HE'S "that guy" who made your chip packets hard to open, but US chemical engineer John Spevacek, featured on the right, says at least he didn't invent the clamshell packaging for your action figures.

While thousands have been complaining since he outed himself as the designer of those impossible food seals last week, Mr Spevacek said his work – like the clamshell packets - actually contributed to the greater good.

"Clamshell packaging serves multiple functions for the store,” he said of the super-strong toy packets that not even The Hulk could open without bolt cutters.

“It lets the product be visible from both front and back. It allows for it to be hung (which is much preferred to having it on shelves), but most importantly, it makes it more difficult for someone to shoplift since the package is much bigger than the actual product.

“An easy opening package would defeat that last aspect entirely.”

If it makes you feel any better, Mr Spevacek said the clamshell was a pain for manufacturers too. The design meant fewer products could fit into shipping trucks, adding to the costs.

But where do you go after inventing such a milestone in food packaging.

Not to rest on his laurels, Mr Spevacek created a floor coating that dries in a tenth of a second, an implanted hearing aid and EKG electrodes that stay on the skin for longer without causing irritation.

“At present, I am working on making plastics from agricultural waste products, which always seems to surprise people,” he said.

“Look, if we can make plastics from black gloopy stuff that is buried in the ground, we certainly can make it from corn, mushrooms and a pretty much anything else you throw our way.”

He can also reveal there is no truth to any theories that chip bags pop at the bottom more often than the top. They’re both the same seal, he says, made in one long sheet and cut at the same point.



As for who invented the clamshell, that was US inventor Thomas Jake Lunsford, in 1978.