The Cupcake Billy

This idea originated from a discussion I saw on improving the efficiency of cooking pots. It just so happened that the day before I'd brought a pan that had a base designed to spread the heat more evenly, so I put two and two together and came up with the following.

My friend Chris Smith has christened this design “The CUPCAKE BILLY”

The Base.

The bottom of the pot is ridged with several broken concentric circles. The gaps in the circles do not line up. The hot air therefore flows through a sort of maze to increase contact time and surface area. Unlike the pot I brought, these troughs and ridges can be seen on the interior of the pot. The reason for this should become clear in a moment.

The Walls.

The sides of the pot are corrugated. If you think of a German army gas mask canister you are on the right lines. These corrugations have several purposes.

Firstly they increase the exterior surface area to absorb more heat from a stove or solar cooker.

Secondly, they increase the interior surface area to give better transfer of heat to the pots contents –the ridges on the base interior do the same.

Thirdly, they strengthen the pot walls, allowing them to be thinner. This saves on materials and reduces mass, again giving better heat transfer. It may be possible to make a 1 litre pot with walls not much thicker than a coke can.

The Shape.

The top of the pot should be slightly wider than the base, so two pots of the same capacity can be nested if the owner desires. This gives the pot an appearance a little like those paper things for cup cakes, except the corrugations do not extend to the rim. This suggests that the entire pot could be stamped out of a flat sheet of aluminum by something like a hydraulic press.

The Handle.

The best handle configuration for such a pot is a billy or pail handle. This has the advantages that:

• Simple to manufacture.
• Allows the pot to be carried as a bucket.
• Allows the pot to be hung over a fire.
• Allows the pot to be swung around to settle tea leaves or coffee grounds.
• Is low mass.
• Allows the pot to fit in most stoves, solar box cookers or rucksacs.

The Lid.

The lid of the pot should have a folding ring as a handle –this allows the lid to be lifted off with a long stick if necessary. Such a lid with such a handle can also be used as a plate or cutting board.

That’s the basic idea: increased surface area for better heat transfer, and as a bonus, lighter construction for the same strength. There may be problems with this that I’ve not foreseen. The corrugations may make the thing a pain to clean, but this may just be a case of getting the right corrugation size and a suitable brush. A corrugation “wavelength” of about an inch seems about right, and the corrugations “sinewave”-like rather than more angular.

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