Purist’s Sleek, Spill-Proof Scope Bottle Top
A 360-degree lid made possible by thoughtful design features
Purist first impressed us at Outdoor Retailer 2018, where they debuted their bottles with unbreakable interior glass finishes. Dubbed the Maker (10-ounce), Mover (18-ounce) and Founder (32-ounce), they’re perfectly minimal in design and available in several colors with three interchangeable lid options. One of those lids, called the Element, simply screws on and off and features a curved handle that tucks into one side. Another, the Union, is a leak-proof, BPA-free soft sipper for cold drinks. Now there’s a third, known as the Scope. It’s a 360-degree, spill-proof lid that can adjust to your desired drinking flow. The Scope Top rotates to make these adjustments, while retaining heat for 12 hours or keeping your beverage cold for 24 hours. While it doesn’t come with the included handle, the Scope Top is still their most impressive design yet.
“Designing a top that provides 360-degree sipping capabilities, where no orientation is required, is challenging in terms of fluid control and what is known as the ‘focus of flow,'” director of development Ryan Jones explains. Typically the drinker needs to orient their mouth to match the spout, but Purist’s Scope Top allows for sipping for any angle—without overflow. The top is constructed from three components Purist designers have dubbed the Sip Ring, Telescoping Elevator Top and Upper Seal.
Jones explains that three elements impact the experience: the lid’s dual-seal design, the height of the sip ring and the amount of open space the telescoping lid creates. If a calculation were incorrect along the way, too much liquid could pour out, the lid could open on its own and leak, or too little room would be available for the liquid and it would trickle out. Purist’s attempt to make the ideal drinking lid proves complex in design, but simple in use.
“This seal is also critical for providing the targeted ‘restrictive force’ for adjusting the Sip Ring during opening and closing,” Jones explains. “We found a target range of pounds of force in which the user is to apply to adjust the sip ring. This is again, a ‘natural’ amount of force required that we discovered was best for user experience. Too little force would mean there is not proper sealing and leaking would occur and it can be too easily influenced and therefore accidentally opened. Whereas too much force creates risk that the user may intend to open the Sip Ring for drinking but may accidentally unthread the entire top because of how much force is needed.”
These considerations also helped Purist address “spray back,” aka what happens when you open a sealed container storing a hot beverage: thermal pressure builds up and causes liquid to spray outward upon opening. The Scope Top’s helical track was designed to be nearly horizontal at the beginning, Jones tells us, to encourage a gradual and less explosive pressure release, preventing mess—and embarrassment.
Images courtesy of Purist
