#HTE

Brass Antimicrobial “Hygiene Hand,” Designed So You Don’t Have to Touch Things, is Killing it on Kickstarter

StatGear’s Hygiene Hand, a small handheld object made of brass for its antimicrobial properties, was designed so the user can avoid touching potentially germy surfaces. It’s currently killing it on Kickstarter ($60,000 pledged on a $5,000 goal at press time).

As you can see by the original gun-like shape below, it was initially designed to be credit-card flat and to end in a sharp point. That’s because the retired NYC paramedic who designed it wanted to create it as an anti-germ stylus for signing credit card readers with resistive screens (a problem that I’ve imperfectly tackled with a stylus).

But the shape, thickness and functionality of the object changed after testing:

We first tried designing the Hygiene hand to be credit card thin for keeping in a wallet but in trials with our brass prototypes we found that the thickness of the stylus tip was not thick enough to register on all retail credit card signing pads we tried. After further research we found that the tip must be thick enough to mimic the point of a finger and found that the .25" diameter to work perfectly. Since we were already thickening the design up past the comfortable size to be kept in a wallet we decided to add the functionality of a handle puller.

Looking more closely at the finished shape, I’m guessing that these nest together in a “69” configuration when they’re cut out of the sheet, to minimize waste.

You might be wondering how Brooklyn-based StatGear could possibly hold a Kickstarter now, amidst NYC’s lockdown. “Although NY City currently has a work-at-home order in effect,” the company writes, “our warehouse is exempt as we supply rescue tools and medical supplies to first responders and other government agencies so we do not expect any fulfillment issues for this campaign.” They expect to start shipping in May.

My one design criticism is that I’m not sure this should live in the user’s pocket, where it might co-mingle with other objects; perhaps some kind of holster? I’d like some easy way I could disinfect the whole rig when I got home.

If you’re in the market, there are still 27 days left to pledge.