Ergonomic Bowl with Exterior Graspable Elements for Hygienic Lifting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pet and household bowls with smooth sides are difficult to grasp and lift, often requiring users to place their fingers inside, risking contamination or awkward clamping, especially when wet or slippery.
Innovation Solution
Designing bowls with exterior graspable elements, such as recessed or raised handles, and a low center of gravity to facilitate lifting without touching the interior, using materials like metal, rubber, or plastic for ease of handling and hygiene.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the bowl has smooth sides, then the surface is easy to clean and aesthetically pleasing, but it becomes difficult to grasp and lift securely
Solution Approach 1:
The bowl surface is segmented into different zones: smooth interior surfaces for hygiene and aesthetics, and textured exterior surfaces with grip-enhancing features for secure handling. This segmentation allows each zone to serve its specific function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
Different surface qualities are applied to different locations on the bowl. The interior maintains smoothness for ease of cleaning and aesthetic purposes, while the exterior incorporates textured patterns, ridges, or protrusions specifically at graspable areas to enhance friction and grip security.
2Quantity of substance
If the bowl has a larger capacity, then it can hold more water or food, but it becomes heavier and more difficult to lift
Solution Approach 1:
The invention adds a vertical dimension to the bowl design by incorporating protrusions, ridges, or raised patterns on the exterior surface. These features extend upward from the bowl body, creating additional graspable surfaces that leverage the user's fingers and hand geometry to improve mechanical advantage and reduce the perceived weight during lifting.
Solution Approach 2:
The textured exterior features act as an intermediary between the user's hand and the bowl surface. These features increase the effective contact area and friction coefficient, providing a mechanical mediator that enhances grip security and reduces the force required to lift heavier bowls.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the user grasps the bowl from the exterior, then hygiene is maintained, but the grip may be insecure on smooth surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The bowl incorporates localized textured features on the exterior surface specifically at the zones where user contact occurs during handling. These textured zones provide enhanced friction and grip security, while the rest of the exterior and all interior surfaces remain smooth for hygiene and aesthetic purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The textured exterior features create a tactile copy or representation of natural grip surfaces found in nature (such as tree bark or rough stone), providing familiar friction characteristics that enhance grip security without requiring direct contact with the smooth, potentially slippery interior surface.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the bowl has a wider base, then stability is improved, but the center of gravity rises and toppling risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bowl design incorporates asymmetric surface features and profiling where the exterior dimensions and weight distribution are deliberately made asymmetric relative to the interior capacity. The exterior may include extended bases, protrusions, or textured zones that create a lower center of gravity and wider effective footprint, providing asymmetric stability that prevents toppling while maintaining interior smoothness.
Data Source
AI summary
A vessel, e.g., a bowl, suited for holding water or foodstuff for use as a pet bowl or human kitchen houseware. The vessel is scaled for use by pets or humans. Generally, this means that an inner surface of the vessel defines a volumetric space of 60 cubic centimeters to 30 liters for holding water or foodstuff. The bowl has a water level, and, at the water level, the surface area of the bowl being 56 cm to 900 square cm. To facilitate lifting and gripping by one or two human hands of a user, the vessel's outer surface includes one or more graspable elements disposed between the top and bottom of the vessel. Each graspable element is configured to receive one or more fingers of a user so that the user can grasp or otherwise engage the graspable element and lift the bowl from a surface when the bowl is upright on the surface.