GB2104865A - Protective guard for a can opener - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to avoid the need to handle severed can ends, a protective guard for surrounding the upper end of a can during opening comprises an end portion 5 having a peripheral lip 7, and a magnet which engages the end of the can, retains the end when severed, and, by operation of a holder 13, 15, is displaceable upwardly and disengaged from the severed end. In one embodiment, the cover is secured to a hand-held or wall-mounted can opener. In another embodiment, the guard has a handle 9 and can-opening mechanism 3 formed integrally therewith. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFCATION Improvements in or relating to apparatus for use in opening tin cans and the like The present invention relates to a guard for use in opening tin cans and the like and in particular to a "can" opener incorporating the guard.

It is acknowledged that the opening of tin cans and the like presents a safety hazard to the person opening the can. The hazard arises from the handling of the top of the can after it has been removed or partially removed from the can. The edges of the top are razor sharp and easily inflict cuts and lacerations to the hands of the operator.

When using a hand-held can opener either the top must be levered back hinge-like when almost completely cut around its periphery or if completely cut it must be removed from the tin by hand and transferred to the dust bin.

One attempt has been made to reduce hand contact with the top by providing a magnet which holds the lid or top after it has been removed from the can. These are known on wall mounted and hand held can openers and a safety hazard is stili present since the lid still has to be transferred to the dust bin and the more securely the lid is held by the magnet the more likely the operator is to be cut in attempting to free it.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned problems and in so doing to increase the safety of can opening.

According to the present invention there is provided a guard for surrounding the upper end of a container such as a tin can, comprising an end portion having a peripheral lip and a magnet which is guided in and movable with respect to the end portion, the magnet being adapted to be engageable releasably with an end of the container.

By means of the invention, the lid of a can may be transferred to the dust bin without the need for contact by an operator. In one embodiment the guard is provided with attachment means by which the guard may be fixedly or releasably secured to a can opener. The can opener may be, for example, a hand-held lever-type can opener or a wall mounted type can opener.

In a preferred embodiment, the guard carries a carrier, fixedly attached thereto, a can opening mechanism. The can opening mechanism is secured to the peripheral lip and comprises a mounting plate, preferably metallic, which carries rotatably a serrated wheel and pivotably a locking plate. A lever cam is pivotably carried by the guard. The lever cam acts on the locking plate to urge it resiliently towards the serrated wheel, so that in use, the guard and opener is held in contact with the can and is rotatable with respect thereto when the serrated wheel is rotated by means of a winged hand lever. Preferably, the resilience of the material from which the guard is made serves as the resilient biasing force between the cam lever and the locking plate.

The cam lever carries a pin which on release of the cam lever from its locking position engages with the locking plate to move it positively out of engagement with the can.

The guard carries a handle which depends from the end portion and a magnet is slidably disposed in the end portion and is provided with a grip by means of which it may be moved between a raised and a lowered position. In the lowered position, in use, the magnet contacts the lid to be removed and in the raised position the magnet is withdrawn into the body of the guard such that the lid is caused to be released from the magnet.

The guard is preferably made from a plastics material such as polycarbonate. The cam lever is preferably an acetal plastics material.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view from above and the side showing one embodiment of a can opener and guard, with the magnet in its raised position, Fig. 2 is a perspective view from below and the side of the same embodiment of figure 1 with the magnet in its lowered position, Figs. 3 to 5 are side views showing the can opening mechanism in different positions, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the cam lever and locking plate of the can opening mechanism; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a protective guard in accordance with the invention, and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the guard of fig.

7 secured to a hand held lever type can opener.

Referring to the drawings, in particular figures 1 and 2, there is illustrated a can opener having a guard 1 forming a body of the can opener and a can opening mechanism generally indicated as 3.

The guard 1 comprises a generally disc-shaped end portion 5 having a peripheral lip 7. A handle 9 depends from the end portion 5 and has an opening 11 which receives a magnet holder 13.

The magnet holder has a grip 1 5 which is dimensioned to fit within a recess 17 in the handle 9. The lower end of the magnet holder remote from the grip carries a magnet 1 9.

