Fizz-Nik was a product marketed by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies ...

company

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

. It was used in much the same way as a

drinking straw A drinking straw is a utensil that is intended to carry the contents of a beverage to one's mouth. Straws are commonly made from plastics but environmental concerns and new regulation have led to rise in reusable and biodegradable straws. These ...

, and was primarily developed to allow creation of an "instant

ice cream float An ice cream float or ice cream soda (also known as a spider in Australia and New Zealand), is a chilled beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water. When root beer and vanilla ...

" (also known as an ice cream soda).

Origin

The Fizz-Nik was modeled after the "Astro-Float" product, which was released shortly beforehand by the Coca Cola Company. Reflecting upon this trend,

named their similar product after the Russian "

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

Description

The Fizz-Nik resembled a round bubble. It was composed of two half-

sphere A sphere () is a Geometry, geometrical object that is a solid geometry, three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

s that snapped together with a

nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, ...

on each side.

Usage

The Fizz-Nik design was intended to create an instant ice cream float or to instantly chill soda as it passes through the bubble, which would be placed into the opening of the

glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...

soda bottle. The opposite end of the bubble was used for drinking. The Fizz-Nik was filled with either

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

, depending on whether one wanted to make an ice cream float or chill the soda. The Fizz-Nik was a sponsor on ''

The Soupy Sales Show Milton Supman (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009), known professionally as Soupy Sales, was an American comedian, actor, radio-television personality, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television serie ...

'' in the early 1960s. Soupy Sales would do a live demonstration of the product using ice cream that had melted under the studio lights, then assemble the device incorrectly, causing the concoction to spill all over himself, the demonstration table and the studio floor.

External links

Image of Fizz-NikImage of Astro-FloatUS Patent 2,975,925
Soft drinks