Chris Curro, 20, attends Cooper Union, which offers courses in architecture, art and engineering. The budding entrepreneur had the idea for the Rapid Packing Container as a part of the Invention Factory program at the school in New York City.
“I receive many packages at Cooper Union, with various supplies for my academic pursuits, and I noticed I always needed either keys, or a box cutter, or some other tool to open my packages,” he said. “So I thought to myself, ‘What if you didn't need a tool to open a box?’ ”
Tag teaming with his classmate Henry Wang, they created a cardboard box that requires no tape and can be opened with just your hands. They say it is faster and easier to put together and also uses 15-to-20 percent less cardboard, making it less wasteful.
Instead of using tape, their box has a removable wax strip with a recyclable adhesive. The box can be opened by simply pushing down on the top of the box, which then lies flat. It's also fully reversible.
“Along the way all these other great features, from the ease of recyclability, to the ease of storage, fell into place,” he said.
The video going viral has caught the attention of manufacturers, who Curro said are contacting them directly.
“The video was a way to present our idea to manufacturers so that we could actually go out and turn the Rapid Packing Container into a product,” he said. “The video going viral was certainly a surprise.”
Curro and Wang have filed a provisional patent application, and plan to file a non-provisional application.
While at John Jay, Curro said he was a member of the Greek Club, the Science Olympiad Team and a captain on the men’s swim team.
“I had a great time at John Jay and I'm thankful for how the school enabled me to get to this point in education,” he said.
After college, he said he hopes one of the several projects he is also working on will turn into a long-term business.
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