GB2168672A - Protective covering for score of easy open can end - Google Patents

Abstract

A lid (10) for a readily openable fully opening type can is provided. The lid (10) comprises a circular plate member (11) having an annular shoulder (22) provided along the periphery (28) of said plate member (11), an annular recess (25) provided radially inwardly of said shoulder (22), a defined annular can opening score (13) provided radially inwardly of said annular recess (25) and a second annular score (17) provided radially inwardly of said defined can opening score (13) for defining a circular removable portion (12) in said plate member (11); an annular flexible protective ring (21) of synthetic resin applied over said annular score (13) so that the user is protected from the possibility of touching the sharp edge of said removable portion (12) which is formed when the removable portion (12) is torn off the rest of said plate member (11); and a pull tab (15) removably attached to the upper surface of said plate member (11). The removable portion (12) is at a height which is higher than the bottom of the annular recess (25) and lower than the annular shoulder (22). An additional flexible annular protective ring may be applied to the undersurface of the opening score (13). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Lid for readily openable can This invention relates to a lid for a readily openable fully opening type can which has s flexible protective ring coverning the sharp perforated edge which is formed when the defined opening portion of the lid is torn off the rest of the lid.

Of late, in order to store articles for a long period of time, various cans for such articles have been produced. For storing solid articles of commerce as well as other articles in a can, as shown in Fig. 1, what has in most cases been used is a lid 10 of a can, which is formed with a defined opening score 13 inwardly of and in parallel to the periphery 28 of the lid, and also an auxiliary score 17 inwardly of and in parallel to the score 13, so that the removable portion 12 of the lid can be easily torn off the rest of the lid 10.

To describe the prior art can lid in detail referring to Fig. 1, the lid is generally shown by reference numeral 10 and comprises a circular plate member 11 which is substantially flat except for the periphery 28 which is bent so as to fit on the mating bent upper end of the body of a can such as to seal the can.

The plate member 11 is provided with an annular can defined opening score 13 extending in parallel to and inwardly of the periphery 28 and also an auxiliary annular score 17 extending in parallel to and inwardly of the annular score 13 to define a circular removable portion 12 occupying a substantial area of the plate member 11 and adapted to form the opening for the can when the portion 12 is torn off the rest of the plate member.

A pull tab 15 is rivetted at the base end to the upper surface of the plate member 11 at 14 and when the tab is pulled up, the removable portion 12 defined by the auxiliary score 17 is torn off the rest of the plate member to open the can. Since the removable portion 12 has a large area and presents a sharp perforated edge 19 (see Fig. 3) at the periphery thereof when this portion is torn off the rest of the plate member 11, i.e. when the can is opened, the user frequently hurts his hand and/or finger or fingers by touching the edge 19.

Thus, of late, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, synthetic resin is applied over the opening score 13 to form a flexible annular protective ring 21 whereby the sharp edge 19 of the torn removable portion 12 is covered by the protective ring 21 so as to protect the user's hand and/or fingers against possible injury.

However, the conventional flexible protective ring 21 fails to provide sufficient protection for the user and when the protective ring 21 is applied over the score 13, it is difficult to form the protective ring 21 at a predetermined position and with a predetermined thickness.

The purpose of the present invention is therefore, to provide a lid for a readily openable fully opening type can which has a protective ring accurately positioned and having suitable thickness such that the sharp perforated edge of the cut removable portion will not injure the user's hand or fingers.

According to the present invention, a lid has been provided for a readily openable fully opening type can which essentially comprises a circular plate member having an annular shoulder provided along the periphery of the plate member, an annular recess provided in parallel to and inwardly of the annular shoulder, an annular defined can opening score provided in parallel to and inwardly of the annular recess and a second annular score provided in parallel to and inwardly of the annular defined can opening score for defining a circular removable portion in the central area of the plate member, said removable portion being positioned at a height higher than the bottom of said annular recess and lower than said annular shoulder; a flexible annular protective ring applied over the defined can opening score; and a pull tab removably attached to the upper surface of the plate member.

The above and other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show preferred embodiments of the invention and the prior arts, respectively, for comparison purposes.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a prior art lid for a readily openable fully opening type can; Figure 2 is a top plan view of another prior art lid having a protective ring for a readily openable can; Figure 3 is a vertically sectional view of the lid as shown in Fig. 2; Figure 4 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of the lid for a readily openable fully opening type can constructed in accordance with the present invention; Figure 5 is a vertically sectional view of the lid as shown in Fig. 4; Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale showing the positions of the scores for defining the can opening and the removable portion in the lid, respectively; Figure 7 is a vertically sectional view of a second embodiment of the can lid of the present invention; Figure 8 is a plan view of a third embodiment of the can lid of the present invention; and Figure 9 is a vertically sectional view of a fourth embodiment of the can lid of the present invention.

