Geoff Howe and Associates wants to give football fans a surprise. The London
firm is patenting a drinks container that works like a jack-in-the-box, to tell
the buyer they have won a prize (GB 2328164). What looks like an ordinary drinks
can holds an imitation latex football, squashed on top of a spring and secured
by a flexed metal plate. When you tug on the can’s ring-pull, the top flies off
and the latex football pops out, expanding to full size, while throwing up a
prize ticket. The can is weighted so that buyers cannot tell which ones contain
winning tickets.
Technology
Prize surprise
By Barry Fox
22 May 1999
