Hasta La Ideas

It’s a bit perverse that there are parallels between camping—a recreational activity for folk from wealthy nations—and the daily life of those living in developing nations. The upshot is that designers of camping gear have the potential to enrich the lives of millions of people living without first-world infrastructure. The Jompy portable water heater is a good example of this.

Developed by Scottish inventor David Osborne, the Jompy consists of lightweight metal tubing that has been bent into a flat coil, with the ends joined together side-by-side, resembling a frying pan shape. The user attaches a water source to one end of the tubing—in a camping situation, this could even be a water bladder–and the water then flows through the coil before exiting from the remaining end of the tubing. This allows the user to maximize the value of heat: If they light a fire or burn any type of fuel, the Jompy can be placed over it. Water flowing through it begins to rapidly boil, heating the coil up, which allows it to be used like a stovetop burner for cooking. And most importantly, that water is purified in the process. The hot water exiting the Jompy can be used for bathing, food washing, additional cooking tasks or laundry, or simply allowed to cool and used for drinking water.

The Jompy will come in three different sizes, and Osborne is hip to the fact that it can help more people than campers—in fact, the developing-nation use was the prime motivator, with the camping market intended to prop them up. That’s why whenever you buy one, the manufacturer sends a second unit for free to a family in Kenya.

We applaud Osborne’s type of thinking, though there is one area in which the company could use a little more foresight: Correctly anticipating demand. Overwhelmed by demand, their website has exceeded their bandwidth limitations and was down at press time. With any luck they’ll have it rectified soon.

via gizmag

(more…)