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Hardware Hacking Toys

Self-Heating Coffee Hacking 377

Posted by timothy from the missing-the-mre-packs-with-heaters dept.
ptorrone writes "Awhile back I wrote about the new Wolfgang Puck self-heating coffee containers that took 10 years and $24 mil to develop. Well, I managed to find them in a local store and bought them to take apart to see how they work. Once activated, they reach 145 degrees in about 6 minutes. This isn't a review of the beverage, it's all about the stuff that makes the liquid hot, how it works, pictures and links to patents. I am looking in to how these could be recycled too."
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Self-Heating Coffee Hacking More

Self-Heating Coffee Hacking

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  • Wikipedia (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Avuton Olrich ( 819750 ) <avuton@gmail.com> on Saturday July 09, 2005 @08:58PM (#13023866) Homepage
    He should definitely put that into the wikipedia.

  • Instantly hot! (Score:5, Funny)

    by LandownEyes ( 838725 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @08:59PM (#13023871)
    I wish that worked on girlfriends...

  • Soup (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Punboy ( 737239 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:00PM (#13023878) Homepage
    This would be great for taking soups along with you. Especially for lunchs or breakfasts, or on hiking trips.

    • Re:Soup (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Speare ( 84249 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:20PM (#13023982) Homepage Journal
      Except for carrying out all that extra self-heating crap with you. You do pack out your garbage, right?

    • Re:Soup (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ocelotbob ( 173602 ) <ocelot.ocelotbob@org> on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:39PM (#13024056) Homepage
      Better to get some of the self-heating pads from army MREs. They're a lot smaller, they get hotter, and they're not designed to be idiot-proof. Much more fun, and better all the way around, plus easier to pack out.

      • Re:Soup (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10, 2005 @03:37AM (#13025289)
        Better to get some of the self-heating pads from army MREs.
        Yeah, but they'll only work if you have a rock, or something.

        • Re:Soup (Score:4, Informative)

          by Concerned Onlooker ( 473481 ) on Sunday July 10, 2005 @03:48AM (#13025322) Homepage Journal
          Yeah, but they'll only work if you have a rock, or something.

          I don't think anyone appreciates how funny this is. If you've ever seen the directions for how to use the heater packet for an MRE you'd know what this is about. There is a line drawing of someone using the heater and how it must be propped up in order to work correctly since it contains water. There is a label that points to the thing it's propped up against and it says "rock, or something." Brilliant.

          On a side note, I once took my girlfriend camping and I went to the trouble to bring out all the ingredients for stir fry, including the wok. Well, one of my friends showed up with a case of MREs and she decided she'd rather have one of those. Did I write girlfriend? I think I meant to write ex-girlfriend.

    • Sure, except who wants to eat Wolfgang Yuck on a hiking trip?

      I'd rather eat a pine cone than his commercialized versions of his already-bad food. So it's got a nifty heater. Still tastes like Yuck. Wolfgag Yuck!

  • Oh no! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:01PM (#13023879)
    Hot coffee hack? Wait till the ESRB hears about this!

  • Waste? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Mattwolf7 ( 633112 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:01PM (#13023881)
    Those seem like such a waste (on top of the $25 million)

    Why did this take so long to figure out? MRE's have been self-heating for a long time and the heater in them gets really hot in less time...

    • Re:Waste? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by n0-0p ( 325773 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:07PM (#13023912)
      I totally agree. I appreciate the Make post on how it works, but this product is taking throw away culture to an extreme. The convenience can't possibly be worth all the manufacturing and materials going into a single hot cup of cofee. And given the way it's packaged, there's no way you're going to reasonably recycle any of this. This is so wasteful it honestly offends me.
      • Couldn't agree more. The waste of that just to heat a few ounces of coffee reminds me of a Bugs Bunny cartoon where those two courteous chipmunks ("After you, my good sir." "No, I insist, you go first") end up in a lumber mill and you see entire logs getting shaved down just to make one toothpick.
      • This is so wasteful it honestly offends me
        This is actually the revised eco-friendly version; the original product trialled was suitcase-sized and contained an rip-cord triggered inflatable chef who would pour the coffee for you. You just know it's gotta be good coffee when the instructions contain the word "deploy".
    • "on top of the $25 million"

      That money didn't just vaporize, you know.

    • Re:Waste? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by prockcore ( 543967 )
      MRE's have been self-heating for a long time and the heater in them gets really hot in less time...

      Oh man, I can't wait until some lawyer gets sue-happy and sues the military for patent infringement.

