BMW patents bottom-filling champagne glasses

Imagine this: you're being transported at 189km/h down an autobahn on your way to an important meeting. You've just finished haranguing your personal assistant about his use of Comic Sans on an important document.

You're a little stressed out, and need to relax. So, you begin pouring a small pre-meeting drink into your car's bespoke, hand-engraved champagne flute, and then your driver hits the brakes because some lowly Civic Type R thinks he belongs in the left lane.

The drink is spilt, the car's Andalusian alpaca floor mats will need to be incinerated, and your Savile Row suit is ruined. Apart from firing everyone within a kilometre radius, even those not employed by you, what else are you to do?

Naturally, you get on the blower to demand a solution from Rolls-Royce and their BMW corporate overlords.

According to a patent filing discovered by AutoGuide, the Germans may have found a solution.

The filing details a redesigned flute with a spring-loaded valve at the bottom, and which can be activated when the glass is in the holder. When the valve is open, the flute can be filled with liquid from one of two in-car beverage reservoirs.

No word yet on when this system might find its way into production, but Rolls-Royce vehicles and top-end BMW 7 Series models would seem the most likely candidates.

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