Patent Application
20120168442
Not Applicable
indicates data missing or illegible when filed
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The currently marketed ecology beverage container end lid does not provide a sanitary surface from which to drink or to pour the beverage, nor does it provide a means with which to alternately open and reclose the container lid if the individual beverage consumer desires. These containers are placed on trucks, in vending machines, on storage room floors and other non-hygienic, open-air surfaces.
The conventional aluminum ecology tabbed beverage container lid is opened when the tab that is attached to the tear member is pulled back and consequently the tear member is pushed into the interior of the container. The surface of the tear member then penetrates the inner container and the beverage engulfs the tear member and the beverage becomes immediately contaminated with any festering bacteria or viral pollutant thriving on the upper surface. This invasive action also produces a permanently open area for drinking and pouring, which further aggravates the likelihood of more contamination.
Conscientious parents do not want their younger children exposed to small, breakaway or loose “rings” of aluminum. Sharp edges are characteristic of these punctured cans and represent a hazard to children's fingers, lips and tongues. The parental response to offset this hazard is to purchase plastic bottles and “boxes” of beverages for their children's lunch pails. These caregivers categorically reject these beverage containers and this market loses a very important logistic for their product.
The aluminum and aluminum alloy container is nonetheless the preferred container for carbonated beverages. Therefore the prior art beverage container warrants improvement in order to capture and retain the previously delineated logistic of consumers. Marketers with foresight will solicit the product that summarily answers these issues simply. It remains in the best interest of corporations, to proactively engage in the trend for due diligence and the cause for global responsibility.
The prior art ecology beverage container end closure may be considered problematic in the present era due to the challenges facing this millennium of global interdependence and the reasonable need to safeguard against health and ecological hazards. Even the most tempered hygienecological precautions may mitigate vulnerability of illness and litigation. The popular ecology beverage container comprises a tear member which is constructed to perforate the beverage container end closure and this perforation reveals sharp internal and external surfaces. The practical solution to the conventional ecology beverage container end closure is the present invention. The present invention encompasses and resolves the ecological, sanitary and hygienic issues as well as diminishes the apparent hazard of the rings of aluminum, in a straightforward and desirable way.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,270 issued Jan. 23, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,048 issued May 22, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,003 issued Apr. 28, 1992, and U.S. Patent Number 20040089664 A1 issued May 13, 2004 depict and indicate, respectfully, similar concerns for the physicality of the beverage container end closure and/or the protective covering intended for the same. The cohesive innovation and improvement that is represented in the present invention exemplifies and addresses all of the inherent issues of the prior art beverage container end closure, respectfully. These referenced patents each bear issues of “rings” of aluminum, or are non-ecology oriented tabs. The suggested coverings of these referenced patents, also, are made of materials such as foil and elastic and they present varying hazards without appreciably allaying issues of expense.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,748 B1 issued Mar. 23, 2004 inculcates the use of an adhesive that is safe for use with food” and “As an adhesive, a liquid glue can be used . . . ”, and “the protective covering is made of embossed aluminum foil”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,003 involves a a protective cover for a unique beverage can and wherein “only about half of the cover can be folded away from the end of the can, the remainder of the cover being adhesively secured to the can. The cover may include a plug sealing an opening in the end wall of the can, and a pull tab to assist in removing the plug from the opening.” However, this method introduces narrow strips of material around the periphery of ingestion; U.S. Patent Number 20040089664 A1 features “An easy-opening closure for hermetic sealing of an open end of a . . . container . . . wherein said metal end ring comprises steel having polypropylene heat-sealable surfaces, said first membrane patch includes polypropylene heat-sealable surfaces, and second membrane patch comprises a layer . . . ” The membranes are within the container; U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,270 suggests an elastic or elastic-type material as a covering that does remain attached to the beverage container by an “adhesive or band, e.g. tape”. U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,048 imparts a protective covering “comprising an integral aluminum foil of substantially circular periphery having a tear-resistant plastic coating and configured to cover said closure panel and rim in adhesive attachment therewith, and a tear away access strip . . . ”
Of the preceding noteworthy U.S. Patents, there is nonetheless the glaring need for simplicity and safety in design for this type of container packaging. And clearly, global concern is imperative for the new millennium. The new invention is sculpted to reflect this cohesion in purpose.
