CA1192508A - Rubber foot for metal container - Google Patents

Abstract

RUBBER FOOT FOR METAL CONTAINER
Abstract of the Disclosure A protective foot to be applied to a skirt of a metal container comprises an annular, channel-shaped member of resilient material having a circular inner wall, a circular outer wall spaced from and concentric with the inner wall and disposed in opposing relation thereto, and a base connecting the walls at one of their ends. The walls and base define a skirt-receiving channel which is con-toured to conform with the external configuration of the skirt of the container. A plurality of projections equally spaced from one another along the longitudinal length of one wall extend radially into the skirt-receiving channel and are received within complementary projection-receiving portions in the skirt to secure the channel-shaped member to the skirt.

Description

RUBBER FOOT FOR METAL CONTAINER
Specification -This invention rela-tes to containers, and more particularly to a protective foot of resilient material to be applied to the skirt of a container.
Containers and barrels are normally formed of a cylindrical shell with domed shaped heads that enclose the shell. ~n annular protective skirt or flange is gen-erally formed integrally with the heads to extend outwardly from each head to protect the bung opening of the con-tainer, and to provide ease in handling the container.
During handling and shipping~ the container may be sub-jected to considerable impact which frequently results in deformation or fracture of the skirt resulting in a limited ser~ice life for the container. The con~ainer may also slide on its supporting surface colliding with stationary objects or other containers resulting in damage to itself, the other containers, the surrounding objects, or the supporting surface. Metal containers may also produce sparks when cominy in contact with other metal surfaces presenting a safety hazard for containers filled with flamable or explosive material. It is thus desirable to provide an arrangement for the skirt that will protect the skirt and container as well as provide a more stable container ~hich will not easily slide along its supporting surface.
It is known to use skirts composed entirely of rubber to protect the head of containers for soft drink~
extracts. In this construction a rubber skirt is bonded directly to the head of the container. In normal practice a container manufacturer will ship the metal heads to a molding facility and aEter molding the skir-ts and bonding them to the heads, the heads are shipped back to the manufacturer for welding to the shell. The shipment of the heads to the molder and the subsequent return of the J~l~

-2-heads adds su~stan~ially to the overall cost of the con-tainer and would be prohibitive for small rnetal con~ainers, such as gasoline cans, water cans, trash cans, or propane tanks.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a protective foot for a skirt of a metal container, comprising an annular, channel-shaped member of resilient material having a pair of opposing, spaced apart side walls interconnected by a base at one of their ends, the walls and base defining a skixt-receiving channel, and a projection extending into said skirt-receiving channel from one of the walls adapted to be received within a com~lementary projection-recei~ing portion in the container to secure the channel~shaped member to the skirt.
The foot is comprised of a resilient material such as r~ber, which serves to protect the skirt and container by cushioning its impact with other objects thereby greatly increasing the service life of the container. The foot further protects the surface supporting the container from damage and increases the stability of the con-tainer. ~he foot also reduces the safety hazard of containers filled with flamable ox explosive material by preventing the container from sliding and generating sparks under normal conditions.
The protective foot is annular in shape with a circular inner wall and a circular outer wall concentric therewith. However, the foot may take other forms such as rectangular or polygonal depending upon the shape of the skirt for the container.
In one form, the cross-section of the skirt-receiving channel is rectangular for use with straight edged skirts. In this form, the projections which hold the protective foot on the skirt may extend from either side wall depending upon whether the skirt has an inside or an outside ~lange. Preferably there are eight pro-jections equally spaced ~rom one another that are received within complementary projection-receiving recesses or openings in the skirt.
In another form of the invention, the cross-section of the skirt-receiving channel is substantially circular for use with skirts having rolled ends. In this form, the projections may extend from either wall depending upon whether the rolled end o the skirt is rolled inwardly ox rolled outwardly.
The projections of the foot preferably form a continuous lip extending along the entire length of the wall which interlocks with a groove formed in the skirt. The protective ~oot may also include drain holes in its base as well as drain openings along its inner wall that align with openings in the skirt to allow drainage of trapped liquid.
The protective foot of the invention can be used with existing containers as well as newly manufactured containers. In this regard the resilient nature of the protective ~oot -eadily permits it to be received about the skirt and to be removed therefrom when desired.
In drawings whicn illustrate embodiments of the invention:
Fig. l is an end view with parts broken away o~ a container incorporating the protec-tive foot of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in section taken along line 2-2 of Fig. l;

