DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — This cozy won't keep your beer cold — but it could cool down your overheated apartment in the winter.
The inventors of a device that is designed to help apartment-dwellers keep the heat from their radiators in check — often a problem in pre-war buildings — have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the development of "The Cozy" — a large oven mitt for radiators that traps heat inside and releases it only when necessary.
"People sweat through the winters in their overheated apartments. This is such a huge problem in New York City," said Marshall Cox, one of the Cozy's developers. "It would be shocking if we didn't raise the money to make The Cozy happen."
The Cozy — designed by Cox and the team at MetroTech Center-based Radiator Labs— is controlled by a smartphone application that allows users to set temperatures and activate vacation settings on their radiators.
A design prototype was installed in nearly 300 Columbia and New York University dorm rooms at the beginning of the winter and the results have been positive, Cox said.
"The Cozy is working exactly like we wanted it to," Cox said. "The students are amazed at how comfortable their dorm temperatures are."
But the Radiator Labs team is hoping to raise $100,000 dollars in order to perfect the design, optimize the application, test differently sized cozies and begin the first large production run of the device.
Just three hours after their Kickstarter launch at noon on Feb. 4, they raised nearly $4,000. The campaign closes on March 6.
Early bird donors who give before a gift of $249 or more will receive a free cozy
The first fifty people to donate $249 or more dollars will receive a free cozy. When the promotion ends, donors who contribute $299 or more will get a free cozy. All cozies will be shipped by October.
