Let me know your thoughts,
Tim.

One anecdote - I was standing next to a boy of 8 years when he got stung by a poisonous catfish in the crook of his arm. He was writhing and screaming in pain. I zapped the sting and within seconds he stopped crying, smiled and said "dae" - 'it is gone'. I have used it on myself at least half a dozen times for poisonous insect stings; the ant stings used to be excruciating for several hours, but with the shock, it is gone in seconds.

The Waorani have a horrific rate of snakebite and death from snakebite. [ cf 1981 Snake venom antibodies in Ecuadorian Indians. With R.D.G. Theakston, H.A. Reid, J.W. Larrick and J. Kaplan. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol. 84, pp. 199-202] I only wish I had had the stun guns while I was living there to train more people in their use and to ensure that every village has access to them. The official policy of the mission hospital there now is not to allow anyone to use antivenin in the field (concerns over anaphylaxis), so their use becomes even more important, especially since many villages are days from hospital care.

The studies that say electrotherapy is not efficacious notwithstanding, I think the matter needs serious, unbiased investigation. The studies that have concluded negatively are missing a critical variable somewhere and as a consequence people are suffering, maybe even dying due to the entrenched bias that has developed.

In my travels to the rainforest I used to always carry antivenin (and used it a lot for people who were bitten)along with the stun gun. Now I am not allowed to even possess antivenin, so you can be sure I will always carry the stun gun.

Best to you and greetings to Ron,
Jim

1. Do you have written information that he can look at and review?
2. What about the expired patent and the current status of legal issues?
3. Is there an estimate as to the amount of dollars needed to complete the project?
4. Is there a contact for the manufacture of the device?
5. Basically, can he or his staff talk to Ron and could he/you both come to California to discuss the project? What is the next step in the process and what has already to been done?

Galen and Eileen

We have a very bulky, heavy and expensive prototype that was designed and manufactured by a machinist in North Carolina for many years. He passed away several years ago and so that design is no longer in production. The basic principles surrounding the design are still valid but a more cost effective and manufacturable solution still needs to be discovered. We haven't found anyone yet with the mechanical and electrical knowledge required to redesign the Zapper. Until we find an electrical & mechanical engineer/inventor who has the time and desire to work with us on a new design, we are in a holding pattern.

The most success we have had is with the sparks generated by small engines such as chain saws, lawn mowers and outboard motors. The engine's are modified so they don't start but just create spark when the crank is pulled. The mechanics of this technique were used in the design the machinist in North Carolina. He was able to purchase 3.5” fly wheel and ignition coil and put it into a box with a crank handle but the manufacturing, size, and bulk of this has made it difficult to produce in any quantity.

In an effort to learn the electrical characteristics of a working zapper, I hooked up a scope with a 1000:1 probe on it and took a look at the signals. With such high voltage and fluxuating magnetic fields, the signals were a little hard to read. The frequency is around 15 -20 Hz and the voltage is around 20Kv. The tricky thing is that the duration of the spark is about 1 ms. Depending on how fast the coil is turning, the signal shoots up to about 15-20Kv and then decays for about 1 millisecond ( after 1 ms, the voltage decay is under 500v or so). If you had a scope and a 1000:1 probe you could see for yourself by connecting to a lawn mower.

The 1ms pulse width is what I have had the most difficulty replicating electronically. When you look at the pulse width on stun guns and other spark generators, they are only 1us. I talked to one stun gun manufacturer and they told me for FDA reasons they couldn’t modify a design for me that would increase the pulse width to 1ms. I did a little research and got the impression that there might be more risk of interfering with the heart heart with a larger pulse width. That kind of got me a little nervous about a electronic zapper.

Before I was slowed down with the pulse width issue, I was also looking at ways to generate the power required. There are lots of cool gadgets that I thought could be utilized such as the hand crank flash lights you can get from China for a few bucks in bulk which could be combined with the high voltage charging circuitry in disposable cameras. Also, the guts of cheap stun guns can be purchased pretty cheaply. I think I got a 100Kv stun gun for under $20. One big design restriction is the lack of replacement batteries in third world countries.

Aleph