Ace Retailer Develops Germicidal Box to Sterilize Masks
Dave Swartz, owner of Davison Ace Hardware in Davison, Mich., doesn’t build things to make money. Instead, he considers himself a tinkerer who likes to build things to see how the science behind it works, writes Gary Gould for The View Newspaper Group.
So, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Swartz started making personal protection masks, he naturally wanted to find a way to sterilize those masks. This led him to design and build a UVC light box that will sterilize medical equipment like the N95 respirator masks used by healthcare workers. Swartz’s box has attracted lots of attention, including some from McLaren Flint, which has purchased the prototype for use at their hospital.
Swartz kept customers updated about this creative and useful project on the store’s Facebook page. On March 25, he posted: The AVIREM germicidal UVC sanitizer will kill germs and bacteria using science. This is a very harmful UV light and needs to be used by professionals. The light box is low spectrum UV light to sterilize the p100 masks after production. I will be posting days when this will be in the store for customers to bring in their masks for sterilizing. Six seconds from 10” away will kill and sanitize. We take your health seriously and thank you for all the support we have received. Items like this have been around for years; we just repurposed the item to fight the coronavirus. Currently, we have only one unit and it will be traveling with me, so keep an eye out for when it returns to Davison.
On March 31, he noted the addition of a smaller-profile AVIREM germicidal UVC box, with more on the way. “Currently we are making masks and boxes, hoping to help out wherever we can,” Swartz posted.
Another germicidal box was completed on April 3, with help from Swartz’s father. Swartz posted, “We have another box being produced with the hopes to have them available in the store for employee and customer use. With the ability to sanitize, we hope to also increase production of masks.”
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