Cutlery – Can opener – With driven roller to continuously engage bead and...
Patent
1991-05-07
1993-01-26
Watts, Douglas D.
Cutlery
Can opener
With driven roller to continuously engage bead and...
30421, 30426, 30427, B67B 700, B67B 714, B67B 724, B67B 732
Patent
active
051813220
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to can openers. In particular the invention relates to a can opener of the type which will remove the lid of a can by making a cut through the outer part of the join between the lid and the wall of the can.
An example of such a can opener is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,986 to which reference is directed. The can opener shown in that Patent makes a thin cut around the rim through the material of the lid itself where it is folded over and around the top of the upright wall of the can. The lid is then removed from the rest of the can by means of a gripping mechanism which levers the lid from the remainder of the can.
Such a can opener has a number of advantages over existing can openers in that the remaining top edge of the opened can is not sharp. Thus what is in fact exposed is the turned over top edge of the side wall of the can and that is smooth and so unlikely to cut a user who may hold it or touch it. Also the top edge is still well reinforced by the remaining folded-over material of the can and so, when the can is gripped, it still retains it's shape. Further, since the cut takes place only on the outside of the can wall and there is no penetration through into the interior of the can, no metal filings or the like will contaminate the contents of the can and the possibly unhygienic cutting knife does not contact the contents of the can.
As explained in the above noted Patent, there are problems in providing the necessary close tolerances in the construction of the can opener and in maintaining them during a cutting operation and the above Patent aims to provide one way of achieving this. Good results can be achieved with can openers according to this Patent but the results arc not always consistent.
There are a wide range of shapes and sizes of can on the market, and we have found that there are large differences in the dimensions of the folded over seam joining the lid to the rest of the can. The can opener shown in the above noted Patent does not provide a way of dealing with these differences.
It is therefore an object of the present invention in one aspect to achieve this.
According to the invention in one aspect there is provided a can opener for opening a can having a lid joined to a main body by a rim, in which the can is opened by cutting through an outer part of the rim joining the lid with the main body of the can, in which the can opener comprises a rotatably supported cutter wheel for engaging and cutting the said outer part of the rim, a rotatable drive wheel for engaging the inner part of the rim, means for gripping the rim between the cutter wheel and drive wheel so that, upon rotation of the drive wheel, the can opener orbits around the rim of the can and the cutter wheel can complete a cut around the outer part of the rim, resilient means for allowing the cutter wheel to move resiliently in an axial direction along its axis of rotation, and cam means joined to the cutter wheel and axially spaced from the cutter wheel by a predetermined amount, the cam means being arranged to engage the, underside of the rim, the engagement underneath the rim moving the cam means and the cutter wheel against the resilient means to a position such that the cutter wheel makes its cut at a substantially constant predetermined distance up the rim from its lower end.
We find that with such a can opener a consistent good result can be achieved since, irrespective of the shape and size of the can or of the size and depth of the rim, a cut can be achieved in the best position for lid removal. In practice, or example, we have measured the depth of the rim in a wide variety of commercially available cans and have found that this depth can vary from about 2.5 mm to about 3.5 mm, and is not by any means consistent from one can of the same product to another. This problem is avoided by the invention, however, since the cam means will engage under the rim and if necessary move the cutter wheel against the resilient means to a set position above the lower edge of the rim. Further, if there is
REFERENCES:
patent: Re27504 (1961-09-01), Smith
patent: 2196182 (1940-04-01), Arnesen
patent: 2255641 (1941-09-01), Arnesen
patent: 4251917 (1981-02-01), Peres
patent: 4641714 (1987-02-01), Ferioli
patent: 4733472 (1988-03-01), Belcourt
patent: 4734986 (1988-04-01), Peters
patent: 4782594 (1988-11-01), Porucznik et al.
Heyrana Sr. Paul M.
Maxpat Trading & Marketing (Far West) Limited
Watts Douglas D.
LandOfFree
Can openers does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Can openers, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Can openers will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1406561