Thursday, September 11, 2008

Coffee-carrying contraption



At my work, the walk from the break room back to our labs is fraught with coffee-spilling potential. Until now we simply had to put up with it. But now an inventive PhD candidate named Stefan has come up with a solution that harnesses centrifugal force to keep his coffee in the mug. No joke, he actually uses this thing to carry his coffee to and fro, and though the cup sways quite a bit, it doesn't spill! I took this video on my camera and I promise it's real.

Technically we shouldn't have drinks in the labs anyway, but we have an awesome, very laid-back Safety Officer who doesn't give anyone a hard time about it. That would be me. I figure my safety requires allowing grouchy labmates their caffeine.

10 comments:

Heather said...

Ah, so this is the infamous Stefan! :) His contraption is awesome. Kudos to him for ingenuity. Very nice solution.

And THANK YOU for not calling it "centripical force." Whew! I don't have to kill you now. ;-)

P.S. Me being who I am, your story reminded me of this clip...

Mary Rose said...

So funny! I love it. Necessity is indeed the Big Mama of invention! I'm amazed it doesn't spill even though it may sway a little. If he can dress up that contraption, he could be the next Pet Rock guy. (ha!)

And you have a great voice, btw. :-)

Anonymous said...

I would have to see it up close. Please invite him to SPC so that he can give us a demonstration. Also, I have to ask...part of my newly assigned job title...is he single?

Rachel said...

Heh heh-- I love that clip, Eanah. :)

Mary Rose-- thank you!!

Farfarolla, I think he has a girlfriend, but I'll bet there's someone reading this blog who's single... What's your new job title, BTW?

Unknown said...

Nice to hear your laugh again!

Rachel said...

You know, although the video was too cool not to post, I had two reservations about it: I didn't like the sound of my recorded voice and I was embarrassed by my laugh. And then two wonderful people said nice stuff about those very things. :) :) :)

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

:), ah, my love of physics: centrifugal force (which is form of intertia, but you knew that already :)), that was too cool not to post, it's good to be the boss you get cool videos like these.

I should of had the camera for last years physics lab, you would of loved watching me kill a battery in under 2 min.

Rachel said...

I'm so relieved I typed "centrifugal" and not "centripetal" by mistake! You and Eanah both would've let me know about it. :)

Joe, how'd you kill the battery? Take a hammer to it or find a way to drain it that fast?

JimAroo said...

Mary, the love of my life, wants to buy me one for my birthday (think St. Matthew) so I will stop spilling coffee on our new floors....

Joe of St. Thérèse said...

lol, smashing a battery with a hammer is fun, but much more fun is to create a magnetic field and kill the battery that way. And the joy of having converters for power sources, you can put it on "high" and create cool effects :)