Heatswell: The Self-Growing Insulating Sleeve

Having hot coffee in a paper cup is not an easy task. You need to hold on to the cup near the rim to ensure that you are able to hold it without getting your hand burnt. If you have difficulty with that, you could go for cups which come with ‘sleeves’.

Necessity is the mother of all inventions and innovations. The hot cup sleeve is also one such product. Till date we have seen sleeves which slip over a cup. But the Heatswell Coffee Cup from Amron Experimental is very different from the lot. Some might call it a bit magical, some a little spooky. The reason being, that this cup has the ability to grow its own sleeve. You will have to see it to believe it.

This standard sized coffee mug looks like any other mug in appearance. Only that it has a thick blue band running around its middle. It is as thin as any other mug would be and easily stackable as well. The magic begins when the hot beverage is poured into it. The moment the cup is heated by the hot liquid the blue band starts swelling. It forms a relatively thick layer around the cup making it easy to hold the hot cup of coffee. If the blue band bears a company logo, the logo will swell a little extra giving an embossed effect. In this case the brand name of a leading chain of coffee houses can be clearly noticed.

According to the makers, the product is absolutely non-toxic and has been approved by the FDA. The basic details of making the product have not been disclosed by the creators as they may want to protect their patent. However they have said that the cup is completely recyclable and bio degradable which makes an eco-friendly product.

Sleeves for hot coffee cups have been around for quite some time. Each coffee house realizes the fact that holding on to a cup of steaming hot liquid is not easy and hence sleeves are provided. The difference between the existing ones and Heatswell lies in the material and the manner in which it has been used. While the earlier ones were made of paper and had to be slipped on to the mug, Heatswell sticks to its cup. The manner in which it starts swelling does look somewhat gross but it serves the purpose pretty well.

As is the case with every new concept, this one too will be attracting a lot of attention. Whether it can make it to the coffee houses and stand the test of time is yet to be seen.

Does this impress you? Well, now if you get a Geeky Coffee Table along with Cool Coffee Machines, wouldn’t you be all excited for a cup of coffee?

Via: Geek O System