What Would We Do Without Cup Holders?
If German engineering leaves you cold and you couldn’t care less about steel alloy wheels, you may be a cup holder person. Yes, you may be one of those enlightened individuals who buys a particular vehicle solely for its ability to sufficiently steady your beverage of choice. If so, you’ll be excited to learn about something that may change your life.
When cup holder people look at cars, they see the promise — or lack thereof — of keeping their Venti Mocha Frappuccino from spilling during the few minutes that it leaves their steely grips. Some cup holders work better than others. With the good ones, you can tell the engineers were cup holder people who actually put some thought into it. The bad ones — well, we won’t even talk about the bad ones because it’s too painful.
A magical new cup holder
A new technological breakthrough may forever eliminate the scourge that is bad cup holders. A while back, Maksim Ghyvoronsky, an inventor at maksimatic in Washington, created an ingenious aftermarket cup holder that tilts and rolls as your car moves to prevent spills.
At first, the dreamy cup holder could only be installed at the factory for certain models of cars. But recently, due to astronomical demand, a version was made available for pre-order that works with just about every car available that already comes with cup holders.
Clearly, people love their cup holders and always seek a new and improved version. What’s the attraction to these plastic doo-dads?
A brief history of cup holders
People (especially Americans) have always had a love affair with cars… even after they learned that NY and NJ defensive driving courses reduce points. From the turn of the 20th century onward, cars represented success, youth, freedom and forgetting your cares as the wind whistled through your poufy up-do style.
Believe it or not, built-in cup holders were seen in cars as early as the 1920s. But it was the drive-in restaurant, which came to prominence in the ‘50s, that made cup holders famous.
At the time, most of the action of the drinking variety happened while the car was stationary, and the tray that drive-in servers attached to car windows worked fine. That tray served as a big step in the ultimate development of the cup holder, however. With the popularity of drive-in restaurants and drive-in movies, people began to realize the need for built-in trays; gloves compartments began coming with inside indentations to hold drinks as early as 1957. Still, the norm was drinking while the car wasn’t in motion.
In the ‘60s, people started longer commutes, during which they wanted to enjoy their morning coffee. After-market cup holders began to catch on. With the development of minivans, beverages in transit became even more common, and cup holders grew to be de rigueur.
Cup holders of the modern era
As time passed, cup holders in cars became sturdier and bigger to accommodate different sizes of cups. However, the size of cups continues to grow, and car designers are perplexed at designing holders for cups providing increasingly more gulps. One solution is the rise of “car cups” with narrower bases that are designed to fit in standard automotive cup holders.
As the love of cars has evolved, the cup holder has followed closely behind. What does the future hold for these handy gadgets and the people who love them? Time will tell!
Regardless of the size of your cup holders, always drive safely. If you’ve received a moving traffic violation or are interested in earning a discount on your auto insurance, consider traffic school or a defensive driving course. If you’ve received a traffic ticket, traffic court in your county may permit you to have the citation dismissed and avoid points being added to your driving record by completing traffic school. If you opt to enroll voluntarily in a traffic school, you may be rewarded with a safe driver discount from your car insurance provider.