Yesterday, the NY Times reported about the Chinese government’s decision to take emergency measures to combat thick smog that has covered the city. The decision forces 100 factories to shut down their operation and a one-third of government vehicles to go off the city streets. While the government is doing its bit to decontaminate the polluted city air, a Beijing-based artist Matt Hope utilizes his mechanical engineering background to create a breathing machine – quite different from air filter masks we see these days – that allows him breathe clean air while riding to his workplace.
For creating his unique contraption, the DIY artist attached a wind generator, an Ikea trash can and a Chinese fighter pilot mask to a Walmart bicycle. The Breathing Bike now relies on an electromechanical filtration system to produce inhalable air. As the Ikea trashcan pulls the air into the bike, the dust particles stick to a metal trumpet upon getting positively charged. Further, the clean air passes through a tube to the Chinese fighter pilot mask. Quite smart and ingenious, we must say!
