COVID canopy will help keep kids safe at school, inventor says

By Brent Davis – Originally posted in TheRecord.com Thu., July 30, 2020

Jim Ashton just wants his children to feel safe and comfortable back at school.

That’s the motivation behind his latest invention, a protective canopy with an air handling system that attaches to a student’s chair.

Called the IsoBooth Student, it’s designed to allow kids to sit at their desks without wearing a mask — or to provide extra protection if they’re not wearing one properly. The canopy can be pulled forward when the child is leaning down to write.

Enclosed yet see-through on three sides and open at the front, the patent-pending device includes a HEPA filtration system that treats air the student breathes. There’s also an invisible push-pull air curtain at the front that can trap or repel airborne droplets or aerosols that could contain COVID-19 and other viral contaminants.

“It’s an important step to giving kids a little bit of freedom and comfort, and the parents the peace of mind,” Ashton said.

Ashton is trying to drum up market interest in the device, which is currently a prototype.

This isn’t the first pandemic-related product that Ashton and his Kitchener company, Imagine Fiberglass Products Inc., have developed; the business’ traditional products include fibre-reinforced plastic products such as swimming pools and RV camper bodies.

The company has been producing a booth-style clinical testing station, based on a Harvard Medical School design, that protects health care workers as they’re administering COVID-19 tests. While Ashton said it hasn’t caught on as he would have liked, it did catch the attention of officials with a professional sports team, who asked whether he could make something that could protect fans in the stands, watching a game.

They’re still working on that project, and Ashton said he can’t identify the interested team. “It still holds the greatest hope for us,” he said. “Obviously, the revenue losses for sports with no fans is significant.”

That work inspired Ashton to create the IsoBooth Student in the meantime. “It’s the nearest and dearest to my heart,” he said. “I really wanted to see both my kids back at school.”

Another version could be used in offices, attaching to a standard five-spoke base office chair or stool; a larger version such as this could also incorporate its own air conditioning system.

Ashton said the IsoBooth Student allows a child to sit at a desk without having to wear a mask. “You can’t mask an eight-year-old comfortably because they don’t do it properly.”

On Thursday, the province announced that students in Grades 4 and up will have to wear masks at all times at school, while younger children will be encouraged to.

While price per unit would still depend on volume and manufacturing considerations, “I’m certain that it doesn’t need to cost more than $200 to $250,” Ashton said. “We need to get the cost down as low as possible.”

The IsoBooths are quiet, lightweight, durable and energy-efficient, the company says, using less than 80 watts of power per seat each day.

Ashton still needs to determine if there’s market support for the idea, but it’s already passed one important test. Upon trying it out, his nine-year-old daughter said, “This is cool, this is like a spaceship,” he said.