Movement of the grip upwardly, in a direction away from the end portion 5 carries the magnet 19 to be withdrawn completely into an aperture in the handle; so that the magnet no longer projects beyond the underneath face 5a of the end portion 5.

The can opening mechanism 3 which is illustrated in more detail in Figures 3 to 6 comprises a mounting plate 21, a locking plate 23, a cam lever 25 and winged lever 27 carrying a serrated wheel 29. The mounting plate 21 is secured to the peripheral lip 7 of the guard body, conveniently by screws 31 and carries pivotally secured thereto the locking plate 21, a pin 33 being provided for this purpose. The winged lever 27 has a shaft 35 which passes through a bore in the mounting plate and carries the serrated wheel 29 on the end thereof adjacent the mounting plate, the serrated wheel 29 being rotatable by means of the winged lever 27.

The cam lever 25 is pivotally mounted to the body of the guard about an axis 37 and carries a cam surface 39 which co-operates with the locking plate 23 so that, in use, a cutting blade 41 carried by the locking plate is caused to pierce through the can lid upon moving the cam lever into its locked position shown in figure 5 and figure 6. In this locked position the wall of the can is trapped between the serrated wheel 29 and the cutting blade 41 The resilience of the guard material applies a biasing force by way of the cam surface to the locking plate so causing the can to be gripped. The end portion 5 deflects in the area indicated by the reference numeral 43.

When it is required to release the can opener from the can the cam lever is rotated in the anticlockwise direction from the position illustrated in figure 5 to the position illustrated in figure 3. A shoulder 45 carried by the cam lever 25 engages with a pin 47 carried by the locking plate and thus rotation of the cam lever 25, past the position shown in figure 4 carries the locking plate to be positively rotated and therefore disengaged from contact with the can.

Figure 3 shows the cam lever 25 and locking plate 23 in a position to accept a can for opening.

The locking plate is in its rest position and is free to move as necessary to allow the can to be positioned.

Once the can opener is positioned on the can the magnet holder rests in its lowermost position, being a loose fit in the handle so that the magnet contacts the lid and the winged lever is rotated whilst holding the guard by the handle 9. The can rotates and the blade cuts through the lid. When one revolution has been completed the cam lever 25 is raised to the position indicated in figure 3 to release the can opener from the can. The lid remains held in position on the magnet and the can opener together with the lid can be moved to near the waste bin where the grip of the magnet holder is raised and the lid caused to be disengaged from the magnet whereupon the lid drops directly into the waste bin. Thus the lid is removed and disposed of without any need to handle it.

The Invention has been described to a preferred embodiment in which the guard forms part of a can opener. However, it is envisaged that the guard be sold as a separate entity for use with a can opener of either the wall mounted or hand held type. In the case of a hand held can opener the guard would be provided with attachment means for securing it to the can opener. After removal of the lid and in a similar manner to that described above the can would be released from the opener and the opener and guard moved to the vicinity of the waste bin before withdrawing the magnet to allow the lid to be deposited in the bin.

In the case of a wall mounted can opener, the guard would be arranged to be releasably secured to the can opener so that the guard with lid attached couid be moved to the vicinity of the waste bin before withdrawal of the magnet and release of the lid. In either case it will be seen that the invention avoids the need to contact the lid and so avoids the possibility of the operator being cut during opening, removal and disposal of the iid.

In the preferred embodiment the guard is made from a polycarbonate plastics material, the cam lever is made from an acetal plastics and the handle from polythene, the locking plate, serrated wheel and mounting plate being metallic. Any other suitable materials may be used.

Referring now to figures 7 and 8 a protective guard is shown in perspective in fig. 7. The guard comprises an end portion 51 which as illustrated is generally circular and has a peripheral lip 53 disposed perpendicularly with respect to the plane of the end portion 51. A portion 55 of the peripheral lip is planar and is inclined slightly from the perpendicular with respect to the end portion.

This planar portion 55 constitutes flange parts to which a can opening mechanism is secured. A recess 57 is formed between one of the flange parts and the peripheral lip and as will be seen from fig. 8 a shank portion of the can opener is received in this recess.

