WO2001096190A1

WO2001096190A1 - Can with sanitary lid-on

Info

Publication number: WO2001096190A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001029
Authority: WO
Inventors: No-Min Yang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-06-15
Filing date: 2001-06-15
Publication date: 2001-12-20
Anticipated expiration: 2002-12-15
Also published as: AU7463401A; KR200207452Y1

Abstract

A can with sanitary lid-on comprises a body having a cask-shape for storage the beverage therein, an upper plate having a plate-shape for sealing an upper portion of the body, an opening portion formed in the upper plate by a line along which to cut off so as to cut and bend a partial portion of the upper plate, an opening handle attached to the opening portion so that user pull the opening handle for cutting the line of the opening portion, a sanitation coke attached on the upper plate and having a cap capable of opening/closing, the sanitation coke capable of being protruded and inserted into the body. Therefore, it is possible to open/close an outlet of the can with sanitary lid-on, and to protrude the sanitation coke at need so as to drink or keep the beverage sanitarily.

Description

CAN WITH SANITARY LID-ON

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a can with sanitary lid-on equipped

with a sanitation spout as an integral part thereof, and more particularly, to a

can with sanitary lid-on with an integrated sanitation spout having a dispense

port optionally opened/closed by the cap, and protruding from an upper plate

to allow the consumer to conveniently and sanitarily enjoy the beverage

contained in the container.

(b) Description of the Related Art

As is well known in the art, a beverage can containing a beverage

therein is normally made of metal and is of a cylindrical shape having a

storage space for the beverage, with an upper plate provided with a

beverage dispense port sealed with a tear panel.

In this configuration, the consumer breaks the tear panel to open the

dispense port and then drinks the beverage contained within the beverage

can through the opened dispense port.

In use of the prior art beverage can described above, however, the

consumer cannot avoid directly contacting his lip to a portion around the

dispense port while drinking the beverage. This is an unsanitary procedure since there's a high possibility for contaminants or bacteria to be infiltrated

into a mouth.

Further, since the dispense port is formed in an elongated shape, the

beverage may be abruptly dispensed or a large amount of beverage may be

poured at a time when the consumer drinks the beverage by tilting the

beverage can. This often results in that portions around the mouth or the

clothes of the consumer are accidentally contaminated with the beverage, or

that the consumer experiences a transient breathing problem.

Furthermore, for the consumer wanting to enjoy the beverage in a

safer and more sanitary manner, avoiding those problems means having to

carry a straw to drink the beverage with, which is very inconvenient.

Moreover, since once the dispense port is opened it cannot be

closed, in a case where the beverage is not fully consumed the remaining

contents may be spilled from the can when the consumer moves, and if the

beverage can is disposed of in a trash can or a recycling receptacle, the

same will contaminate other beverage containers or cans.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to overcome the

shortcomings described above.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a can with sanitary

lid-on equipped with, as an integral part thereof, a sanitation spout having a dispense port capable of being optionally opened/closed depending upon the

consumer's demand, and protruding from an upper plate to allow the

consumer to sanitarily enjoy the beverage and to keep the can with sanitary

lid-on in a sanitary manner.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a can

with sanitary lid-on with a main body of a cylindrical shape having a storage

space for keeping a beverage therewithin, an upper plate of a plate-like

shape enclosing an upper portion of the main body, an opening portion

having a score line along which a portion of the upper plate is ruptured from

the upper plate and bent upwardly to make an opening, an opening tab

mounted adjacent to the opening portion and providing a grip that a

consumer can hold when rupturing the score line to make the opening, and

a sanitation spout that can be inserted into the main body and protruded out

of the same, the sanitation spout being liquid-tightly fixed at its periphery to

a lower surface of the upper plate around the opening portion and having a

cap capable of opening/closing the sanitation spout.

