US2765952A

US2765952A - Tear strip can opener

Info

Publication number: US2765952A
Application number: US350325A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sorum Andrew
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1953-04-22
Filing date: 1953-04-22
Publication date: 1956-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 1973-10-09

Description

Oct. 9, 1956 A. SORUM 2,765,952

TEAR STRIP CAN OPENER Filed April 22, 1953 32 /9 r INVENTOR; i K 28 BY ,4/wxezw Saw/ 24 f TEAR S CAN OPENER Andrew Serum, Crookston, Minn. Application April 22, 1953, Serial No. 350,325 2 Claims. (Cl. 220-52) This invention relates to can openers and more particularly to key strip can openers such as may be employed in connection with opening metal cans which have a band or strip adapted to be torn from between the body and the cover of the can as it is being wound upon the opener.

A number of prior art devices have been proposed for removing key strips from containers or cans but, to the best of my knowledge, these devices are inadequate to accomplish the removal properly because of several inherent difliculties. The first of these difficulties is that the prior art openers have not properly provided for positively gripping the end of the key strip in the device preparatory to beginning the winding and coiling of the key strip. It is generally attempted to cause the key strip to bind against itself or to become secured as the handle element of the opener is turned. Unfortunately, however, the end of the strip often slips or becomes otherwise disengaged from the opener before it has an opportunity to become gripped. This is especially true since the end of the key strip is quite short and is securely fastened to the body of the can so that it must be stressed considerably to start the tearing of the strip. A second ditficulty often encountered is that the opener does not have provision for guiding the coiling of the strip and hence may be slightly misaligned, resulting in the strip tearing along a line other than that intended. The strip will thus often become broken before the entire circumference of the can has been spanned. Thirdly, prior devices have not provided for a positive and easy ejection of the coiled key strip after the can has been opened. Where individual keys are employed, the entire device is thrown away together with the coil after each use. Where a device of more complex nature is provided it, of course, becomes essential to remove the coil of banding or stripping after it has been removed from the can.

It is therefore an important object of this invention to provide for a can opening device for key strip containers in which the strip can be easily and efliciently gripped, coiled, and ejected from the device.

It is another object of the invention to provide for a handle element having a locking mechanism for engaging the end of a key strip before turning thereof, the handle being constructed for forcibly starting and tearing across difi'icult joints and seams, it being capable of rapid movement where the strip tears easily.

It is a further object of the invention to provide for a simple manual device of the class described which will have positive locking means for engaging the end of a key strip prior to removal thereof and ejector means relatively movable with respect to the handle for ejecting the coiled strip after having been loosened from the locking mechanism.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and in which:

2,765,952 Patented Oct. 9, 1956 Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my can opening device with the full line representation thereof showing its position while being operated to remove a key strip and the dotted line positioning thereof showing the locking mechanism in open position and the handles withdrawn to eject the coiled key strip;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the opening device taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, certain portions thereof being shown in full line;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged segment showing the relation of the locking mechanism to the turning element and taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a similar enlarged detail view with the locking mechanism moved to ejection position with respect to the turning element; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an alternate form of my invention in which the relative movement between the holding structure and the turning element is effected by a combined guide and ejector.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of my device while a key strip 10 is being removed from a container 11 such as a vacuum tin so as to break the seal and render the closure 12 separable from the body of the container 11.

In particular, my invention comprises a holding structure S which is in the nature of a hand grip 13 having a turning element T disposed laterally therein at the outward end as shown. In order to support the turning ele ment, I prefer to mount a sleeve 14 in rigid connection with the end portion of the holding structure S, maintaining both ends of the sleeve structure in open condition. I may further provide a guide 15 which lies in spaced clearance with the forward end 16 of the holding structure S. The guide 15 may be formed as a looped extension of the supporting structure S which is rearwardly bent and secured medially of the ends of the holding structure S at 17. The sleeve 14 has a detent 18 formed intermediate its ends and may consist in an indented area formed between two cuts as shown.

Journaled axially of the sleeve 14 is the turning element T, details of which are set forth in Fig. 2. The turning element comprises a shaft 19 which has fixed thereto at its outer end a handle 20, the handle 20 preferably extending across the shaft and terminating in rotatable finger grips 21 as shown. The other end of the shaft 19 is adapted to terminate at the other side of the holding structure S when in operative position, the extending end portion being designated as 22. The shaft 19 has a central bore 23 and a key slot 24 in communication therewith for engaging the tab end of key strip 10 as shown in Fig. 4. The outer end of the shaft extension 22 is closely adjacent or in contact with the guide 15 in its operable position. The medial portion of the shaft 19 has a reduced diameter 25 with the shoulder 26 near the handle end of the turning element and the abutting shoulder 27 near the end extension 22 of the turning element T. When assembling the device, the turning element is positioned within the sleeve 14 and detent 18 is depressed as shown in Fig. 2 so as to limit the lateral movement of the turning element T by engagement of the abutting shoulder 27 with the offset detent 18.

