James Dyson, the manufacturing mastermind behind cyclone vacuum technology and other inventions, received a personal call from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to build ventilators—a medical device sorely needed in the treating of COVID-19 patients.
“A ventilator supports a patient who is no longer able to maintain their own airways, but sadly there is currently a significant shortage, both in the UK and other countries around the world,” Dyson wrote in a letter to his employees.
Ever eager to play Nikola Tesla, Dyson and his company got to work and—in just ten days—invented and built a brand new easily duplicated ventilator.
“This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume,” said the English innovator.
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The British government put in a purchase order for the first 10,000 units. Already a billionaire, Dyson is donated 5,000 more to international hospitals that are short on emergency equipment.
UK Business Minister Alok Sharma said he wanted to see “prototypes coming forward in a matter of weeks before we move into large scale production,” in a BBC Radio 4 interview, adding later that any model had to meet National Health Service requirements and are safe to use.
“The core challenge was how to design and deliver a new, sophisticated medical product in volume and in an extremely short space of time,” Dyson said, according to CNN. “The race is now on to get it into production.”
Production for the ventilators is slated to be finished in early April, which could be vital to curbing some of the more fatal cases of the virus.
This is just one of many positive stories and updates that are coming out of the COVID-19 news coverage this week. For more uplifting coverage on the outbreaks, click here.
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