Tabs for easy-open can end
US5799816A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 31, 1997 |
| Grant date | Sep 1, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 31, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S220/906
- WIPO fieldHandling
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A tab for use with an easy-open can end, which is made free from any protrusion with a cut edge thereon that would otherwise contact a finger or a lip of the user without a increasing the number of manufacturing steps to complete the tab. A tab having a body, a nose end with a tip, an opposite grip end, and an island formed within the tab body and attached to the nose end along a hinge, the island including a rivet hole for receiving a rivet on a can end panel to attach the tab to the end panel. The tab body is joined to a carrier strip, from which the tabs are made, by a joint formed in a tab making process. In a tab severing process, the joint is cut off to sever the tab from the strip, leaving a protrusion on the tab with a cut edge. The tip of the nose has a gap into which the protrusion can be bent or curled, to guard the cut edge, as the tab is moved to attach the island to the end panel with a rivet. When the tab is lowered in the downward passage, the swing arm moves to cause the curling surface to press the tab and curl the protrusion onto the tab.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.