Patent Application
20130284742
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an environment-friendly and user-friendly improved easy open lid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Easy open lid has been very popular globally. Typical easy open lids for beverage cans include Ring-Pull-Tab (RPT) type and Stay-On-Tab (SOT) type. The former type usually causes environment and recycle issues because the user litters the tab and the tongue after opening the beverage can. Therefore, developed countries very rarely use RPT type easy open lids. The latter type prevents environmental issues because the tab and the tongue stay on the top plate after the container is open and they are recyclable with the can. However, it fails to facilitate sales promotion because the tongue is pushed inside the can.
Currently the industry attempts to print promotional message by laser technology on the back side of the tab. This is still in experimental stage and there are many issues to resolve. For example, laser printing positioning accuracy cannot be assured in a mass production process. Thus, current SOT type easy open lids cannot be used for sales promotion. The Modified Stay on Tab (MSOT) in this invention is to overcome the above drawback and meet environmental requirements.
The objective for the invention is to design and provide an effective structure for easy open lids to solve the sales promotion issue with traditional SOT easy open lids and meet environment and recycle requirements.
To achieve the objective, the structure for the improved MSOT easy open lid in the invention comprises a top plate, a score line, a tongue, rivet, a deboss, a tab, a top score line and a pull-strip. The opening mechanism is lifting the tab and simultaneously rupturing the score line around the tongue, which is adopted by current SOT easy open lids. For revealing sales promotional message, the user lifts the tab further and pulls upward the pull-strip behind the tongue along the top score line. In this way, the sales promotion can be achieved because the printed message on the back side of the tongue can be easily seen.
The following will describe the structural characteristics, objective and benefits for the invention through illustration of an embodiment.
The easy open lids for the invention, as shown in
On the top plate (1) there is a score line (2). The score line (2) surrounds the periphery of the tongue (3). But the score line (2) does not close and remains open for a portion to prevent the fall of the tongue (3) into the can after opening. The open end of the tongue (3) extends with a pull-strip (8) that has a deboss (5). Similarly, there is a top score line (7) to surround the periphery of the pull-strip (8), but not to close itself There is a tab (6) on the top of the tongue (3) and fixed by a rivet (4).
For opening, the space reserved by the deboss (5) facilitates the lifting of the tab (6), which allows the nose of the tab (6) to press the tongue (3) and the tongue (3) to detach from the top plate (1) along the score line (2), to form an opening hole that enables the flow of the content out of the can.
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In summary, the “MSOT” easy open lids not only solve the promotional printing issue with the traditional products by providing further lifting mechanism to reveal the promotional message printed on the back side of the tongue, but also meet the environment and recycle requirements by preventing the littering with tabs. The design is an innovation that cannot be found in publications and an application for patent is filed because this invention shall meet the patent application requirements.
However, the above description is only for preferred embodiments and it is emphasized hereafter that those structurally equivalent modifications based on the description and illustration for the invention shall be covered by the claims of the invention.
