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By AaronBurns
#5720
We should add several wrinkles or ridges to our cans so that we can crush them by our own hands with no chance of them being crushed incorrectly and we get perfectly flat, crushed cans every time.
This saves the common can recycler time and gets rid of the frustration of having to crush them with your feet. If we run ridged dents around the can from top to bottom we can crush them by hand easily, completely flat and without effort.

Reward: Credit
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By Steve
#5847
Seems like a very useful idea to me. Even for the cans that go to the trash dump, or if you need to transport empty cans in any other way. ;-D
By patmck
#6369
excellent idea and perhaps entendable to other kinds of containers (even plastic bottles, especially gallon jugs don't compress easily/completely).
By Ars3naL
#6380
I also heard that if you go for the processes of crushing the can with your feet can cause you to get shin splints. (could be a myth but just what I hear)
By jacobpatrick
#6443
its not a bad idea. though to structuraly weaken the design of a can might not be good for carrying your shopping home with you.
maybe you should design a prototype and put it to the poeple at coca cola.
heres an adress to contact coca cola enterprises ltd,uxbridge
ub8 1ez
By Bubbles
#6823
hi aaron

great idea, but i have one querry- what if the can is weakend by the crushing and splits open, ripping your hand into confetti? making the can out of a softer material like plastic or evan rubber might work.
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By Steve
#6825
It might work to just twist the can slightly by default - that way it won't rip, but if you apply pressure to both sides, it'll give in easier. :-?
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By Michael D. Grissom
#6834
Excellent idea for all but carbonated (or otherwise pressurized) beverages. That 'pisssst' that you hear when you pop a top is about 15 to 30 psig (pounds per square inch gauge) above the average ambient (earths natural sea level pressure) of 15 psi. As thin as aluminum cans skins are (must be to be cheap enough to market) and at that carbonated pressure above ambient, it would be a lot like trying to design a silicon rubber balloon to maintain the shape of an accordion (the musical instrument) when inflated.

Steve's comment above about giving a slight twist when hand-crushing a can has always worked well for me but still requires a lot of effort to get it completely flattened. However... now ya got me thinkin' about aluminum skin designs that are finely 'textured' with opposing round bubbles or pentagons that would withstand the pressure, allow for much easier hand-crushing, and not add too much aluminum (marketing killer).

Just when I thought I was going to get a good nights sleep, you had to go and throw this one in front of me --> a problem well worth solving.

;-D ;-D ;-D
By AaronBurns
#6850
You are absolutely right. The can's outer structure would (Probably) not keep it's general shape and therefore, your idea about tectureing the can so that it has thousands of tiny, break points, would allow the use of less force while keeping the structural soundness of the can.
The break away idea (The triangles or other shapes that you could add, minutely, to the full extent of it would also, work but, the cans structure through all of our alterations does, weaken the exterior soundness allowing for pre-mature crushing which would only be solved by adding more pressure by over carbonating the liquid which is still not a bad idea but, imagine shaking it at 90 PSI. I have seen a similar experiment and what you have left in the can is literally nothing. The liqiud squirts out of the opening and doesn't stop until about an ounce is left. A very funny thing to observe. But, if you don't shake the can then, you can open it at a higher carbonation level and not have it explode on you thusly, we have a can that when, we apply our design to it, stays structurally sound and is hand crushable.
A doable product idea. I hope I relieved you of your headache. lol! B-) B-)
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By Michael D. Grissom
#6854
Thanks Aaron, I just put the family size bottle of Tylenol back on the medicine shelf!

Funny thing about this post.. I was busy designing a new pop-top and animating it when I stumbled across your post. So, when you think about it, I'm trying to invent a much better can and you are trying to invent an easier way to destroy it! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

INVENTOR vs INVENTOR! =))

I am still thinking about the adjacent opposing (or not) pentagons texture though as it would make the can easy to twist while hand crushing yet maintain its shape under normal C02 pressures. These pentagons would be about the size of a straight pin head and would give a really unique 'feel' to the can surface. I think these would be 3D pentagons like the Chrysler symbol -- very strong!

So.... I'm not giving up on this one as I like it too much. If I find time to illustrate it, I'll post it here in this thread if that's ok with you?
By AaronBurns
#6880
that would be great!
What if we had circles of these textured pentagons for break away points serving as the twist so you need only push the can together with your bare hands.
Twisting it can cause a slight danger. I have given a can a slight twist and they then rip very easily. Causing them to be very sharp.
We need to keep the cans final design in an easily broken down form with minimal effort and direct pressure from top to bottom without endangering anyone.
The combination of our ideas is the proper culmitive effect we are looking for.
Let me know how we can put our ideas to work with the combination if you believe I am right.
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By Michael D. Grissom
#6885
That's the beauty of the pentagon texture -- I believe that it will permit hand-crushing without the twist and without tearing.

A prototype is as simple as 1-2-3;
1. remove the top (unroll the edge)
2. Use a pentagon knurling tool made for the job to roll the texture onto the can cylinder.
3. reinstall the top (reroll the edge)

Then crush the can to see how well it works.

I wouldn't build the proto just yet though as I'm still thinking about the size and depth of those 'micro' pentagons.

BTW... The first house I ever built from the ground up was a three story Geodesic Dome made intirely of pentagons and it took 4.5 years to complete. I still see pentagons in my dreams!!! hahahahahahahaha :~( I never though I'd ever be studying them again. ;-D ;-D ;-D
By probass16
#8924
ok, Grissom is right on a coupls of things. the regular can with breakpoints is a bad idea. you drop it, it compresses, creates a smaller containment area = greater interior pressure = soda all over your leg. but on the pentagram idea, i dont' agree personally. have you ever pinched an empty can into a point? it makes a whole, that anything left in the can will come out of, and it's increadilby sharp. that design would cause an even greater chance of the can splitting open, b/c the corners would be very weak. why do you think they make them cylenders? there is no weak point except for the tops. i can crush a can with my hands anyway, so i don't really care. the design can undergo little change. but the drive behind your idea is great, less pain, more destruction, lol.
By DirtpatchSmacky
#10410
sorry to say this, but this idea, while maybe a good mental exerscise, , is onlly that. the cans rigidity, allows many many cases to be stacked on top of each other for transport and storage. i know of absolutely no comapy that will pay the tremendous added expense of storage/shipping that will be incured by this idea , so that the cunsumer may have a slightly easier time crushing the product deleivery device.
man, i need a spell check badly.
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