BRITAIN, a nation of tea lovers, isn鈥檛 interested in the non-drip teapot. Three years ago, design engineer Damini Kumar invented her dripless teapot, but despite all the media attention and praise she has failed to interest a British manufacturer. So she鈥檚 now hawking her wares in another great tea-drinking nation鈥擜ustralia.
An unexpected hurdle for Kumar has been teapot makers鈥� reluctance to acknowledge that their products have a problem. 鈥淚f they produce a non-drip range, then they have to admit that the others drip,鈥� she says.
Teapots with sharp lips that quickly cut off the flow usually drip less, but most ceramic pots are stuck with rounded lips and a chronic drip. To solve that, Kumar鈥檚 teapot embodies four innovations. To stop dripping while you pour, the spout narrows towards the tip to ensure flow is fast enough to break the tea鈥檚 surface tension. Any tea that still flows onto the outside of the spout is channelled towards the cup by a groove.
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To prevent dripping as you return the pot to the horizontal, a ledge on the inside of the spout acts as an internal lip, ensuring that most drips occur inside the spout. Finally, if some Houdini drop should still make it out, the sharp edge of the groove on the spout鈥檚 underside will catch it鈥攈eld by the surface tension of a dangling drop.
鈥淭he teapot has long since been regarded as not capable of further improvement,鈥� says Martin Cole, an inventor and past president of Australia鈥檚 Institution of Engineers. 鈥淚鈥檓 impressed.鈥�
Kumar is also hoping to crack the American market, and the US patent office appears to be on her side. Last month, it allowed the innovation its first patent.