In a typical oil changing operation, the do-itself-mechanic will use a bucket to drain the dirty oil from their car and replace the oil filter. The oil is transferred from the bucket to another container such as a spent milk jug and stored until it can be recycled or properly disposed of. To assist in transferring the oil, a funnel is normally utilized. Since it can not be secured there is a great potential for spillage. In addition, the oil trapped in the spent oil filter is difficult to remove and typically not completely drained. Because there is no easy way of completely draining this oil, much of the excess oil ends up being released in a land fill.

The Oil Filter Funnel Drain (OFFD) is basically a funnel with special molded in features to help the do-it-yourself mechanic change their oil more efficiently. These features will reduce oil spillage and also extract as much oil as possible from the spent oil filter. These improvements reduce the amount of oil released into the environment and make it easier for the do-it-yourself mechanic to change their oil. The OFFD includes features that:

• secure it to common spent milk jugs
• support a spent oil filter so that oil trapped inside is allowed to drain out completely without blocking this flow
• provides smooth drainage

The OFFD would be manufactured through injection molding and would be fabricated out of virgin or recycled HDPE.

Securing the OFFD to the milk jug can be accomplished by several means. In one rendition, a special ring is glued to a funnel. The ring is fabricated with a groove that secures to the top of the milk jug. This groove is fabricated to the shape of a typical milk jug cap – the groove is sized to a width that “snaps” onto the milk jug along with a lead-in. In another rendition, three flanges with the same shape as the area in contact of the ring are molded into the funnel

To support the spent oil filter, three flanges can be molded into the inside surface of the OFFD. To provide laminar flow out from the funnel, air needs a path to escape from the milk jug. This can be done by adding holes to the ring glued to the funnel or molding flutes into the funnel.

To get an idea of the value for my invention, I counted the number of oil funnels carried at the WalMart SuperCenter in Fishkill, New York.

Total funnel inventory $90.24

If the OFFD can be sold at a targeted price of $2.99 (close to the upper price for some non-descript oil funnels) and each WalMarts carry’s 25 OFFD’s, the total inventory would be $225,000 (1100 Discount stores and 1900 SuperCenters nationwide). A company selling to WalMarts will need to sell them for $1.50/each (100% markup). This company will need to make them for $0.75/each (100% markup). For a 75,000 piece run the company will make $56,250.