US2233489A - Receptacle closure - Google Patents

Description

Mafch 11941. J. D. REIFSNYDEAR RECEPTACLE CLOSURE Filed ept. 3, 1938 INVENTOR.

dimes 0 RE/FS/WDER.

' w W fi; AT oRNEYs' Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcs RECEPTACLE CLOSURE James D. Reifsnyder, Flushing, N. Y., assignor to Lily-Tulip Cup Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application September 3, 1938, Serial No. 228,406 a Claims.

- containers; but all having the common feature of a lip formed by rolling or curling an outwardly extending bead (usually round in cross-section) on the upper marginal edge of said receptacle.

Heretofore, disc covers, seated in an inner annular recess or shoulder somewhat below the beaded lip and positioned entirely within the receptacle, have been commonly used. It 'has also been attempted to provide a suitable cover for such receptacles, which would extend outside the lip, but no successful solution of this problem has been found heretofore.

' One of the desired features of such a cover is that it be formed completely before it is placed in position; another is that it be readily applied and self-locking when placed in position; another is that it be compact and easy to ship either separately or when in applied position; and another is that it be adapted to rapid and economic production.

An object of this invention is to produce an article possessing the advantages and free from the objections heretofore referred to; and at the same time providing an article which might be economically and commercially manufactured.

This invention consists in the novel features,

arrangements and combination of parts embodied by way of example in the article hereinafter described as-illustrating the preferred form of the invention, and the invention will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending application Ser. No. 187,121, filed January 2'7, 1938.

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following speciflcation and-claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig.- 1 is a plan view of the invention in its present preferred form; I

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in elevation taken at 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the co er in cooperative closed position on a receptacle, the lower portion of which is broken away, and v Fig. 3 isv a view similar to Fig. 2 and shows a modification of the cover structure.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Fig. 2: the receptacle is indicated in general as I and is provided at its upper marginal edge with a beaded edge 2 which forms the lip of the receptacle and which is substantially circular in cross-section. No claim is made herein for the novelty of this receptacle per se since it is representative of receptacles well known in the art.

. The cover is indicated in its entirety as 3 and comprises a top portion 4 and a dependent peripheral flange designated in its entirety as 5 and formed integrally with the top 4 in the manner to be more particularly described following; the unitary structure being made of one piece of sheet material. In the present embodiment, the material is paper having a thickness of approxi- .mately .025", although it is within the contemplation of the invention that other similar :fl-- brous material may be employed and that the thickness may be varied to an extent not con- I trary to the teachings of the invention.

The flange 5 is formed and is proportioned and positioned as follows. The marginal peripheral portion of the blank, of which the top 4 forms the central portion, is bent downwardly at 6 and extends substantially vertically along the upper wall of the flange as at 1 and then continues along the path of a substantially closed loop forming thereby a lower pronounced hollow beaded lower edge 8, from which the stock then extends upwardly and along the inner face of the outer ply l, as at 9, and this inner ply continues upwardly to a point closely adjacent the inner face of the top 4 adjacent the bend 6. It will be noted that the lower bead 8 of the flange 5 is offset inwardly, as by having the intermediate portion of the flange indented inwardly at l0, and the distance of this offset is preferably about half of the width of the bead 8, and it is to be further noted that the head 8 is spaced downwardly from the top 4, by the two-ply upper wall portion 1, for a dis tance substantially equal to the vertical diameter of said bead. While the foregoing relative dimentions are considered preferable, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention that they may be somewhat varied and such variations which fall within the teaching of the invention are intended to be comprehended therein.

The top 4 of the cover 3 is embossed or indented downwardly to provide an annular groove therewith an inner annular arched peripheral zone for receiving the rounded lip or head 2 of the receptacl I. The top 4 of the cover 3 is also preferably provided, as by embossing or indenting, with a plurality of transverse grooves l2 and I3 with the outer ends of said grooves lying closely contiguous the annular groove II.

The cover may be thus formed rapidly and economically as a separate unit to be placed in cooperative engagement on the container at will. The cover is inserted on the container as illustrated in Fig. 2 by merely pressing down upon the cover, whereby the resilient flange is expanded outwardly permitting the cover bead 8 to pass over the receptacle bead 2, which is facilitated by the respectively engaging inclines of these beads provided by the rounded contour of the same; and on the cover being seated in the position indicated in the drawing, the bead 8, in view of the peculiar construction and disposition of the parts, contracts inwardly to firmly and positively seal the cover in closed position on the container. In this connection it is noted that the annular groove or recess H in combination with the flange 5 causes the cover to partially embrace the bead 2 and additionally provides increased rigidity at the outer marginal edge of the cover to facilitate the sealing action of the mation of the lower beaded edge of the cover cover, as well as to maintain the cover in proper shape prior to its insertion on the container; the transverse grooves or recesses l2 and I3 cooperating with the groove II in this respect and serving jointly with th head 8 to impart sub stantially increased rigidity to the relatively thin I paper stock.

