US2638023A - Closure remover with slidable toothed wheel - Google Patents

Description

May 12, 1953 C. L. CUDEBEC CLOSURE REMOVER WITH SLIDABLE TOO'IHED WHEEL Filed May 27, 1949 llilll Patented May 12, 1953 CLOSURE REMOVER WITH SLIDABLE TOOTHED WHEEL Clyde L. Cudebcc, deceased, late of Glendale, Calif., by A. W. Lane, administrator, Glendale,

Calif.

Application May 2'2, 1949, Serial No. 95,688

2 Claims.

This invention relates to openers, and more particularly to a wrench type opener adapted to open any screw type closure such as rings, caps, covers or the like commonly found on cans, jars or bottles.

The invention is adapted to open varying sizes of closures either with smooth or corrugated rim.

It is, accordingly, one object of this invention to provide an improved opener of the type described, adaptable to varying size closures.

It is another object of this invention to provide an opener of the type described having alternate means for clamping the closure, dependingupon the size of the closure being operated on.

It is a feature of this invention that means are provided in the opener for engaging the closure to be opened, which means are disposed to one side of a line drawn through the axis of the opener so that on turning the opener the means are urged into closer engagement with the closure rather than urged to disengagement.

These other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the annexed specification in which Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of an opener embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an exploded elevation of the slide, toothed wheel, pinion and saddle employed in this invention Figure 4 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 4- of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the device shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side view showing the opener engaging the closure member.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the opener is shown as comprising a frame member it having a bottom wall ll, side walls 2 and I3, and inturned upper flanges M and i5, thus forming a channel. The flanges It and 15 may be extended inwardly towards the rear of the opener, as shown at 16 and H. Handle extentions it and It may be provided upon the side walls I 2 and I3 joined together as at 2t. One of the inturned flanges, shown here as a flange M, is provided with a toothed rack 2!. Towards the front of the opener, there is provided upon the flanges hi and I5 upturned portions 22 and 23 having rearwardly bent portions 24 and 25, thus presenting generally vertically extending edges 26 and 2? and edges 28 and 29 for purposes hereinafter described. Amxed to the bottom wall ll, of the frame member, towards the forward end thereof as by means of rivets (it is a leaf spring iii. A slide 32 is provided, most clearly shown in Figure 3, and preferably having the configuration there shown. The slide 32 is slotted as at 33, 3d, 35 and 36, and provided with downwardly bent legs 3'1, 38, t9 and it. The lower ends of the legs Sl-dfi are outwardly bent as at M, 42, S3 and i i, forming projections, which projections ii-4t are adapted to underlie the flanges i l and 15 while the slide 32 proper is adapted to overlie the flanges it and i5 and ride thereon.

The slide 32 has a further downwardly bent portion 55 carrying a thumb button 46 thereon. The portion $5 is adapted to overlie the side member l2, as most clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The slide 32 is bored as at M to receive the shaft it of a pinion (l9 and when assembled, the shaft it carries on its upper end. a toothed wheel '5. The slide 32 is also pierced as at 5! and 52 to receive the lugs 53 of the saddle 54 adapted to surround and protect and mount the pinion 39. The bore 41 is disposed to one side of a medial line drawn longitudinally through the slide 32, thus mounting the toothed wheel to the right, as shown in Figure 2, of an axis drawn longitudinally through frame 19.

Referring to Figure 5, it will be noted that the leaf spring Si is also disposed to the same side of the longitudinal axis of the frame l3 and positioned so that its upper curved portion 55 can resiliently engage the saddle 54 and normally hold the slide 32 towards forward position.

The operation of the opener just described is as follows:

The opener, as shown in Figure 1, is inverted, as shown in Figure 6 and placed upon the top of a closure 651. The slide 32 is withdrawn towards the rear of the opener, the portion 55 of the leaf spring 3! being disengaged from the saddle 54. Depending upon the size of the closure 60, one side of this closure will be engaged by a pair of the vertically extending edges either the pair 26, 27 or the pair 28, 29 and the other side of the closure will be engaged by the toothed wheel 50 when the slide 32 is projected forwardly to cause such engagement. It will be appreciated, that as the slide 32 is moved forwardly or rearwardly upon the frame it, the pinion 1-39 engages the rack 2| and thus revolves the toothed wheel. The teeth of this wheel. 58 are slanted towards the counterclockwise direction, as shown in Figure 3, and as the toothed wheel 56 is mounted to the leithand side of the longitudinal medial line of the opener when the opener is inverted. as

shown in Figure 6, turning of the opener counterclockwise will tend to force the teeth of the wheel 58 into firm engagement with the edge of the closure 68].

The length of the flanges 14 and i5 and, accordingly, of the rack 2| between the forward end and the shoulders, formed by the portion l6 and i! is considerable and permits wide range of travel of the slide thus adapting the opener to a wide range of closures and the provision of the complementary pairs of upstanding edges 26, 2'1 and 28, 2 adapts the forward end of the opener to similarly engage the wide range of sizes of closures.

It has been found in practice, that this opener, with a slight turn, can open practically any type of screw-type closure either of the smooth or serrated type.

While there has been described What is at presentconsidered a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that various changes and modiiications can be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention and it is intended to cover herein all such changes and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An opener comprising a channel-shaped frame member; inturned flanges on said channelshaped fram member; a slide having projections thereon adapted to ride on said inturned flanges and having legs having outwardly bent portions engageable under said flanges; a rack formed upon one of said flanges; a pinion carried by said slide and engaging said rack; a toothed wheel mounted on said slide and connected with said pinion to rotate therewith; and jaw members on the forward end of said frame adapted to engage one side of a closure to be opened while said toothed wheel engages the other side of said closure member, said toothed wheel being mounted on said slide to one side of a longitudinal axis drawn through said frame member.

2. An opener as set forth in claim 1 in which said toothed Wheel is provided with teeth slanting in a clockwise direction when in operative position, said wheel being mounted on the left side of said longitudinal axis when said opener is placed in operative position over an underlying closure and with said forward end of said frame disposed outwardly from the operator.

A. W. LANE,

Administrator with the wiZZ annexed of the estate of Clyde L. Cudebec, deceased.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,896,437 Allen Feb. 7, 1933 2,043,144 Argauer June 2, 1936 2,495,004 Haucl; Jan. 17, 1950

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