Further, in the can with sanitary lid-on described above, the

sanitation spout further has a flange portion of a ring-like shape that is

liquid-tightly fixed to the upper plate, a deformable portion extending from an

inner periphery of the flange portion to form an inclined profile thereof and

being foldable upwardly and downwardly, a shape-maintenance portion connected to the deformable portion so as to allow a border therebetween

to be folded, and extending upwardly, the shape-maintenance portion

having a dispense port formed therethrough, with the cap mounted at the

shape-maintenance portion to open/close the dispense port.

Furthermore, in the can with sanitary lid-on described above, a lug is

formed on the cap, protruding from the same in order to allow the consumer

to conveniently open the cap; and the cap is connected to the shape-

maintenance portion through a connector made of a flexible material and so

attached to the shape-maintenance portion that the cap can open/close the

dispense port.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and

constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the

invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles

of the invention, where:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a can with sanitary lid-on

equipped with a sanitation spout as an integral part thereof in accordance

with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the can with sanitary lid-on

equipped with a sanitation spout as an integral part thereof in accordance

with one embodiment of the present invention, where rupturing an opening portion discloses the sanitation spout;

FIG. 3 depicts a perspective view of the can with sanitary lid-on

equipped with a sanitation spout as an integral part thereof in accordance

with one embodiment of the present invention, where the sanitation spout is

in a fully protruding state;

FIG. 4 represents a partially-enlarged sectional view of the can with

sanitary lid-on equipped with a sanitation spout as an integral part thereof in

accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 gives a perspective view of the sanitation spout in accordance

with the present invention, where a deformable portion protrudes upwardly,

with a cap being removed from a dispense port; and

FIG. 6 presents a perspective view of the sanitation spout in

accordance with the present invention, where a deformable portion protrudes

downwardly, with a cap closing a dispense port.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be

described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figs.1 , 3 and 4, the inventive can with sanitary lid-on

equipped with a sanitation spout as an integral part thereof in accordance

with one embodiment includes: a main body 10 of a cylindrical shape having

a storage space for keeping a beverage therein; an upper plate 20 of a plate- like shape enclosing an upper portion of the main body 10; an opening

portion 22 having a score line 24 along which a portion of the upper plate 20

is ruptured from the upper plate 20 and bent upwardly to make an opening;

an opening tab 26 mounted adjacent to the opening portion 22 and providing

a grip that the consumer can hold when rupturing the score line 24 to make

the opening; and a sanitation spout 30 that can be inserted into the main

body 10 to be hidden in or protrude out of the same, the sanitation spout 30

being fixed in a liquid-tight fashion at its periphery to a lower surface of the

upper plate 20 around the opening portion 22 and comprising a cap 40

capable of opening/closing the dispense port 37 of the sanitation spout 30.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, the opening tab 26 has a cutout portion 28

that the consumer can insert his finger into for exerting a force.

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the sanitation spout 30 further comprises

a flange portion 32 of a ring-like shape that is fixed in a liquid-tight fashion to

the upper plate 20 as described above; a deformable portion 34 extending

from an inner periphery of the flange portion 32 to form an inclined profile

thereof and being foldable upwardly and downwardly; a shape-maintenance

portion 36 connected to the deformable portion 34 so as to allow a border

therebetween to be folded, and extending upwardly, the shape-maintenance

portion 36 having a dispense port 37 formed therethrough and the cap 40

mounted at the shape-maintenance portion 36 to open/close the dispense port 37, with a lug 44 formed on the cap 40, protruding from the same in

order to allow the consumer to conveniently open the cap 40, as shown in

Figs. 2 and 6.

The cap 40 is connected to the shape-maintenance portion 36

through a connector 46, made of a flexible material, such that the cap 40 can

open/close the dispense port 37 while remaining attached to the shape-

maintenance portion 36.

The upper plate 20 may be connected to the main body 10 by using

a seaming process or a welding process, both of which are normally known

to provide a sealing characteristic. For this reason, a detailed description of

them will be omitted herein.

