For those who drink wine on a semi-regular basis, the problem is a familiar one: after a glass is poured, the bottles can often drip excess liquid, ruining tablecloths and, worse, wasting wine. With his latest work, Prof. Daniel Perlman ’68 (PHYS) aims to fix that.

Perlman, who has authored or co-authored over 100 published patents and pending patents since arriving at Brandeis, according to his faculty page, has created a drip-free wine bottle. Over the course of three years, Perlman has studied the flow of liquid across the wine bottle’s lip, according to a March 22 BrandeisNOW article, eventually concluding that a groove just below the lip prevents the problem entirely.

While the BrandeisNOW article notes that there are already products available to prevent wine spillage, these products require separate devices that must be inserted into the bottle’s neck.

“I wanted to change the wine bottle itself,” Perlman is quoted in the BrandeisNOW article as saying. “I didn't want there to be the additional cost or inconvenience of buying an accessory.”

Working with engineer Greg Widberg, Perlman cut a groove just below the bottle’s opening. With this slight change, droplets of wine cannot move past the groove and end up falling into the glass, BrandeisNOW reports.

The drive to create and seek improvement for everyday life, however, is nothing new for Perlman. His previous inventions and innovations include the blend of “healthy fats” in Smart Balance margarine, which he developed with emeritus Prof. K.C. Hayes (BIOL).

In December 2015, Perlman also had a patent approved for coffee flour, a food ingredient and supplement made from parbaked coffee beans, which can add antioxidants and caffeine to baked goods.

“I’ve been intrigued for a long time with the antioxidants that are provided in coffee and have long wondered whether something could be done to increase the amount or yield of antioxidant in the coffee bean to make it a healthier product,” Perlman said in an interview with the Justice at the time, according to a Jan. 11, 2016 article. “I’ve also been intrigued by whether roasting coffee beans the traditional way resulted in loss of something really beneficial from the coffee bean.”

—Abby Patkin