      Then a bunch of marines will issue their response by rapelling down from the skylight and dropping their papers on the CEO's desk.

  • But why? (Score:2, Funny)

    by pointguy ( 761068 )
    But why would anyone buy Wolfgang Puck's coffee, which I've never heard him associated with? It's like the idea of buying Lil' Caesar tea... why would I?

    • Re:But why? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ryanov ( 193048 )
      I dunno where you are from, but at least in the NY area I've seen a number of Wolfgang Puck cold coffee drinks, akin to the Starbucks variety. They've become pretty common over here, and I think I've seen them in NY Penn Station among other places.

  • wasteful (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gonk ( 20202 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:03PM (#13023890) Homepage
    Okay, maybe it is neat that they've been able to make this work, but doesn't it seem just a bit wasteful to anyone but me? Western society at it's best, I guess.

    robert

    • Re:wasteful (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      They have had heating and cooling containers in Japan for at least a decade. Western...?

      Don't hate.

  • GTA tie-in (Score:5, Funny)

    by jridley ( 9305 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:04PM (#13023894)
    After the article earlier about the GTA hack, /.ers will all be much more interested in hot coffee than before.

  • No reheating? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ViciousVII ( 898461 )
    Would have been interesting if they made seperate compartments or something to allow for reheating later. And on a seperate note, what the hell did they spend $24 million on? The chemical compound? Beyond that everything else seems to be simple and already existing technology.
    • Getting Wolfgang Puck to endorse it :-p
    • And on a seperate note, what the hell did they spend $24 million on?

      Politicians. Even the SUV-loving twits at the EPA balked a tad at the thought of filling our landfills with these plastic monstrosities "constructed like a tank" (straight from TFA) for what amounts to a medium coffee.

      Otherwise... Well, we've all seen "Quik-Heet" hand and foot warmers. Same thing, different (but equally common) set of chemicals. Not a whole lot of R&D needed to figure out "keep the dry part dry and the wet part

  • The army has been using this tech (Score:5, Informative)

    by Punboy ( 737239 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:05PM (#13023897) Homepage
    The army has been using this technology in its rations for a loooong time now.
    • The army has been using this technology in its rations for a loooong time now.

      Christ, I've been *out* of the Army since 1990, and we didn't have that technology built into our MREs, so please don't put such an emphasis on the "long" part. I'm getting old, but don't push it.
  • Besides the breaking apart of the container (a literal hack since he cut the thing), how is this "hacking"?

  • Not a whole lot... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by arstchnca ( 887141 )
    The article notes that the container, while appearing very large, actually holds less coffee than one would originally think. Even after the author removed the insulation, there was still little room for the coffee itself.

    Also, because it uses a water / calcium oxide reaction (basic high school chemistry stuff), which means that it'll heat once and then become nothing more than another cup. While I have no idea how much these retail for, I'm sure that the price is inflated more by the "oh shiny" factor

    • Pricing... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Otto ( 17870 )
      While I have no idea how much these retail for, I'm sure that the price is inflated more by the "oh shiny" factor than production or development costs.

      Yeah, pretty much. A 4 pack sells for about $6. I found these in a grocery store a couple months back and picked up a 4 pack for the "oooh shiny" factor. The coffee was only so-so, of course, but it did deliver as promised. Coffee got properly hot.

      I too was struck by the weight and heft of the thing. I felt that it's be useful for camping trips because, i

  • great idea but.... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by R33MSpec ( 631206 )
    It's a great idea however the amount of coffee you actually get to drink compared to the mechanism that makes the whole thing work is quite a small amount (i.e like the size of a short macchiato).
  • I still have a bunch of the nifty paper MRE heaters Uncle Sam gave me back in.... '93. Sheesh. I'm getting old.
    • Exactly - this is another set of stupid patents that shouldn't have been awarded. The "innovation" is putting the water in a breakable container that is broken by pushing a button.

      It's laughable in its obviousness. My reaction when I saw it in a store was "I was wondering how long it would be before somebody started shipping that" followed by "SEVEN DOLLARS!!! Are they NUTS!!!?"

  • 25 Million and 10 years? Right... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by XorNand ( 517466 ) * on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:09PM (#13023923)
    25 Million and 10 years? That's like employing 15 scientists and engineers at a good wage (plus room for admin overhead), all working 40 hour weeks for an entire decade.

