US2757821A

US2757821A - Resealable tubular metallic container

Info

Publication number: US2757821A
Application number: US458117A
Authority: US
Inventors: John C A Fitch
Original assignee: STANDARD CONTAINER Inc
Current assignee: STANDARD CONTAINER Inc
Priority date: 1954-09-24
Filing date: 1954-09-24
Publication date: 1956-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1973-08-07

Description

1956 J. c.'A. FITCH RESEALABLE TUBULAR METALLIC CONTAINER Filed Sept. '24. 1954 FIG.

INVENTOR JOHN C. A. FITCH BY law ML W. a i" FIG. 2

ATTORNEYS United States patent RESEALABLE TUBULAR METALLIC CONTAINER John C. A. Fitch, Bloomfield, N. J., assignorto Standard Container, Inc., Rockaway, N. J., acorporation of New Jersey Application September 24, 1954, Serial N 0. 458,117 Claims. (Cl. 220-54) This invention relates to containers and more particularly to sealed cylindrical containers which are opened by means of a tear strip but which are provided with pressure-tight reclosure means. The invention provides a container of this type having an improved, reclosure structure which permits the container to be rescaled in a manner which is dependably waterand air-tight against substantial pressures.

My issued Patent No. 2,653,730 discloses a sealed tubular container of the general type to which the present invention relates, and the present invention provides an improvement over the container of that patent. The container disclosed in that patent comprises a cylindrical metallic can of the usual type in which the cylindrical side wall includes an interlocking seam extending from the top to the bottom of the can and a tear strip extending around the cylindrical side wall. The strip may be considered as dividing the can into two sections which must be sealed together if the container is to be reclosed after initial opening by removal of the tear strip. In the container of my said patent the reclosure is effected by means of two seals, effectively provided one between each of the two sections of the container and a gasket or similar sealing ring mounted within the can in the original manufacture thereof. To permit such rescaling an inner substantially cylindrical sleeve is provided in one section of the container, conveniently referred to as the upper section. The sleeve is crimped in air-tight fashion to the upper end of the container and is formed with a thread which, upon removal of the tear strip, is permitted to engage a thread rolled in the side wall of the con tainer on the opposite side of, i. e. below, the tear strip. Upon such engagement in reclosure of the container the lower edge of the sleeve is brought to bear against the gasket, which is supported within the lower section of the container on the end of a fiber or paper cylinder between the side wall of the container and a retaining ring. The threaded engagement so produced reseals the two sections of the container together, one seal being developed between the sleeve of the upper section and the gasket and the other seal being developed between the gasket and the side wall of the. lower section. The second seal is however somewhat difficult to achieve dependably to withstand any substantial pressure (such as that produced by a shallow immersion of the container) because of the irregularity introduced into the side wall by the seam already referred to.

The present invention provides an improved resealable container, capable of providing reclosure with watertight and air-tight integrity to greater pressures and with greater dependability in mass production. In the container of the present invention, the seals are developed as before between a gasket and the two sections of the container, broadly considered, but the necessity of effecting a seal across the discontinuity produced by the seam in the side wall of the can is avoided.

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation, partly broken away, of a container according to the present invention, in the condition of original manufacture; and

Fig. 2v is a fragmentary view similar to that of Fig. 1 but at an enlarged scale, showing the container of Fig. 1 rescaled after opening by removal of the tear strip.

The container of Fig. 1 includes a cylindrical side wall 6 of sheet metal. rolled into a cylinder with a soldered interlocked seam 7, the side wall being joined at crimped joints to top and

bottom plates

14 and 15, forming the usual. cylindrical container commonly referred to as a tin can. Score lines 9 and 10 about the side wall adjacent the top end of the can define a tear strip 11 terminating at the seam 7 in a flap 12 which may be seized with a key for opening the can by removal of the tear strip. The tear strip thus divides the can into sections 2 and 4 which may be referred to as upper and lowers sections of the can respectively although the terms upper and lower are of course arbitrary and interchangeable.

For rescaling, a. sleeve 8, preferably of seamless form, is atfixed inside the side wall of the upper section of the can and sealed in water-tight fashion around the inside of the upper section, for example by means of a flange incorporated into the circular joint at which the end plate 14' is joined to the side wall. Sleeve 8 may be provided with a slight inward flare at 16, and extends below the upper edge 9 of the tear strip in order to permit its engagement. by means of a helical corrugation or thread 17 rolled therein with a corresponding thread 18 in a seamless sleeve. 20 fastened in the lower section 4 of the can. Upon such engagement, the lower edge 13 of sleeve 8 is brought to bear against a sealing ring of yielding material which may take the form of a gasket 21 of rubber or the like to reseal the container.

The sleeve 20 is of seamless form, produced for example by means of a drawing operation and is sealed about its entire circumference in water-tight fashion to the inside wall of the lower section, i. e. below the tear strip. The sleeve 20 includes an annular flange or channel 22 within which the gasket 21 is snugly received. The two

sleeves

8 and 20 are so dimensioned that in the original assembly of the container as shown in Fig. 1, the distance between the lower edge of sleeve 8 and the flange 22 is substantially greater than the thickness or axial height of the gasket while the distance between the lower edge 13 and the surface of the gasket 21 presented thereto when supported on the flange is substantially less than the width of the tear strip. Accordingly, when the tear strip is removed, the container may be rescaled. as illustrated in Fig. 2 by engaging the threads of .the upper and lower sections to force the lower edge 13 of sleeve 8 against the gasket 21.

A complete circular seal is. then developed between the sleeve 8 and the gasket (and hence between the upper section of the container and the gasket) and a complete circular seal is developed between the seamless sleeve 20 and the gasket (and hence between the lower section of'the container and the gasket).

