Subject: Viridian Note 00066: Freeplay's Wind-Up Power

Key concepts:  muscle-powered devices, wind-up power,
radios, flashlights, home lighting, global communications,
toys, land mines, Freeplay company

Attention Conservation Notice:  It's quite long, and 
rather detailed. A Freeplay wind-up radio is the prize 
offered in our ongoing Viridian Power Banner Contest.

Links: http://www.freeplay.net
The Viridian Library is expanding radically.
http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/viridian/books0599.h
tml

Entries in the Viridian Power Banner Contest:
http://www.ugrad.cs.jhu.edu/~rmharman/img/viridian/warn.fo
ssil.gif
http://www.subterrane.com
http://www.netaxs.com/~morgana
(note dino animation at bottom of page)
http://www.phuq.com/viridian
http://www.freeyellow.com/members6/vandewater/banner.gif
http://humlog.homestead.com/viridianart/index.html
http://www.powerbase-alpha.com/bigmike/banner.html
http://www.stewarts.org/users/stewarts/sunservr.html
http://www.dux.ru/digbody/viridian/vir.htm
http://members.aol.com/stjude/viridian
http://www.id.iit.edu/~chad/viridian/viridian_banner.htm
http://www.dnai.com/~catnhat/viridianbanners.htm
This contest expires May 31, 01999

(((bruces remarks:  These are excerpts from a much, much 
longer magazine article which goes into exquisite personal 
detail about Freeplay's entrepreneurs, engineers, 
inventors, line workers, and political and commercial 
backers.)))

"The Freeplay Group, based in Cape Town, South Africa, 
builds products that capture the imagination of the world 
== and that change the world.

"by Cheryl Dahle, FAST COMPANY magazine

"The Freeplay Group, a young, fast-growing company based 
in Cape Town, South Africa, wants to build products that 
capture the imagination of the world.  (...)

    "Freeplay doesn't have to shout for attention. The 
company's booth is lined with a collection of stylish, 
transparent radios in eye-pleasing colors: wild cherry, 
lime, blueberry. They look as if they've been carved from 
giant Lifesaver candies. Each radio has a handle that, 
when wound up, generates the power to play the radio. 
There are no electric cords and no batteries. People can 
play these 'self-powered' devices, which sell for $79.95, 
for free == hence the name.

      "'What's this?' asks a curious visitor, clad in a 
black T-shirt and jeans. 'An iMac radio?' A Freeplay 
staffer hands him a device. 'Wind it up,' she says. The 
man folds out the handle and turns it for 10 seconds. The 
chorus from 'Zoot Suit Riot,' by Cherry Poppin' Daddies, 
blasts from the speaker. The base of the handle, now 
retracted snugly against the radio's face, spins slowly 
backward as the gears == visible from the outside == turn 
kinetic energy into electricity. 'This is incredibly 
cool,' he says. 'Where can I buy one?'

    "Meanwhile, an ocean away, in a tin-shack classroom in 
the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, a Freeplay 
radio is attracting eager attention from a very different 
audience.  A group of kids is crowding around for an 
English lesson. In this part of KwaZulu-Natal, Zulu is the 
primary language, and electricity is a luxury, not a 
utility. Few residents can afford to buy batteries. And 
few teachers are fluent in English. 

    "Enter the Freeplay radio, donated by War Child, an 
aid organization based in London."

(((bruces remarks:  "War Child" is Brian Eno's charity.)))

    "War Child has purchased enough self-powered radios to 
help 150,000 South African children to learn English. 
(...)

      "The company was formed in 1995, shipped its first 
product in 1996, has generated revenues of $20 million as 
of March 1999 == and expects to reach $35 million by 2000.  
Freeplay's investors include General Electric Pension 
Trust; WorldSpace, a satellite-broadcasting company in 
Washington, DC; and Liberty Life, a top South African 
insurance company. The company's famous advocates include 
Nelson Mandela (who made an appearance at a Freeplay 
factory opening) and Jimmy Carter. Gordon Roddick, 
chairman of the Body Shop, serves on the board of the 
Freeplay Foundation. And Terry Waite, the former envoy of 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was held hostage in 
Beirut, is a trustee of the Freeplay Foundation.

    "Waite has a decidedly personal connection to 
Freeplay's flagship product:   'I know what being cut off 
from communication is like. I spent five years in 
captivity, four of them in solitary confinement, during 
which time I got no news from the outside world. But near 
the end of my imprisonment, I did get a small, battery-
operated radio. I was terrified that when the batteries 
died, the guards would not replace them, and I'd be back 
in total isolation. There are millions of people in this 
world who are in similar situations == cut off from the 
flow of information.'

    "So although Freeplay's products have made a big 
splash in the rich countries == its radios ( along with 
the Freeplay Lantern, a self-powered flashlight that 
retails for $69.95 ) are available at RadioShack, the 
Sports Authority, REI, the Sharper Image, and Harrods, the 
London retailer == the radios are actually making a 
difference in the poorest countries. The United Nations 
Development Program used them to broadcast election 
results to the people of Liberia; the government of Ghana 
purchased 30,000 radios so that villagers there could also 
listen to the elections. War Child may distribute radios 
to refugees in Zaire, to warn them about land mines in 
that strife-torn country. And Rotary International plans 
to use the radios to broadcast information about a child-
immunization project in India.

