Well, I'm just a student, so I am not interested in an industrial-scale operation. I can make the things and sell them through ebay or something, but I wouldn't plan on anything more than that. I'm not really concerned with patents (except infringement - but I think my design is unique...
I thought the same thing when I saw this a while ago. I think I could, the seal is the only hard part about it.
But you could get around the need for a seal, and do away with one pump if you are willing to get your hand wet, which I don't see as a problem for an athlete. It enters around...
oh, hey, I just saw
http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showthread.php?t=537619
in the "science" section, it's about the original device. This is more about making and potentially selling a do-it-yourself version that does approximately the same thing.
I just found out about this:
http://www.avacore.com/
here is more info on it :
http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2005/julaug/features/cool.html
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/bemore.html?pg=1&topic=bemore&topic_set=
But they cost about $4000 each. I think I could build...