~2~

Fiy. 3 is a fragmentary detail view in section illustrating the assemblage of one form of the protective ~oot of the present invention with the bottom skirt of a container;
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view in section taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in sectlon similar to Fig. 4 showing an alternate form of the invention;
Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in section of a protective foot illustrating a second embodiment of the invention;
Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view in section of a protective foot illustrating a third embodiment of the invention;
lS Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in section of a protective foot illustrating a fourth embodiment of the present invention;
Fig~ 9 is a fragmentary view in sec-tion of a protective foot illustrating a fifth embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 10 is a fragmentary view in section of a protective foot illustrating a sixth embodiment of the present invention.
,, Referring to the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a metal container 1 comprised of a generally cylindrical shell 2 and having opened ends which are closed by an upper head 3 and a lower head 4 (see Fig. 3).
As shown in Fig. 2, the upper head 3 is provided with an axial bung hole 5 through which the container may be filled and emptied. Each of -the heads 3 and 4 include an annular flange 6 projecting from its peripheral edge, and this flange 6 may be welded within the edge margins of the open ends of the shell 2 to form an annular pxo tective skirt 7 that extends ou-twardly from each head 3 ~Z5~

and 4 to protect the bung hole 5. The outer ends of the skirt 7 may be formed in a varlety o~ different manners depending upon the container's use. The skirt 7 shown in ~igs. 2 and 3 has a straight edge outer end and is neither crimped nor rol]ed, as will hereina~ter be described.
The skirt 7 may be formed with a series of drain openings 8 (See Fig. 10) which serve -to drain water or other liquid from the upper head when the container 1 is in an uprigh~ position. I~ is also contemplated that the skir-t 7 may contain hand holes (not shown) for handling the container.
In accordance with the presen~ invention, a protective foot, indicated generally by 9, is attached to one or both of the skirts 7 of the container 1. Fig. 2 illustrates the assemblage of the protective foot 9 with - the skirt 7 of the upper head 3 r and the Fig. 3 illustxates the assemblage of the protective foot 9 with the skirt 7 of the lower head 4.
The protective foot 9 is formed of a resilient material, such as rubber, polyurethane, neoprene or the like and is shown in Fig. 1 as being annular. However, it can readily be understood that the protective foot 9 may be of other shapes in addition to circular, such as rectangular or polygonal, depending upon the configuration of the skirt 7. The term "annular" as used herein is thus intended to include rectangular and other polygonal shapes. The protective foot 9 shown in Fig. 2 is comprised of a channel-shaped member that is substantially U-shaped~
and includes a circular inner side wall 10, a circular outer side wall 11 spaced from the inner wall 10 and dis-posed in opposing relation thereto, and a base 12 connecting the walls 10 and 11 at one of their ends. The walls 10, 11 and base 12 define a skirt-receiving channel 13 that is contoured to complement the external configura-tion of the skirt 7 and as a result is substantially rectangular in cross-section for the embodiment shown in Fig. 3. The skirt-receiving channel 13 is also circular and extends the entire longitudinal length of the protec-.tive foot 9. The outer wall 11 is concentric with the inner wall 10, and extends further from the base 12 than the inner wall 10.
In the embodiment of the invention shown in F.igs. 2 and 3, a plurality of locking projections 14 extend radially inward toward the skirt-receiving channel 13 from the inner surface of the outer wall 11.
~here are preferably eight projections 14 equally spaced along the inner circumference of the outer wall 11. The pxojections 14 are received within complementary pro-jection-receiving por-tions or recesses 15 formed in the shell 2 of the container 1. Each projection 14 forms a locking surface 16 which engages a complementary supporting surface 17 formed by the projection-receiving recesses 15 to secure the channel-shaped member to the skirt 7.
Fig. 3 shows -the assemblage of the protective ZO foot 9 on the skirt 7 of the lower head 4, and Flg. 4 shows a detailed view of the manner of attachment of -the.
projections 14 in the recesses 15. The projections 14 thus secure the foot 9 to the skixt 7 and help prevent the skirt 7 from sliding out of the skirt-xeceiving channel 13. Fig. 5 shows an alternative form of the pro-jections 14. The projections 14 illustrated in Fig. 5 are of greater lon~itudi.nal or circumferential extent than the projections 14 illustrated in Fig. 4, and as a result will provide a better seal between the protective foot 9 and skirt 7.
The protective foot 9 is assembled on the skirt 7 by spxeading the walls 10 and 11 and sliding the outer end of the skirt 7 into the skirt-receiving channel 13.
The protective foot 9 may then be rotated until the pro-jections 14 are aligned with the recesses 15 in the skirt 7. At this point, -~he projections 14 will snap into the recesses 15 so that theîr locking surfaces 16 engage the supporting surfaces 17 to lock the foot 9 about the s~irt 7. The foo-t 9 may be removed from the skirt 7 by S simply spreading the walls 10 and 11 until the projections 14 are no longer engaged within the recesses 15. Th~
foot 9 may then be removed from the skirt 7.
Fig. 6 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment the protec-tive foot 9 is adapted to be used with a skirt 7 having an inside crimped flange at its outer end, such as those found on small gasoline cans. ~s seen in Fig. 6, the inside crimped flange is formed by turning the ends of the shell 2 back over the ends of the flange 6 of the heads 3 and 4 towards the center of the conkainer 1. A circular space or groove is provided between the outer end of the shell 2 and the outside surface of the lower head 4 which runs the entire longitudinal extent of the skirt 7. The outer end of the shell 2 thus forms a swpporting surface 18 for the projections of the foot 9, as will hereinafter be described. As seen in Fig. 6 the protective foot 9 is comprised of an annular, channel~shaped member that includes a circular inner wall 19, a circular outer wall 20 spaced from and concen-tric with the inner wall 16~ and a base 21 connecting the walls 19 and 20 to define a skirt-receiving channel 22. The skirt~receiving channel 22 is substantially rectangular in cross-section and conforms to the external configuration of the skirt 7.
The foot 9 .includes a plurality of locking projections 23 extending from the inner wall 16 into the channel 22.
However, in -this embodiment the projections 23 are in the form of a continuous circular lip received within the circular projection-receiving space or groove of the skirt 7O The lip forms a locking surface 24 on its underside which engages the supporting surface 18 to secure the foot 9 about the skirt 7.

