Cup takes hiccups to task
A Pennsylvania man says he has invented a patented drinking cup that stops the hiccups.
The device developed by Phil Ehlinger Jr. passes a benign electrical current to the throat nerve that controls hiccupping reflex, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
He received a federal patent for the cup on June 13 and began selling it on his Web site, www.hic-cups.com, last month. The cup has been registered with the Food and Drug Administration.
The cup is made from stainless steel and brass, which produce a mild ion flow when immersed in water.
Ehlinger, a zoning officer in Doylestown Borough in Pennsylvania's Bucks County, said he has spent years working on the design after he was confronted with the problem when his wife, Michele, suffered from hiccups while pregnant.
He cautioned the newspaper "we make no claims, medical or scientific, other than in our experience this device works."
Copyright 2006 by United Press International