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Pringles Can Designer Dies, Buried In a Pringles Can 261

Posted by kdawson 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."
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Pringles Can Designer Dies, Buried In a Pringles Can More

Pringles Can Designer Dies, Buried In a Pringles Can

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  • aha (Score:5, Funny)

    by rakslice ( 90330 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @02:47AM (#23615119) Homepage Journal
    so that's what they're made out of...

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by dotancohen ( 1015143 )

      so that's what they're made out of...
      Didn't you know? Solyent Green is people.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        and Solyent Plaid is Scottish people?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by kshade ( 914666 )
      Yep. From TFA:

      Fredric J. Baur was designer of P&G's Pringles container
      Chemist had a hand in many products

  • Pringles cans suck. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 3p1ph4ny ( 835701 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @02:47AM (#23615121) Homepage
    I can't get my hand in them to get the chips out of the bottom.

  • Popped (Score:5, Funny)

    by theurge14 ( 820596 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @02:51AM (#23615135)
    Once you croak, you must stop.

  • one advantage (Score:5, Funny)

    by nerdonamotorcycle ( 710980 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @02:51AM (#23615137)
    At least he'll be able to get good wi-fi.
  • What flavor of Pringles?

  • It could have been worse (Score:5, Funny)

    by nobodyman ( 90587 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @02:57AM (#23615161) Homepage

    He developed many products, including frying oils and a freeze-dried ice cream, for P&G... But the Pringles can was his proudest accomplishment...

    Let's just be thankful he was so proud of the pringles can. I'm uncomfortable with the thought of him being freeze-dried or, even worse, fried.

    • Re:It could have been worse (Score:4, Interesting)

      by vidarh ( 309115 ) <vidar@hokstad.com> on Sunday June 01, 2008 @05:20AM (#23615619) Homepage Journal
      You wouldn't like this [boingboing.net] then. A Swedish company is offering freeze drying of corpses as a more environmentally friendly alternative to cremation.

  • Once you pop, you can't stop (Score:5, Funny)

    by wilsoniya ( 902930 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:03AM (#23615189)
    ...until you drop (dead).

  • It was a good design... (Score:3, Informative)

    by lpangelrob ( 714473 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:03AM (#23615191)

    ...much better than the ubiquitous aluminum foil bag that chips now come in, which is 50 to 70% air (by design, so the chips don't smash each other in transit).

    That said, my hands are large enough that I usually can't reach the bottom 20% of the can. If they widened the Pringles can design so that my hands could reach the lingering chips on the bottom, that'd make my decade.

    • Re:It was a good design... (Score:5, Funny)

      by B3ryllium ( 571199 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:15AM (#23615245) Homepage
      Ah, so you're suggesting that they need to adjust for inflation ... of the American population. :)

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah 75% gas, not "air". It's nitrogen in the can before you tear the seal, they stay frsh forever.

    • That said, my hands are large enough that I usually can't reach the bottom 20% of the can. If they widened the Pringles can design so that my hands could reach the lingering chips on the bottom, that'd make my decade.

      There was no innovation or competition in the field of pringles-shaped cans for chips for the longest time, since they had a patent on the concept.

      That included triangular, square, rectangular, etc shaped cans.
      It's only recently that anyone other than Proctor and Gamble was able to stack chips in a can.

    • Please see comment further up in the thread, in which poster suggests tilting the can.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Fumus ( 1258966 )
      Interestingly, a very similar idea is used to trap monkeys without harming them. They put a long hollow tube attached to the ground and put some food in it. The monkeys put their hand in there and once they grab the food they can't squeeze their fist back through the tube. Most of the time they won't let go of the food, thus keeping themselves trapped.
    • The can is definitly a better use of space.

      But the bag, uses about the same amount of plastic as the cap of a pringles can, so there is much less waste, and is cheaper to produce.

      Although the can can be used again, it rarely is, especially by people who eat Pringles often.
    • That said, my hands are large enough that I usually can't reach the bottom 20% of the can.

      That's by design, as a sort of dosing mechanism. The idea is if you can't fit your hand in the can, you've had enough Pringles.
    • it's not really that good a design to be honest. For a start the packaging is a lot more expensive as is the machinery to pack it. The cans have to be shipped to the factory to be filled and obviously its quite a complex assembly.

