Receptacles – Closures – With closure opening arrangements for means
Patent
1998-11-09
2000-01-04
Cronin, Stephen K.
Receptacles
Closures
With closure opening arrangements for means
220277, 220284, B65D 1740
Patent
active
060100257
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
The invention relates to a lid for containers such as tins, cans and the like, of the type in which the edge is attached to the wall of the container, comprising at least one groove with an essentially U-shaped cross-section, the bottom of which has a line of weakness, the said groove being designed such that the tip of a spoon or other utensil can engage therein and act as a lever in order to open the lid once it has torn along the line of weakness.
The abovementioned lids are well known and are widely used to close containers intended in particular is for packaging foodstuffs. The specific configuration of these lids enables them to be opened quickly and efficiently without having to use special tin-openers since, because of the line of weakness in the bottom of the groove, an ordinary spoon is all that is needed to achieve the desired objective.
For further information, it should be pointed out that lids of the type considered here already form the subject of Italian patent no. 1,228,227 (application no. 19075-A/89 dated Dec. 1, 1989) and of utility model application no. RE93U000045. Within the context of the continuous search for improvements in the production of these lids, it should be pointed out that it is desirable to reduce the amount of material--which is usually sheet metal but could also be plastic--needed to produce them to a minimum. It should be remembered that containers such as tins or cans to which the above lids are attached are produced in extremely high quantities, of the order of millions of articles, and even the smallest saving in the material used for each lid would, given the enormous number of articles involved, result in considerable economic benefits for manufacturers.
It is worth pointing out at this stage, however, that it is not possible to reduce the thickness of the material from which the lid is made below a certain limit, since there are specific standards governing the matter which state that lids must be strong enough to withstand any knocks that the containers may be subjected to during transportation, as well as any gas pressures which may be generated inside the containers by the products packaged therein. Whilst on the subject of strength, it should also be pointed out that, for the same reasons as those given above, the line of weakness must also have a certain strength which cannot fall below a given safety limit.
As a result of the limits which apply to reducing the layer of material constituting the lid, and in an attempt to reduce costs, there is a current tendency to modify the dimensions--depth and width--of the groove in the lid. In this case too, however, these dimensions cannot be reduced below a certain value since the groove must still allow the tip of a utensil, such as a spoon, knife or the like, to be inserted and act as a lever therein in order to tear the sheet metal along the line of weakness.
The object that the present invention aims to achieve is, therefore, to provide a lid for containers such as tins, cans and the like, that has structural and functional characteristics which, compared with lids of the prior are, enable savings to be made in the quantity of material needed to produce the said lid, but at the same time do not essentially affect its functional properties and its strength, for the same thickness of material used.
This object is achieved with a lid which is defined in the claims below.
In order to give a better understanding of the additional characteristics of the invention and of the advantages that derive therefrom, a description thereof is given below with reference to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment, illustrated in the appended drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a container to which the lid according to the invention is attached;
FIGS. 2 and 3 show a cross-section, on a radial plane of the container in FIG. 1, of the lid according to the invention at different stages of operation;
FIG. 4 shows a variant of the lid illustrated in the preceding figures.
With reference to the drawings l
REFERENCES:
patent: 2344894 (1944-03-01), Ottesen
patent: 2601937 (1952-07-01), Ottesen
patent: 3362570 (1968-01-01), Geiger
patent: 4003495 (1977-01-01), Grise et al.
patent: 5048713 (1991-09-01), Tiveron
patent: 5207346 (1993-05-01), Tiveron
Bertani Claudio
Cristofori Pietro
Cronin Stephen K.
Pack-Tec International S.r.l.
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