US2147004A - Beer can - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 14, 1939. s. A. WAIRK ET A; 2,141,004

BEER CAN Filed Sept; 22, 1957 Zhmentor Samuel Arnold Work 3 Alfred C. Tor'ern Q'MA Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BEER CAN Samuel Arnold Wark and Alfred C. Torem;

Seattle, Wash.

Application September 22, 1937, Serial'No.

3 Claims.

Our invention relates fluids under pressure are to be held,

designed as a can for beer.

Canned beer is particularly suitable for transporting to out-of-the-way places, as on picnics, yachting, fishing, etc., but when it is to be drunk it is necessary to Our invention may forms, and in various containers, and in various 3 larly such as pertain to diiferent uses or environclaims which terminate this specification.

In the accompanying drawing we haveshown forms, and this drawing is intended as informative rather than restrictive.

Figure 1 is a top can cover, showing our invention incorporated plan view of a portion of a r therein, in a form which is at present preferred by uS.

her of assembly.

Figure 6 is a view similar a slight modification in the form of the individual showing a further modification. V

As'we have stated above, the invention is apface of the inner disk 5. Thus it reinforces is not secured to the top I,

2 instance, latex similar to that employed in sealing the parts at the seam 3, may be employed, and 6 in Figure 4. This seals about the edge of the disk and about the edge of the hole 4.

Thus sealed, whether by reliance wholly upon the internal pressure or by the application of the sealing substance 6, the disk 5 is not readily displaced by accident, but it can be displaced by inwardly directed pressure of a .thumb through the aperture upon the disk, in the manner illustrated in Figure 3. 1

To prevent accidental dislodgment of the disk 5 we prefer to protect it by an outer disk I. This may take various erably it is primarilyof the same shape as the disk 5, and thus marginally overlaps the hole 4. It may be embossed downwardly, as shown in Figures 2, 4 and 5, whereby its center is disposed within the aperture 4 and contacts the upper s the inner disk against the inward pressure. The outer disk 1 is preferably held in place against accidental removal, as for instance in the form shown in Figure 4, by the spreading of the adhesive substance 6 between the two disks, the disk 1 being embossed to substantially contact the disk 5, with the adhesive 6 between them. In the form shown in Figure 5 the adhesive is arranged in a small ring, as shown at 6|, only about the margin of the inner disk 5, and is similarly arranged in a ring 62 about the margin only of the outer disk 1.

The outer disk is provided with a tab 8 which but which can be hinged back so that it may be grasped between the thumb and forefinger, in the manner illustrated in Figure 2. This enables the outer disk I to be lifted, the only resistance being the adhesion of the sealing substance. In this manner the disk I can be removed when its removal is desired, yet accidental removal is extremely unlikely. Once the outer disk 1 is removed, the inner disk 5 may be pressed inwardly, as shown in Figure 3, in opposition to sealing compound and to the internal pressure, and the contents of the can are immediately accessible. All of this may be accomplished without theuse of any tools whatsoever, and by a construction which is simple in the extreme, and which will be found particularly suitable for use in beer cans.

Figure 6 illustrates a slight reversal of the form shown in Figure 2, for here the inner disk 5 is dished upwardly, and the outer disk 1 is plane. With respect to the embossing of one or the other of the disks, it should be pointed out that the edges of the embossed portion preferably do not contact with the edges of the hole 4, as is best shown in Figures 4 and 5. The embossed disk is in no sense analogous to the wellknown friction top or closure, where the securement of the top is accomplished by engagement of an embossed portion within the edge of an aperture. In this closure the space between the edge of the hole 4 and the embossed portion of one or the other of the disks is free and clear, and there is no necessary contact. This space may become filled with some of the sealing substance, but there is in no sense a frictional engagement here which is relied upon to retain either disk in position, except as it aids in preventing movement of the disk in the plane of the top forms and shapes, though pref-' the adhesion of the In Figure '1 both the inner and outer disks are shown as plane, but with a disk 9 interposed between them. The disk 9 may be secured to one or to the other of the disks 5 or I, or to neither. It is in effect merely a spacer between the two plane disks, and might indeed be formed of the material cut out to form the aperture 4.

The same principles may be embodied in containers where the contents are not under pressure, or are even subjected to reduced pressure, as in a vacuum-pack. In the latter case, at least, the disk 5 would be applied to the outside of the apertured wall of the container, the better to resist the higher inwardly directed pressure of the atmosphere. Should the contents be under no particular pressure, positive or negative, the invention will still be' desirable and effective, and the latex 6 will serve as the principal sealing agent.

What we claim as our invention is:

1. In combination with a sealed container for retailing beer or a like liquid under pressure, having an aperture in its top or other wall of a size to admit the consumers finger, a disk within the container underlying and marginally underlapping the aperture, whereby the internal pressure acts to press the disk outwardly to a seat about the margin of the aperture, and the disk is unseated by pressure inwardly directed upon the disk, through the aperture, a second disk seated upon the outside of the container top, at the aperture, and protecting the first disk against inwardly directed pressure, and a sealing compound or the like to support the second disk in such position, readily releasable without tools for access to the first disk.

2. In combination with a sealed container for beer or a like liquid under pressure, having an aperture in its top or other wall, of a size to admit the consumers finger, a sheet metal disk within the container underlying and marginally underlapping the aperture, whereby the internal pressure acts to press the disk outwardly to a seat about the margin of the aperture, and the disk is unseated by pressure of the consumers finger inwardly directed upon the disk, through the aperture, to fall free within the container, a second sheet metal disk seated upon the outside of the container top, surrounding the aperture, and engaging the first disk through the aperture, whereby the outside disk protects the inside disk against inwardly directed pressure, and reinforces the inside disks resistance to outwardly directed pressure, and a sealing compound or the like to support the outside disk in such position, readily releasable for access to the first disk.

3. In combination with a sealed can for beer or the like, having a dispensing hole formed in its top, of a size to admit the consumers finger,

a sheet metal disk applied to the inner face of the top, of a size to marginally underlap the hole, and a second disk applied to the outer face of the top, and contacting the inner disk through the hole, of a size to marginally overlap the hole, and a sealing substance acting to prevent leakage past the edge of' the hole, and holding the disks in place against accidental removal, but permitting separation of the outer disk, and then separation of the inner disk by inward pressure, all without the use of tools.

SAMUEL ARNOLD WARK. ALFRED C. TOREM.

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