The end portion 51 of the protective guard carries a magnet 59 which is slidably guided with respect thereto. As illustrated the magnet is carried by grip means 63 which is received slidably in a guide 61 which extends upwardly from the end portion. The guide 61 serves as a handle for the guard if necessary. The grip means 63 has a flange which projects beyond the guide 61 to facilitate easy movement of the magnet in an upward direction.

In Fig. 8 the illustrated embodiment of the guard is shown in conjunction with a hand held lever type can opener. The guard is secured to the lever type can opener by means of two screws 69 which engage threadingly with a respective bore in each of the flange parts of the guard. In an alternative embodiment each of the flange parts carries resilient clip means which are adapted to co-operate with a body portion of the can opener to retain the guard thereto.

In use, the handle of the can opener is held and the tin can to be opened manoeuvred into position with the rim of the upper end disposed between a rotatable serrated wheel and a cutting and locating blade 71 which is carried by a lever 73 which is in turn pivotable on a body portion of the opener to which the handle 67 is fixedly attached. With the can opener secured to the tin can to be opened the magnet which naturally falls to its lowermost position engages with the end of the tin can. Rotation of the winged lever rotates the tin can with respect to the opener and in so doing progressively severs the end from the can. After 360C of rotation the tin can is released from the opener by operation of the lever and the severed end is retained within the protective guard by the magnet. The severed lid is subsequently released, conveniently directly into a waste receptacle, by displacing the magnet upwardly to thereby initially raise the attached end until it contacts the end portion and there after on continued upward movement of the magnet, disengage it from the severed end causing the severed end to be released.

According to another embodiment of the invention not illustrated, the guard may be adapted to be secured to a wall mounted can opener.

Claims (14)

Claims

1. A protective guard for use in opening a metallic can or the like container, comprising an end portion formed with a peripheral lip which is adapted to surround the upper end of the container, and a magnet which is slidably guided in the end portion to engage releasably with an end of the container to retain said end when severed from the container and which is displaceable to disengage from the severed end to release same.

2. A protective guard as claimed in claim 1 further comprising attachment means for securing the guard to a can opening mechanism.

3. A guard as claimed in claim 2 in which the can opening mechanism is secured to a planar portion of the peripheral lip.

4. A guard as claimed in claim 3 in which the attachment means comprise screw means which engage threadingly with the planar portion of the peripheral lip.

5. A guard as claimed in claim 3 in which the attachment means comprise clip means carried by the planar portion of the peripheral lip.

6. A guard as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 in which the end portion is generally circular and the peripheral lip extends perpendicularly with respect thereto.

7. A guard as claimed in any of claims 2 to 6 in which the can opening mechanism is a hand held lever type can opener or a wall mounted can opener.

8. A guard as claimed in claim 7 in which a recess is formed in the peripheral lip adjacent to the planar portion to receive a body portion of the can opener.

9. A guard as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 in which a handle depends from the end portion.

10. A guard as claimed in claims 1 to 9 in which the magnet is slidable in a direction perpendicular to the planar end portion and is provided with grip means for moving it to an uppermost disengaged position.

11. A guard as claimed in claim 10 in which the magnet is freely slidable in the end portion and naturally adopts a lowermost position in which the grip means contacts the end portion or handle.

12. A guard as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 6 or 9 to 11 in which the can opening mechanism comprises a mounting plate which carries a serrated wheel and pivotally a locking plate and which is secured to the peripheral lip, and in which a lever cam is pivotably carried by the guard and is adapted for co-operating engagement with the locking plate to urge it towards the serrated wheel, so that in use, the guard and opening mechanism is held in contact with the container which is rotatable with respect thereto by rotation of the serrated wheel by means of a winged hand lever.

13. A guard as claimed in claim 12 in which the lever cam carries a pin which co-operates with the locking plate on release of the lever cam from co-operating engagement therewith to move it positively out of engagement with the can.

14. A guard as claimed in claim 12 or 13 in which the lever cam and locking plate are resiliently biased with respect to one another and the material from which the end portion of the guard is made provides the resilience.

1 5. A guard as claimed in any preceding claim in which the end portion and peripheral lip are made from a polycarbonate plastics material.

1 6. A guard constructed and arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings of figures 1 to 6.

1 7. A guard constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings of figures 7 and 8.

1 8. A can opener constructed and arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, of figures 1 to 6 or 8.