In the drawings no contents are shown in the container. The container of the invention has been used for the storage of ammunition, for the protection of which a fiber liner 24 is shown, but this forms no part of the invention, andthe invention is not limited to such use. The container thereof canon the contrary be used in the packaging of a wide variety of articles.

Neither is the invention limited to the particular details of construction shown. For example, a container according to the invention may be provided with a threaded engagement between the sleeve 8 of the upper section and a thread rolled into the cylindrical side wall of the lower section of the can, the seamless sleeve of the lower section being sealed to the side wall below such thread and provided with a depth suflicient only to carry the gasket and to provide a seamless surface against which the gasket can be stressed.

I claim:

1. A reclosable tubular container comprising a cylindrical side wall having a seam extending the height thereof, top and bottom end walls, means defining a tear strip in said side wall having upper and lower edges and dividing said container into upper and lower sections, and means permitting reclosure of said container after opening thereof by removal of said tear strip, said last-named means comprising a first cylindrical sleeve affixed within said upper section and sealed hermetically thereto around the entire periphery of said sleeve, said sleeve having a helical thread formed therein and having a lower edge extending below the upper edge of said tear strip, a second sleeve having an exterior surface thereof hermetically sealed about its entire periphery to the lower section of said side Wall, said second sleeve being of seamless form, an annular gasket, means to support said gasket axially of the container, between the upper and lower edges of said second sleeve at a distance from said first sleeve less than the width of said tear strip, and a helical thread formed in said lower section.

2. A reclosable tubular container comprising a cylindrical side wall, top and bottom end walls, means defining a tear strip in said side wall having upper and lower edges and dividing said container into upper and lower sections, and means permitting reclosure of said container after opening thereof by removal of said tear strip, said last-named means comprising a first substantially cylindrical sleeve affixed within said upper section and sealed thereto, said sleeve having a lower edge extendmg below the upper edge of said tear strip and having a helical thread formed therein, a second sleeve aflixed within said lower section below said tear strip and sealed to said lower section, said second sleeve being of seamless form and having an annular flange extending inwardly from said side wall, and a gasket supported on said flange between said flange and first sleeve, said lower section having a helical thread formed therein between said flange and the lower edge of said tear strip, the separation of the lower edge of said first sleeve and the surface of said gasket adjacent thereto being less than the width of said tear strip.

3. A reclosable tubular container comprising top and bottom end walls, a cylindrical side wall having a seam extending the height thereof and having a tear strip scribed therein dividing the container into an upper section and a lower section, a first cylindrical sleeve aflixed in pressure-tight relation to the interior surface of said upper section and extending substantially longitudinally of said container, a helical corrugation formed in said first sleeve, a second cylindrical sleeve aflixed in pressuretight relation to the inner surface of the lower section of said container, said second sleeve having a seamless annular flange extending inwardly from the side wall of said container, said first sleeve terminating in a portion spaced from and in longitudinal alignment with said annular flange, a helical corrugation in the lower section of said container between said flange and tear strip adapted to engage the helical corrugation of said first sleeve when the tear strip is removed, and a gasket located intermediate the annular flange of said second sleeve and the terminal portion of said first sleeve, said annular flange and said terminal portion having a longitudinal separation substantially greater than the height of said gasket and the excess of said longitudinal separation over the height of said gasket being substantially less than the width of said tear strip, whereby said gasket may be compressed to reseal the separate container sections when said tear strip is removed by rotatably displacing the first sleeve into the lower section to compress the gasket between said terminal portion and said annular flange.

4. A resealable tubular metallic container comprising top and bottom walls, a cylindrical side wall having an interlocked seam extending the height thereof and having a tear strip scribed therein, said tear strip dividing the container into upper and lower sections, a first substan' tially cylindrical sleeve aflixed in pressure-tight relation to the inner side of said upper section and extending substantially longitudinally of said container, a second substantially cylindrical sleeve aflixed in pressure-tight relation to the inner side of said lower section, said second sleeve having a seamless annular flange extending inwardly from said side wall, said first sleeve terminating at its free end in a portion spaced from and in longitudinal alignment with said annular flange, a gasket located intermediate said annular flange and the terminal portion of said first sleeve, said annular flange and said terminal portion having a longitudinal separation substantially greater than the height of said gasket and the excess of said longitudinal separation over the height of said gasket being substantially less than the width of said tear strip, and a helically corrugated portion in each of said container sections, at least one of said portions being formed in one of said sleeves, said helically corrugated portions being adapted to interengage complementarily with one another when the tear strip is removed and to displace the second sleeve toward the first sleeve as said container sections are rotated with respect to one another, thereby compressing the gasket between the inwardly extending flange of the second sleeve and the terminal portion of the first sleeve to reseal the container.

5. A resealable tubular container comprising top and bottom end walls, a cylindrical side wall having a seam therein, said side wall having scribed therein a tear strip dividing the container into an upper section and a lower section, a seamless first cylindrical sleeve aflixed in pressure-tight relation to the inner side of the upper section of said container and extending downwardly toward said lower section, a second seamless cylindrical sleeve of larger internal diameter than the external diameter of said first sleeve, said second sleeve being aflixed to the inner side of the lower section of said container and extending downwardly into the lower section of said container, said second sleeve having an annular flange at its lower extremity extending inwardly from the side wall of said lower section, an annular compressible gasket resting on said flange within said second sleeve, the distance between the terminal portion of said first sleeve and said gasket being substantially less than the width of said tear strip, and helically corrugated portions on each of said sleeves above said gasket adapted to interengage complementarily with one another when the tear strip is removed and to displace the second sleeve toward the first sleeve as said container sections are rotated with respect to one another about their common axis, thereby compressing the gasket between the inwardly extending flange on the second sleeve and the terminal portion of 2,653,730 Fitch Sept. 29, 1953