Friday Funny - Another Critical Problem Solved

[Brent]

"Science Marches On"

 Technology that illuminates the darkest recesses of handbags

 [img src=http://www.webzine.bayer.com/en/bayerwelt/smartsurface/images/art1.jpg" width="430" height="149]
 
Lighting up the gloom. A luminescent film from Bayer Polymers and Lumitec dispels the darkness in handbags. A battery supplies the required energy – and Bayer the necessary materials.
 

It's truly ironic that while engineers have long since succeeded in turning night into day in our big cities, a primeval darkness still prevails in women's handbags, swallowing lipsticks, compacts, mobile telephones and keys.

Those days are now gone. The international leather and bag specialist BREE has brought light into the "black hole" by creating the first illuminated business handbag with Smart Surface Technology. A prototype of this world first was presented to the public at the international "Summer Styles" leatherwear trade fair held in Offenbach in September 2003.

"We had been toying with the idea of illuminating the dark interiors of handbags for quite some time," explained company presidents Axel and Philipp Bree, "but up to now had not been able to find an elegant solution that not only met our traditionally high demands with regard to style and function, but was also technically feasible."
 
Smart Surface Technology
The very solution they were looking for is now available in the form of the Smart Surface Technology developed by Bayer Polymers and the Swiss company Lumitec. It is based on electroluminescence (EL) and is really and truly a "cool" concept because, unlike other light sources, it does not produce heat.

Films of this kind have been around for some time. In the past, however, only small, flat surfaces could be achieved. But with Smart Surface Technology it is now possible to produce luminescent surfaces in any shape you like. What's more, the luminescent film developed by Bayer Polymers and Lumitec lights up on both sides. So when used as a compartment divider inside a handbag, it can bathe two compartments in a pleasant light simultaneously. A battery provides the necessary energy at the press of a button. Smart Surface Technology relies on two materials from Bayer: Bayfol® from Bayer Polymers and Baytron® P from H.C. Starck, a subsidiary of Bayer Chemicals.

The illuminated bag could be in the stores as early as 2004. Axel and Philipp Bree are convinced that the demand is there: "In less than five years, interior light will be just as common in handbags as mobile phones are today."