Her child made her an inventor: How was the dripless cup invented? The story of Mandy Haberman
British Mandy Haberman had little to do with inventions until her third child, Emily, was born in 1980.
Emily was born with an inherited disease known as Stickler's syndrome or arthroophthalmopathy, which occurs in one in 10,000 babies, resulting in babies losing their ability to suck. Having trouble finding a product suitable for her baby in the market, Haberman used her problem-solving skills to develop a product that would solve the nutritional needs of Emily and other children with sucking difficulties, and as a result of her work in this area, a non-drip cup was invented.
Mandy Nicola Haberman (born 1954) is an English inventor and entrepreneur. She is a founding member and Freeman of the Guild of Entrepreneurs, Director of the Intellectual Property Awareness Network and a visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University, from where she has an honorary doctorate. She is best known for her successfully upheld patent enforcement battles and inventing the Haberman Feeder, the Anywayup Cup and the Suckle Feeder.
Ten years later, in 1990, at a friend's house, she saw a baby drop currant juice and soil the cream-colored carpet. Although the baby drank the currant juice from a baby bottle, also known as a training bottle, this bottle could leak when dropped. Haberman then invented what she called the Anywayup Cup. This cup only expelled the liquid inside if it was sucked from the mouth.
Haberman, who filed a patent for the Anywayup Cup sippy cup, unfortunately, had a hard time convincing vendors of the product's benefits. Later, she filled the non-drip glass she produced with water and sent it to a company by mail. From this point on, Haberman's life changed. When the company received the package sent to them, they saw that the glass inside did not drip a single drop of liquid, so they decided to order the product. Today, millions of sippy cups are sold all over the world, and Haberman has won numerous awards for her invention. Among these awards is the 2000 Best British Inventor of the Year award.
After filing lawsuits against several companies that copied and marketed her own invention, Haberman took part in many activities to make the patent system more efficient and also to support other inventors.
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