    For this low-tech device? Something doesn't add up.
    • Your figures fail to take into account the materials used in its development. That type of stuff could get expensive pretty quick. When you're prototyping something like this you're using some uncommon materials so they're more expensive to deal with, add onto this that some of those materials are being used in similarly uncommon ways and that even common materials (i.e. plastics) are being used in a low volume (molds can be expensive) and it just raises the cost. Beyond that, these are all prototypes, they
    • Ah, grasshopper. This is America, you have missed some things:

      Problem 1: Will it get too hot and burn a petty-lawsuit-starting lawyer?
      Problem 2: No matter how harmless the CaO, will it ever leak out from container failure?
      Problem 3: Will the FDA be OK with out materials?
      Problem 4: How do we make it simple to use?

      That's 4 problems in 10 seconds I thought of. Give them 31536000 times longer, and I'm sure they can come up with more.

    • Re:25 Million and 10 years? Right... (Score:5, Funny)

      by femto ( 459605 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:44PM (#13024079) Homepage
      $10k = scientist to develop the inside of the container.

      $500k = team of engineers to figure out how to make 10 million containers per month.

      $24,490k = marketing guys to decide on shape of the container and what to print on the outside of it.

    • That's called workplace politics. A group of engineers and scientists entrench themselves in a company. Despite making little to no progress or just complete crap for years and millions of dollars, they always look good to the managers that can actually do something about them, because they play the politics. This is what the "other 90%" of engineering and science majors do to make their living.

      Witnessing it firsthand is quite painful for a geek.
    • Just like when Ford claimed that it took 4 Billion Dollars to develop the Taurus in 1995 - pure bull. Exothermic devices are old hat. In Japan it is used to heat saki. The military use it to heat rations. Canadians use it to warm their hands in winter.

  • American Coffee (Score:2, Interesting)

    by nihilogos ( 87025 )
    Pulling it apart is probably the best thing you could do with it.

    You see, the thing that many people in the US completely miss is that the breweing of coffee was perfected in 1855 and it is senseless to mess with it. A shot of espresso made with freshly roasted / ground beans and on a well maintained machine by a well trained barrista is the apex of coffee perfection and cannot be improved upon. There is no substitute, and it cannot be put in an can.

    Why the hell such abominations as the Wolfgang Puck Gour
    • You see, the thing that many people in the US completely miss is that the breweing of coffee was perfected in 1855 and it is senseless to mess with it.

      We don't buy that line for ANYTHING, least of all our sources of caffeene.

      Not to mention that the invention of instant coffee added a whole new "ready in the front line" class to the beverage.

      And, of course, the fact is that since we're the land of the free and capitalism and all that, if your "well trained barrista" and whatnot could manage to sell coffe
      • he fact is that since we're the land of the free and capitalism and all that, if your "well trained barrista" and whatnot could manage to sell coffee, they'd smack Starbucks around.

        Bah. Much as I am loathe to quote Michael Moore, we all know capitalism selects the "ruthless but mediocre few."

    • Re:American Coffee (Score:5, Funny)

      by venicebeach ( 702856 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:19PM (#13023977) Homepage Journal
      You see, the thing that many people in the US completely miss is that the breweing of coffee was perfected in 1855 and it is senseless to mess with it. A shot of espresso made with freshly roasted / ground beans and on a well maintained machine by a well trained barrista is the apex of coffee perfection and cannot be improved upon.

      Wow, spoken like a true innovator. You must work for Microsoft.
      • Fuck Microsoft's lack of innovation. Our goal is to have nutrition beamed directly into our bloodstream. Innovators, get working!!!
      • Wow, spoken like a true innovator

        Wow, you managed to get in the obligatory anti-Microsoft comment on a story about a coffee can. Now that's innovation.
    • "A shot of espresso made with freshly roasted / ground beans and on a well maintained machine by a well trained barrista is the apex of coffee perfection and cannot be improved upon. There is no substitute, and it cannot be put in an can."

      Which is exactly why this thing will be a hot selling item. Wake up, not everybody can run off to their corner coffeeshop. I personally think this will be a big hit with fishermen.

      • you've never woken up late- and JAMMED your butt into the car, and had NO TIME..?

        I want a case of this on the backseat of my car.
    • Because, in comparison with what they claim is "coffee" in America Starbucks is amazingly tasty.

      Of course compared with coffee everywhere else I've had the pleasure of drinking it Starbucks is swill, but it's all relative.

    • Why the hell such abominations as the Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Latte and just about everything they serve at Starbacks are permitted to exist is beyond me.

