EP0662065B1

EP0662065B1 - Can with large discharge upper opening

Info

Publication number: EP0662065B1
Application number: EP94911802A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Manoel José GUARDA; Pedro Bruni Labate
Original assignee: Brasilata SA Embalagens Metalicas
Current assignee: Brasilata SA Embalagens Metalicas
Priority date: 1993-07-23
Filing date: 1994-01-31
Publication date: 1997-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2014-01-31
Also published as: DE69403769T2; EP0662065A1; BR7301199U; DE69403769D1; WO1995003225A1

Abstract

Can with large discharge upper opening (12), defined at a can upper wall (11), presenting an external peripheral edge (13) and an internal peripheral edge (14), and a median annular region (15), which defines a plastic deformable supporting point for a lever element used for opening a lid (20), adapted onto said discharge upper opening (12), the plastic deformation of the supporting point facilitating the recognition of any attempt made to open said lid.

Description

Field of the Invention

The present invention refers to cans, having usually a capacity of eighteen liters and provided with a large discharge central opening, which occupies a substantial portion of the area of the can upper wall. More particularly, the present invention refers to an improvement at the upper wall of said cans.

Background of the Invention

The large cans of usually eighteen liters, which are used for storing bulk products, present at their upper wall a central opening, which occupies a large area. The closing of said cans is achieved by applying a lid onto said opening, in order to avoid loss of the content stored within the cans, regardless of the position of said cans. Such lids present a reinforced peripheral edge, in order to prevent said lids from suffering damages during the opening of the can, thereby avoiding said opening. This reinforcement is calculated in order to give further strength to the lid.
Another kind of lid for containers is described in the US-A-1 696 388. This known lid comprises a cover with a circular opening and a disk like cap which, on being given a partial turn, may wedge tightly in this circular opening and thereby form a tight closure. The cover has an inwardly pressed neck and a laterally extending flange forming a seat on which the cap is placed. The can has either lugs on its outside edge or rim formed cam shaped or else the rim is bent to form a cam. The cam portions of the cap engage a series of inwardly pressed ribs on the neck of the cover so that after the cap has been inserted and partially turned the cam surface of the disc presses against the ribs and thereby forces the cap tightly against the seat.
In the construction of the present invention, the peripheral edge of the lid is seated against a corresponding lid seating portion, which is defined at the edge of the central opening and which is projected onto an upper wall portion of said can, said portion being disposed at a lower plan in relation to that reinforced peripheral edge of the can, thereby allowing said peripheral edge to act as a supporting point for the application of a lever to be used to remove said lid during the opening of the can. Due to this construction, the opening of said cans is easily achieved, without causing any damages to the can, and without leaving any vestiges caused by the introduction of a free end of a lever element between the peripheral edge of the lid and its seat at the central opening.
Such easiness and discretion for opening the can allows the improper opening of said can, with the purpose of adulterating its content, for example. Moreover, as the supporting point for the lever element used to open the can is defined away from the point where force is applied to raise the lid edge, it will be required from the user a certain physical effort to open said can.

Disclosure of the Invention

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an upper wall for usually eighteen-liter cans, which are cylindrical or parallelepipedic, and which are provided with a discharge upper opening, occupying a large area of said can upper wall, which is conformed so as to avoid violations of the content, by the improper opening of the can.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an upper wall for cans as described above, which allows the identification of attempts to violate the content of said cans, when the cans are opened. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a construction of the upper wall of a can of the above described type, which requires less effort from the user to open the can.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved through a can with a large discharge upper opening defined at a can upper wall which presents a radially external peripheral edge, a radially internal peripheral edge and between a median annular region of its radial extension and its radially internal peripheral edge, an annular step, defining a seat for a peripheral edge of a lid to be mounted by pressing it onto said discharge opening, said can upper wall also defining a supporting point for the application of a lever to be used to raise said lid peripheral edge during the opening of the can, characterized in that said annular step is joined to the upper wall through a radially internal edge of said median annular region, which is elevated in relation to the radially outermost portion on the upper wall, except for the external peripheral edge thereof, said radially internal edge being disposed radially and outwardly spaced from the peripheral edge of the lid in its mounted position and above a straight line S, which is simultaneously tangent to the radially external peripheral edge and to the radially internal peripheral edge of said upper wall, said radially internal edge defining a visible deformable provisional supporting point for the lever during the opening of the can.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be described below, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a frontal-lateral perspective view of a parallelepipedic can of the type herein described;
Fig. 2 is a partial cross sectional view of the upper wall of a can with a large discharge upper opening, which is closed by a lid according to the prior art;
Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of figure 2, of a can upper wall portion, according to the present invention; and
Fig. 4 is a partial cross sectional view of the upper wall of a cylindrical can, whose large upper discharge opening is covered by a lid, according to another embodiment of the invention.

