Steve van Dulken's Patent blog

The Toshiba Dynario fuel cell

The BBC news website is often the first to tell me of interesting innovations. It has a story about Toshiba's Dynario fuel cell, which is a revolutionary development.

Fuel cells work with cathodes and anodes and need a replenishable reactant. In this case it's methanol, which can be poured from a bottle into the hand-sized device. This contains a lithium ion battery which stores the generated power from the fuel cell and -- this to me is the clever bit -- transmits the power through a USB cable to the mobile phone or other device to recharge it in just 20 seconds.

A limited number, just 3000, will be produced for sale in Japan at about £195. The cost of the methanol has to be added.

I am not sure why such a limited number is being produced -- surely it's a test launch. After all, they have gone to the trouble of making quite a few patent applications.

Above is the main drawing from the Japanese-language Fuel cell patent application (not yet available in an English text), which was published in June 2007. In fact, there are quite a few by Toshiba on the subject -- this is a list of the 15 patent applications by the company in the "world" Patent Cooperation treaty system by them where "Fuel cell" is in the title and methanol is in the English summary. 

The Dyson Air Multiplier® fan

Dyson have produced an electric fan which they claim is the first in the world that works without blades.

The Dyson Air Multiplier® fan contains a small motor at the base of a large plastic loop. This creates a flow of air over the curved surface, which brings in more air to create a draught, much the same way as air flows over an aircraft wing. Dyson say that 15 times more air is blown out than is performed by its motor. Here is the main drawing from the patent specification, which was published in March. 

 

October may seem an odd time to launch a cooling product, but the company point out that it is the perfect time to launch in Australia. The UK retail price will be about £199 -- high, perhaps, but Dyson believe that people will pay for quality. CNET has an article about it.

 

 

Saving bathwater for the garden

I was looking through the October issue of Saga, a magazine for those over 50, when I came across a brief item (page 101) stating that "a reader wrote in last month with details of his patented invention".

Martin Clack of Chichester has invented a plug that allows bathwater to drain via a hose to a water butt, or to be sprayed directly on the garden. Water conservation is a serious issue here in the UK. The published patent specification is A bath plug, and here is the main drawing.

The plug blocks the plughole and the water goes instead into the hose. It is available from Mr Clack at www.droughtplug.co.uk.

The Saga piece said "patented" -- maybe their own enthusiastic interpretation. At present in fact only an application for British protection has been published, and it awaits a decision to grant, as shown by the entry for it, GB2448863, at the official Patent Status Information website. The product is called Droughtplug®.