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Pringles Can Designer Dies, Buried In a Pringles Can

Posted by kdawson on from the can-you-hear-me-now dept.

n3hat sends along an item from the Cincinnati Enquirer: "Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles... that he asked his family to bury him in one. His children honored his request. Part of his remains was buried in a Pringles can — along with a regular urn containing the rest... Dr. Baur, a retired organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Procter & Gamble, died May 4 at 89... He developed many products, including frying oils and a freeze-dried ice cream, for P&G... But the Pringles can was his proudest accomplishment, his daughter said. He received a patent for the package as well as the method of packaging Pringles in 1970."

12 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Environmental Impact by bazald · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember visiting a recycling center when I was in elementary school. One particular item that they picked on as being very difficult to recycle was the Pringles can. A bizarre combination of metal, cardboard, and plastic, it is almost impossible for them to get the components apart.

    So, no thanks for failing to consider the environmental impact of your design.

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    Insert self-referential sig here.
    1. Re:Environmental Impact by Scruffy+Dan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually it does. Designers should realize what the general public (aka: unthinking Joe Sixpack) will do with their products, not what some idealized consumer will do. Also while I don't eat that many pringles (no more than 5 cans a year at most) I can't figure out what to so with that many cans.

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      Just another crappy blog
    2. Re:Environmental Impact by NeuroManson · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yeah, I recall something along those lines, building a long range wi-fi antenna with a Pringles can, right?

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      Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
    3. Re:Environmental Impact by khallow · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Recycling is the classic example of why just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should do it. Even if one ignores the difficulties of seperating the components of a Pringle's can, I doubt there's anything in a Pringle's can that is worth recycling now much less then. Nor do I see the point to making the can out of something more recyclable. More goods are wasted with shoddy packaging. More time is wasted when people have to sort trash so that some money-losing recycling center can pretend to save the environment and landfill space.

    4. Re:Environmental Impact by Gryle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Clean 'em out and use 'em to store other foods.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
    5. Re:Environmental Impact by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You say that as if inexpensively protecting food and package recycling are mutually exclusive ideals.

  2. Re:It could have been worse by vidarh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You wouldn't like this then. A Swedish company is offering freeze drying of corpses as a more environmentally friendly alternative to cremation.

  3. What is so special about it? by Fross · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The Pringles can never struck me as particularly good design - chips would still smash at the bottom, it was just a tube, and you can't even get your hand in to the bottom like a regular bag of chips, you need to tilt it and shower yourself in crumbs.

    Anyone mind giving some information on why it was supposedly so revolutionary and he would be so proud of it?

    1. Re:What is so special about it? by Chapter80 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      My mom was on the consumer test panel for Pringles before the product came out. So we got white ("generic") cans labeled "A" and "B" (or something like that) full of different Pringle mixes.

      She served them at a party as part of the test (logging people's feedback), and EVERYONE was blown away by this new, unconventional chip! It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. (these were the days of "space age" products like "Tang".)

      Not that a cylinder can is particularly a good design. I think the chip itself is the genius part. We poured the chips into bowls, as well as a bagged chip (maybe Husman's, a local favorite), and the vast majority of the Pringles (er, Brand "A" and "B") were whole and the bowl was practically overflowing. The competitive brand, whose package was much bigger, were all crumbly and barely reached the top of the bowl.

      P&G invented a new class of product which became a huge seller over the years. Genius.

      As an aside, this was a much more pleasant test than some of the deodorant panels she volunteered for!

  4. Re:Pringles cans suck. by phozz+bare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ah, but you can also use the lid as a plate for collecting crumbs if you don't want your palms to get all greasy.

  5. Re:It could have been worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Some people say freeze-drying is better for the environment, compared to cremation.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/2007/04/ill_compost_your_corpse_1.html

  6. Re: thinking about recycling back then by zmollusc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Now listen here, sonny. Both 'Stig of the dump' and 'The Wombles' predate 19fucking70, as do I. Now get OFF my DAMN lawn and get a haircut.

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