FINALLY, A WAY TO KEEP A COOL HEAD ON A MOTORCYCLE
Enfin une façon de garder la tête froide sur une moto
Avez-vous déjà roulé en moto avec un casque intégral en plein été ? Si oui, il y a fort à parier que la chaleur ait gêné votre conduite. Découvrez dans cet article comment un homme d’affaire américain s’y est pris pour élaborer un casque… réfrigéré. Bienvenu au pays des inventeurs farfelus !
LOS ANGELES — Motorcycle helmet companies have tried for decades to invent a helmet that could keep the rider’s head cool in hot weather. Now a Los Angeles-area entrepreneur appears to have done it.
2. Steve Feher has been thinking about beating the heat for a long time. In the early 1960s, in his native Honolulu, the future inventor did his first patent drawings on a room fan and a desk fan. He was 11. As an adult, he found some success patenting a ventilated blanket to keep patients cool in the hospital operating room.
3. Then he struck gold, and became wealthy, with patents on similar thermo-electric principles, applied to automobiles, that cool the seats in vehicles built by Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Infiniti, Lexus and GM.
1. helmet casque / decade décennie / rider ici, motocycliste / area (de la) région (de) / to appear ici, sembler / to do, did, done it y parvenir, réussir. 2. to beat, beat, beaten vaincre / patent brevet (d'invention) / fan ventilateur / desk (de) bureau / to find, found, found success réussir / blanket couverture. 3. to strike, struck, struck gold faire fortune / wealthy riche / seat siège. 4. The royalties from that invention earned him “many millions, maybe a little more than $10 million,” Feher said — money that made it possible for him to pursue still more inventions.
BORN TO BE WILDISH
5. Now, having spent the last seven years in Los Angeles, Feher has applied the technology to headgear. He has invented, patented and manufactured what may be the world’s first practical air-conditioned motorcycle helmet.
6. Stylish, lightweight and certified as protective, Feher’s “Mr. Cool” helmet uses two small fans and a thermoelectric device housed at the back of the helmet and powered by a wire connected to the motorcycle’s battery to blow air
4. to earn sb... valoir à qn (to earn gagner de l'argent de par son travail) / to make, made, made ici, rendre / to pursue poursuivre, rechercher / still encore. 5. wildish quelque peu (-ish) sauvage/débridé; réf. à la chanson (heavy metal) de référence aux bikers, de 1968, Born to Be Wild / to spend, spent, spent passer (temps) / headgear casque(s) (de protection) / to manufacture (faire) fabriquer / practical ici, réel / air-conditioned climatisé. 6. stylish stylé / lightweight léger (weight poids) / device appareil, dispositif / to be housed être logé/ici, intégré / back ici, fond, arrière / to power alimenter / wire fil / to blow, blew, blown souffler / through the helmet liner. This creates cooling over the vascular system in the scalp, resulting in an overall sense of chill.
liner doublure / cooling refroidissement, rafraîchissement / scalp cuir chevelu / to result in avoir pour conséquence, donner / overall total, général / sense ici, sensation, impression / chill fraîcheur.
7. The technology, proven effective in car seats, could provide welcome relief to motorcyclists in warm climates, where high temperatures can make summer riding uncomfortable, sweaty and even unsafe, as riders with hot heads may have difficulty staying focused on the road.
8. It may even encourage riders to wear helmets in places where they aren’t required by law. “It’s more comfortable to ride with the air-conditioned helmet than it is to ride with no helmet at all,” Feher said.
COOL STUFF?
9. Feher, 66, lives alone in Beverly Hills in a midcentury house with sweeping city views. Spartan and spare, it looks as much like an office as a home. The living room is dominated by a huge exercise machine. The den is filled with cardboard boxes.
10. An avid motorcyclist and driver, and self-educated after high school, the trim, softspoken Feher currently owns a Ducati Multistrada 1200, a Mercedes-Benz AMG G65, a Smart Car 451 Brabus Coupe and a Ferrari 458 Italia.
11. The strictest test of the Mr. Cool helmet so far, he said, was riding the Multistrada in Malibu on an afternoon when the temperature was 114 degrees. “The AC helmet made it tolerable,” Feher said. “I wasn’t even perspiring.”
7. to prove, proved, proved or proven s'avérer/se révéler (être) / effective efficace, performant / to provide ici, offrir, apporter / welcome bienvenu, appréciable / relief soulagement, délivrance; ici, confort / warm ici, chaud (aussi, tiède) / uncomfortable désagréable / sweaty qui fait transpirer / even même / unsafe dangereux / focused concentré. 8. to wear, wore, worn porter / place endroit / at all du tout. 9. cool stuff une invention géniale/stylée (jeu de mots entre cool frais et cool super) / midcentury du milieu du siècle, des années 50 / sweeping panoramique / spartan spartiate / spare dépouillé, minimaliste / to look like ressembler à / huge ici, imposant / exercise machine appareil de musculation / den (petite) pièce vouée à la détente, souvent équipée d'un sofa et d'une télévision, (petit) salon / cardboard (en) carton. 10. self-educated autodidacte / high school (équivalent du) lycée / trim mince, en bonne forme physique, élégant / soft-spoken à la voix douce / currently actuellement / to own posséder. 11. strict rigoureux / so far jusqu’à présent / 114 degrees (Fahrenheit) = 45,6°C (Celsius) / AC = air conditioning / to perspire transpirer. 12. My experiment with Feher’s helmet proved inconclusive. The day wasn’t hot enough to give the prototype a proper test. But I did ascertain that the temperature inside the helmet seemed to drop as the ambient temperature rose. It was more comfortable and felt cooler when it was 85 degrees outside than it had at 75 degrees — the opposite of the effect in a regular helmet.
13. Otherwise it behaved like a conventional helmet, though it was slightly larger and about 4 ounces heavier than a traditional full-face helmet. Though the rear-mounted fan produced an audible whir, there was no noticeable sucking or blowing sensation inside the helmet itself.
MAKING IT ALL UP
14.
Feher believes this technology will have wider applications. He has produced subsequent patents that demonstrate the effectiveness of the thermo-electric head cooling system for bicycle helmets, equestrian helmets, welding helmets and even a baseball-style cap for runners.
15. He has also patented a similar system that would warm helmets for snowmobile riders. “He’s a real inventor,” said Alberto Alberici, an executive with Lazer Helmets, a Belgian company that makes headgear for motorcycling, cycling, snowmobiling and other sports.
16. The potential is there: Motorcycle helmet sales in the U.S. number around 1 to 2 million units a year. Bicycle helmets top 15 million units. Snowmobile helmet sales are about 1 million units annually.
12. experiment expérience (scientifique), essai / inconclusive peu concluant / enough suffisamment / proper vrai / to ascertain certifier / inside à l'intérieur (de) / to seem sembler / to drop baisser / as ici, au fur et à mesure que / to rise, rose, risen augmenter / outside dehors / regular normal, conventionnel, classique. 13. otherwise sinon, à part cela, autrement / to behave se comporter, fonctionner / though bien que / slightly légèrement / ounce once (= 28,35 g) / heavy lourd / full-face intégral, qui couvre/protège l'ensemble du visage / rear-mounted (monté) à l'arrière / whir ronronnement / noticeable évident, notable / to suck aspirer. 14. to make, made, made sth up inventer qch / wide vaste / subsequent ultérieur / to weld souder / cap casquette. 15. snowmobile motoneige, scooter des neiges / executive cadre (dirigeant). 16. to number représenter (en nombre) / around environ / a ici, par / to top dépasser, excéder.
Stylish, lightweight and certified as protective.