DIY Motor Oil Containers Get Big, Get Messy

May 29, 2012 - PRLog -- Do-It-Yourselfers are buying their motor oil in the bigger 1 gallon+ size containers, and moving away from the 1 quart containers, according to reports by Graham Packaging, one of the world's largest container manufacturers. With the larger containers comes increased chance of spills. Carm Pierce and Dan Vorhis of Everett, WA have an innovative container designed to address the drippy trend.

“Changing the oil in your car can be a messy business. I usually end up with some of the oil running down the engine. Dispensing the oil from the bigger containers without making a mess is even tougher. So we came up with a solution”, Pierce said.

Carm is owner of “Built Design”, a 9 year-old industrial design shop based in Everett Washington. “Built” creates products and product displays with some of the largest outdoor manufacturers on the continent. Dan Vorhis is an independent product designer who works on projects with Carm.

"Our new motor oil container design solves the problem of getting oil from the container into the car’s engine, and does it without additional hardware and with very little additional container cost." Pierce explains.

“Instead of trying to flip the motor oil container over after removing the lid, you leave the lid on, turn the container over the car’s valve cover opening, and tighten. The top of the lid pops open, dispensing the oil. No mess.”  

If not all the oil is needed, you can re-seal the container like a standard container, without using the pop-top feature.

“We tried to come up with something that will not add significant cost to the container. When 3 billion of anything is made each year, every gram of material and every second in manufacturing counts.”

The new design is patent pending. Pierce and Vorhis hope their invention will catch the eye of a container manufacturer or motor oil company looking for a packaging edge.