Two US teens patent solution to our ice cream cone woes

THERE are few things better than treating yourself to an ice cream on a hot day – but it can often be a race to eat it all before it drips messily on to your hands.

But two 14-year-olds have found an ingenious solution to the problem that could change the way we eat ice cream forever.

Best friends Sam Nassif and Oliver Greenwald, of Denver in the US, have invented the “Drip Drop” – a thick wafer saucer which fits around the ice cream cone to catch any pesky drips. The pair came up with the idea when they were both just 10.

“One day we were walking past an ice cream shop in our Denver neighbourhood and we saw these two little kids with drippy hands and messy clothes from their ice cream cones,” they said. “Their mom used a handful of napkins to try to clean them up. This image stayed in our minds.”

The pair worked with 3D printer models and a mold manu- facturer to make the perfect silicon template for the Drip Drop. They then tried at least 100 different mixes before finding the perfect recipe.

After coming second in an invention contest in 2011, they were granted a patent. And earlier this year, they impressed judges on US ABC TV show Shark Tank, doing what many of the adult competitors couldn’t: securing an investment from US businesswoman Barbara Corcoran. – Daily Mail