Fig. 7 illuskrates a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment the outer end of the skirt 7 is shown as having an outside crimped flange, such as may be found on small gasoline cans.
The outside crimped flange is ~ormed by crirnping the ends of the shell 2 back on itself towards its outside surface and then curling the flange 6 of the heads 3 and 4 around the outside of the crimped ends of the shell 2. The ends of the flange 6 and shell 2 extend from the outside surface of the shell 2 to form an annular supporting surface 25 for the foot 9, as will hereinafter be des cribed. The protective foot 9 of this embodiment is comprised of an annular, channel-shaped member that includes a circular inner wall 26, a circular outer wall 27 spaced from and concentric with the inner wall 26~
and a base 28 connecting the walls 26 and 27 to form a skirt-receiving channel 29. The channel 29 is sub-stantially rectangular in cross-section, and conforms to the external configuration of the skirt 7 of Fig. 7.
The foot 9 includes a plurality of locking projections 30 extending radially inwardly from the outer wall 27 into the channel 29. The projections 30 are preferably in the form of a continuous circular lip disposed about the outside of the shell 2. The underside of the lip forms a locking surface 31 which engages the supporting surface 25 to secure the protective foot 9 in position about the skirt 7.
Fig. 8 illustrates a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment the protective foot 9 is comprised of an annular, channel-shaped member that extends around the skirt 7 of an LP gas tank. The skirt 7 has a straight edged outer end similar to that shown in Fig. 3 for the firs-t embodiment. The protective foot 9 shown in Fig. 8 includes a circular inner wall 32, a circular outer wall 33 spaced from and concentric with the inner wall 32, and a base 34 connecting the walls 32 and 33. The inner wall 32 and base 34 are thicker than the outer wall 33 to provide added strength for the foot 9. The walls 32, 33 and base 34 de:Eine a skirt-receiving channel 35 that is substan-tiall~ rectangular in cross-section and conforms to the strai~ht edged con:Eiyurationof`the skirt 74 ~ plurali.ty of locking projections 36 extend radially .inwardly from the inner wall 32 into the skirt-receiving channel 35. The projections 36 are equally spaced from one another along the longitudinal extent of the foot 9, and there are preferably eight pro-jections 36 circumferentially spaced around the inner wall 32. As seen in Fig~ 8, complementary recesses or openings 37 are ~ormed in the inner wall 32 of the skirt 7 to receive the projections 36, and each recess or opening 37 forms a supporting surface 38 along its lower edge~ Each projec-tion 36 includes a locking surface 39 formed along its lower edge which engages the supporting surfaces 38 of the recesses 37 to secure the foot 9 about the skirt 7 Thus, when the protective foot 9 is positioned about the skirt 7, as shown.~in Fig. 8, the locking surfaces 39 of the projections 36 will engage the suppor-ting surfaces 38 of the recesses 37 prevent the skirt 7 from sliding out of the skirt-receiving channel 35. The projections 36 may also take the form of a circumferential lip in which case its underside forms the locking surface 39, and the recesses 37 take the form of a continuous circumferential groove in the inner wall 32.
Fig. 9 illus-trates a fif-th embodiment of -the invention, and shows a protective foot 9 about the skirt 7 of an LP gas tank and is formed by curling the outer end of the rlange 6 of the heads 3 and 4 towards the center of the container, and then forming the outer end of the shell 2 about the curled flanges 6 in a circular configur-ation. The external surface of the rolled end of shell 2 is spaced from the external surface of the heads 3 and 4 to form an annular supporting surface 40 for the foot 9, as will hereinafter be described. The protective foot 9 of this embodiment is comprised of an annular, channel-.shaped member that includes a circular inner wall 41, a circular outer wall 42 spaced from and concentric with the inner wall 41, and a base 43 ~onnecting the walls 41 and 42 D The walls 41, 42 and base 43 define a skirt receiving channel 44 that has a substantially circular cross-section for receiving and conforming to the external configura~ion of the rolled outer end of the skirt 7~ In particular, the inner wall 41 has a curved groove 45 formed along its entire circumferential extend which conorms to the rolledouter end of the skirt 7. m e foo~ ~ includes a plurality of locking projections 46 extending radially outwardly from the inner wall 41 into the channel 44~ ThP
projections 46 are equispaced about the circumference of the inner wall 41 and each include a locking surface 47 which engages the SuppQrting surface 40 to secure the protective foot 9 in pos.ition about the skirt 7. In the embodiment shown in Fig~ 9, the projections 46 preferably form a continuous lip which extends into the annular space formed between the external surfaces of the heads 3, 4 and rolled end of shell 2 to secure the foot ~ to the skirt 7.
Fig. 10 illustrates a sixth embodiment of the present invention and shows a protective foot 9 about the skirt 7 of a beer barrel. The outer end of the skirt 7 of the beer barrel is rolled inwardly with its edge spaced from the inside surface of skirt 7 to form an annular supporting surface 48, as shown .in Fig. 10. The protective foo-t 9 is comprised of an annular, channel-shaped member that includes a circular inner wall 49, a circular outer wall 50 spaced from and concentric with the inner wall 49, and a base 51 connecting the walls 49 and 50 along one of their ends. The walls 49, 50 and base 51 define the skirt-receiving channel 52 tha-t is substantially circular in cross-section and conforms to the ex-ternal configuration of the rolled end of skir-t 7. The base 51 of the foot 9 may contain drain holes 53 clisposed in alignrnent with openings in the rolled outer end of the skir-t 7. These holes 47 permit drainage of liquid -that may be trapped within the rolled outer encl of the skirt 7. The inner wall 49 is arc-shaped and substantially encloses the channel 52 along its upper endl and includes a skirt portion ~4 that extends from the inner wall 49 generally parallel ~o the outer wall 50. Thus, when the foot 9 is secured in position about the skirt 7, the skirt portion 54 lies against the inner surface of the skirt 7 of the beer barrel.
At its upper end, the skirt portion 54 contains a series o~ drain openings 55 aligned with corresponding openings 8 in the skirt 7 to permit drainage of liquid from the heads

