Rotating Base Peanut Butter Packaging with Integrated Agitator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Natural peanut butter, lacking additives that prevent separation of solid and oil phases, requires frequent stirring to maintain uniform consistency, leading to a messy and cumbersome consumer experience.
Innovation Solution
A container with a rotating base and internal agitator that allows for stirring without opening the container, using a hermetically sealed axle system to engage and disengage the agitator, ensuring the contents remain isolated from the external environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If natural peanut butter is packaged without additives to prevent separation, then the product maintains wholesome, natural ingredients, but the solid and oil phases separate during storage requiring frequent stirring
Solution Approach 1:
The container incorporates an integrated agitator mechanism that enables the consumer to stir the peanut butter directly through the sealed container by rotating the base, eliminating the need for external stirring tools and reducing the messiness of the traditional stirring approach
2Ease of operation
If consumers use external utensils to stir peanut butter after opening the container, then they can mix the separated phases, but the process becomes messy and cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the container and agitator into a single integrated unit, where the agitator is positioned inside the sealed container and can be activated by rotating the base. This merging eliminates the need for separate external utensils and allows mixing to occur within the sealed container, preventing messiness
3Ease of operation
If devices are inserted into opened containers to prevent separation, then mixing can be achieved, but the devices become soiled and require cleaning between uses
Solution Approach 1:
The agitator is pre-installed within the sealed container during manufacturing, positioned to reach into the peanut butter mass. This preliminary placement allows the consumer to activate the agitator immediately upon opening the container without needing to insert or clean any separate devices, as the agitator is already in position and can be operated through the sealed base
Data Source
AI summary
The invention of the present disclosure is that of functional packaging systems useful for reducing the separation of solid and liquid constituents of its contents. The invention is particularly useful for preventing the undesirable separation of solid and oil phases of food products such as natural peanut butter that is manufactured without the use of undesirable additives such as hydrogenated vegetable oils, lecithin, monoglycerides, diglycerides and other substances that slow separation of the solid and oil phases from one another. In one embodiment, the invention comprises a container with a rotating base which when rotated actuates the agitation of the product contained within, as a result of the concurrent rotation of one or more axes configured with an agitator or equivalent means of stirring or mixing the contents. The invention is further provided with hermetic sealing means and the like to ensure food safety.