New York – Fuel-cell
maker Lilliputian Systems said today that Brookstone will be the first retailer
to carry its butane-based portable USB fuel-cell battery charger, which will
charge a smartphone up to 14 times with one recyclable cartridge.
About the size of a deck
of cards, the charger will reportedly cost between $100 and $200, with the plastic
replacement butane cartridges costing less than $5. The cartridges, which will
be manufactured by cigarette lighter makers, will be sealed in such a way that
TSA regulations will allow them to be carried on airplanes, according to
Lilliputian.
Refill cartridges will
be available online, through Brookstone catalogs or at stores. Empty cartridges
will meet the standards of most community recycling programs, the company said.
Lilliputian started 10
years ago as a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where
the butane fuel-cell technology was developed.
Two years ago, Intel
invested in the company, retrofitting a manufacturing plant in Hudson, Mass.,
to make specially structured silicon chips with Lilliputian’s solid oxide fuel-cell
membrane imprinted on them.
