US3502243A - Conformed seam structure and containers employing same - Google Patents

Description

March 24 1970 RM. ERLANDSON ET AL- 3,502,243

CONFORMED SEAM STRUCTURE AND CONTAINERS EMPLOYING SAME Filed Jan. 12, 1968 23 INVENTORS PAUL MERLANDSON I16 6 3 DONALD JJZOTH TTORNEYS United States Patent 3,502,243 CONFORMED SEAM STRUCTURE AND CONTAINERS EMPLOYING SAME Paul M. Erlandson, Palos Park, and Donald J. Roth,

Chicago Heights, 11]., assignors to Continental Can I Company, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 697,398 Int. Cl. B65d 7/38 U.S. Cl. 220-75 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in containers, and more particularly to a novel seam construction for a container body.

When the side seam of a container body is of the straight lap type, there are two raw edges, one internally and one externally. In many instances both of these raw edges are undesirable. In practically every instance, at least one of the raw edges is undesirable. Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide a can body wherein initially the lap seam thereof is conventional and such seam is conformed or reshaped so as to provide for one smooth continuous surface.

It will be readily appreciated that when the exterior surface of a container body side seam is smooth and continuous, the appearance of the container body is greatly improved and decoration thereof through 360 degrees is possible. The elimination of the projecting external raw edge also reduces shipping damage.

Another feature of the conformed container body seam is that when the side seam is conformed utilizing a high energy rate technique, and when the side seam is of the adhesively bonded type, the conforming of the seam results in a tighter seam thereby alleviating the possibility of foreign objects becoming embedded between the lapped edges and causing leaks.

When the side seam of a container body is conformed so as to have the interior surface thereof continuous, only a very small recess will initially exist and protective material may be placed therein in the form of a side stripe so that the normally exposed cut edge will not be exposed to the contents of the container. Also, such a container may be utilized as a piston type aerosol container in that the leakage between the container wall and a piston will be held to a minimum. Furthermore, the container is readily adaptable for use with a liner in that the liner will not be subject to cutting on the normally exposed raw edge.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawing:

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a conformed can formed in accordance with this invention with a continuous external surface.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of another conformed can with portions thereof broken away and shown in sec- 3,502,243 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 tion and wherein the internal surface of the can body is continuous.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view similar to FIGURE 3 and shows a form of the side seam Lvherein the bond between the lap portions is an adhesive ond.

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic fragmentary horizontal sectional view showing the initial condition of the lapped seam and generally how the seam is conformed to form the seam of FIGURE 3.

Reference is first made to FIGURE 1 wherein there is illustrated a can formed in accordance with this invention, the can being generally referred to by the numeral 10. The can 10 includes a conformed body 11 which has the opposite ends thereof closed in a conventional manner by means of ends 12 and 13. The body 11 is provided with a side seam 14 which is exaggerated for illustration purposes.

Referring now to FIGURE 3 in particular, it will be seen that the side seam 14 is conformed in accordance with this invention whereby the external surface of the body 11 is continuous. The side seam 14 includes two laps 15 and 16 which are bonded together in any desirable manner. In the illustrated side seam, the bond between the laps 15 and 16 is in the form of a weld 17. The lap 16 which is disposed outermost, is disposed continuous with the main portion of the body 11 and is substantially in abutting engagement with an offset shoulder 18 which is disposed at the intersection of the lap 15 with the adjacent portion of the body 11. It is to be noted that the lap 15 is totally offset radially inwardly from the remainder of the body 11.

The conformed side seam 14 has a narrow gap 20 between the shoulder 18 and the free end of the lap 16. This gap 20 is filled with a suitable material, such as a lacquer 21, in a conventional side striping operation.

The specific can body 11 has several material advantages. In the first place, there is absent the usual external raw edge on which one may possibly cut oneself. Secondly, appearance of the can body 11 is enhanced by the continuous exterior surface thereof. This, in addition, permits the application of a continuous decoration if this is so desired. Such a continuous decoration is illustrated in FIGURE 1 and is identified by the numeral 22.

A further and highly desirable advantage of the smooth continuous external surface of the can body 11 is that it is impossible for the side seam of one can to damage an adjacent can during shipment. While such a side seam construction has an advantage when the ends are of the type illustrated in FIGURE 1, it will be readily apparent that there is still a further advantage if the ends are of the smaller diameter type and the conventional double seams between the ends and the can body lie within the external outline of the can body. This provides for an extremely desirable can construction.

Referring now to FIGURE 5 in particular, it will be seen that there is illustrated a modified can which is similar to the can 10, but has a different body construction. This modified can is identified by the numeral and includes a can body which is identified by the numeral 111. The opposite ends of the can body 111 are closed in a conventional manner by ends including the illustrated end 112. The can body 111 has a side seam 114 which is conformed in the same manner as the side seam 14 and includes laps 115 and 116. However the laps 115 and 116 are bonded together by means of an adhesive bond 117 as opposed to the welded bondshown in FIG- U-RE 3.

