US2708802A

US2708802A - Closure attachment

Info

Publication number: US2708802A
Application number: US251192A
Authority: US
Inventors: John M Baker; Arthur J Weber
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1951-10-13
Filing date: 1951-10-13
Publication date: 1955-05-24
Anticipated expiration: 1972-05-24

Description

May 24, 1955 J. M. BAKER ETAL 2,708,802

CLOSURE ATTACHMENT Filed Oct. 13, 1951 GASOLINE TANK CAP SECTION C-C FlG.6

INVENTORS: -JOHN M. BAKER ARTHUR dwEBgR 5148M a M AYTQRNEY United States PatentO CLOSURE ATTACHMENT 7 John M. Baker, Maine Township, Cook County, and

Arthur J. Weber, Chicago, Ill.

,This invention relates to an attachment for container closures. More particularly, it relates to a clip-on cover for port caps for vessels. In a specific embodiment, it comprises a transparent dome-shaped cover for a fuel tank cap and in combination therewith gripping or clamp ing means for attaching said cover to said cap and retaining means whereby a card, disc,.or other labelling element can be positioned and maintained between said cap and said cover.

One object of our invention is to provide a useful and ornamental cover for container closures. Another object is to provide a readily and conveniently attachable and removable cover for tank caps. A further object is to provide means whereby a card, disc, tag, label, sticker, decalcomania, seal, stub, check, or the like can be placed and maintained upon a closure means in such a position as to. be conveniently accessible for examination, while being protected against damage from the elements and from mechanical contact during normal manipulation of saidclosure. A still further object is to provide means whereby information relevant to a container or to apparatus associated therewith is made available at a charging port, inspection port, or outlet of said container. Other objects of our invention and its advantages over the prior art will be apparent from the following description and claims.

r A number of embodiments of-our invention are illustrated in the attached pairs of drawings. The second figure of each pair is in part a cross-sectional view at the indicated section.

Figures -1 and 2 depict our new device enclosing a display'card and attached to a gasoline tank cap.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a transparent, rimmed cover plate, held in place by a detachable flange equipped with gripping tabs of our newtype.

Figures 5 and, 6 illustrate an embodiment of our invention having a card-positioning key means and a central'opening for access to a lock or keyhole.

Our invention broadly comprises a transparent cover plate for a container closure, including shoulder means for centrally positioning and retaining a card or other labelling means, and gripping means whereby the cover plate is attachable to the container closure. Our new device is susceptible to various modifications, as will be more fully apparent from the description hereinafter.

Our invention is useful for various purposes. Its principal and most advantageous use is as a means for attaching reminder cards, whereby information relevant to the associated equipment is continuously available and is brought to the attention of the operator thereof each time the container closure is examined or opened. Thus, our device can be utilized to attach a card to a gasoline-tank cap, giving the date and mileage of the last oil change; this information is thereby made automatically available to the service station attendant each time gasoline is added to the tank, and can be used by him as a basis for reminding the customer when additional servicing is needed. The prior-art device, it will 2,708,802 Patented May 24, 1955 be noted, was a sticker afiixed inside the automobile door, and was therefore seldom accessible to the attendant. Another application of our invention is to radiator caps, with a reminder of the date and extent of antifreeze addition- This matter, especially important when non-permanent antifreezes are used, is thereby brought to the attention of the service station attendant each time the cooling system is checked.

Our invention will be more fully understood by reference to the attached drawings.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a combination of our closure cover with a gasoline tank cap and an imprinted card of matching shape and dimensions. The said combination has been given the trade name Oilminder by us, since the card is conveniently filled out with the mileage and date of the last oil change of the vehicle to which it is attached. Figure 2 is in part a cross-sectional view at section A-A indicated in Figure 1. 7

Over a conventional gasoline tank cap 101 (Figures 1 and 2) having a central dome-shaped portion 102 is positioned a card 103 having the shape of a circularspherical segment of suitable radius. Over the card is positioned a transparent plastic cover plate 104 having a dome-shaped structure corresponding to the shape of the gasoline cap dome 102. In the concave side of the cover plate 10 is a circular shoulder 105, adaptedto center and retain card 103 within said cover plate. To the rim of cover plate 104 are attached three laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripper tabs or springmetal clips 106, each of said tabs or clips comprising essentially an arcuate segment 107 convex in the same direction as the cover plate 104 and a relatively straight segment 108 dependent therefrom, terminating in a hooking means 10?, whereby the cover plate is clamped and maintained in position upon cap 101.

In a typical embodiment of the invention, adapted for use upon a conventional dome-shaped gasoline cap having a major axis of 3 inches, a minor axis of 2%; inches, a dome diameter of 2 inches, a dome depth of /2 inch, and a body thickness of inch, the card employed has a diameter of 1 7 4; inches, the cover plate has a diameter of 1 inches, a shoulder diameter of 1 inches, a dome depth of inch, a tab plan projection of /2 inch, a tab profile projection of inch, and a tab arcuate segment profile projection of inch.

