Drinking Straw Pops Out When Bottle Is Opened (Apr, 1939)
Filed under: Kitchen — @ 12:05 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1939
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1939
| Buy on Ebay
Drinking Straw Pops Out When Bottle Is Opened
Don’t be surprised, when you open a bottle of your favorite soft drink, if a clean, sanitary straw pops out of the beverage. It’s the latest wrinkle in bottling and may make a fortune for its clever inventor. Inserted when the bottle is capped, the waterproof straw is closed at the top, trapping air that makes it buoyant. For use, you simply pinch the top to open it, and extend the telescoping straw so that it will be long enough to reach the bottom of the bottle.
I wonder why you don’t see this in modern soda cans?
Comment by Patrick — February 16, 2008 @ 9:15 am
Because soda cans open inward, and bottles open outward…the straw would be hard-pressed to reliably pop out past the flap of metal compressed by the tab.
The other problem is that some moron would open the can, chug the contents and sue Cokepsi Dew for umpty-millions of dollars for his stupidity…
Comment by Alan J. Richer — February 16, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
I’m just guessing here, but I think in 1939 drinking straws were likely to be made of paper, not plastic. I wonder how long a paper straw would last in a sealed soft drink bottle without significant deterioration?
Comment by Max — February 16, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
Max – the paper drinking straws were dipped in a paraffin wax coating to seal them so they would not dissolve. but i would venture that the carbonation and other acids in the soda would break that down
Comment by fraser — November 17, 2009 @ 11:10 pm
Nope, you’re both wrong. They were intended to be made out of celluloid as spelled out in the original patent.
http://www.google.com/patents?.....38;f=false
If you don’t know don’t guess….
Comment by Firebrand38 — November 18, 2009 @ 12:23 am
Cool – so you get a highly flammable toy when you’re done (after drying it out.)
Comment by Toronto — November 18, 2009 @ 2:32 pm