US1363581A - A cobporation of - Google Patents

Description

C. E. FORRY.

METHOD OF SEALING CANS.

, APPLICATION FILED APR. 6, 1917.

1,363,581,, I Patented Dec. 28, mm.

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INVENTOR. WITNESS. w (5 1,

BY 1 i M ATTORNEY.

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CHARLES E. roaaY, or OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, assrenoia TO AMERICAN can COMPANY, OF sen FnAnCIsCo, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION or. new JEiasnY.

METHOD OF SEALING CANS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 192%).

Application filed April 6, 1917. Serial NO. 160,117.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. FORRY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Sealing Cans, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a method of forming a hermetic seal, of the so-called sanitary or solderless type, between the bot and the ends of cans used for the preservation of food products or other materials.

It is well known in the art that the most satisfactory method of securing a tight and permanent seal is by the employment of a gasket ring liner between the adjacent flanges of the can body and the end, said liner being preferably formed of paper.

In Order to avoid mutilation of the ring liner, it has been found necessary to apply the same loosely to the flange of the can end, and to provide means for loosely retaining said liner within said flange during the operation. of placing the end upon the can body preparatory to sealing.

The means commonly employed for retaining the ring liner within the flange has been the curling of the outer edge portion of said flange inwardly, to overlie the outer edge of the liner. The ring liner has here tofore been placed in the flange of the can end, and loosely retained therein by the stated means, to permit said end to be inverted into position upon the can body.

This has proven satisfactory where the end and the can body are subsequently permanently united by the so-called double seaming process, in which the adjacent flanges of body and end are inter-folded and clamped together, the stiflness of the metal itself being relied upon to hold the seam. But when a separate metallic sealing strip is crimped over the adjacent flanges, to hold the same together, it is impracticable to curl the outer edge portion of the flange of the end, and therefore the ring liner cannot be loosely retained in said flange by this means, prior to the placing of the end upon the can body.

The present invention provides a method of sealing cans in which the ring liner is applied to the flange of the can body. Under this method, the flange of the can end can be of the simplest possible form, to permit the use of a separate sealing strip, and furthermore, the can ends can be placed in stack format-ion, inverted and otherwise handled in any desired manner in their application to the can bodies. The ring liners, resting within the flange of the can bodies, are safe from mutilation, and need no retaining means, since the can bodies are never handled in a manner likely to disturb said liners. Thus my invention permits the use of a loose ring liner in combination with a separate sealing strip. The advantages of these two features are well known in the art, and therefore need not be entered into herein, but it should be noted, in this connection, that my invention does not restrict the process to the use of a sealing strip, since the adjacent flanges of the body and end may be double seamed, if it be so desired. I

A; preferred form of can end seal, and several modifications thereof, all made according to the process which constitutes my invention, are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a can sealed by my improved method.

Fig. 2 is a section showing a portion of the can body and the can end and the co operating flanges thereof, prior to the seaming operation.

Fig. 3 is a similar section after the seam has been completed.

Figs. t and 5 are sections, similar to Figs. 2 and 3 respectively, illustrating a seam formed by a modification of my process.

Figs. 6 and 7 are sections, similar to Figs. 2 and 3 respectively, of a seam formed by a secondmodification of my process.

. Figs. 8 and 9 are sections, similar to Figs. 2 and 3 respectively, showing a seam formed according to my invention, the separate seal 'ing strip being replaced by the well known double-seamed joint.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates a can body,'and 2 the end or cover applied thereto. The body 1 is formed with an annular outwardly turned flange 3, bounded on the outside by an upwardly or lineally directed rim 4, the flange 3 being transverse to and the rim 4 substantially parallel with the side wall of the body.

A ring liner 5 is positioned upon the body flange 3 and allowed to rest loosely thereupon. The end 2 is also placed upon said flange 3, the liner 5 being interposed between said end and said flange. The end.2 is formed with a lineally or outwardly directed flange 6, adapted to lie immediately inside therim 4; of the body flange, and to of my process, I form an interior flange or be substantially parallel thereto. A seal ing strip 7, of substantially U-shaped section, is placed over said upturned parallel flanges 4' and 6 for the entire periphery of the can. The outer side of the sealing strip 7 is wider than the inner side, so that when said strip is clamped upon said flanges 4 and 6, the edge of its outer side is curled under thelateral portion 3 of the body flange, as shown at 8 in Fig. 3 of the drawings. This securely locks the strip 7 in position, to pre Vent the same" from slipping off the flanges and permitting the seam to open. At one end of the sealing strip, a projecting tab 9, Fig. 1, is preferably formed to provide means for grasping said strip to remove it when it is desired to open the can.

The seam may be formed as shown in Figs. 4 and-5 of the drawings. In the making of this form of scam, the edge of the can body flange 6 is curled outwardly, as at 10 in Fig; 4, and when the seam is completed,

this curled portion 10 of said can body flange forms a shoulder over which the outer side of the sealing strip 7 is looked, as shown at'll, in Fig. 5. In this case, said outer side .of the sealing strip 7 need not be extended under the lateral portion 3 of the body flange, as is done in thepreviously' described form. p

In the seam shown in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings, the edge of the can end flange 6 'is inwardly curled, as at 12 in Fig. 6, thus forming, when the seam. is completed, a

shoulder over which the inner side of the sealing strip? is locked, as at 13in Fig. 7 and providing additional means for retain ing said strip in position.

Although I prefer to employ a separate sealing strip for holding-the body and end flanges in sealing relation, the principles of the invention maybe employed to form a seam retained by the double-seaming process, as illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings. Under this modification of my method, the edges of the flanges of both body and end are outwardly'turned, as at 10' and .14 respectively, and the'peripheral portion of said end flange" 14 is downwardly curled as at 15, and the adjacent flanges thus formed are then interfolded to form a secure seam, as'shown in Fig. 9. V

It is to be noted that in all modifications shoulder within the end of the can body, within which the gasket liner is placed, and

upon which the can end is clamped to form a'tight seal,'by-the seaming operation.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1 1. A method of securing covers to cans, consisting in shaping the end of a can body to form a shoulder the surface of which ex-' tends at substantially a right angle to the axis of the ban," and forming a flange por tion which extends endwise with reference to the can from the outer part of said shoulder; placing a gasket on said shoulder; plac mg a can endon said body, said can end being formed with a radial part which rests in contact with the gasketon said shoulder and being formed with a flange portion which extends in sealing position parallel with said'flange portion of the body; and applying a sealing strip so as to embrace the flange portions of the body and cover and so as to produce suflicient pressure on said flanges to make a sealed joint betweenthe shoulder of the body and the gasket and the cover. 7 1

2. The method of hermetically sealing sheet metal cans having flanged bodies and flanged ends, which consists in forming a sealing joint by interposing a gasket 'between inner portions of said flanges at a point between the interior of the can and the extremities of both of said flanges of the body and end, and then forming a securing seam by tightly uniting together with pressure the extremitiesof'both of said flanges at points beyond the gasket and thereby bringing pressure on the gasket without iri-

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