      Here is why: Most people in America drown their coffee in milk or cream and saturate it with sugar. People don't like coffee, they like a slight coffee flavor. Wolfgang Puck's gourmet latte is the same thing most peoples' coffee tastes like but chilled. Quite frankly, I think it's a little gross, these people are putting so much crap in their coffee that i

    • Pulling it apart is probably the best thing you could do with it.

      You see, the thing that many people in the US completely miss is that the breweing of coffee was perfected in 1855 and it is senseless to mess with it. A shot of espresso made with freshly roasted / ground beans and on a well maintained machine by a well trained barrista is the apex of coffee perfection and cannot be improved upon. There is no substitute, and it cannot be put in an can.

      Why the hell such abominations as the Wolfgang Puck Gour

    • Re:American Coffee (Score:3, Insightful)

      by xeno-cat ( 147219 )
      While having your coffee made by a profesional is certainly the best, I have found second best to be using a stove top Bialetti espresso maker. These things are amazing.

      Bialetti link [bocchinelli.com]

      I have a fairly good espresso maker with a steam wand but have found the Bialetti to be less hasle and it makes better coffee.

      Also, I got a battery powered stove top milk frother that allows me to make as much foam and latte milk as a pan will hold, quickly. I can get stiffer foam out of the steam wand but the stove t

    • Unlike you, most of us don't like to lug around a coffee or Expresso machine while hiking or going out doors. Most coffee places aren't open at the times some outdoor activities start.

      Furthermore, your comment on coffee making is just silly. I think many Cubans would disagree with you on the "apex of coffee perfection" as would any culture are DIFFERENT from your own. I personally prefer Cuban coffee when available, even though I'm not Cuban.

      Starbucks exists because people like them. What a concept!
    • I always thought it was a poor substitute for the ultimate recipe, using an ibrik, perfected by the Turks in the 16th century.

  • I have an idea! (Score:3, Funny)

    by elmegil ( 12001 ) * on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:12PM (#13023936) Homepage Journal
    Let's just plug the MAKE blog's rss feed into Slashdot directly!

  • Coral cache (Score:2, Informative)

    by Codester ( 898604 )
    Lots of pictures... try this Coral cache [nyud.net]

    -Code

  • candidate for sabotage (Score:5, Funny)

    by 5plicer ( 886415 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:15PM (#13023952)
    I bet you'll start seeing obnoxious pple going through all of a store's stock pushing the heat button on each of the cans so that the end customer gets cold coffee :p

  • How much?? (Score:3)

    by rerunn ( 181278 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:16PM (#13023962)
    Anyone know how much one of these things cost? Do is it even taste good? I cant imagine it would be any better than any other instant coffee.
    • Anyone know how much one of these things cost?

      According to the all knowing Google [72.14.207.104]:

      $9 per four-pack of espresso, mocha, caramel, or French vanilla flavors

  • Has any of ./'s coffee nerds had a chance to try this stuff? The concept sounds kind of gross to me-- I can't imagine reheated coffee tasting all that great-- but I'd buy a couple for "emergencies" if they found some way to make it good. Can anybody comment on the taste?
  • You can easily remove the liquid and use it for something else.

    Which Liquid man?! I'm so confused already!!!

    Do I remove the coffee and heat my "hot choclate" or do I remove the water and wash part of my hand?

  • I haven't even seen a glimpse of these things in cali and for all the searching it was worth I couldn't find anyone selling them online...

  • There are 2 patents on this thing... (Score:5, Informative)

    by rolfwind ( 528248 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:27PM (#13024010)
    [/rant]
    The hack is cool.

    But this crappy coffee can is worthy of a patent? A calcium oxide/water reaction learned in any highschool advanced chemistry class?

    Reading the patent below, I must wonder if those who give out patents get lost in the gobbely-gook of the descriptions not to see that it seems to fail the basic requirements of a patent:

    http://www.patentsearchexpress.com/requirements.ht ml [patentsearchexpress.com]

    Especially in the view of non-obviousness in view of prior art. Self-heating pads using assorted chemicals have been around for a long time. How long was it before someone applied it to not to hands but to food/drinks which we've been warming up since like forever. This is question of application, not innovation.

    I also have to question the $24 million to develop this thing. Reminds me when GE (or maybe whirlpool???) came out with front-loading washers like 10 years or so ago and announced it took $100M to develop and spouting all the benefits of the system (lower water consumption, etcetera). When the europeans have been using front-loaders since at least the '50s, you gotta wonder who's been embezzling all that cash.

