All the Cool Kids Use Hand-Crank Gadgets

Solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy are certainly cool, but when it comes to small household items, sometimes the best form of energy you can use is your very own muscle power. Hand-crank gadgets and gear are a low-tech way to unplug many items in your home, from blenders and food processors to washing machines and even cell phone chargers. Here are a few examples of hand-crank tech that would be super-easy to integrate into your daily life.

SUPERBattery – This hand-powered charger for mobile devices will power up your cell phone, mp3 player, portable gaming devices and other gadgets without ever needing to be plugged in. The $30 system is best left for emergency situations since you only get 2 minutes of talk time on your cell for 6 minutes of cranking, but it’s a handy thing ot have around.

Wind n Go Freedom Shaver – You don’t have to resign yourself to being a hairy hippie just because you want to stop using your electric razor. This wind-up razor never needs batteries or electricity to charge – just crank it up and for $46 you’ll be beardless as a baby.

Hand Crank mp3 Player – If you feel like your arm muscles could use some definition, perhaps a hand-crank mp3 player is just what you need. 10 minutes of cranking equals the same amount of power generated by 50 minutes of charging via the USB cable. It has no screen, minimizing drain on the 3.5 hour cell-life, and has 1GB storage capacity. Cool idea, but it looks like it’s only available in Japan for now.

Bike Blender – Okay, so this is more leg-powered than hand-powered, but it’s still a cool off-grid gadget. The Bike Blender is available in both conventional and stationary models so you can either get some exercise in your backyard while whipping up some margaritas or prepare a smoothie while bicycling home from the store. Genius.

Wonder Wash – Hand wash your clothes without breaking your back. No need to bend over a tub for hours on end when you can simply throw your clothes into a bin with some water and soap, turn the handle for a few minutes and rinse. Voila, clean clothes without using any electricity at all in no time flat. Check out our recent review of this hand-crank washing machine.

The Hamster-Powered Paper Shredder

Next time your kid asks for a hamster, put your reservations about stinky cedar bedding and the inevitable hamster funeral aside for a moment to consider what the little creature can do for you.  You might be pleased to learn that hamsters have the potential to be more than somewhat creepy, beady-eyed freeloaders that eat their own babies when left to mate and reproduce.  They can power your new eco-friendly paper shredder, saving you money and getting exercise at the same time.   Now if only someone would create a poodle-powered industrial version, we’d get a lot more done and wouldn’t have to walk our dogs, either.

Okay, so this isn’t a real product, and wouldn’t be all that efficient or animal-friendly if it were – it’s part of an installation at a Milan, Italy art gallery by artist Tom Ballhatchet.  But, hopefully it will get some wheels turning in inventors’ minds about (people-powered) manual tech.

Link [Technabob] via [ThisNext]

Go Manual and Go Green!

In the last 50 years or so, most of us have gotten incredibly lazy – at least, in developed countries where automated and/or electricity-powered gadgets are readily available.  We don’t wash dishes or clothes by hand anymore.  We stand around while escalators and elevators lift us up to the next floor.  It makes one imagine a future where we’re all giant blobs floating around on moving platforms and can’t even walk for ourselves anymore.

Sure, all of these modern inventions save us time, but it’s cool to take some pride in manual work every now and then and actually make something happen with muscle power.  That’s why manual gadgets are so awesome.

You don’t have to hook up a crazy invention like the bike-powered washing machine above in order to take on some human-powered activities.  Manual lawnmowers, hand-operated paper shredders, coffee-bean grinders, hand-crank popcorn poppers and this stationary bike blender are all great examples. Save electricity and get some exercise all at once – go manual and go green, baby!

Link [PriceGrabber Blog]
Photo credit: Homeless Dave