Spice Drawer Compartment Layout for Mixed Bottle Shapes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spice racks fail to efficiently organize, store, and retrieve varying shaped and sized spice bottles due to issues such as wasted space, visibility, and stability problems, particularly in accommodating square or rectangular containers.
Innovation Solution
A portable spice rack with vertically stacked, uniquely designed compartments that can accommodate square, rectangular, and circular spice bottles, utilizing a rectangular housing with angled supporting walls to securely store and display bottles of different shapes and sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If spice bottles are placed on a shelf, then they are easily accessible, but bottles behind front bottles are not visible and difficult to reach
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from horizontal shelf storage to vertical drawer storage, changing the spatial dimension. Drawers can be pulled out to bring bottles to the front, making all labels visible and accessible without stacking bottles horizontally where back bottles remain hidden.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage space is divided into multiple compartments within drawers, each capable of holding individual bottles. This segmentation allows bottles to be arranged in an organized manner where each bottle can be accessed independently without disturbing others.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a curved compartment is used to accommodate circular spice bottles, then circular bottles are securely held, but square or rectangular bottles cannot be accommodated
Solution Approach 1:
The drawer compartments are designed with flexible, adjustable dividers and supporting walls that can be configured to accommodate multiple bottle shapes (circular, square, rectangular). This universal design allows the same compartment structure to securely hold different container types without requiring shape-specific compartments.
Solution Approach 2:
The supporting walls within compartments are designed to be adjustable or flexible rather than fixed, allowing them to adapt to different bottle shapes and sizes. This dynamic configuration enables secure placement of various container types while maintaining reliability.
3Ease of operation
If a circular spinning carousel is used, then spice bottles can be rotated for access, but bottles fall off due to centrifugal force and bottles in the center are difficult to retrieve
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a single rotating carousel, the patent uses multiple stationary drawers with segmented compartments. Each drawer can be independently pulled out for access, eliminating the need for rotation and the associated centrifugal forces that cause bottles to fall.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than rotating the entire storage structure to access bottles (carousel approach), the patent inverts the approach by keeping bottles stationary in fixed compartments and moving the drawer front outward for access. This eliminates centrifugal forces and improves bottle stability.
4Loss of information
If an expandable plastic 3-tier step is used, then spice bottles are displayed in a stair-step fashion for visibility, but labels on upper steps are covered by bottles below and space is wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses vertical stacking of drawers in the vertical dimension rather than horizontal tiered steps. This allows maximum utilization of vertical space while keeping all bottles at similar access levels, eliminating the need for stepped configurations that waste space and block labels.
Solution Approach 2:
Each drawer is segmented into multiple compartments that can hold bottles of varying sizes. This segmentation allows efficient packing of bottles in each drawer, maximizing space utilization while maintaining label visibility through the drawer front.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable spice rack that comprises a square or rectangular shaped housing and a plurality of spice drawers which are stacked vertically within the housing. The spice drawers provide a plurality of compartments that are uniquely designed to accommodate storing and retrieving varying shaped and sized spice bottles or other types of containers. Specifically, the spice drawer provides a substantially rectangular compartment having a base further providing a slot formed by an opening and opposed supporting walls. The rectangular compartment and slot within the base coact to enable, in particular, square, rectangular, and/or circular spice bottles or containers, or any combination thereof, to be stored and retrieved at the same time within any of the plurality of compartments within the spice rack.