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Harvard Business School Press executive editor Hollis Heimbouch has recently paid $250,000 for a book about IT - but neither the editor nor the Literary Agenct, knows what IT is. All they do know: IT, also code-named Ginger, is an invention developed by 49-year-old scientist Dean Kamen, and the subject of a planned book by journalist Steve Kemper. According to Kemper's book proposal- leaked to Wired.com, IT will change the world, and is so extraordinary that it has drawn the attention of technology visionaries like Steve Jobs and floods of investment offers.
Kemper has had exclusive access to Kamen and the engineers at his New Hampshire-based research and development company, DEKA, for the past year and a half, despite the whole operation being shrouded in secrecy. Kamen is said to be worried that 'huge corporations'' might catch wind of the invention and ''use their massive resources to erect obstacles against us or, worse, simply appropriate the technology by assigning hundreds of engineers to catch up to us, and thousands of employees to produce it in their plants.''
Kamen was recently awarded the National Medal of Technology, Americas highest such award for his last invention - the IBOT. IBOT is an off-road wheelchair that can climb stairs, cover sand and gravel and rise to balance on two wheels- at eye level to an able bodied person. A prototype iBot was showcased by wheelchair-bound journalist John Hockenberry at last year's TED conference in Monterey, Calif.; the demonstration was greeted by wild applause. Kamen currently holds over 100 US patents, including a portable insulin kit, a medical irrigation pump and system, and a 'system for the delivery of medicines by transport.'
This latest invention, however, is not a medical device. Most experts in the field and leaked reports from eyewitnesses agree that Ginger is most probably a scooter or transport device of some sort. My impression of Mr. Kamen is that he is an inventor in the best sense of the word - his inventions improve lives and the man cares about the future welfare of the world.
Ginger is built around a 'Sterling engine' which is an electricity generator that runs off heat (from any source). Brent H. Van Arsdell an expert on Sterling engines has looked over Kamens patent , and said, "I am sure that if this engine performs in reality the way the patent says it can that it really could change the world." Sterling engines (or the existing Sterling engine designs) are expensive to produce, but a Swedish submarine builder 'Kockums' (yeah I know!) has recently recieved an order from the Scandinavian Navy Partnership for 3 Sterling powered subs. The Scandinavians are into their alternative technology, and Kockums say, "All the Stirling engine needs is heat and it doesn't really matter how the heat is produced. It can come from anything that burns: oil, diesel or natural gas. Or the heat may come from the sun. Letting a concave mirror concentrate the sunbeams on a Stirling engine currently makes for the the most efficient conversion of solar energy to electrical power."
The Stirling engine is flexible, silent and practically vibration-free. All these characteristics open a wide field of applications, and it seems Kamen may just have found one. In a private meeting with investors (Steve Jobs among them), Kamen assembled two 'Gingers' in 10 minutes, using a screwdriver and hex wrenches from components that fit into a couple of large duffel bags and some cardboard boxes. There are rumoured to be two Ginger models, named Metro and Pro. They're said to have 6 wheels, and the Metro may possibly cost less than $2,000.
Elsewhere in the stirling engine field, Stirling Energy Systems are 'in partnership' with Boeing, Siemens, NASA, Vestas, U.S. Department of Energy and Kockums. They claim that, "The potential market for Stirling gensets is immense; however, the company projects sales of 285 Megawatts, or about 4,650 gensets, from late 2003 through 2005. Initial target markets for Stirling genset systems include electric and gas utilities for both grid-connected and off-grid usage, as well as small-to-medium sized business operations worldwide." The company is planning on making $194 million in revenue in that period, and Once in volume production, SES Stirling genset systems will be competitive with virtually any electrical power generation technology. Seyi Rhodes