Chiefs’ forward Kramer shows ingenuity

Darren Kramer doesn’t mind getting someone’s chin on his fist, but peanut butter? Well, that’s a different story.

There’s a different side to the Spokane Chiefs’ forward, who leads the Western Hockey League in fights and penalty minutes, that might surprise fans who cheer his near-nightly dustups.

“I’m a big peanut butter eater and it was always a pet peeve when I opened the jar and realized the peanut butter was in the bottom so when you stick the knife in you got peanut butter on your hand,” Kramer said. “The idea came to me all of a sudden.”

The idea – patent pending, he said – is for a more user-friendly peanut butter jar.

It’s really quite simple. It unscrews in the middle so when the jar is half empty it can be unscrewed and the top half recycled while the lid goes back on in the middle.

Since a former teammate came from a family that was well-off from a father’s invention, Kramer is determined to pursue his idea.

“It seemed like a good way to make money,” he said.

Kramer is well aware of other ideas out there, such as a collapsing jar and one that opens on both ends. One inventor even ended up on Oprah.

He’s made his pitch several times to no avail, but Kramer said he is determined to keep fighting.

Dave Trimmer