I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

Thanks!

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 23:37:29 GMT, (Doug White)
wrote:

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

A pump thermous would solve the spill problem
http://www.happychefuniforms.com/800-347-0288/order.cfm?ProductID=299&Ref=Category
But you'd have to pack a seperate cup.

Doug White wrote:

I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

When I were a lad, in the lab, 40 or so years ago, I was taught the
"correct" way to use those reagent bottles with ground glass stoppers. You
know the type, the all-glass cylindrical ones with half spherical tops and
ground glass stoppers with large flat tops, usually about a pint in size.

Especially designed for holding and handling dangerous chemicals.

Forgive me if I don't remember all the details accurately, but perhaps you
used two fingers to hold the stopper and three to hold the reagent bottle
while you poured some out into the container held in your other hand.

This was "proper" lab techinique, as taught in a good UK university - but it
was still s**t. The glass top would dribble eg sulphuric acid on your two
fingers, or perhaps the other three fingers, and if you used the alternative
technique [don't mention the alterna...] you got dribbles down the outside
of the bottle.


Plus ca change, plus, ca c'est la meme chose. [1]


Microbioligists' suppliers (and earlier chemists') have mostly solved the
problems of handling volumes of between 1 ul and 1 ml, where surface tension
can contain a quantity of liquid - but for anything larger, it ain't
happened yet. I'm still hoping ...


Me? I grab a few sheets of kitchen roll when I use a thermos flask for
drinks - when I use them for liquid oxygen I'm just very careful.

I don't know if you can do better than being careful - the traditional "lip"
does work if you use it so that you don't wet the most-outside-est edge, and
similar with a flask.






A challenge:

They have these fancy tops for plastic (eg PET) bottles now, you may have
seen the type - they have vertical slots on the threaded part, and a wide
flange on the bottle underneath that. The seal is a vertical pressure seal
between the flat undersurface of the cap (usually an insert) and the top
edge of the bottle.

The wide flange is partly to stop drips getting to the bottle and flowing
down it, making it look bad - but the challenge is, what are the slots for?

No prizes, beyond "I knew".

"I guessed right" is probably even better





[1] Wow!, an unusually large lot of accents got missed out there.


--
Peter

Simon writes complaining about the term "titsup" (Letters, 18 Jan). His
assertion that it is a reference to female mammalian anatomy is mistaken. It
is an American term, derived from "catsup" ("tomato sauce" in English). A
lighter, sweeter variant was developed for use on desserts, and named
"titsup" after the small bird (a favourite snack for cats.) Americans use
titsup much like the English use custard, hence the phrase "went titsup" is
the American equivalent of the English phrase "it all went to custard."

Filias
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/21/letters_2101/

In article ,
Peter Fairbrother wrote:

A challenge:

They have these fancy tops for plastic (eg PET) bottles now, you may have
seen the type - they have vertical slots on the threaded part, and a wide
flange on the bottle underneath that. The seal is a vertical pressure seal
between the flat undersurface of the cap (usually an insert) and the top
edge of the bottle.

The wide flange is partly to stop drips getting to the bottle and flowing
down it, making it look bad - but the challenge is, what are the slots for?

Pressure relief. Enough pressure, the insert lifts slightly, the slots
allow the pressure to escape past the threads, the flange causes the
"blowby" to disperse, preventing "rocket" effect, the top re-seats, the
bottle stays sealed. A bottle-top analog of the self-resetting circuit
breaker.

Boiled down, allows stuff that can/does ferment (like ketchup) without
"going bad" after opening to be kept sealed to "food safety standards"
without sealing it so tight the pressure can rise high enough to cause
the container to explode.

Any "drip-stopping" behavior is an accidental side-effect that gets
exploited for advertising purposes.

How'd I do?

--
Don Bruder - - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004.
Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the
subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address.
See http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html for full details.

Don Bruder wrote:

In article ,
Peter Fairbrother wrote:

A challenge:

They have these fancy tops for plastic (eg PET) bottles now, you may have
seen the type - they have vertical slots on the threaded part, and a wide
flange on the bottle underneath that. The seal is a vertical pressure seal
between the flat undersurface of the cap (usually an insert) and the top
edge of the bottle.

The wide flange is partly to stop drips getting to the bottle and flowing
down it, making it look bad - but the challenge is, what are the slots for?

Pressure relief. Enough pressure, the insert lifts slightly, the slots
allow the pressure to escape past the threads, the flange causes the
"blowby" to disperse, preventing "rocket" effect, the top re-seats, the
bottle stays sealed. A bottle-top analog of the self-resetting circuit
breaker.

