Capital Growth Fund, and Worldspace Inc.

Clockwork mechanisms have now been replaced by batteries charged by hand-crank generators in present Freeplay radios and other proucts.

Further Products

Freeplay Energy now produces a variety of consumer devices in addition to radios, including flashlights, lanterns, mobile phone chargers, and foot-powered generators. They have partnered with several major brands, including camping equipment giant Coleman

Coleman Company

Coleman Company, Inc., is an American company that specializes in outdoor recreation products. Historically, Coleman is known for camping gear....

.

Awards and recognition

Freeplay devices have captured acclaim on multiple occasions. The initial clockwork radio won the BBC Design Award in 1996, and the Weza foot-powered generator won an Innovation in Water, Sanitation and Energy Services for Poor People award from the World Bank in 2006. In 2007, the Indigo lantern was named a Consumer Electronics Show Innovations Awards Honoree.

Brand With A Conscience

As world leader in energy efficiency, Freeplay Energy was internationally recognized as a ‘Brand with a Conscience’ by global branding and business think tank, the Medinge Group, as one of the nine diverse organizations singled out for "contribution to the betterment of the society by sustainable, socially responsible and humanistic behaviour"