Reference is next made to FIGURE 6 wherein there is schematically illustrated the manner in which the can body 11 is conformed so as to have a conformed side seam. It is to be noted that the ends of the can body 11 are initially merely brought into overlapping relation so that the laps 15 and 16 are in lapped engagement, and thereafter, the Welded bond 17 is formed. At this time the free ends of the laps 15 and 16 are both exposed. The conventionally formed can body is then placed within a suitable mold or die 22 which is preferably cylindrical in outline but not necessarily so. The internal diameter of the mold 22 will be slightly greater than that of the nominal diameter of the can body 11 when initially formed. A high energy rate force will then be applied to the internal surface of the can body 11, as is generally indicated by the arrows 23. This high energy rate force, which may be of any desired conventional type, will then instantaneously conform the side seam and other portions of the can body 11 to conform to the internal configuration of the die 22 with the side seam being conformed to have the appearance shown in FIGURE 3.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 2 wherein there is illustrated an aerosol type can formed in accordance with this invention, the aerosol type can being generally referred to by the numeral 30. The can 30 includes a conformed can body 31 which has the lower end thereof closed by a conventional end 32 and the upper end thereof closed by means of a special aerosol type end 33. The conformed can body 11 has a conformed side seam which is generally identified by the numeral 34 and which for illustrative purposes has been exaggerated in FIGURE 2.

Referring now to FIGURE 4 in particular, it will be seen that the side seam 34 is formed by an internal lap 35 and an external lap 36 which have been bonded together by means of a welded bond 37. Although the illustrated bond is a welded bond, it may be an adhesive bond of the type illustrated in FIGURE The side seam 34 difi'ers from the side seam 14 of FIGURE 3 in that the side seam 34 has been conformed so that the internal surface of the can body 31 is continuous. The primary portion of the can body 11 is offset at its connection with the lap 36 so as to define a shoulder 38 which opposes the free end of the lap 35. There is a small gap 40 between the free end of the lap 35 and the shoulder 38, which gap is conveniently filled with a lacquer 41 or other similar material in a simple side stripping operation.

It is first pointed out that although the lap 36 does project externally of the remainder of the can body 31, the can body 31 has no external features which are any more undesirable than existing can bodies. On the other hand, by forming the internal surface of the can body 31 so as to be continuous, it will be seen that the can 30 may be provided with a conventional piston 42 which will uniformly engage about the periphery of the internal surface of the can body 11 and form a complete seal therewith. This, of course, is a highly desirable feature of an aerosol type can.

Although the aerosol type can 30 has been illustrated as having a piston which cooperates with the internal surface of the can body 31 in the usual piston and cylinder relationship, the use of the can body 31 in an aerosol type can is not so limited. There is a certain class of aerosol type cans wherein a liner or bag is provided. By having the internal surface of the can body 31 continuous, there is no possibility of the accidental rupture of the 4 bag or liner when engaging the side seam of the can body 31.

It is further pointed out here that there are many instances :when the content of a can body will chemically attack the raw metal. By conforming the side seam 34 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 4, it will be seen that the exposed metal which has not been previously protected by coating or plating, that is along the usual cut raw edge of the metal, is readily protected by the lacquer 41. It will also be apparent that the lacquer 41, being disposed within the narrow gap 40, will have a tendency to remain in place and will not come loose as the case where such a lacquer is attempted to be applied to a fully exposed raw edge.

Although only certain advantages of the specific conformed side seams of this disclosure have been set forth, it is to be understood that many other advantages will become apparent as the conformed can bodies are utilized.

Although only two preferred embodiments of the invention have been specifically illustrated and described herein, it is to be understood that minor variations may be made in the conformed can body of this disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A container body having a conformed lapped side seam, said side seam including an offset lap portion and a continued lap portion, said offset lap portion being disposed entirely out of the continuing surface of the adjacent portion of said body with which it is integrally formed and the circumferential extent of said seam is no more than equal to the width of said lap portion plus the thickness of the material of said body.

2. The container of claim 1 wherein said continued lap portion has an edge in abutting engagement with the portion of said body to which said offset lap portion is integrally connected.

3. The container body of claim 1 wherein said side seam is and has the visual appearance of being shaped after lapped edge portions of said container body have been bonded together.

4. The container body of claim 1 wherein the exterior surface of said body is continuous and smooth.

5. The container body of claim 1 wherein the interior surface of said body is continuous and smooth.

6. The container body of claim 1 wherein said body is part of an aerosol type container and said body having a continuous and smooth cylindrical interior surface.

7. The container body of claim 1 wherein said side seam is of a continuous welded construction.

8. The container body of claim 1 wherein said side seam is a continuous adhesively bonded seam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,120,007 6/1938 Tear 220 X 2,319,487 5/1943 Baldwin 2208l X 2,255,802 9/1941 Murch 220-75 2,679,305 5/ 1954 Gunthorp. 2,919,255 12/1959 'Hart. 2,967,161 1/1961 Hart 22081 X GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner JAMES R. GARRETT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 220-81

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