Good Products —The Sippy Cup

If you read the August 11 Sunday New York Times, you probably noticed that the “Who Made That” article in the magazine featured the Sippy Cup.  If you are not aware of these wonderful devices, the photo on the left shows one of my grand daughters happily guzzling away, and the photo below and to the right shows a closer view of two different models of Sippy cup.   The New York Times Article is here.  Credit for the invention is given to a (brilliant) mechanical engineer named Richard Belanger in 1988, who was inspired by his dislike of constantly cleaning up spills from cups, glasses, and the like resulting from his toddlers in their transition from bottle to dexterity.  He later negotiated a licensing deal with Playtex in the early 90’s, and the rest is history.

 The good news is that small kids like them, and they do not spill.  People quibble with that, saying that some of them do leak a bit if held upside down, but they perhaps did not have the good fortune of experiencing the constant dropping and knocking over of whole cups and glasses of liquid, and sometimes conscious glee at simply rapidly pouring liquid from the highchair onto the floor, that used to be a continual part of pre- Sippy Cup parenting.

 But to me, since these devices do not require the highest of technology, it is  amazing that they weren’t available, for instance, when my own kids were spilling their drinks on the floor.  Often people approach me with ideas for inventions for products and ask me what I think of them.  If they seem so obvious that I am sure they exist, but they don’t, I usually tell the inventor they are brilliant.  Such is my reaction to the Sippy Cup.  For centuries, people had probably snarled at their two year old children when they spilled their drinks on the floor.  And then Richard Belanger came along and solved the problem. 

 

Brilliant, Richard!