HSV Technologies Announces Patent for Engine Disabling Weapon; Technology Has Potential To Change Police Pursuits Forever and Save Lives.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2000

HSV Technologies, Inc., today announced approval of its patent for a non-lethal engine disabling weapon that uses laser beams to disrupt the electrical circuits in modern engines. The beam-weapon is expected to have a positive effect on police pursuits, which today lack the necessary technology to minimize civilian risk and reduce the probability of fatalities.

"Our goal has always been to create weapons that could minimize the harm to civilians, law enforcement officers and criminal suspects during pursuits," said Eric Herr, the inventor and vice president of research at HSV Technologies, Inc. "The engine disabling weapon builds on the breakthroughs HSV Technologies has made with its non-lethal tetanizing beam weapon for use on humans. We expect substantial funding to follow this patent because of the great potential benefit this technology offers to society."

"In Los Angeles alone there are approximately 1,000 high-speed police pursuits each month," said Peter Schlesinger, president of HSV Technologies, Inc. "We see a very large market for these devices once we begin production, with the potential for them to severely limit the number of police pursuits that end in tragedy."

At the University of California at San Diego, the beam weapon proof of principle was confirmed during a series of experiments under the guidance of Dr. Wayne Vernon and Dr. Richard Scheps.

How The Engine Disabling Weapon Works

United States patent number 5,952,600 is for a non-lethal weapon to disable an engine such as that of a fleeing car, by means of a high voltage discharge that perturbs or destroys the electrical circuits. The transmission of the disabling voltage to the distant target is via two channels of electrically conductive air. The conductive channels are created by multi-photon and collisional ionization within the paths of two beams of coherent (laser) or collimated incoherent ultraviolet radiation directed to the target. The high-voltage current flows from electrodes at the origin of the beams, along the channels of free electrons within them. Additionally, a single beam may be used when the high voltage source and the target are grounded.

In October 1997, HSV Technologies received approval for patent 5,675,103. The patent is for a non-lethal weapon that uses ultraviolet laser beams to harmlessly immobilize people and animals at a distance. The phaser-like device uses two beams of UV radiation to ionize paths in the air along which electrical current is conducted to and from the target. In effect, the beams create wires through the atmosphere wherever they are pointed. The current within these beams is a close replication of the electric impulses that control skeletal muscles. It is imperceptible to the target person because it differs from his or her own neural impulses only in that its repetition rate is sufficiently rapid to tetanize muscle tissue. (Tetanization is the stimulation of muscle fibers at a frequency which merges their individual contractions into a single sustained contraction.)

About HSV Technologies

Founded in 1997, HSV Technologies develops non-lethal laser weapons for military and law enforcement applications. The company's mission is to harness the power of laser technology to make the world a safer place by providing non-lethal choices to some of today's otherwise lethal alternatives. HSV Technologies in headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information, visit the company web site at: www.hsvt.org.