     "(...) And its corporate agenda keeps expanding. 
'We're not just in the radio business,' insists Rory 
Stear, 40, the company's cochairman and co-CEO. 'We are in 
the energy business.' (...)

    "'We want to see self-powered products in every 
village and every city in the world,' adds Christopher 
Staines, 38, Stear's cochair and co-CEO at Freeplay. 'This 
self-powered technology is relevant, whether you're 
listening to a radio in Botswana, using a laptop computer 
in New Jersey, or hiking the mountains of Peru with a 
global-positioning system. That's our goal."

(...)

     "Inside each radio lies the heart of Freeplay's 
proprietary technology == a spring made of a two-inch-
wide, 20-foot-long ribbon of carbonized steel. The spring 
is positioned so that turning the handle forces it to wind 
backward onto a bobbin. The force of the spring rewinding 
itself drives a set of gears, which in turn feed into an 
electric generator == a DC ( direct current ) motor 
powered in reverse. The electricity feeds from the 
generator into a circuit board, which regulates the rate 
of unwinding. Winding for 30 seconds produces up to an 
hour of playing time on the radio and generates about 3 
minutes of light from the flashlight."

(((bruces remarks:  I once tried to attach a canoe to a 
car, in the dark, using my Freeplay wind-up lantern.  This 
makes you realize just how much raw horsepower packs into 
a couple of D cells.  I can't recommend doing this, unless 
you enjoy frequent interruptions and need a biceps/triceps 
workout.)))

    "The company's self-powered radios and flashlights are 
hits, but it keeps searching for new ways to apply its 
proprietary technology == even when there's no immediate 
demand for it. Freeplay engineers are experimenting with 
everything from wind-up laptops to global-positioning 
systems."

(((And now, a few future-oriented words from Freeplay's 
own website:  http://www.freeplay.net   )))

"Future Product Applications For Personal Power Generators

"The product applications for Personal Power Generation 
technology and the Freeplay Personal Power Generators vary 
widely. The following sections review several potential 
applications:

   "Radio Receivers:

   "BayGen has successfully manufactured a range of radio 
receivers. A short-wave band allows the Freeplay radio to 
receive intercontinental signals on wind-up power.

    "Commercial digital radio via satellite is being 
tested globally. One purpose of this technology is to 
allow vast areas of earth, previously unable to receive 
radio signals of quality, access to good radio. It is 
axiomatic that these same areas suffer a lack of suitable 
power, and an opportunity exists here for Freeplay PPG 
technology to provide the solution.

     "BayGen has developed a successful digital weather-
band and Freeplay Alert Radio (FAR), which is being market 
tested.

     "BayGen's present radio focus is to reduce the size 
and cost of the Freeplay radio without compromising 
playtimes. The third generation  Freeplay radio (FPR3) 
will be at a lower price point than the current Freeplay 
Radios and approximately the size of VHS video cassette. 
This model is expected to open markets previously excluded 
because  of size and price. Production is scheduled for 
late 1998.

    "Illumination:

    "Freeplay Lanterns currently utilize incandescent 
bulbs. Future products are likely to be equipped with LED 
bulbs, providing improved cost, lifetimes and energy 
efficiency. This will allow BayGen to develop a lantern 
designed for everyday illumination in powerless homes and 
communities, including the Third World.

     "Military:

     "BayGen is presently involved in the development of 
wind-up power  packs for the following military devices: 
GPS (Global Positioning  Systems, which also have major 
civilian navigation relevance). Communications radios and 
a land mine detector. 

(((Yes, you heard right:  a wind-up landmine detector.)))

     "Computers: Some  small, cheap computers in the 
laptop configuration (e.g. the Apple E-mate) have 
eliminated hard and diskette drives. Cards are used to  
store and transfer data. This results in a significantly 
lower power  demand and allows PPG technology to enter the 
data processing  arena.

(((Wind-up palmtops.  "I sent this piece of email with *my 
own muscle-power!*")))

     "Computers

     "BayGen has successfully powered the Apple E-mate and 
prototype  power packs are being field tested in Africa 
and the United Kingdom."

(((The idea behind the "prototype power pack" seems to be 
to create a stand-alone wind-up energy source into which 
you can plug various voltage-hungy digital devices.)))

     "Toys:

     "Electronic developments have positioned batteries as 
an almost  integral part of toys. Toys are both battery 
hungry and price sensitive. This creates both an 
opportunity (the replacement of disposable  batteries with 
personally generated power) and a challenge (to do so 
inexpensively). Both directly generated power and springs 
are viable in the toy context and present a huge 
opportunity. Research and  development is underway to 
overcome the cost issues."

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
MY EMAIL SPEWS  A GHASTLY PALL OF CARBON,
NITROGEN AND SULFUR INTO YOUR PURE BLUE SKY
O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O