Receptacles – Closures – With closure opening arrangements for means
Patent
1983-01-04
1984-05-08
Hall, George T.
Receptacles
Closures
With closure opening arrangements for means
B65D 4132
Patent
active
044469853
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a closure for containers and in particular to a closure for containers of the easy-opening type.
Easy-opening containers, such as metal cans, of the general type to which the invention relates are primarily intended for the packaging of beverages. One known type of closure for such containers comprises a tear portion formed in an end wall of the container, the tear portion being defined by a score line. A pull tab is attached to the tear portion and is arranged such that upon lifting the pull tab, rupture of the score line is initiated and thereafter upon pulling of the pull tab complete severance of the tear portion from the container is effected. Upon separation of the tear portion from the container, a dispensing opening is defined in the end wall through which dispensing opening the contents of the container may be poured or otherwise dispensed.
While this known type of closure is effective in operation, it does have a disadvantage in that the tear portion is completely separated from the container and is often disgarded in public places, thereby creating a litter problem. Various proposals have been presented to overcome this problem, and typically these proposals rely on the tear portion remaining attached to the container, so that it cannot be disgarded separately. A common arrangement of this type is that in which the tear portion is defined by a score line which extends around the major portion of the tear strip, but which is interupted at a point to leave an unscored section which prevents complete detachment of the tear portion from the container. By means of direct finger pressure or a lift tab, downward pressure may be applied to the tear portion to rupture the score line and hinge the tear portion downwardly into the container, where it remains attached to the container by the unscored section. While this arrangement prevents complete detachment of the tear portion from the container, it has not proved altogether satisfactory and has not been fully accepted by the public and health authorities because of the potential of contamination of the beverage by the tear portion when the tear portion is in the container.
A further arrangement which has been proposed consists of tear portion which upon severance of the score line remains attached to the container, but rather than being hinged downward into the container is folded back away from the discharge opening into a position in which it extends beyond the periphery of the can. This arrangement is not satisfactory in that when an open can is disgarded, sharp edges of the tear portion remain exposed and thus present a danger, especially to persons in bare feet.
It is an object of this invention to overcome or at least lessen the above mentioned disadvantages by providing a closure for a container in which the tear portion remains attached to the container and may be folded into a position in which it lies clear of the discharge opening and within the confines of the container without entering the interior of the container.
In one form the invention resides in a closure for a container comprising; a wall for one end of the container, the wall have an upstanding peripheral flange, a continuous scoreline in the wall defining a tear portion only partially removable from the wall, the tear portion occupying first, second and third zones in the wall, the first zone being centrally located in the wall, the second being adjacent the edge of wall and the third zone being displaced from both the first and second zones and also from the edge of the wall, the score line encompassing the first, second and third zones and being interrupted to form an unscored section at the third zone, means for rupturing the score line at the first zone and enabling separation of the tear portion from the wall along the score lines, the tear portion when removed from the wall along the scoreline being attached to the wall by the unscored section and being able to be folded into a position in which it lies in the confines of the wall and in the space d
REFERENCES:
patent: 3795342 (1974-03-01), Ashton
patent: 3877606 (1975-04-01), Silver
patent: 4084721 (1978-04-01), Perry
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