Receptacles – Closures – With closure opening arrangements for means
Patent
1991-03-18
1993-01-05
Shoap, Allan N.
Receptacles
Closures
With closure opening arrangements for means
220270, 220724, B65D 1740
Patent
active
051762790
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of container caps. In particular, the present invention relates to a cap or cover protector used in association with a container. The present invention, in one specific form, relates to a cap or cover for a beer keg.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Throughout the specification, the term "cap" includes a cover, seal or plug or other means for protecting or sheltering.
BACKGROUND ART
U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,349 discloses a crown cap for a bottle having a pull tab thereon which is pulled to separate the cap and remove the cap from the bottle.
G.B. 1,415,466 discloses a cap for a beer keg having a pull tab thereon which is pulled to fracture the skirt of the cap to enable removal of the cap from a beer keg.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,750 discloses a cap for a beer keg having a pull tab thereon which is pulled to separate the cap thus enabling removal of the cap from the beer keg.
Australian Patent Application No. 42201/85 discloses a similar cap to that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,750.
Often, pull tabs of the prior art are difficult to grasp with a user's fingers, do not tear the cap as desired to cause removal of the cap and/or break-off mid-way through the pulling action, thereby rendering the cap difficult to, and in some cases not, removable.
With regard to a beer keg cap disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,750, in particular, problems have been encountered in the use of the cap.
Many brewing companies utilise automation techniques in filling beer kegs and providing a keg cap or seal on the filled keg. It has been found that due to the openness of the exposed pull tab of U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,750, interlocking of two caps can occur in a hopper feeding the automatic keg capping machinery. This may cause a blockage in the feeding hopper. Alternatively, parts of the interlocked caps may lead to undesirable fracture and separation as the caps are disengaged.
Furthermore, due to the overall design of the cap and the material from which the cap is manufactured, when the pull tab is pulled, the majority of the cap does not always separate into two halves. The pull tab itself may break in half, thus rendering removal of the cap more difficult. Breakage of the cap into a number of pieces may also create a litter problem.
Additionally, the cap disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,750 uses a plurality of tear lines to define the pull tab. Upon pulling the tab, extra force must be exerted in order to fracture at least two lines of weakness. This extra force, in turn, may lead to a breakage of the pull tab itself, rather than separation of the cap from the keg.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
lt is an object of the present invention to alleviate at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a cap in which removal thereof from a container is initiated or effected by a depressing action.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a cap which can provide an indication of whether the cap or container has been tampered with.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a cap having fewer lines of weakness therein.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention provides a cap for fitment to a closure neck of a container, such as a beer keg to cover the dispensing valve therein, said cap having a cover portion and a snap-fit means for attaching the cap to said neck, said cover portion including at least one line of weakness and a depressible tab portion, such that upon depression of said tab portion the cover portion is at least partially separated to allow detachment of the cap from the neck portion.
Utilising a depressible tab portion achieves several advantages. For example, with the push tab of the present invention there is no need to obtain a firm grip of the depression tab as no pulling action is required. This avoids breakage of the pull tab. Furthermore, upon a depression force being applied to the cap of the present invention, the user's finger is able to engage the cap itself to enable eas
REFERENCES:
patent: 3937349 (1976-02-01), Hsu
patent: 4030630 (1977-06-01), Yealy
patent: 4165014 (1979-08-01), Ruseitti
patent: 4285442 (1981-08-01), Wedzik
patent: 4457445 (1984-07-01), Hanks et al.
patent: 4607759 (1986-08-01), Boetzkes
patent: 4705188 (1987-11-01), Rahn
patent: 4779750 (1988-10-01), Armstrong
patent: 4942977 (1990-07-01), Hidding
Campbell Paul
Dehn Dieter
Woodlock John C.
Australian Stamping Foils Pty. Ltd.
Shoap Allan N.
Stucker Nova
LandOfFree
Container cap does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Container cap, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Container cap will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2386758