'Ginger': A Motorized Scooter?

The mystery invention — code-named "Ginger" — that has set the U.S. technology world abuzz may be little more than a motorized mini-scooter, judging from a recent patent application that came to light Friday.

A Dec. 14, 2000, filing with the World Intellectual Property Organization, available on the Web at WIPO.org, describes a "class of transportation vehicles for carrying an individual over ground...that is unstable with respect to tipping when...not powered."

This "personal mobility vehicle" pictures what appears to be a young girl balanced on a two-wheeled scooter. The patent application by millionaire inventor Dean Kamen and six co-inventors fits descriptions made in broadcast reports by people claiming to have seen prototypes of the vehicle.

Harvard Business School Press is said to have paid $250,000 for a book detailing "IT" that is set to be unveiled in 2002 by Kamen, creator of devices such as a portable insulin pump and a wheelchair that climbs stairs.

The invention is said to take just 10 minutes to assemble using simple tools, according to details from the book proposal reported by media industry watchers Inside.com. on Tuesday. Ginger could cost less than $2,000 apiece. Top computer industry leaders and investment bankers were named as backers, Inside.com said.

In a statement issued Thursday, Kamen, 49, declined to reveal much on the device other than saying: "While our projects are in the development phase and have client confidentiality requirements, it is impossible for us to comment further."

Kamen and his company, Manchester, New Hampshire-based DEKA Research, did not return calls Friday seeking comment on the patent application.

The Harvard Press wouldn't say when the book is coming out. It will be written by Steve Kemper, a journalist whose articles have appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian and elsewhere.

According to Kamen, his device will be an alternative to products that "are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."

The 49-year-old Kamen lives in an hexagonally-shaped mansion on a hilltop outside Manchester, N.H., where visitors have included President-elect Bush.

Kamen recently received the National Medal of Technology, the country's highest award for technology. The Web site of his corporation, DEKA, describes him as an "inventor, physicist & snappy dresser."