Boiled down, allows stuff that can/does ferment (like ketchup) without
"going bad" after opening to be kept sealed to "food safety standards"
without sealing it so tight the pressure can rise high enough to cause
the container to explode.

Any "drip-stopping" behavior is an accidental side-effect that gets
exploited for advertising purposes.

How'd I do?

When the threads are together the slot in the bottle threads is filled by
the cap threads, and vice versa, unless they slots unusually align.

In article ,
Peter Fairbrother wrote:

Don Bruder wrote:

In article ,
Peter Fairbrother wrote:

A challenge:

They have these fancy tops for plastic (eg PET) bottles now, you may have
seen the type - they have vertical slots on the threaded part, and a wide
flange on the bottle underneath that. The seal is a vertical pressure seal
between the flat undersurface of the cap (usually an insert) and the top
edge of the bottle.

The wide flange is partly to stop drips getting to the bottle and flowing
down it, making it look bad - but the challenge is, what are the slots for?

Pressure relief. Enough pressure, the insert lifts slightly, the slots
allow the pressure to escape past the threads, the flange causes the
"blowby" to disperse, preventing "rocket" effect, the top re-seats, the
bottle stays sealed. A bottle-top analog of the self-resetting circuit
breaker.

Boiled down, allows stuff that can/does ferment (like ketchup) without
"going bad" after opening to be kept sealed to "food safety standards"
without sealing it so tight the pressure can rise high enough to cause
the container to explode.

Any "drip-stopping" behavior is an accidental side-effect that gets
exploited for advertising purposes.

How'd I do?

When the threads are together the slot in the bottle threads is filled by
the cap threads, and vice versa, unless they slots unusually align.


Ahhh, a wise observation, but not entirely true, grasshoppa! I have yet
to encounter one of these units where the slots (in both caps and the
necks they thread onto) isn't deeper than the mating threads, leaving a
clear passage to "outside" through both cap and neck threads. Often, the
threads on both seem to be on a "raised" portion of the respective
piece, allowing the groove to be substantially below the deepest point
that the mating thread can reach.

In the cases where the "raised threads" concept doesn't apply (notably
soda bottles and other carbonated beverage containers) the slots are
also usually staggered "oddly" - The cap may have 3, 4, 5, even 6 or 8
slots, *NOT* symmetrically arranged, while the neck sports 3-5 similarly
non-symmetrically spaced slots, almost guaranteeing that at least ONE
will be lined up to provide an open passage.

I'm looking at a "flavored fizzy water" bottle right now - Some
off-brand health-food sounding stuff that claims to be "nothing but wet
flavor" (boy, if THAT doesn't inspire me to rush right out and buy a
dozen cases... Guess it worked on SOMEbody, though, since it ended up
here. But I digress...) This one has 7 slots in the cap, arranged in a
way that strongly reminds me of graph paper with a logarithmic scale,
and 5 unevenly spaced slots around the neck. Even the slightest
loosening of the cap while squeezing the body of the bottle results in
the bottle collapsing easily. It's doubtful that I can exert enough
force with my hands to "activate" the "blowoff" feature without
loosening the cap a bit, but it's quite clear that the slots ARE
allowing free passage by the threaded area of the cap and neck.

--
Don Bruder - - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004.
Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the
subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address.
See http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html for full details.

I have a one litre Stanley and have had no problems. I make sure the arrow
on the cap is turned in the right direction and open it a full revolution
before pouring. I guess my hands are used to the heat and appreciate the
wamth. I am a Tea Granny of the first order.
Randy

"Doug White" wrote in message
...
I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

Thanks!

"Doug White" wrote in message
...
I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

Thanks!

Buy the 1 quart Nissan. Has lid you unsrew a little and you can pour into
the insulated cup and has a couple of extra plastic cups in the lid. Also,
the Stanley's do not keep stuff hot all day. Years ago they did, but no
more. The Nissan contents will still be hot the next day. I bought a
second Stanley as I thought the bottle was defective as the stuff was cold
after most of a day fishing. Tossed both of them. The only drawback of the
Nissan is they bend easier than the stanley when dropped on the edge of a
concrete block.
Bill

Keywords:
In article 9sl8e.1044157$6l.918131@pd7tw2no, "Randy Zimmerman" wrote:
I have a one litre Stanley and have had no problems. I make sure the arrow
on the cap is turned in the right direction and open it a full revolution
before pouring. I guess my hands are used to the heat and appreciate the
wamth. I am a Tea Granny of the first order.