The purpose of the present invention is to make the surface of the ecology beverage container end closure considerably more hygienic and freer from contamination by applying a cellophane hermetical seal wrapper to the beverage can end closure.
The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the “push-in” tab mode of initiating the “open” position of the conventional beverage container, thus diminishing the consumers' susceptibility to viral or toxic illness due to their mouths engaging the unsanitary beverage container end closure and the upper outer wall of the container.
The purpose of the present invention is to facilitate the manufacture and use of an ecology beverage container end lid which may easily be placed in the opened and closed positions effectively allowing for the convenience and ease of portability for the consumer, while inhibiting spillage of the container beverage.
The purpose of the present invention is to facilitate the manufacture of an ecology beverage container end closure lid which may be placed in the opened and closed position without causing distress to the fingers or fingernails of the consumers.
The purpose of the present invention is to facilitate the manufacture of an ecology beverage container lid which eliminates the “rings” of aluminum or so referenced tab members, which in prior art are placed on the surface of the container end closure in imposing or menacing proximity to the drinking portal.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple and practical method for the ecology beverage container consumer to open and reclose the container by engaging a small, smooth, circular lift-up tab which is sharply pulled upward and then pressed and down into the corresponding cradle.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide an ecology beverage container end lid which eliminates the sharp edges of the conventional beverage container components.
The purpose of the present invention is to alleviate parts and constructs of the conventional beverage container end closure that may lead to bodily injury or viral infection.
The purpose of the present invention is to facilitate the manufacture of a highly functional and an improved beverage container end closure that reflects “order, balance and simplicity”.
a is a top plan view of the detached ecology beverage container end closure lid in the opened position with a depiction of the view of the detached flexible hinge that is turned horizontally 90 degrees.
Further defined and etched into the countersink 13 of the container end closure 11 and positioned behind the pour spout lid member 15, is a malleable circular cradle 18 which is configured to grasp the opener tab member 16 of the pour spout lid member 15 as the opener tab member 16 is pressed into it.
In function, the opener tab 16 is lifted sharply, generally by finger pressure, in an upward motion, causing the underlying convex ledge 14 of the pour spout lid member 15 to slightly release from the underlying corresponding concave recipient member 19 and to simultaneously free any errant carbonated gases from a pressurized beverage container.
As the underlying convex ledge 14 of the pour spout lid member 15 is released from the concave recipient member 19 and any errant gases are freed from the pressurized container end closure 11, the opener tab 16 of the pour spout lid member 15 is then gently pulled backward in the direction of the flexible hinge until the upper surface of the rounded opener tab 16 is brought to the malleable cradle 18. The upper surface of the rounded tab member 16 is then pressed into the malleable cradle 18 and secured into the opened position at 180 degrees.
The transparent sectional view of the underlying also reveals within the container wall 12, the cradle recess 18a of the cradle 18 etched and defined in the countersink 13 of the container end closure 11 (
Inasmuch as the embodiment of the present invention is clearly represented, illustrated and delineated in this document, there are other embodiments which may be ascertained from the spirit of the preferred embodiment as well as that of the ecological and hygienic process.
It is judicious to state that all alternative embodiments which are replicated or intimated in spirit, component part or whole of this present invention, the essential principles, features and the hygienic process herein, shall be deemed to be inclusive and subordinate to this disclosure document. Further, the claimed embodiments of this invention shall hereby include any and all shapes and numbers of “cradles” placed upon the container surface and all shapes and numbers of tabs inherently constructed or discretely affixed onto the beverage container end closure.
Further and in conclusion, it shall be stated, respectively, that any modification or alternative embodiment of this present invention from beverage container to a dry goods container shall also be deemed to be inclusive and subordinate to this document disclosure.
