Slick New Motor Oil Container Design

July 22, 2012 - PRLog -- A new generation of environmentally-conscious do-it-yourselfers is discovering the joy of changing their own motor oil. For 30 minutes of effort squeezed under a vehicle in the driveway, the intrepid padawan mechanic receives the satisfaction of money saved, the glow of independence, and a wad of oily rags and sticky fingers.

Without intending to diminish the learning experience, Dan Vorhis and Carm Pierce have teamed up to make things a little less sticky.

“This new container design allows you to get the oil into the car easily - no funnels or oily rags needed,” says Dan.

Vorhis is an independent product designer with a number of patents who works on projects with Carm. Carm owns “Built Design”, a 9 year-old industrial design firm based in Everett Washington. “Built”, as the company is known, creates products and product displays for some of the largest outdoor manufacturers on the continent.

"The idea is this: Instead of taking the bottle cap off, flipping the container over and attempting to get oil into the engine, our design allows you to first flip the container over with cap still sealed. You position the container exactly where you want it. Then, to let the oil flow, you twist the cap on more tightly, and the top of the cap pops open." explains Vorhis.

"This eliminates the need for a funnel or other gadget, which multiplies the oily mess. It makes sense to solve the dispensing problem with the bottle design itself if you can do it economically".

It is estimated there are over 3 billion motor oil containers sold each year in the United States alone. That’s a lot of drips, with oil eventually finding its way onto road surfaces and into streams and rivers.

“A new generation of Do-It-Yourselfers is very conscious of the ecological impact of motor oil that washes out of urban areas into our waterways. A cleaner dispensing design just makes sense.” suggests Vorhis.

Vorhis's and Pierce’s invention is patent pending. They hope to sell their design to a packaging company, a blow molder, or perhaps an ecologically-minded motor oil company.