Patent ID: 6919053

Claim:
A portable battery operated ionizer comprising: a) an electrical circuit adapted to be powered by a low-voltage current supplied by a battery; b) an oscillator circuit within the electrical circuit for being powered by the low-voltage current supplied by the battery, said oscillator circuit being connected to a voltage conversion circuit to provide an ionizing voltage to an output capacitor means; c) am ion-emitter connected to receive charge from the voltage conversion circuit and output capacitor means, said ion-emitter being exposed for possible direct manual contact by a user and for release of ions into the surrounding environment; and d) electrode connection means to provide for a counter-electrode to be connected to said electrical circuit, to induce the emission of ions from the ion-emitter, wherein said oscillator producer intermittent oscillations such that the voltage established at the output capacitor means is an ionizing voltage and wherein, ion emission continues from said ion-emitter during the time the oscillator is not producing oscillations, supplied by charge from the output capacitor means.