Paul Brown in 1991 the mouth of the ketchup bottle He designed a valve that allows the sauce to flow easily by turning it upside down. Thanks to this simple but effective invention, ketchup designs have almost completely changed.

Bottles, once called a design disaster, came back to life thanks to Brown, how did this inventor actually do that? the entire ketchup industry managed to change it?

Paul Brown in the early 1990s; He worked in a small shop in Michigan, USA.

As a designer and manufacturer, I initially created shampoo bottles. Store upside down without leaking He wanted to make a valve that would provide Brown promised a customer he could do it and got to work with a molding press and liquid silicone.

Brown didn’t like using computers and mostly on intuition was at work. He had planned the design quite well, but the models did not work well, and yet he continued to experiment with them for days.

Materials and prototypes were expensive to make and ultimately expensive He didn’t have much money left in his pocket. The indomitable entrepreneur had borrowed thousands of dollars from 11 friends and family, including his mother, to finance his prototype.

However, he was unable to get the design completely right.

The valve opens when the bottle is squeezed and automatically when the squeezing process is stopped. without leakage It had to close. The first major potential buyer was expected to arrive on Monday.

Friday 111 after a failed prototype Brown began to feel quite helpless and, as a last resort, called mold master Tim Socier.

He asked if he could work all night all weekend to create a final version, and luckily for him: Prototype 112 worked!

From this moment on Brown’s rise began. When Monday morning arrives, the potential buyer a real customer it had become.

Over the next few years, Brown’s patented valve would become popular.

Baby food manufacturer Gerber, in drinking glasses He bought the valve to use. Later, NASA also used it for its astronauts. leak-proof cups in space Bought to create. The design for shampoo bottles had already been created and the cosmetics industry began to turn to Brown.

But Brown both Heinz and its main rival Hunt’s When he got an offer from , he realized he had truly accomplished something great.

Consumers who love ketchup have been storing bottles upside down in the refrigerator for decades. This The system was not ideal because When a bottle was opened that was not intended to be stored upside down, the ketchup flowed like water.

Heinz uses Paul’s valve technology to prevent the entire bottle from being poured at once. upside down He wanted to create a newly designed series of ketchup bottles.

Paul went to work and applied the same valve technology to Heinz ketchup that he used for shampoo bottles.

As you can probably guess by now, The result was a great success. Heinz employees were also stunned by this incident.

Instead of shaking the bottle or removing the ketchup with a knife, it would now be possible to squeeze out the perfect amount with minimal effort. The ketchup in Paul’s upside-down bottle was a instead of flowing in a clump It came in a clean, straight line.

With the slogan “Ready When You Are” advertising campaign had started. Heinz’s upside-down bottles were an instant hit across the country. Ready-made ketchup bottles in supermarkets today, has become standard.

To continue his success, Paul Brown named his company Liquid Molding Systems, Inc. He sold it to the company for $13 million.

He paid off his debts and gave back more than enough money to everyone he borrowed from. Then in Florida It’s like a corner of heaven, In Arizona, he bought a place to park his trailer and built a state-of-the-art shed.

Paul Brown, behind all the great inventions the principle applied. After hundreds of attempts, he managed to find a solution to a problem that everyone knew.

By inventing the valve, he made many everyday products more practical. Of course for this He had to undergo 112 experiments and stress But when he received the $13 million prize, we’re sure he felt all his efforts were worth it.

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