In the embodiments of the invention as will be described hereinafter referring to Figs. 4 through 9, the same reference numerals as those used for corresponding parts of the prior art can lids described hereinabove and affixed to similar parts thereof.

First referring to Figs. 4, 5 and 6 wherein the first embodiment of the can lid constructed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated, the periphery 28 of the plate member 11 is formed with a substantially horizontal annular shoulder 22 and an annular recess 25 extends in parallel to and inwardly of the shoulder 22. A removable portion 12 defined by the recess 25 is positioned at a height which is higher than the bottom 26 of the recess 25, but lower than the shoulder 22. An annular score 13 for defining the opening of the can is formed in parallel to and inwardly of the annular recess 25.

Furthermore, a pull tab 15 for opening the can is rivetted to the upper surface of the removable portion 12 with the outer or base end 16 thereof positioned adjacent to the annular score 13 for opening the can and an auxiliary annular score 17 is provided in parallel to and inwardly of the score 13 in the same manner as described in connection with the prior art can lids of Figs. 1 through 3 and a flexible annular protective ring 21 of synthetic resin is applied over the score 13.

The application of synthetic resin over the annular recess 13 to form the flexible protective ring 21 there is usually performed by rotating the lid 10 at a high speed about te center thereof as its axis of rotation. However, in any one of the conventional can lids 10 as shown in Figs. 1 through 3, since no annular shoulder is formed over the score 13 which defines the opening of the can, although the applied synthetic resin has a certain degree of viscosity in its molten state, as the synthetic resin is applied over the score 13 while the lid 10 is being rotated, the resin flows out of the lid under the centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the lid whereby it is difficult to properly form the flexible protective ring 21 at a desired or predetermined position and with a uniform thickness.

In contrast, according to the present invention, since the shoulder 22 is provided at the periphery of the plate member outwardly of the score 13 in a position higher than that of the central or removable portion 12 of the plate member 11, the applied synthetic resin is effectively prevented from flowing out of the plate member whereby the flexible protective ring 21 can be properly formed at a desired position and with a uniform thickness.

Furthermore, in the embodiment of the invention as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, since the annular recess 25 is provided between the annular shoulder 22 and annular score 13, when the plate member 11 is torn at the scores 13 and 17 to remove the removable portion 12 from the rest of the plate member 11 such as to open the can, the synthetic resin of the flexible protective ring 21 which fills the annular recess 25 tends to hang down to a position below the sharp edge 19 of the torn removable portion to cover the edge as shown in Fig. 6 whereby the user's hand and/or finger or fingers can be positively prevented from touching the cut edge 19.

As is clear from the foregoing description in connection with the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, since the annular recess 25 is provided outwardly of the defining score 13 of the can and the annular shoulder 22 is provided outwardly of the recess 25, the flexible protective ring 21 can be easily formed at a desired proper position and the user's hand and/or fingers can be positively prevented from touching the sharp perforated edge 19.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, although the annular shoulder 22 extends inwardly of the periphery 28 of the plate member 11 in a substantially horizontal plane, the present invention is not limited to such an arrangement of the annular shoulder 22 and instead, the annular shoulder may be upwardly sloped from the periphery 28 as shown by reference numeral 22' in Fig.

7 without departing from the scope of the invention.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the arrangement of the pull tab 15 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 in which the base end of the pull tab is positioned adjacent to the score 17 which defines the removable portion 12. Instead, as shown in Fig. 8, the pull tab 15 may be positioned substantially in the central area of the plate member 11 and an initial tearing score 18 may be provided in the plate member extending inwardly from the defined can opening score 13 by a distance such as to surround the rivet 14 and pull tab 15.Also in the embodiment of Fig. 8, the substantially horizontal annular shoulder 22 is provided adjacent to the periphery 28 of the plate member 11 and the annular recess 25 is provided inwardly of and parallel to the shoulder 22 so that the protective ring 21 can be easily formed to cover the sharp perforated edge 19 of the removable portion 12 formed when the latter is torn off the rest of the plate member 11 whereby the user's hand and/or fingers can be perfectly protected against the possibility of touching the sharp edge as in the preceding embodiments.