I must have an older model (it's at least 25 years old). There are no
arrows on the cap. The lip that seals against the gasket on the stopper
is just a broad round edge, which guarantees that surface tension will
carry some of the liquid around so it can dribble down the side.

Doug White

OT

The blonde stopped at our job site and asked what that funny
"bottle" was. We explained it was a Thermos bottle that could
keep our hot things hot and our cold things cold.

Next day she came by with a brand new Thermos of her own. I asked
what she had decided to carry in her new Thermos.




Her reply is coming. . . . . . .


Chicken soup and a popsicle!!!!

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Doug White" wrote in message
...
I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with
hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal
flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having
them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single
wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller
Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble
nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push
button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated
cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some
sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of
the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess
every time
you use one.

Thanks!

If you are a Thermos junkie, try this place:

http://www.thermosonline.com/

Some are claimed leakproof as they are for briefcases.

B~

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 23:37:29 GMT, (Doug White)
wrote:

I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

I silversoldered a small stainless pouring lip on my Stanley, using
Harris Staybrite tin-silver solder. It was small enough that it
didn't interfere with screwing the cap on, but it poured easily
without dripping a drop for many years.

The cup is really plastic with a stainless "skin". I never found it
objectionably hot.

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 13:18:08 -0500, Don Foreman wrote:

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

Mine's a "Zojirushi," but they licensed to someone in the states a few
years ago. Stainless vacuum flask, plastic shell. Stopper has an
interrupted thread. Turn it a half turn and pour without drips.

Hardware store has 1 qt glass flask versions whose cup has a handle. Or,
just carry around an insulated mug.

Nissan/Thermos has a great 1 pt. version with a flip-cap that locks
closed. I've got one of those, too.

--
"Keep your ass behind you"
vladimir a t mad {dot} scientist {dot} com

On Sat, 16 Apr 2005 23:37:29 GMT, (Doug White)
wrote:

I have a large (1 quart) Stanley thermos that I like to fill with hot
cocoa when I'm going to be out on a cold day. It has two fatal flaws:

1) It is IMPOSSIBLE to pour liquids out of it without having them
spill and dribble all down the side.

2) The lid is supposed to be useful as a cup, but it's single wall
stainless steel, with no handle and if the contents are hot,
the cup gets WAY too hot to hang on to.

There are lots of alternative brands, and I even have a smaller Nissan
bottle. It has an insulated cup/cap, and it doesn't dribble nearly as
bad as the Stanley. However, it uses a stopper which has a push button
valve, and it's impossible to clean the valve easily.

There must be something on the market that has an insulated cup/cap, and
some sort of pour spout so it doesn't make a mess of everything.

I'm fed up with my Stanley, and I'd really appreciate some sugestions for
other brands to avoid or take a look at. Oddly enough, none of the
on-line info I've found really mentions if they make a mess every time
you use one.

Thanks!

Odd...Ive never had that problem with Old Green, and the cup is
stainless steel, with a plastic liner.

And a screen door handle held on with a couple hose clamps.
Its survived being run over by a D8, falling off a drilling rig
derrick (did need a new cup though) and 30 yrs of abuse. I think I
have about 5 of them kicking around.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child -
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

In article , Gunner says...

Odd...Ive never had that problem with Old Green, and the cup is
stainless steel, with a plastic liner.

That was mine too. I was wondering if maybe his plastic liner
came adrift somehow. The only thing I didn't like about that
thermos was, the coarse threaded secondary cap (the one that
could be slacked off to pour, without undoing the larger threaded
cap) would get the liquid all over the threads, sorta hard to
keep clean.

I'd still have that, if I hadn't left it in the mens room one
one evening at work....

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Keywords:
In article . net, "Bill McKee" bmckee=at-ix.netcom.com wrote:

snip
Buy the 1 quart Nissan. Has lid you unsrew a little and you can pour into
the insulated cup and has a couple of extra plastic cups in the lid. Also,
the Stanley's do not keep stuff hot all day. Years ago they did, but no
more. The Nissan contents will still be hot the next day. I bought a
second Stanley as I thought the bottle was defective as the stuff was cold
after most of a day fishing. Tossed both of them. The only drawback of the
Nissan is they bend easier than the stanley when dropped on the edge of a
concrete block.

A couple people recommended the Nissan Thermos bottles, and I just bought
one. The top of the bottle has a small lip that prevents dribbling, and
the lid is lined to avoid cooking your fingers. I had a 20% off coupon
for a local housewares store, and they had them in stock. It looks very
nice, and is just what I was looking for.

Thanks to everyone who responded!

Doug White
One Happy Camper