Canned beverages are often dispensed from vending machines. Of necessity, the interior of such vending machines are of heavyduty construction, typically made of metal. In operation, once the correct amount of money is inserted and a choice of beverage made, a keeper is released, causing the canned beverage to drop into a dispensing bin. Oftentimes the drop is substantial and causes damage to at least one end or to the cylindrical portion of the can. Similarly, such damage can occur during transport from the warehouse to the retail store or to a vending machine. In the typical case of a beverage can that is openable by a pull tab, even minor distortion of the lip or top portion of the can can cause breaks in the pull tab seal, which in turn causes loss of at least some of the can's contents and, if the beverage is carbonated, a considerable mess. There is therefore a need for a device of simple construction that is capable of protecting beverage cans from damage by dampening the shock from dropping them onto a hard surface. This need is met by the present invention.
There is also an ongoing need in the canned container and canister industry for carriers of simple lightweight construction and easy application that are capable of bundling a plurality of cylindrical containers or canisters into a single package to be transported, displayed, stored, stacked or sold as a single unit. These needs are also met by the present invention.
According to the present invention, there is provided a device for protecting annular beaded rims of canisters that snaps on and off the top and/or bottom of them, and that, when joined with one or more other such devices, forms a combination bundler and carrier for multiple canisters having such annular beaded rims.
Referring to the drawings, wherein the same numerical references generally refer to like elements, there is shown in
Device 1 is preferably made of a resilient material such as high density polyethylene by injection molding. Use of a resilient material allows arcuate lips 18 to snugly engage the underside of a beaded rim 30 of a canister with spring-like force by simply pressing downwardly in the vicinity of opposing gaps 14 to slightly deform planar ring 10 while pulling corresponding arcuate lips 18 outwardly away from beaded rim 30, then releasing. To release the device from beaded rim 30, the same “press/pull” forces are exerted, followed by separating the device and the canister.
Multiples of device 1 may be joined together at their peripheries and in substantially the same plane so as to form multiple-canister carriers, as shown in
As shown in
As seen in
The device and multiples thereof may be applied to any manner of cylindrical containers or canisters bearing annular beaded rims on their tops and/or bottoms, such as food cans, beverage cans, filter housings, bullet casings, artillery shells and other ordinance packaged in canisters.
The terms and expressions which have been employed in this specification are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions to exclude equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20080224489 A1 | Sep 2008 | US |