ISRAEL: Babies can now enjoy a private air conditioner to chill out their stroller in hot summer

Record ID: 396238

  • Title: ISRAEL: Babies can now enjoy a private air conditioner to chill out their stroller in hot summer
  • Date: 3rd February 2007
  • Summary: (L!3) RAMAT HASHARON, ISRAEL (RECENT) (REUTERS) BEN A'ARON PRESENTING AIR CONDITIONER TO A WOMAN IN PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) WOMAN SAYING: "I would not use it because it can cool him too much." BABY TWINS IN DOUBLE STROLLER (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIMOR LAUFER SAYING: "Well in Israel it's very hot during the summer so if it will help me to go to the park and go to places li
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVAC606ZIM2ZGWQDAPKTZFOQETRK
  • Story Text: Not just for grownups - babies can now enjoy a private air conditioner to chill out their stroller in hot summer weather. As of this summer babies will no longer need to suffer from hot and humid weather, and can now enjoy a private air conditioner installed into their personal stroller, an Israeli scientist says.
    The stroller air conditioner was invented by Israeli scientist Ofir Ben A'aron who sought to ease his newborn's suffering from the hot Israeli summer.
    "It is a very very simple process. The entire air conditioner weighs less than two kilograms. It is activated by chargeable batteries. It contains four batteries, on and off buttons, turning on the cooling system by inner ice, which is fixed inside, and a flexible narrow pipe which can be diverted inside the stroller towards the feet, the body, the face. To simply cool the entire stroller," Ben A'aron told Reuters.
    "I came up with the invention last year during the hot summertime. I used to go for walks with my daughter Amit, a newborn, and we used to travel during the cooler hours of summer and I have noticed that Amit was simply sitting inside her stroller and dripping water, and her hair was wet. At first I was trying to cool her off with a hand-held fan and other things, and then I thought of a much simpler idea - a little air conditioner for strollers which is portable, light and comfortable," he added.
    In order to materialise his vision, Ben A'aron took his invention to the 'Israeli Center of Inventors' (ICOI) in the central city of Ramat Gan, which provide guidance and tools to develop inventions and patents.
    The ICOI have helped Ben A'aron to create a portable, small and easy to use air conditioner with a puppet hanging on top of its air hose.
    "It is a portable air conditioner. It's very easy to attach to the cart itself, and whenever you activate, it lowers the temperature which is very quietly blowing into the volume of the cart and it's very pleasant. It gives a very nice ambient feeling to the baby," said Yossef Schneider, head of ICOI.
    Schneider said he planned to export the product to European and American markets by summer 2007.
    Meanwhile, In the town of Ramat Hasharon, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, in a place called "Mother Park," Israeli mothers and baby-sitting grandmothers observed the innovation. Some voiced objection while others curiosity.
    "I would not use it because it can cool him too much," said one mother. Ban A'aron replied that the temperature was reduced by no more than one to two degrees.
    "In Israel it's very hot during the summer so if it will help me to go to the park and go to places like garden and sweat so much so I'll try it," said Limor Laufer, a another mother. She asked, "Do you have any idea about the prices?"
    Though it yet to be decided, both Ben A'aron and Schneider promised the private stroller air conditioner would be affordable.
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