WIND-UP or pedal-powered medical instruments could soon be giving Third World doctors access to much of the lifesaving electrical gadgetry common in the West. That’s the latest idea from Freeplay Energy, the company that has successfully marketed the clockwork radio.
While launching a range of miniature wind-up radios and cellphone chargers in London last week, Freeplay’s chief executive Rory Stear said that medical devices would be next to benefit from the firm’s person-powered generators. In these, a user turns a crank to spin a dynamo, generating electricity that’s stored in rechargeable batteries. Technology chief John Hutchison says the medical devices…
