Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] Home busiiness, making hand warmers

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Home busiiness, making hand warmers
  • Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 15:19:59 -0700

You don't have to go the fuel-cell route to generate internal heat----use a small platinum wire catalyst and a valve to expose methanol vapors to it. The platinum wire will glow red hot as it converts the CH_4 O methanol vapors into CH_2 O formaldehyde. Turn off the methanol valve to turn off heat generation. Need a (tight) cap on the methanol reservoir through which you can pour more methanol as it is used up. No patents to worry about in this quite old application

Another, cheaper catalyst might work to replace expensive platinum---haven't looked into it, or cost of small platinum wire either.

Any metal stamping shop could make the two-piece steel stamping per your fairly crude hand drawings or a little more explicit written desires. Several ways to assemble stampings, might join by resistance-welding, spot-welding. A good shop might do a few trial-and-error runs to get something that works and appears reliable, but probably not many. You should conduct your long-term reliability tests before you put a lot of them on the market, and product liability insurance would be a very good idea in any event.

Good, if very seasonal, home business product. A note, once you accumulate a dealer list it is fairly easy to shove other products through it.






  • [Homestead] Home busiiness, making hand warmers, Tvoivozhd, 09/10/2004

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page