Refrigerator Will Toss You Can of Beer

[Ian David]

By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- When John Cornwell graduated from Duke University last year, he landed a job as software engineer in Atlanta but soon found himself longing for his college lifestyle. So the engineering graduate built himself a reminder of life on campus: a refrigerator that can toss a can of beer to his couch with the click of a remote control.

"I conceived it right after I got out," said Cornwell, a May 2006 graduate from Huntington, N.Y. "I missed the college scene. It embodies the college spirit that I didn't want to let go of."

It took the 22-year-old Cornwell about 150 hours and $400 in parts to modify a mini-fridge common to many college dorm rooms into the beer-tossing contraption, which can launch 10 cans of beer from its magazine before needing a reload.

With a click of the remote, fashioned from a car's keyless entry device, a small elevator inside the refrigerator lifts a beer can through a hole and loads it into the fridge's catapult arm. A second click fires the device, tossing the beer up to 20 feet - "far enough to get to the couch," he said.

More:
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/B/BEER_TOSSING_FRIDGE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

On the Net:

Cornwell's Web Site: http://www.duke.edu/jwc13/index.html%emph-off

[Maddy McCall]

1. That is wild!

I'd love to have one that would throw me beverages while I'm in the pool...it'd beat having to get in and out of the pool to fetch them.

:D

[RebelOne]

2. Gotta hand it to us Atlantans. We sure are innovative.