It will be appreciated that when the removable portion 12 is torn off the rest of the plate member 11, the sharp edge 29 (see Fig. 6) of the torn removable portion is also formed at the inner side of the annular recess 25 in addition to the sharp edge 19 at the periphery of the torn removable portion 12. The user's hand/or fingers may contact the sharp edge 29 which presents a hazard to the user. In order to eliminate this hazard, an annular back protective ring 27 of synthetic resin is formed on the undersurface of the removable portion 12 to cover the sharp edge 29 of the torn removable portion 12 as shown in Fig. 9. The back protective ring 27 is formed by turning the plate member 11 upside down and then applying synthetic resin on the now upper surface of the plate member 11 in the position corresponding to the defined opening score 13 under centrifugal force.Since the annular recess 25 positioned outwardly of the defined opening score 12 projects upwardly from the plane of the plate member 11 when the plate member 11 is turned upside down, the applied synthetic resin is prevented from flowing out of the plate member as in the case of the formation of the flexible protective ring 21 over the score 13 described in connection with the embodiment of Figs. 4, 5 and 6.

As is clear from the foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lid 10 for a readily openable fully opening type can which comprises a circular plate member 11 having an annular defined opening score 13 adjacent to and inwardly of the periphery 28 thereof which defines a circular removable portion 12, an annular flexible protective ring 21 of synthetic resin applied over the score 13 and a pull tab 15 rivetted to the removable portion 12 and which is characterized by the fact that plate member 11 is formed with an annular shoulder 22 in parallel to and inwardly of the periphery 28 thereof and outwardly of the can opening score 13 and with an annular recess 25 between the shoulder 22 and score 13, said removable portion 12 being positioned at a height lower than said shoulder 22 and higher than the bottom 26 of said annular recess 25, and by the fact that an annular flexible protective ring 21 of synthetic resin is applied over the score 13.

Since the annular shoulder 22 is provided outwardly of the defined can opening score 13, the flexible protective ring 21 can be easily and uniformly formed in such a manner that the synthetic resin forming the protective ring 21 is prevented in its molten state from flowing outwardly by the shoulder 22 and since the annular recess 25 is provided outwardly of the defined can opening score 13, the flexible protective ring 21 covers the sharp edge 19 of the removable portion 12 formed when the removable portion is torn off the rest of the plate member 11 whereby the protective ring 21 can positively protect the user's hand and/or finger of fingers against possible injury.

Claims (9)

1. A lid for a readily openable fully opening type can comprising a circular plate member having an annular defined can opening score provided in parallel to and inwardly of the periphery of said plate member, a flexible annular protective ring applied over said score and a pull tab removably attached to the upper surface of said plate member, characterized by an annular shoulder provided along said periphery, an annular recess provided on said plate member between said defined annular can opening score and annular shoulder and a second annular score provided on said plate member in parallel to and inwardly of said annular defined can opening score which defines a circular removable portion in the central area of said plate member, said removable portion being positioned at a height which is higher than the bottom of said annular recess and lower than said annular shoulder.

2. The lid for a readily openable fully opening type can as set forth in Claim 1, said pull tab being removably rivetted to the upper surface of said plate member with the base end thereof positioned adjacent to said defined can opening score.

3. The lid for a readily openable fully opening type can as set forth in Claim 1, in which said pull tab is removably rivetted to the upper surface of said plate member in the central portion thereof.

4. The lid for a readily openable fully opening type can as set forth in Claim 1, in which said annular shoulder lies in a substantially horizontal plane.

5. The lid for a readily openable fully opening type can as set forth in Claim 1, in which said annular shoulder is upwardly and inwardly sloped from said periphery of the plate member.

6. The lid for a readily openable fully opening type can as set forth in Claim 1, further including an additional flexible annular protective ring applied to the undersurface of said plate member in the position corresponding to said defined can opening score such as to cover a sharp edge on the inner side of said annular recess formed when said removable portion is removed from the rest of the plate member.

7. The lid for a readily openable fully opening type can as set forth in Claim 1, further including an initial tearing score extending inwardly from said periphery of the plate member and surrounding said pull tab.

8. A lid for a readily openable fully opening type can comprising a plate member having a can opening score provided inwardly of the periphery of the plate member and defining a removeable portion, a shoulder provided along the periphery, a recess provided between the defined can opening score and the shoulder, a pull tab removable attached to the upper surface of the plate member, and a protective covering applied over the score and the recess so that, on opening, a user is protected from injury against the free edge of the removeable portion of the plate member by a portion of the protective covering which, having been formed by said recess, extends downwardly and laterally of said free edge.

9. A lid substantially as hereinbefore de scribed with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 4 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.