3 and 4 of the beer barrel. The inner wall 49 also includes a plurality of locking projections 56 extending into the channel 52. The projections are equispaced about the circumference of the inner wall 49, and include locking surfaces 57 for engagement with the annular supporting surface 48~ Thus, when the protective foot 9 i5 in position about the skirt 7 as seen in Fig. 10, the locking surfaces 57 engage the supporting surface 48 to prevent the skirt 7 -Erom sliding out of the skirt-receiving channel 52 and to secure the foot 9 to the skir-t 7. The projections 56 are preferably in the form of an annular lip in which case its radially inner side forms a continuous, annular locking surface 57 which e~gages the supporting surface 48.
Several preferred embodiments of the protective foot of the present invention have been illustrated and described. The protective foot has been par~icularly described a5 being annular in shape. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other shapes in addition to circular may be used with the present invention, such as rectangulax or polygonal, and the term "annular"
has been defined herein to include such shapes. Also, .particular embodiments have been shown that are adapted for use with skirts of containers that are straight edged, crimped either inwardly or outwardly, or rolled either inwardly or outwardly. However, again it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the protective foot of the present invention may be adapted :for use with any shaped skirt. ~lso, although descxi.bed in connection with containers having domed heads, t~e invention may of course be applied with any other type of container having a skirt.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A protective foot for a skirt of a metal container, comprising an annular channel-shaped member of resilient material having a circular inner side wall, an outer side wall spaced from and concentric with the inner wall and disposed in opposing relation to said inner wall, a base interconnecting said walls at one of their ends, said walls and base defining a skirt-receiving channel, and a projection extending radially into said skirt-receiving channel from one of said walls, said projection having a locking surface for engagement with a supporting surface of a complementary projection-receiving portion in said container to secure said channel-shaped member to said skirt, said inner wall is arc-shaped and substantially encloses the skirt-receiving channel, said inner wall further includes an integral skirt portion adapted to engage the inner surface of said skirt, said base includes a drain hole extending therethrough and the skirt portion includes a drain opening extending therethrough.