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Inventor Rethinks How Car Cup Holders Should Work — This Is the Result
Image source: YouTube

Inventor Rethinks How Car Cup Holders Should Work — This Is the Result

"It allows beverage containers being carried to be free to move as changing forces."

For as long as cup holders have been in cars, their design has largely gone unchanged. For the most part, cup holders are a low base with higher sides, typically in a center console, that keeps the vessel containing a drink in one place.

But it's the liquid inside that's often the problem. As the vehicle stops, goes uphill or over a speed bump, the liquid will follow, which even with the most innovative of lids can result in a mess.

This common issue is probably why the video of new cup holder invention started going viral on Reddit. The video shows cups without lids sitting in a holder between two seats as driver puts them to the test. The holder called the Maksimatic follows each move of the car, making sure the liquid remains in the cup despite its lidless state.

Image source: YouTube Image source: YouTube

Image source: YouTube Image source: YouTube

Watch the video:

The 27-year-old inventor of the Maksimatic from the Seattle area told TheBlaze that the viral traction over the holder, which he received patent-pending status for about a year-and-a-half ago, is "overwhelming."

"Now, all the sudden I matter while I haven't mattered for the last few years," Maksim Ghyvoronsky, an auto enthusiast and self-professed "wantrepreneur," said.

Ghyvoronsky's ultimate goal for the Maksimatic, a nod to his own first name, is for an auto manufacturer or other company to purchase the design and start including it in cars themselves.

The idea of Maksimatic came to Ghyvoronsky while driving — go figure.

"I've been thinking of this since 2009. I was holding ice tea in cup in my hand without a lid. I would hold it and let it hinge and it would tilt on its own," he said, which sparked the thought that there should be a cup holder that does that for him.

Watch Ghyvoronsky demonstrate how the Maksimatic works on over speed bumps, turns and at varying speeds with his open cup of iced tea:

"The issue with cup holders ... is all cup holders make your beverage top heavy. This one makes it bottom heavy," Ghyvoronsky said. "Every other cup holder is stationary with the vehicle. It's idiotic, because you could spill on your lap."

In truth, there are similar inventions that seek to achieve the same end as Ghyvoronsky's, but he said there are key differences. These other holders, Ghyvoronsky said, move side to side and front to back but his allows for 360-degree swivel. He also pointed out that his invention comes with height control and is situated in the typical location for drinks (the center console) not attached to air vents like other ideas.

"It allows beverage containers being carried to be free to move as changing forces would ask, and on a 360 degree-pivoting spherical upper member which is also the joint that allows not only the beverage to be at an angle when needed (up to 25 degrees), but also the top of fluid/liquid to be at angle as well," Maksimatic's website explained.

"This limits the chances of spillage over top of cup walls to almost no chance of it happening especially if the drink isn't full because the fluid is more evenly distributed against the walls. This also means the driver or passenger no longer needs to keep applying and removing cap from beverages."

Image source: YouTube Image source: YouTube

Here are just a few of the 30 reasons listed on the Maskimatic website why such a cup holder would be beneficial:

  • Because having your beverage move exactly as the vehicle moves (which is every standard cup holder's dilemma) is exactly as silly as putting your opened can of soda in your pocket while you walk! We may not realize it, but the reason we carry our drinks in our hands while walking is to help us avoid spills because the movement of our mode of transport for beverages should differ from the mode of transport itself.
  • Because the larger than typical diameter of the cup holder at the very top (which is funnel-like) acts as a guide for drivers to be able to insert their beverage into holder without looking to the side as much (if even at all). This allows driver to keep their eyes on the road more and is yet another safety feature.
  • Because the half-sphere circling the top of the Maksimatic cup holder acts as a splash guard with good width and substantial height, effectively protecting your interior from spills.
  • Because you can't insert your 64oz Slurpee into a standard, obsolete cup holder without worrying about it coming out to attack you and kill you. Maksimatic Holders will fit these with ease and have the deepest cylindric openings available.

While Ghyvoronsky started an IndieGoGo campaign, he said it's not so much to raise funds to bring the product to the market as it is to raise awareness and interest.

This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of Maksimatic on first reference. 

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