At the corner of Walnut and Floral Streets in Newton Highlands, in a row of shops that formerly held Takara Sushi and Coffee Corner, there’s a letter-sized sign taped to a shop window: “Help Wanted — Inventor’s Assistants — kimatlab.com” — along with a one-page, densely typed “Partial List of Inventions.” Who is this inventor? And what are these inventions?
Dr. Dae S. Kim has lived in Newton Highlands for 50 years and owns the building holding those four shops, which are all now empty. His laboratory, Kimat Lab, extends through the basement under all those shops as well as into the two-story-tall workshop he built in the back over 40 years ago. Kim, 89 years old this week, came to the U.S. from Korea in 1954, when he was 20 years old — he says to escape a rabble-rousing past. For two years, he studied to become a priest but then switched to engineering, eventually earning a Ph.D. in nuclear chemical engineering. He did research for Esso (now Exxon-Mobil) and, in his words, “forced the automobile and oil industries to remove lead from gasoline.” In 1964, he invented the Cold Cranking Simulator, which measures viscosity and other characteristics of motor oils.
One invention, which he’s been working on for 60 years, is the Kimat Engine — a non-polluting, high-performance, turbine-based powerplant that stores and reuses hot exhaust gases. It has far fewer parts than a traditional engine and uses technologies that have been around for decades. Kim claims that a Toyota Prius, if fitted with a Kimat Engine, would weigh half as much, get 100 mpg, reach 0-60 mph in under 5 seconds, and clean pollution from the ambient air! He’s using it in designs for a flying car.
Dr. Kim’s other inventions include:
- Kimat Lift (to assist immobile people into cars)
- EcoPainting System (for painting houses safely and efficiently)
- Curved ice scraper
- Sushi maker
- DADD (Device Against Drunk Driver)
The notice in Dr. Kim’s window says he is looking for laboratory assistants. He says he’d like to help ambitious, smart people take his inventions and become commercially successful with them.