A locking mechanism M is disposed longitudinally within the turning element T and is adapted to move arcuately within the opening 23 formed therein. The locking mechanism comprises a cylindrical shaft 28 which terminates outwardly in a wing 29 which'is engageable by the users thumb, the handle 20 allowing limited movement of the wing toeffectthe arcuate movement. Mediend of the locking mechanism M terminates in a locking cam 32 as shown inFigs. 2, 3 and 4. The cam may merely comprise a longitudinal cut away portion at the endof shaft 28 so as to cooperate with the key :slot 24 as shown in Fig. 4. An abutment 33 may be formed on the wing 29 so as to automaticallyopen the key slot 24 when the users thumb presses the wing 29 to the dotted line position of Fig. 1 so as to effect the relative positioning of the locking mechanism with the key slot as shown in Fig. 4. The user then presses the thumb wing 29 to the full line position shown in Fig. l which will cause the cam 32 to partially intercept :the plane of the key slot 24 as shown in Fig. 13. The cam will then bind against the tab end of the key strip causing it :to become firmly gripped within the turning element. The handle 2!).is then rotated so as to cause the key strip 10 to tear loose and become wound upon the extended end portion 22 of the turning element T. I prefer to have the handle extend across the shaft 19 so that the user can place his thumb and fore finger at opposed positions for uniform torque whenever unusual stress is required, as for example, when starting the tear of the key strip and when crossing seams or joints in the container. 'The remainder of the time it is understood, of course, that either one of the rotatable members 21 can be employed to effect a rapid removal of the key strip. When the key strip has been completely removed from the cam it will be coiled thereon as shown in Fig. 3. The user then can swing the thumb wing 29 from the full line position shown in Fig. 1 to the dotted line position which will cause the cam 32 to assume the relative position with respect to the key slot 24 as shown in Fig. 4. The entire turning element is then retracted laterally with respect to the holding structure S which will cause the extended end portion 22 to retract within the sleeve 14 and automatically eject the coiled key strip 10 from the device. The abutting shoulder 27 is so positioned on the shaft 19 that its contact with the detent 18 will allow complete withdrawal of the extended end 22 within the sleeve 14. It will be noted that the guide 15 is so positioned in spaced clearance with the outer end 16 of the holding structure S that it will maintain the holding structure in alignment with the key strip during tearing and coiling thereof and thus help to prevent accidental and premature tearing of the strip 10.

The alternate form shown in Fig. 5 comprises a holding structure H with the same general characteristics for cooperation with the turning element T and the locking mechanism M. In this case, however, the turning element T is adapted to remain in a fixed lateral position with the extending end portion 34 being rotatable within sleeve 35 but other guide and ejector means E being employed for relatively moving apart of the holding structure H with respect to the extending end 34. This guide and ejector means E comprises a handle portion 36 which is rigidly attached .to 'a guide 37, the guide 37 corresponding to the guide 15 of .the first described form. The handle and .guide have laterally extending flange portions.38 at each side whichin turn are fixed to a fork 39 which is adapted to lie in rigid spaced clearance with the guide 37. Each'leg 39 of the forked portion lies .at opposite sides of the slotted extension 34 and in close clearance with the outer circumference thereof. The guide and ejector means E is pivotally mounted'at 40 to upstanding cars 41 formed at each side of the holding structure H. A coil spring 42 is positioned around the pivot 40 so as to constantly urge the guide and ejector to closed position as shown in -'full line. When the'key strip has been coiled upon the slotted extension 34, as previously described'in the operation of the first form,

the locking mechanism will be operated in the same manner to align the key slot with respect to the turning element similar to the position shown in Fig. 4. The handle 36 of the guide and ejector means is then depressed to the dotted line position shown and the forks 39 will cause relative movement with respect to the slotted extension 34 so as to remove the coil strip and allow it to be ejected from the device.

It may thus be seen that I have provided a novel, simple and efficient device for positively engaging and removing the key strips of metal containers, the removed coil of key strip material being instantly capable of ejecting from the device after its use.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

l. A device for opening metal containers having tabbed key strip closures, comprising a-holdingstructure having a hand grip and an open-ended sleeve secured rigidly and laterally to the outer end of said handle, a tubular shaft rotatable and slidable longitudinally within said sleeve, said tubular shaft having an end portion operatively extending beyond said sleeve and having a crank handle secured to the opposite end of said tubular shaft, said tubular shaft further having at the extending end portion, a key slot formed thereacross longitudinally of the end of said extending portion for engagingthe tab ,end of a key strip, a locking cam rotatably journaled within said tubular shaft and having aradial handle adjacent the handle of-said turning element and further havinga diminished end portionsrotatable from a;position inclearance with the plane defined by said key slot to a position intercepting said plane whereby the engaged .tabend of a key strip may be positively gripped by the locking cam prior to turning and-coiling, said tubular shaft and locking earn being relatively and axially slidable with respect to said sleeve member for ejecting a coiled strip.

2. Adevice for openingmetal containers having-tabbed key strip closures, comprising a holding structure having a hand;grip;and .an open-ended sleeve secured rigidly and laterally to the outer ,end of said handle, a tubular shaft rotatable and slidable longitudinally within said sleeve, said ,tubular'shaft having .an endportion operatively extending beyond said sleeve and having a crank handle secured to the opposite end ofsaid tubular shaft, said tubular shaft further having at the extending end vportion, a key .slotformed 'thereacross longitudinally of the end of said extendingportion for engagingthe tab .end of a key strip,-;a locking cam .rotatably .journaled within said tubular shaft and having a radial handle adjacent the handle of said turning element andfurther having a diminished end portionrotatable from a position in clearance with-theplane defined by said key slot to a position intercepting said plane whereby the engaged tab cnd of a key strip may be positivelygripped'by the locking cam prior to turning and coiling, and ejector means glying closely adjacent said tubular shaft and locking cam and relatively slidable outwardly with respect to saidextending end portions for ejecting a coiled strip.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,461,151 Keeler July10,'1923 2,286,039 Reynolds June '19, 1942 2,649,990 'Lyle Aug. 25, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 69,462 Switzerland Dec. 21, 1914 609,967 Germany Feb. 27, 1935