The Greatest Shoe on Earth.

The Greatest Shoe on Earth; James Drake; Wired, Feb. 2001, pp. 90-100.

Wondering where the independent inventor went? Well, at least one is alive and inventing in England, as this profile of electric-shoe pioneer Trevor Baylis attests. Described as "England's most celebrated inventor,"

Baylis made his reputation by inventing the Freeplay wind-up radio. He is now attempting to commercialize a piezoelectric shoe that generates power while its wearer walks. Working from a lab on Eel Pie (sic) Island in the Thames, Baylis is attempting to become "a kind of freelance R&D department for the shoe industry."

He is also trying to launch an Academy of Inventors--"something that takes the humiliation out of invention, a place that would give guys like me a fair crack at the whip instead of having to traipse about with a begging bowl."