Further, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, the opening tab 26 is attached to

the opening portion 22 of the upper plate 20 by using a fixing pin 27.

The flange portion 32 of the sanitation spout 30 is attached to the

lower surface of the upper plate 20 by using, for example, an adhesive.

The sanitation spout 30 is made of plastic, and in particular plastic

having good resilience, good ductility and good durability against repeated

actions, which gives the sanitation spout 30 an easily deformable property

and good restoring force.

In the sanitation spout 30 described above, the deformable portion

34 has a more reduced sectional area, when viewed in a planar view, along a direction upward and away from the flange portion 32, thereby forming its

lateral inclined profile, so that it can be foldable upwardly or downwardly with

respect to the inner periphery of the flange portion 32.

In other words, the deformable portion 34 is formed in a hollow

frusto-conical shape.

Further, the shape-maintenance portion 36, coupled to the

deformable portion 34, has a cylindrical shape extending upwardly along a

direction normal to the flange portion 32.

As an alternative, the shape-maintenance portion 36 may have a

reversed frusto-conical shape roughly symmetrical to the frusto-conical

shape of the deformable portion 34. When the deformable portion 34 is

downwardly folded, this shape enables an external surface of the deformable

portion 34 and an external surface of the shape-maintenance portion 36 to

be well contacted with each other, preventing alien material from being

interposed in a gap between the two portions 34 and 36. Further, since the

contents of the beverage can are dispensed through a more widened portion

of the dispense port 37, a natural outflow of the content may be possible.

It is understood that the deformable portion 34 may have a shape of

a frustum of a square pyramid, with the shape-maintenance portion 36

having a shape of a reversed frustum of a square pyramid; and the

deformable portion 34 may have a shape of a frustum of an elliptic cone, with the shape-maintenance portion 36 having a shape of a frustum of an elliptic

cone or a reversed frustum of an elliptic cone. Various other modified shapes

can also be possible.

In accordance with the configuration described above, when the

deformable portion 34 is upwardly folded, the deformable portion 34 and the

shape-maintenance portion 36 can be in an upright position as shown in Figs.

3 and 5, whereas when the deformable portion 34 is downwardly folded, the

shape-maintenance portion 36 can be accommodated by the deformable

portion 34, being positioned within the main body 10 as shown in Figs. 2 and

6.

The cap 40 is provided with an insert 42 of a portion inserted into the

dispense port 37, and a peripheral portion 43 coming into contact with an

upper surface of the dispense port 37 of the shape-maintenance portion 36.

It is preferable that the insert 42 of the cap 40 has an inclined lateral

profile in order to provide a secure sealing action when inserted into the

dispense port 37. It is further preferable that a region of the insert 42 being

contacted to the peripheral portion 43 has a larger external diameter than an

inner diameter of the dispense port 37.

Hereunder, a detailed description of the use of the inventive can with

sanitary lid-on equipped with an integral sanitation spout will be made.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the can with sanitary lid-on normally comes to the consumer after the beverage is charged in the storage space

12 of the main body 10 and the upper plate 20 provided with the sanitation

spout 30 described above is then fixed to the main body 10 in a sealing

manner such as the aforementioned seaming process.

The upper plate 20 has the score line on its portion beneath which

the sanitation spout 30 is installed, in order to allow the consumer to easily

fracture the opening portion 22 to disclose the sanitation spout 30 as shown

in Fig. 2.

When the consumer wants to drink the beverage, he simply pulls the

opening tab 26 by positioning his finger in the cutout portion 28, rupturing the

opening portion 22 along the score line 24 to disclose the sanitation spout 30,

as shown in Fig. 2.

Next, when the consumer grasps the lug 44 of the sanitation spout

30 with his fingers and pulls it upward, the cap 40 inserted into the dispense

port 37 of the shape-maintenance portion 36 is opened and a continued

upward pulling action protrudes the shape-maintenance portion 36 as well as

the cap 40 since the connector 46 connected to the cap 40 is integrally

formed with the shape-maintenance portion 36, and the deformable portion

34 is gradually transformed and folded upward.