in devices of this kind the facility of removing the cover is of utmost importance, and one of the serious problems heretofore has been to produce a cover which, while embodying the other essential characteristics, still provided this essential feature. In this connection it is noted that the inner ply 9 extends upwardly adjacent the inner face of the outer ply I to such an extent as to project exteriorly of the bead 2 of the receptacle, thereby providing an inner inclined wall portion whose cooperative engagement with the lower curved under edge of the bead 2 of the receptacle greatly facilitates the withdrawal of the cover from the receptacle without destroying or otherwise detracting from the usefulness of the cover. This last feature is also of considerable importance since devices of this kind are widely used for packing commodities of various kinds and which are used in quantities less than the contents of the container, whereby it is highly desirable to have a cover which may be repeatedly removed and replaced without destroy ing the useful properties of the cover or of the receptacle on which it is used.

Modification The modification illustrated in Fig. 3 differs from the structure shown in Fig. 2 in the forfiange. This modification will now be more particularly described with reference to Fig. 3 in which similar parts of the structure are designated with the same numerals employed in Fig. 2 with the prime sufiix added, in order to indicate the corresponding'parts of the two embodiments.

The receptacle is indicated in general as I and is provided witha beaded marginal upper edge or lip 2'. The cover is indicated in its entirety as 3' and comprises a. top portion a and of sheet material as in the embodiment previously described with reference to Fig. 2. 1

The flange 5' is formed and isproportioned and positioned as follows: The marginal peripheral portion of the blank, of which the top 4 forms the central portion, is bent downwardly. at

6' and extends in a vertical direction downwardly along the upper wall of the fiangeas at 1', extends gradually wardly and is then folded or bent inwardly and inwardly and then flares outupwardly so as to extend upwardly along the inner face of the outer ply I as at 9', and this inner ply continues upwardly to a point adjacent the top 4" adjacent the bend 6'. The lower edge of this two-ply flange is provided with a beaded lower edge 8'; the beaded edge of this embodiment being convex on its inner side and concave on its outer side instead of being convex on both its inner and outer sides as'in the previous embodiment illustrated in Fig, 2. As is the case with the previous embodiment of Fig. 2, the inner convex beaded face is offset inwardlyas at ll! so that the bead projects inwardly beyond the inside of the flange portion intermediate the said head and the said top. The beaded edge 8' of the flange 5' functions in substantially the same manner as previously described in connection with the embodiment of Fig. 2 but it is to be noted thatin the embodiment of Fig. 3 the vertical extentof the bead 8 is somewhat greater than the corresponding dimension of the bead of Fig. 2 for the same amount of paper stock; and accordingly the convexity is somewhat less pronounced and results in providing a lower lip portion of more gradual curvature, thereby facilitating the insertion of the cover in position on the container.

In addition to the foregoing beneficial features of the invention, the desirable structural characteristics have been attained in a manner to produce a' cover highly pleasing in appearance and one which occupies a minimum of space for shipping and the like.

Having thus described my invention with particularity with reference to its preferred forms,

it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention, that other changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invenhead being substantially-less than the inner diameter of said flange intermediate said bead and said top and said bead providing a downwardly and outwardly inclined lip adjacent the lower edge of said flange. fl

2. A one-piece paper closure comprising a top and a two-ply dependent peripheral flange having a beaded lower edge spaced downwardly from said top a distance substantially as great as the vertical diameter of said a thickness substantially equal to the combined bead by a side wall of thicknesses of said two plies, said beaded lower edge being oflset inwardly in a radial direction a distance substantially as great as 'the radial depth 0! said head.

3. A one-piece paper closure comprising a top and a two-ply dependent peripheral flange having a hollow convex beaded lower edge spaced downwardly from said top a distance su bstam tially as great as the vertical diameter of said bead by a side wall of a thickness substantially equal to the combined thicknesses of said two plies, said hollow beaded lower edge being ofiset inwardly in a radial direction a distance substantially as great as one-half the radial diameter of said bead.

4. A one-piece'paper closure comprising a top and a two-ply dependent peripheral flange having a hollow resilient beaded lower edge spaced downwardly from said top by a side wall of' a thickness substantially equal to the combined thicknesses of said'two plies, said top being provided with an annular downwardly extending groove whose outer diameter is less than the inside diameter of the hollow beaded edge of said flange, and transversely disposed downwardly extending grooves whose outer ends lie contiguous said annular groove.

5. In combination, a receptacle having'an outwardly extending substantially narrow beaded lip and a one-piece paper closure therefor comprising a topwith a down-turned flange whose upper wall portion is of two-ply thickness with the inner face thereof disposed closely adjacent the outer diameter'of said lip and whose. lower extremity is provided by the fold of said two plies with a beaded edge adapted to engage beneath said lip and whose inner diameter is substantially less than the outer diameter or said lip, said beaded edge permitting the flange to be snapped over the beaded lip of the container and serving to securely hold said closure in sealed engagement therewith.

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