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Product: Drink Container: Cup
Inverted Wine Glass   (+3, -4)  [vote for, against]
A cup that doesn't spill

Wine galsses are pretty but the majority of the weight is located above the ground, where it is more prone to toppling due to its high center of gravity, spilling your wine/champagne/sparkling wine/Pepsi all over yourself or the table on which it sits. To conteract this problem (or avoid it altogether) I've designed a cup whose center of gravity is as low as possible.

The beverage itself is contained in a slighly elongated sphere, of plastic or glass (though preferably plastic) which has the same volume as a glass of wine. At the top of the sphere is a small circluar opening 1'' (2.5 cm) across. This ajoins the cup part, the sphere, to the stem of the cup which sits on top of the sphere. The stem gradually narrows in diameter from the 2 1/2 cm to half a centimeter (less than 1/4 inch) at the midway point of the stem, and then widens and flares at the mouth to 2"(5 cm). The entire stem is 3'' (7 1/2 cm) and the height of the sphere is also 3".

At one side of the mouth is a tiny drainage spout like those on pitchers and coffee pots for easy drinking. On the side of the stem opposite this spout are two holes whith a sliding plastic cover over both of them. When the drinker is not drinking, the cover plugs both holes, and when the drinker is about to drink, he/she slides the 'latch' off to the side of the holes allowing for easier drinking.

No matter how far one pushes the tip of the cup to one side, it will always spring back up to an erect postition, gently swaying to and fro as its contents make tiny waves. The contents cannot be spilled when the holes are plugged, without trying very hard. Even blancing the cup on its mouth with the beverage inside could prove an inefficient way to empty it, as the narrow stem creates a vacuum. If it falls off the table, the weight of the liquid rights the cup in midair and when it hits the ground, the plastic sphere will absorb the impact and it will sway wildly then right itself again. It is because of its durability and weight that it can actually be thrown across rooms to fellow beverage drinkers. This makes beverage-drinking get-togethers more interesting too as everyone's boring sessile wine glass would be replaced by bobbing, rocking, and spinning (yes, you can spin them too) cups.

They can be made of glass as well and be etched and formed just as poshly as current wine glasses, if the buyer so desires and can be made in any size.
-- jellydoughnut, Jun 04 2006

Weebles Website http://www.hasbro.c...ult.cfm?page=browse
Short, fat people that "wobble, but they don't fall down" [jc112704, Jun 05 2006]

Non-spill wine glass Non-spill_20wine_20glass
Been there, done that (sort of)... [Canuck, Jun 05 2006]

I would give you another bun for "liduid" if I could.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 04 2006


I'm not so sure you could spin them. Try spinning a raw - uncracked egg.
-- fridge duck, Jun 04 2006


But how's the wine going to breathe?
-- DrCurry, Jun 04 2006


//If it falls off the table, the weight of the liquid rights the cup in midair // No, it won't. Bad physics.
-- baconbrain, Jun 04 2006


how do you fill it?
-- sninctown, Jun 04 2006


[fridge duck] -you're right; it wouldn't spin because the fluid would create resistance. Sorry.

[Dr Curry] -wine would breathe through the neck. If it were to be of plastic, wine wouldn't be a suitable beverage, but glass would be ok.

[baconbrain] -sorry

[Nwizad] -because the fluid has so much more mass than can escape through the narrow opening in the time that it might be tilting, the glass would right itself
-- jellydoughnut, Jun 04 2006


You lost me at the latch. kudos for redesigning the glass, however!
-- epicproblem, Jun 04 2006


I can see why people who drink of strong drinks would need this...
-- BJS, Jun 04 2006


The latch isn't really important. Just know that there is a sliding panel that plugs both hole simultameously to make it more difficult for escaping liquid and releases both hole making it more difficult for a vacuum to form while drinking.
-- jellydoughnut, Jun 04 2006


Does anyone remember weebles from their childhood?
-- jc112704, Jun 05 2006


I have a set of martini glasses that are hard to topple. It is a 2 piece thing. The first piece is the martini glass without the stem and the second piece is a cube which you fill with ice and a little water. You set the cone glass with the martini in it down into the cube glass.

It would be nice to have wine glasses that are harder to spill, but I'm not sure I like the latches thing. I can't think of the reason, but I'm pretty sure wine tasters are horrified of plastic wine glasses.

I had to read this quite a few times to grasp the shape you are describing. If it's what I think it is, It seems like a pretty cool thing shape-wise.
-- Zimmy, Jun 05 2006


What [sninctown} said, but more importantly, how would you wash these? Or are they meant to be single-use disposables?

It also sounds much like something done before - see link.
-- Canuck, Jun 05 2006



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