Best Mode of Carrying Out the Invention

According to the figures 1, 2 and 3, there is illustrated a usually eighteen-liter can 10, which may alternatively present much or less capacity and which is substantially parallelepipedic, provided at its discharge upper end wall 11 with a discharge opening 12, which is substantially circular, occupying a substantial portion of the total area of the respective upper wall 11, and which is covered by a lid 20.
In another embodiment, illustrated in figure 4, the can 10 may present a cylindrical shape, whereas the discharge opening may present any oval or polygonal form, provided that there is defined at the upper wall 11 a radial spacing between a radially external peripheral edge 13 and a radially internal peripheral edge 14, which defines the discharge opening 12.
At the construction of the prior art (illustrated in figure 2), the external peripheral edge 13 of the upper wall 11 is joined to an internal peripheral edge 14 through an annular portion of the upper wall 11, said internal peripheral edge defining a seat for a peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20. The annular portion of the upper wall 11 is integrally disposed below a straight line S, which is simultaneously tangent to the external peripheral edge 13 and to the internal peripheral edge 14. With this disposition, the external peripheral edge 13 of the upper wall 11 is able to function as a supporting point for a lever element, in the form of a screw driver (non illustrated), for example, to be used for opening the lid 20.
In the construction illustrated in figure 2 (prior art), the internal peripheral edge of the upper wall 11, which defines a seat 14 for the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20 is defined by a rounded shoulder of the internal peripheral edge of the can upper wall 11, said shouldered seat 14 being disposed at a horizontal plane, coplanar or inferior relative the plane of the external peripheral edge 13 of the upper wall 11. In this condition, the external peripheral edge 13 can be used as a support for a lever element, whose tapered free end is introduced between the seat 14 and the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20, in order to open said lid.
This construction permits the easy violation of the content provided within the can 10, due to the facility to open said can 10, without leaving local vestiges (external peripheral edge 13), where the opening tool is supported. It should be understood that the external peripheral edge 13 of the can 10 is constructed in such a way as to make this region very resistant to deformations, as illustrated in the embodiment of figures 2, 3 and 4.
According to the present invention (see figure 3 and 4), the upper wall 11 is conformed so as to present, between its external peripheral edge 13 and the discharge opening 12, a median annular region 15, which presents at least part of its extension disposed above the line S that is simultaneously tangent to the external peripheral edge 13 and to the internal peripheral edge 14 of the upper wall 11.
In the construction illustrated in figures 3 and 4, the upper wall 11 presents its internal peripheral edge 14 defining the contour of the discharge opening 12 and being disposed at a lower level to that of the median annular region 15 and substantially coplanar to the upper wall 11 in the embodiment illustrated in figure 3. The internal peripheral edge 14 defines an annular step 14a of rounded corners and lowered in relation to an internal edge 16 of the median annular region 15, said step 14a defining, at this region of the upper wall 11 that surrounds the discharge opening 12 a seat for the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20, during the closing of the discharge opening 12. According to the construction illustrated in figures 3 and 4, the annular step presents a radially outermost portion, which is sligtly lowered, so as to facilitate the adaptation of the lever element under the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20, when said lever element has its end introduced between the internal edge 16 of the annular region 15 and the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20. The internal edge 16 of the annular region 15 is preferably radially spaced away from the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20, in order to make even easier the adaptation of the free end of the lever element during the opening of the can 10, as described above.
The internal edge 16 of the annular region 15 acts as a supporting point for the lever element during the opening of the lid 20. It should be observed that the small radial spacing between the internal edge 16 of the annular region 15 and the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20, the large relative radial spacing between the external peripheral edge 13 and the projection of said internal edge 16 over the straight line S, simultaneously tangent to the external peripheral edge 13 and to the internal peripheral edge 14 of the upper wall 11, make the lever element be only supported on said external peripheral edge 13 during the opening of the lid 20, after a substantial and visible deformation caused at the internal edge 16 of the annular region 15.
According to the present invention, this internal edge 16 is constructed in such a way as to be deformed when force is applied onto the lever element, during the opening of the lid 20, thereby allowing the easy visualization of the attempt to violate the content of the can 10.
This easiness to detect a possible violation results from the fact that the supporting point for the application of a lever element is defined at a region close to the lid 20, which is of a more fragile construction than that of the external peripheral edge 13 of the upper wall 11. Due to this fragility, any force applied onto the internal edge 16 of said annular region 15 will result in a deformation of said internal edge 16, which deformation is difficult to correct or to camouflage.
In order to protect said region against undesirable deformations caused during, for example, the transportation of the cans of the above described type, the annular region 15 is preferably coplanar or lowered in relation to the external peripheral edge 13 of the upper wall 11. Nevertheless, said construction foresees that, even if the deformation of the internal edge 16 changes the supporting point for the application of a lever element, there will not be any obstructions for the opening of the lid 20.
Although not illustrated, other embodiments are possible due to the constructive characteristics of the can 10, provided that said embodiments do not result in transferring the supporting point for the application of force to open the lid to the external peripheral edge 13, i.e., provided that the internal edge 16 of the annular region 15 is kept above the straight line S.
In order to improve the visualization of the attempts to violate the can 10, there can be applied or adhered onto the internal edge 16, by any adequate means, a visually enhanced thin film, which can be easily broken when the lever element is placed between said internal edge 16 and the peripheral edge 21 of the lid 20.

Claims

Can with large discharge upper opening (12) defined at a can upper wall (11) which presents a radially external peripheral edge (13), a radially internal peripheral edge (14) and between a median annular region (15) of its radial extension and its radially internal peripheral edge (14), an annular step (14a), defining a seat for a peripheral edge (21) of a lid (20) to be mounted by pressing it onto said discharge opening (12), said can upper wall (11) also defining a supporting point for the application of a lever to be used to raise said lid peripheral edge (21) during the opening of the can, characterized in that said annular step (14a) is joined to the upper wall (11) through a radially internal edge (16) of said median annular region (15), which is elevated in relation to the radially outermost portion on the upper wall (11), except for the external peripheral edge (13) thereof, said radially internal edge (16) being disposed radially and outwardly spaced from the peripheral edge (21) of the lid (20) in its mounted position and above a straight line S, which is simultaneously tangent to the radially external peripheral edge (13) and to the radially internal peripheral edge (14) of said upper wall, said radially internal edge (16) defining a visible deformable provisional supporting point for the lever during the opening of the can.
Can, according to claim 1, characterized in that the annular step (14a) presents a radially outermost portion, which is lowered in relation to the internal peripheral edge (14) of the upper wall (11).