Pringles Can Inventor Buried in Can

Fredric Baur, an organic chemist and food storage technician at Procter & Gamble, revolutionized the snack food industry with his innovative design for the Pringles can. Before his invention, potato chips were typically sold in bags, leading to frequent breakage and a less-than-uniform product. Baur's challenge was to create a container that could protect the delicate, saddle-shaped chips and allow for efficient stacking. He filed a patent for his tubular container and the method of packaging the curved, stacked chips in 1966, with the patent being granted in 1970. This ingenious cylindrical design ensured the chips remained intact and fresh, a significant improvement over traditional packaging.

The resulting Pringles can became an iconic piece of packaging engineering, recognized globally for its distinctive shape and ability to preserve its contents. It was a testament to Baur's dedication to his work, which also included developing frying oils and even a less successful freeze-dried ice cream product called Coldsnap. His pride in the Pringles can was so profound that he expressed an unusual final wish: to have a portion of his ashes interred within one of his creations.

When Baur passed away at 89 years old in 2008, his children honored this unique request. They purchased an original flavor Pringles can, placed a portion of his cremated remains inside, and buried it in his grave in Springfield Township, Ohio. This remarkable tribute underscores the lasting impact of Baur's design, which not only solved a practical packaging problem but also became a celebrated symbol of snack culture worldwide.