RESPONSIBLE PARTY/MILES MAIDEN
RESPONSIBLE PARTY/MILES MAIDEN; A Pen That Purifies
By KATHLEEN CARROLL
Published: January 20, 2002
UNFAMILIAR bacteria have ruined many a vacation, turning intrepid travelers into tummy-aching wrecks.
Instead of trusting the water at their destinations, vacationers can zap bacteria with the Steri-Pen, a handheld machine that uses ultraviolet light to disinfect up to 16 ounces of water in about a minute. The pen emits UV-C rays, which prevent bacteria from reproducing by altering their DNA. ''It's not the microbes that make you sick,'' said the pen's inventor, Miles Maiden. ''It's when they reproduce and start having a party in your stomach.''
Mr. Maiden, 43, invented the product after 15 years as a solar power researcher and consultant. In 1996, while installing solar water-heating systems, he remembered that a narrow band of light rays, known as UV-C, had germicidal properties. Many bottling plants and municipalities use ultraviolet lamps to disinfect water, so Mr. Maiden had an idea: Why not install solar-powered water decontamination systems in third-world countries?
That idea proved too daunting, so Mr. Maiden, who has a degree in human ecology from the College of the Atlantic, miniaturized his idea to something more achievable: personal disinfection systems. In 1997, he founded Hydro-Photon in Blue Hill, Me., to develop the product. He whittled crude prototypes from wood.
''I wanted to gauge the public's interest before I spent a lot of time or money on the project,'' Mr. Maiden said, so a few months into his research, in 1998, he sent his idea to Newsweek magazine. When the magazine published a profile of the notion, he decided to proceed.
Hydro-Photon was formed to assemble and sell the pens. Mr. Maiden enlisted three different companies to create the pen's lamp, circuitry and plastic case. He began selling the Steri-Pen in 2001 (www.hydro-photon.com) for $199. It is also available in camping-goods catalogs.
Photos: Miles Maiden and his Steri-Pen, which uses ultraviolet light to disinfect water.