Suction Cups
A brief history of the powerful Sticky Pod suction cups and how they came to become a Sticky
Pod suction cup for our car camera mounts.
Sticky Pod camera mounts rely on highly refined heavy duty suction cups that can
withstand the harsh environment caused by the forces placed on it while driving at high
speeds. Unlike most other car camera mounts, the Sticky Pod uses suction cups and not vacuum
cups. The principle behind how they work is the same, but their function is completely
different.
Principles of a Vacuum
Suction cups and vacuum cups both use the same principle. When a lack of
air pressure (vacuum) is present between a smooth non-porous surface and the mated side of a
suction cup or vacuum cup, the higher atmospheric pressure outside of the cup enables the suction
or vacuum cup to maintain it's grip. The lower the pressure under the suction cup means the
greater the force it takes to remove it from it's mated surface. It's amazing how a
difference in air pressure can create such a powerful holding force. Then again, think about
what happens when you dive under water. After you travel only 4 or 5 feet below the water's
surface, you feel a tremendous amount of pressure on your ear drums. It's this same pressure
above water that makes a suction cup work as well as it does. When you look at this
mathematically, you get some very impressive results. Normal atmospheric pressure at sea
level is 15 pounds per square inch. That means that every square inch of your body is
subjected to 15 pounds of pressure against it. If you remove 13 pounds per square inch of
pressure from the underside of a suction or vacuum cup (leaving only 2 pounds per square inch),
then you're creating 13 pounds per square inch of force against the topside surface area.
Combine this pressure differential with a heavy duty industrial flexible material and
you will have one very tough suction cup. The Sticky Pod suction cups consist of 7.75
square inches of surface area, combined with a very tough industrial material and 13 pounds per
square inch pushing against this surface brings the total holding force per suction cup
to 100.75 pounds at sea level! We use up to 11 suction cups for some of our mounts with the
option to add another 12 to your configuration. When you add all this up, you can see why a
Sticky Pod works so well.
Suction Cups
Suction cups provide a means of attaching just about anything to a smooth,
non-porous surface without any mechanical intervention. A suction cup has the ability to
squeeze out most or all of the air from the underside between itself and it's mated surface.
This is accomplished by simply applying pressure to the center of the topside of the suction cup as
it sits on the surface you intend to mate it to. This is a very quick and effortless
process. You don't need to be strong or have any special training. Just be sure the
suction cup is clean and the mating surface is clean. When the suction cup is smooth,
clean and well built and your surface is smooth, clean and non-porous, a suction cup can
stay in place indefinitely. The key is to make sure no air can get between the mating surface
and the suction cup. To achieve a smooth suction cup surface, the suction cup must be made
from the right materials. This is key for maintaining a high degree of durability.
Also, since Sticky Pod suction cups are flexible, they can be mated to any curved or flat
surface.
Vacuum Cups
Vacuum cups are very different from suction cups even though they perform a
similar function. Vacuum cups are designed to pickup flat objects only. For example, a
piece of paper or a sheet of glass, metal or plastic. Vacuum cups require a mechanical
intervention by the user to remove the air pressure from their underside. An example of
these are the pumps that can be seen on the side of vacuum cups. Since the air must be
removed from under the vacuum cup, the cup must be preshaped to fit the surface it's being mated
to. So if you have want to lift flat glass, then the vacuum cup must have a flat seal to grip
the glass. The material surface must be non-porous, just like suction cups, but the vacuum
cup must match the shape of the object it is going to mate to. This is why vacuum cups
will never work well on the outside of a car or any other vehicle with a curved surface
because almost all vacuum cups are designed for flat surfaces and not the curved surfaces of a
car. Any vacuum cup designed for a car would have to be designed for a very specific
curved surface. Also, because the vacuum cup uses a pump to create the vacuum, it
must be constructed of harder, less flexible materials. This limits the vacuum cups
capabilities by limiting the number of mating surfaces.
History of Suction and Vacuum Cups
The first cups to use a vacuum would be classified as vacuum cups by today's
definition. In 1663, Otto van Guericke created two massive vacuum cups made out of copper and
mated them together by pumping out the air on the inside of the two halves. He then attached
two teams of horses, eight on each side, and they tried to pull the two halves apart. To the
shock of all the towns people, the horses failed. Then Otto simply opened a relief valve and
the two halves fell apart.
The modern day suction cup, not vacuum cup, as we know it was invented by J.W.
Greene in 1889. Any guesses what he did with them? Of course, these devices were
invented to enlarge women's breasts! Sounds like a bad spam email, I know, but that's
what he did with them.
I hope this helps you understand the difference between suction cups and
vacuum cups. It's important for you to understand why a Sticky Pod works so well. To
buy your Sticky Pod suction cups, just click here.
Tom Heibel
Sticky Pod Inventor
www.stickypod.com
Local or International: 303-910-8080
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