Acquaintances say Baylis died of natural causes after a lengthy illness.
Baylis developed the BayGen radio in the early 1990s after seeing a television program about the spread of AIDS in Africa and the need to get lifesaving information to people who did not have electricity and could not afford batteries.
Inspired by old-fashioned gramophones, the wind-up radio functioned with an internal generator, doing away with the need for batteries or access to electricity. The invention won Baylis international acclaim.
The earliest version ran for 14 minutes at a time, and production facilities were located in South Africa.
[Photo by J. D. Pfaff : A BayGen Freeplay clockwork radio. It is powered by human muscle power and does not need batteries or recharging from mains power outlets. The radio is powered by a small internal electric generator turned by a spiral mainspring. When it runs down, the mainspring is wound up by turning the crank visible on the right hand side. The crank folds into the frame when not in use. The FreePlay was the first modern human-powered radio, and was originally designed as a low-cost radio for use in rural developing countries where electric power and batteries were not easily available.]
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