Skip to main content

Reply to "Cup Holders, Part Deux....."

My first job out of college (1974) was at Hamilton Standard Electronics Division (HSED) in Connecticut.  "Ham Standard" started out as a maker of propellers (seemed like everything flying during WW II had their props) but they branched out into electronic stuff and also made space suits in their Space Systems Division - just the suit, not the helmet (from the David Clark Company) or the boots and gloves.

Anyway, while I was there NASA had competitions for all sorts of stuff for the space program (highlighted in the "NASA Tech Briefs" magazine) and one was for "Zero G Drinking Apparatus" for the astronauts that would work with no gravity.  A couple of engineers at HSED came up with something that I thought was absolutely brilliant in it's simplicity:  A soft vinyl, reusable "drinking bulb".  It was shaped like and about the same size as a light bulb, had a removable stem that had a valve similar to what's common today on sports water bottles and endurance water bladders - the kind you bite slightly to open the flow and it re-closes when you're done.  They were easy to fill even with the valve on, easy to use - just bite and squeeze, easy to use and easy to clean.   You could put them down anywhere and they would more-or-less stay put and most importantly, they didn't leak, even if you dropped one off a desk.  At zero G there was no leakage.  They also had an insulating sleeve for hot (or cold) drinks so your coffee would stay hot for 15 - 20 minutes.

They didn't win the competition (I don't know what they're using up there these days) but the bulbs showed up all over the company for a while - Even had the HS Space Systems Division logo!  In the days before Keurig machines some other engineers (I think in the Environmental Systems Group) even came up with a way to fill the bulb with coffee, any way you wanted it, in about five seconds without spilling a drop.  This proved to be a boon to all of the highly caffeinated engineers working there.

I have only seen this concept used in sci-fi movies once, and that is on the Amazon series "The Expanse".   Even so, I thought it was a great idea.....   You wouldn't even ned a "bulb holder" for it.  Put it down and it just sits there, but maybe needs a small fence around it for those 1.5G corners you guys all take.

×
×
×
×
×