GB2083384A - Making caddy type tin boxes - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of making a caddy type tin box including the steps of forming what is to be a shoulder portion and a neck portion in tinplate. In order that changes can be made simply and easily so as to justify relatively short production runs, the shoulder portion 12 is punched from one piece of tinplate and the neck portion 14 is punched from another piece of tinplate and the two parts are then joined together. This method of production enables the neck portion to be formed by a rolling technique and to be formed with a bead on which a lid can subsequently be fitted. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Caddy type tin boxes The invention relates to caddy type tin boxes and has for its object to provide an improvement therein.

Heretofore, caddy type tin boxes have invariably been made with shoulder and neck portions formed integrally together from a single piece of tin plate. However, because caddy type tin boxes are made in such a wide variety of shapes and not simply of square or rectangular shape the tooling costs for the making of the shoulder and neck portions in this way are very expensive in relation to the general costs of production. Such tooling costs can usually only be justified for tin boxes which are to have very long production runs. The invention seeks to at least alleviate the present difficulty.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method of making a caddy type tin box includes the steps of punching what is to be a shoulder portion from one piece of tinplate, punching what is to be the neck portion from another piece of tin plate, and subsequently joining the two together. The method will preferably involve the step of forming the neck portion with a circumferential bead on which the lid will subsequently be fitted. The top and bottom edges of the separately formed neck portion will preferably be curled over in such a way that the sharp edges of the tin plate will be buried.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a caddy type tin box which has been made by the method referred to above.

In order that the invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a caddy type of tin box, Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1, Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a caddy type tin box embodying the invention, and Figure 4 is a part-sectional view on the line 4-4 in Fig. 3, and Figure 5 is a sectional scrap view, drawn to a somewhat enlarged scale, which will presently be referred to.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, these views are illustrative of the usual construction of caddy type tin boxes, the box illustrated having a body 10, a shoulder portion 12 and a neck portion 14, the shoulder and neck portions having been formed integrally together from a single piece of tinplate. The body 10 is four sided but is not quite square since each side face is formed with an outward bulge. The shoulder portion has of course been formed of this same fancy shape and its peripheral edge has subsequently been swaged around a beading formed around the upper edge of the body.

The neck portion 14 has necessarily had to be made quite plain. The lid 16 of the box, shown in chain-dotted lines in Fig. 2, is a close fit on the neck portion and is arranged to seal around the root portion of the neck where the latter merges into the shoulder portion. A particular problem in a box of this kind is that, since the lid is arranged to seal around the root diameter of the neck portion, if the lid is applied in a canted or tilted over manner it can become jammed on the neck portion of the box so that it is subsequently very difficult to remove.

Referring now to Figs. 3 to 5, the caddy type box there illustrated is very similar both in size and outline shape to the conventional box described above except that the shoulder and neck portions have not been formed integrally together from a single piece of tinplate.

In this case, the shoulder portion has been punched from one piece of tin plate, the neck portion has been punched from another piece of tinplate, and the two parts have subse quently been joined together. As best seen in Fig. 5, this method of construction has enabled the step of forming the neck portion to be carried out by a rolling technique enabling the neck portion to be formed with a circumferential bead 18 on which the lid will subse quently be fitted as shown. A further circumferential bead 20 determines the extent by which the neck portion can be tightly wedged into an aperture in the shoulder portion. In addition, also as shown in Fig. 5, the top and bottom edges of the separately formed neck portion have been curled over at 22 and 24 in such a way that the sharp edges of the tin plate have been able to be buried.In this way a user of the resulting caddy will not scrape his or her hands when extracting the contents, for example when extracting tea with a spoon.

The method of making a caddy type tin box just described, that is to say with its shoulder and neck portions formed separately, has several important advantages. For example, the tooling costs to vary the neck portion of the box are relatively small, that is to say small enough to justify relatively short production runs, Consequently, a change to a different size of neck portion (or to a different type for example a screw type neck) can readily be made, and it will be understood that by this method such caddies can be made in virtually any shape for which a tin box manufacturer already has base and body forming tools in existence at relatively small starting tool costs.

A further advantage is that since the lid of the box seals around the circumferential bead 18 rather than on a plain cylindrical surface of the neck portion, the lid does not tend to become jammed on the neck portion.

Various modifications may be made. For example, the separate neck portion could be formed with its top edge curled out like the bottom edge if preferred. It will of course be understood that the neck portion can be varied in numerous ways to suit the type of lid which it is desired to fit to the finished caddy.

For example, it may be desired to fit a single push on lid as shown in the drawings but on the other hand it may be desired to fit a single push in cap or a double plug lid or a screw on lid.

Claims (6)

1. A method of making a caddy type tin box, the method including the steps of punching what is to be a shoulder portion from one piece of tinplate, punching what is to be the neck portion from another piece of tinplate, and subsequently joining the two together.

2. A method of making a caddy type tin box according to claim 1, including the step of forming the neck portion with a circumferential bead on which a lid will subsequently be fitted.

3. A method of making a caddy type tin box according to claim 2, including the step of forming the neck portion with a further circumferential bead which determines the extent by which the neck portion can be tightly wedged into an aperture in the shoulder portion.

4. A method of making a caddy type tin box according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the top and bottom edges of the separately formed neck portion are curled over in such a way that the sharp edges of the tin plate are buried.

5. A method of making a caddy type tin box, the method being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

6. A caddy type tin box constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.