Sitting at a coffee shop back in the early 2000s, my friend and I noticed the lids on our coffee cups had expiration dates, predicted to the exact month and day, almost sixty years into the future. So, when I came across the above picture diagraming the coffee cup lid, I wasn’t too surprised that a lot of thought was put into its construction; after all, only an engineering genius could predict my coffee cup lid would expire on December 26, 2060, right?
The Consumerist points out that cup lids in general are extremely complicated, and one can plainly see this when searching “cup lid” on Google Patents, and Edible Geography notes that the world of coffee cup lid patents is so active, that twenty-six new patents for coffee cup lids were issued in the 80s, for “mouth comfort, splash reduction, friction fit, mating engagement, and one-handed activation.” Yes, patent language is funny.
(Edible Geography via The Consumerist)