Further pulling of the lug 44 from the state described above

completely upwardly protrudes the deformable portion 34 until finally no more deformation thereof occurs, as shown in Fig. 3 in which the deformable

portion 34 and the shape-maintenance portion 36 are in the upright position,

with the cap 40 removed from the dispense port 37.

In the state shown in Fig. 3, the consumer can enjoy the beverage

being dispensed through the dispense port 37. Since the beverage naturally

flows on an inner inclined surface of the deformable portion 34, it is easy to

prevent the abrupt or excessive outflow of the beverage by adjusting the

tilting degree of the main body 10.

Further, the deformable portion 34 and the shape-maintenance

portion 36 may be made of a transparent material, which helps the consumer

in using the beverage can since he can view the flow of the beverage therein.

Furthermore, when the consumer inserts the cap 40 into the

dispense port 37 to block the same and pushes it toward the main body 10

after drinking a certain amount of the beverage, the deformable portion 34 is

transformed and folded to be accommodated within the main body 10, and

the shape-maintenance portion 36 is surrounded by the deformable portion

34.

When the deformable portion 34 and the shape-maintenance portion

36 are completely positioned below the level of the upper plate 20 by a

continued pressing on the cap 40, the cap 40 becomes closely fitted into the

dispense port 37, as shown in Fig. 2. In accordance with the inventive can with sanitary lid-on equipped

with the sanitation spout as an integral part thereof, the consumer may easily

deal with the can with sanitary lid-on in use since the deformable portion and

the shape-maintenance portion can protrude and be hidden by the consumer

pulling/pushing the cap.

Further, since the consumer's mouth comes into direct contact with

the dispense port, which is the portion of the shape-maintenance portion

kept within the main body, rather than a portion of the main body which is

always exposed to the outside, this can reduce the possibility of

contaminants or bacteria infiltrating the mouth of the consumer.

Furthermore, since the beverage naturally flows on the inner inclined

surface of the deformable portion, spillage of the beverage around the mouth

or on the clothes of the consumer due to abrupt or excessive outflow of the

beverage can be prevented.

Moreover, since it is possible to close the dispense port by using the

cap, spilling of the beverage and hence contamination of the surroundings

with the spilt beverage can be reduced.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is

presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is

to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed

embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the

appended claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A can with sanitary lid-on comprising:

a main body of a cylindrical shape having a storage space for

keeping a beverage therewithin;

an upper plate of a plate-like shape enclosing an upper portion of the

main body;

an opening portion having a score line along which a portion of the

upper plate, is ruptured from the upper plate and bent upwardly to make an

opening;

an opening tab mounted adjacent to the opening portion and

providing a grip that a consumer can hold when rupturing the score line to

make the opening; and

a sanitation spout that can be inserted into the main body and

protruded out of the same, the sanitation spout being liquid-tightly fixed at its

periphery to a lower surface of the upper plate around the opening portion

and having a cap capable of opening/closing the sanitation spout.

2. The can with sanitary lid-on of claim 1 , wherein the sanitation spout

further comprises:

a flange portion of a ring-like shape that is liquid-tightly fixed to the

upper plate; a deformable portion extending from an inner periphery of the flange

portion to form an inclined profile thereof and being foldable upwardly and

downwardly; and

a shape-maintenance portion connected to the deformable portion so as to allow a border therebetween to be folded, and extending upwardly,

the shape-maintenance portion having a dispense port formed therethrough, with the cap mounted at the shape-maintenance portion to open/close the dispense port.

3. The can with sanitary lid-on of claim 2, wherein a lug is formed on the cap, protruding from the same in order to allow the consumer to conveniently open the cap; and the cap is connected to the shape- maintenance portion through a connector made of a flexible material and so attached to the shape-maintenance portion that the cap can open/close the dispense port.