      Compare this to the conventional bag plastic or aluminium its basically just a roll of film. The bag is formed as it is filled, as one is sealed it forms the bottom of the next packet in fact crisps are falling before there is actually a bag for them to go in. It's extremely fast a

  • Pringle's Can? Boring! (Score:5, Funny)

    by elnico ( 1290430 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:07AM (#23615205)
    You should have seen what Felix Klein was buried in [wikipedia.org].

  • Environmental Impact (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bazald ( 886779 ) <bazald@NoSPAM.zenipex.com> on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:18AM (#23615255) Homepage
    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.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by owlnation ( 858981 )

      So, no thanks for failing to consider the environmental impact of your design.
      That's unfair. The Pringles can is robust enough to be used for many other purposes. Who says you need to throw it away? Just because unthinking Joe Sixpack decides to throw something out doesn't make it the fault of the designer.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Scruffy Dan ( 1122291 )
        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.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by NeuroManson ( 214835 )
        Yeah, I recall something along those lines, building a long range wi-fi antenna with a Pringles can, right?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by bloodninja ( 1291306 )

        Just because unthinking Joe Sixpack decides to throw something out doesn't make it the fault of the designer.

        Actually, it does. The designer should be aware that the product will continue to exist even after it's intended purpose is fulfilled. But according to TFS the Pringles can was designed in 19fucking70. Nobody was thinking about recycling back then. The irresponsibility of the current design lays with Pringles, who have not changed the almost-40 year old design in light of current knowledge.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by 1u3hr ( 530656 )
      So, no thanks for failing to consider the environmental impact of your design.

      I think the health impact of a "food" consisting of fat, starch, salt and chemical flavourings was probably worse.

    • 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.

      It's pretty unfair to single out Pringles, when juice boxes have the exact same drawbacks. Besides, it's not like traditional potato chip bags are exactly a joy for recyclers...

      Not to mention that "recyclable" isn't the be-all, end-all. If some form of packaging is effective enough, it can be co

    • When were you in elementary school? 10 years ago? 20? 3?

    • Re:Environmental Impact (Score:4, Interesting)

      by khallow ( 566160 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @05:06AM (#23615585)
      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.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 )
        You say that as if inexpensively protecting food and package recycling are mutually exclusive ideals.
    • It's why I feel guilty buying Pringles here. The recycling guys won't even pick the cans up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Eudial ( 590661 )

      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.
      Dude! It was invented in the 1970s! Thinking of the environment wasn't invented back then!

  • Someone had to say it... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:21AM (#23615263)
    "I think Pringles' initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day that the rubber was supposed to show up, a big truckload of potatoes arrived. But Pringles was a laid-back company. They said "Fuck it. Cut 'em up."

    -Mitch Hedberg

  • Brazier (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:34AM (#23615313) Journal
    So that guy who invented the bra...

    Steve Jobs in a Mac?

    Bill Gates squashed into a floppy? He'll at least be "micro" and "soft".

  • Tags (Score:5, Funny)

    by taupin ( 1047372 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @03:34AM (#23615317)
    > humor, death
    I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

  • Potential mistake (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @04:09AM (#23615441) Journal
    Grave Digger A: "Dude, all this digging is making me hungry. Let's hurry up so we can catch a sandwich or something."

    Digger B: "Hey, whatta coincidence. I just found a can of Pringles down here. Here ya go."

    Digger A: "Bleck, they're stale and crumbled. Hey, do you still have that Twinkie we found last week?"

    Digger B: "Yes, but I do have doubts that its really a Twinkie."

    Digger A: "You worry too much; hand it over."
         
  • 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?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Chapter80 ( 926879 )
      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 c

  • ogligatory (Score:5, Funny)

    by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @07:09AM (#23616001)
    Cardiologist's Funeral

    A cardiologist died and was given an elaborate funeral attended by fellow physicians, family members, friends.... A huge heart covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service. Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever.

    At that point, one of the mourners burst into laughter. When all eyes stared at him, he said, "I'm sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral ....I'm a gynecologist."

    That's when the proctologist fainted.
  • Part of his remains was buried in a Pringles can - along with a regular urn containing the rest...

    So... which part did they put into the Pringles can?
    I shudder to think.

  • Smuggling beer in a Pringles Can (Score:3, Informative)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Sunday June 01, 2008 @02:53PM (#23619121) Journal

    True story. Parents weekend, 1987. Beer drinking in one room, parents in suite. Beer in fridge of other room. Turns out, two 12-oz cans fit perfectly in one empty Pringles can. Play it cool while walking across suite, hope nobody wants Pringles. It worked.

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