    [/rant]

    (From The article}
    United States Patent 5,461,867
    Scudder , et al. October 31, 1995
    Container with integral module for heating or cooling the contents

    Abstract
    An outer container for holding a material, such as a food, beverage or medicine with a sealed thermic module inside the container. The thermic module contains chemical reactants that mix upon actuation of the container by a user. Mixing of the reactants produces an exothermic or endothermic chemical reaction, depending upon the reactants selected. The contents of the outer container surround a portion of the outside surface of the thermic module, thereby facilitating conduction of heat. The thermic module has a hollow module body that is closed at one end and a module cap that seals the other end of the module body. The module body contains the solid reactant, and the module cap contains the liquid reactant. The module cap has a tubular section with a flexible member closing one end and a breakable barrier closing the other end. With the exception of the barrier, the cap is of unitary construction. The cap has one or more integrally formed prongs extending from the inner surface of the disc toward the barrier. The prongs move in an axial direction toward the barrier and may also spread apart radially when the outer surface of the flexible member or an actuator connected to it is depressed by the user's finger. The dual motion of the prongs in both axial and radial directions promotes complete puncturing of the barrier and thus fast mixing of the reactants.
    Link.
    • That abstract is pretty specific in its description of the system. In patent negotiator speak, it's a "narrow" patent. Narrow patents generally cover a very specific implementation (used to prevent direct cloning of a product in most cases), but due to their specific nature are easy to work around.

      Essentially, this patent doesn't cover CaO heaters in general, it covers this particular cup design. It wouldn't be too hard for any competitor to develop a cup that did the EXACT same thing without infringing
      • Yes, this patent is *very* specific:

        "With the exception of the barrier, the cap is of unitary construction." So, make the cap of two or more pieces. "The cap has one or more integrally formed prongs extending from the inner surface of the disc toward the barrier." So, have the prong not be integral. "The prongs move in an axial direction toward the barrier and may also spread apart radially when the outer surface of the flexible member or an actuator connected to it is depressed by the user's finger."
  • Self-heating cans have been around for ages and ages. I remember seeing ads for self-heating canned foods for camping back in the early 1980s. I first saw a can of self-heating sake in the Tokyo Hilton in 1996, ever since then I've been kicking myself for not buying it from the overpriced mini-bar. Self-heating foods are a staple of MREs in the US Military, it uses the same exothermic chemical packs.

    So, what's so special about the coffee cans now?

  • ho hum... nothing new here. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pair-a-noyd ( 594371 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:40PM (#13024059)
    The military has been doing this for YEARS.
    MRE heaters.. No big deal. You can buy them by the crateloads at gun shows for 50 cents each, will heat a meal in a few minutes, just add water. Stores forever.
    Must have items if you live on the coast where you may lose power from hurricanes, etc..

    (one of MANY places to get the things..)
    http://militarysurplusdepot.com/m_r_e_heater.html [militarysurplusdepot.com]

  • Mr Obviousman to the rescue! (Score:3, Funny)

    by paiute ( 550198 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:47PM (#13024088)
    I can't believe that noone has made the obligatory joke about the old woman who spills the Wolfgang Puck coffee on herself and then sues him for millions.

    Followed by the debunking replies who will supply the link to snopes.

    Followed by the bashing of lawyers.

    Then someone will blame it on MS/USPTO/RIAA/SCO.

    By then it will have thankfully dropped to the bottom of the page and then into old news.

  • Wow! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by iamdrscience ( 541136 ) on Saturday July 09, 2005 @09:49PM (#13024097) Homepage
    Finally I can get a hot cup of coffee anywhere I go, because, you know, it's not like there's a place to buy coffee on every corner.

    Oh wait, Starbucks...

    ...and a million other convenience stores, restaurants, cafes and coffeeshops.

  • Cost... (Score:2, Informative)

    by cobrabyte ( 626911 ) *
    According to USA Today [usatoday.com], the retail price is around $2.25.

    -c
  • even then, that is way too much for a primary school science kit.

  • Soup would be much better then coffee.

    I mean I can drink cold coffee but nothing is as nice as hot soup.

    Anyhow this isn't the first time something like this has been tried. I remember The self heating MRE's for US Troops.

    http://www.allproducts.com/manufacture98/cncrafts / product3.html [allproducts.com]

    http://www.heatermeals.com/heatermeals.html [heatermeals.com]

    Some time back they had a self cooling soda can too.

    My favorate reaction for something like this is Ferric chloride on aluminum, It gets hot enough to ignite paper almost i

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