I get frustrated when I've just made a cup of coffee, then get called away from my desk, only to come back to a luke warm or even cold cuppa. So, how about making a coffee cup with a couple of metal strips attached to the bottom. The desk, table or whatever has a clearly labelled Induction pad built into it, so, when your called away from your desk, pop the cup on the induction pad, there's not enough metal on the bottom of the cup to cause the coffee to get too hot and boil, just enough to make sure enough heat is transferred through the base of the cup to keep the coffee warm.
-- Micky Dread, Nov 11 2003

Cup Heater http://www.ofite.co...ermocups/130-20.htm
OoOOoh ... Induction! [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004]

Coffee http://www.ecm-espr.../product/galdet.htm
MmMmmm ... coffee [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004]

USB Coffee Cup Heater http://gcc.signalhi.../Stuff/fun/cute.htm
MMmmMmm ... Japanese [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004]

Mug Warmer http://store.yahoo....otcoms/mugwaps.html
MmmMmm ... baked [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004]

Power spots http://www.halfbake.../idea/Power_20Spots
See links within for two baking versions of the base mat that the cup would sit on. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004]

Sorry -- on a link spree ... I think the indivijual cup heaters are widely baked indeed ... although not as modular, or sleek as your idea, but the premise has been arround for a while ...
-- Letsbuildafort, Nov 11 2003


[LBaF] - You seem to know a lot about coffee cup technology... just out of curiousity, is iced coffee an anathema to you?
-- Detly, Nov 11 2003


Well, I was actually thinking of a more subtle approach, the main factor here being that once you lift your coffee cup off the induction pad, its cold to the touch immediately, the other links all refer to normal methods of heating, which I assume remain hot for some time after the cup has been removed.
-- Micky Dread, Nov 11 2003


For that early morning fuel injection.
-- Detly, Nov 11 2003


[UnaBubba, Detly] What are you guys on about? Oh! well, I'm going home for a lightly chilled Coopers Sparkling Ale. So there!!
-- Micky Dread, Nov 12 2003


OOOOooh. Please don't talk about beer. Not today.
-- squeak, Nov 12 2003


Cute idea. The upside is that you don't have a burning hot patch like conventional cup warmers. The downside is that your metal pen explodes if you leave it too close to the induction pad.

Letsbuildafort: Did you find anything about induction on your travels? I can't find anything about it on your links. I even followed the link to the one captioned "OoOOoh ... Induction!" and found only a conductive device.
-- st3f, Nov 12 2003


I like it. There are a couple of companies bringing to market generic induction charging devices for cellphones, PDAs and other handheld devices. This would be a nice add-on purchase for them.

Instead of a single-use device like a coffee warmer, you'd have a pad on your desk that can both warm your coffee and recharge your cell phone. See the links within "Power Spots" for the company web sites.
-- krelnik, Nov 12 2003


Happy belated half-birthday, [Mickey].
-- lintkeeper2, Nov 12 2003



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