Another embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. The drawings show a transparent convexo-concave cover plate of plastic or glass, having a dome-shaped central portion 301, a rim portion 302, a shoulder 303 therebetween on the concave side of the cover plate, and a retaining flange or ring 304 provided with laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripper tabs 305 (three illustrated), which may be constructed like the gripper tabs 106 shown in Figures 1 and 2, or an equivalent thereof. The retaining ring and gripper tabs are preferably made of semiflexible metal, but may also be made of plastic in whole or in part. For example, the retaining ring 304 may suitably be made of plastic With metallic gripper tabs 305 molded therein.

Still another embodiment of the invention (Figures 5 and 6) comprises a transparent plastic cover plate 501 having a dome-shaped central portion 502, a circular shoulder 503 in the concave side thereof, a rim portion 504, and laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripper tabs 505 attached to said rim portion. Four of the said tabs are illustrated, but it is to be understood that we can use two, three, or more. Centrally located in said cover plate is an opening 506, and in the concave surface of said cover plate is a key means 507, illustrated as a cylindrical member molded in and protruding from the concave surface thereof. Within the concave surface of the cover plate and retained by shoulder 503 is a paper disc 508 having openings positioned to correspond with opening 506 and key means 507 in the cover plate. The openings in the cover plate and associated card permit the entire attachment to be used with fuel-tank caps and the like having a centrally located lock or keyhole. Key means 5-97 insures that card 598 will be maintained within the cover plate in a predetermined position.

The novel closure attachment of our invention is preferably made of a transparent plastic such as methyl methacrylate, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, ethyl cellulose, polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl chloride acetate, polystyrene, Celluloid, and the like, and combinations and modifications thereof. The material employed should be inert to or not greatly affected by any substances to which it may be exposed during use. Glass can also be used, especially in the embodiment illustrated by Figures 3 and 4; but owing to its fragility, glass is not ordinarily the material of choice. The gripper tabs may also be made of plastic, preferably molded integrally with the cover plate itself. Alternatively, the tabs may be of flexible or semiflexible metal, molded into and supported by the cover plate, or formed integrally with or attached to a retaining ring as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. Two, three, or four or more gripper tabs may be used, but we ordinarily choose to use three, spaced approximately 120 degrees apart.

Cards and the like for display under the cover plate may be of substantially any peripheral shape, the concave side of the cover plate being preferably formed to correspond. Ordinarily we choose to use a circular card formed into a convexo-concave surface to correspond approximately to the inner surface of the cover plate. it will be apparent, however, that we may also use a card having a planar surface, or a card of planar surface having a pie-shaped segment cut therefrom, so that the card can be folded into a shallow cone and allowed to open within the dome-shaped portion of the cover plate, where the edges are caught and held by the retaining shoulders. In an especially convenient embodiment, a circular or modified circular card having a central opening out therein is slit along one radius; the resulting adjacent edges overlap slightly when the card is folded into a shallow cone for insertion in the cover plate, as set forth above. Other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. As key means within the concave side of the cover plate we may obviously attach any specially shaped object, the cards being cut out in conformity therewith so that the desired position of the card will be assured.

An especially advantageous feature of our invention is the gripping or clamping means used as an integral part thereof, whereby the transparent cover plate is attached to and maintained in contact with the tank cap or other closure. Our gripping and clamping means, being substantially extensible both laterally and perpendicularly, permits use of our cover plate with closures of substantially different diameters and thicknesses.

While we have described our invention in connection with certain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that we are not limited thereto. In general 4 it can be said that any modifications or equivalents that would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art are to be considered as lying within the scope of our invention.

In accordance with the foregoing description, we claim as our invention:

1. An attachment for a container closure which comprises a transparent cover plate having a dome-shaped central portion and a rim portion, a shoulder between said rim and said dome-shaped central portion on the concave side thereof, and laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripping means extending from said rim portion, whereby said cover plate is attachable to said eontainer closure, each of said gripping means comprising a tab attached to said rim portion, said tab having an areuate segment convex in the same direction as said dome-shaped central portion and a relatively straight .ment dependent therefrom terminating in a hooking means.

2. The device of claim 1, containing within the concave side of said dome-shaped central portion of said cover plate a projecting key element adapted to maintain a display card within said cover plate in a predetermined position.

3. An attachment for a container closure which comprises a transparent cover plate having a dome-shaped central portion and a rim portion, a shoulder between said rim and said dome-shaped central portion on the concave side thereof, a flange positioned over said rim on the convex side of said cover plate, and laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripping means extending from said flange, whereby in combination said cover plate is attachable to said container closure, each of said gripping means comprising a tab attached to said flange, said tab having an arcuate segment convex in the same direction as said dome-shaped central portion and a relatively straight segment dependent therefrom terminating in a hooking means.

4. An attachment for a gasoline-tank cap which comprises a transparent cover plate having a dome-shaped central portion and a rim portion, a shoulder between said rim portion and said dome-shaped central portion on the concave side thereof, and laterally and perpendicularly extensible gripping tabs extending from said rim portion, whereby said cover plate is attachable to said cap, each of said gripping tabs having an arcuate segment convex in the same direction as said dome-shaped central portion and a relatively straight segment dependent therefrom terminating in a hook.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said dome-shaped central portion has a central opening adapted to serve as a vent for said gasoline tank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 784,969 Wikoff Mar. 14, 1905 1,586,180 Crosby May 25, 1926 2,046,745 Hoag July 7, 1936 2,169,268 lAnson Feb. 22, 1938 2,527,900 Warmath Oct. 31, 1950