US923349A

US923349A - Can-opener.

Info

Publication number: US923349A
Application number: US43593508A
Authority: US
Inventors: Augustine F Fitz Gerald
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1908-06-01
Filing date: 1908-06-01
Publication date: 1909-06-01
Anticipated expiration: 1926-06-01

Description

A A. P. FITZ GERALD.

GAN OPENER. APPLICATION FILED vJUNE 1l 1908.

923,349. l Patented Juue1,1909.

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CAN-OPENER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTINE F. Firz GERALD, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New Yor i, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Can-Opener, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a can opener, particularly adapted to cut off the top of a can, by cutting around the body of the can and close to the top thereof, but it is also adapted to cut an opening in the top of a can, and particularly an opening in the top of a can which is substantially square or rectangular in cross section.

A salient feature of the invention is the ease with which the opener may be operated, and this particular function is accomplished by a pivoted knife, of novel construction, so positioned for operation as to utilize the power applied to the cutter to the best advantage.

Vhere the contents of a can are integral, as is usually the case with puddings and various other canned articles, and it is desired to remove the contents bodily, it cannot be done with the form of can opener ordinarily employed for the reason that the diameter of the opening made in the top of the can thereby, is considerably smaller than the diameter of the can.

The present invention is simple and durable in construction, efficient in operation, economical to manufacture, and, in actual practice, has been shown to possess unusual merit and utility.

ln the accompanying` drawings, l have illustrated one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction shown therein is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as deiining the limits of the invention.

Figure l is a plan view of the device showing a can in position to be opened; Fig. 2 is a artial cross section of the device, on an enarged scale, on line 2 2 in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a view from the und er side of the device, showing the knife in position to operate on the top of a can g Fig. 4 is a side view of the device shown in Fig. 2, but in normal position; and Fig. 5 is a view, partly in cross section, taken on line 5 5 in Fig. 3.

A is the body portion of the can opener, preferably skeletonized as shown, and it may Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed I une 1, 1908.

Patented .Tune 1, 1909.

Serial No. 435,935.

be provided with a depressed or off-set member, a, having dovetailed slot, t, or equivalent construction. It will be obvious that the member c, need not be depressed, but may occupy the same plane as the remainder of the body portion, Near one end of the member, d, is a knife or cutter, B, pivoted thereto through the medium of a depending stud, c, the knife being secured in position thereon by a nut, d.

The knife, B. has a pointed or toe end, e, and a heel portion, f, and is preferably provided with a handle, g, cast or forged therewith, though it may be made separate and secured thereto in any well known manner. The knife is provided with a perforation, z, located at the toe end thereof, whereby the knife may be readily slipped into cutting po` sition on the depending stud, c, or the laterally projecting stud, i. The knife is preferably provided with a beveled cutting edge as shown at n (Fig. 1).

The dovetailed slot, b, in member, a., is enlarged at one end, as shown at j, to permit the introduction therein of a nut, 7c, also preferably dovetailed, which is slidable in said slot but prevented from falling out of it by virtue of the respective shapes of the slot and nut. A thumb screw, (l, having a depending screw, l, provided with a sharp point, takes into the nut, la, so that the several parts may be adjusted to any desired position lengthwise of the slot, b, (in order to accommodate cans of different sizes), and then secured in such position by turning down the thumb screw.

A cylindrical can, D, is shown in plan view in Fig. 1, and in Fig. 2, partly in sectional elevation, positioned so as to have its top cut off upon the operation of the cutter.

In Figs. 3 and e, a can, E, rectangular or polygonal in horizontal cross section, is

shown in plan and elevation, respectively, positioned so as to have an opening made in its top upon the operation of the cutter.

ln operating the opener to out oif the top of a can, the opener and can are positioned as shown in Figs. l and 3 the thumb screw, C, having been adjusted centrally of the top of the can, the can is perforated by inserting the sharp point of the screw, Z; thereupon the cutter, B, is operated through the medium of the handle, g, the point, c, of the cutter first perforating the side of the can, which is done with comparatively slight pressure owing to the large leverage at which the cutter' is op erated, after which a cutis made as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l thereafter, by move ing the can relatively to the member, a, or by rotating member, a, on the axis of the screw, l, additional cuts may be made until the can is cut completely around. The first perforation of cutter, B, is made just to the side of the vertical seam of the can corresponding to the direction in which the cut is to be made.

in operating the opener to produce an opening in the top of a can, the thumb screw, C, carrying screw, Z, is removed from the opener, the knife, B, is taken off stud, c, by unscrewing nut, d, slipped onto stud, fi, and the body portion of the opener inverted and placed in position on the can as shown in Fig. 3; upon operating the cutter, the toe end first perforates the top of the can and a further movement of the cutter brings it into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, one side of the body portion, A, serving to guide the cutter in a vertical path by changing the positionof the opener, additional cuts may be made as desired.

lt will be observed, therefore, that the new opener is simple in construction, easy and expeditious in its operation, and embodies a device readily adapted to operate either on the side or top of a can.

It will be manifest that the body portion of the opener may be made out of any suitable material, such as wood or metal, though, for strength and economy, it will be preferably cast from iron.

It will be obvious, moreover, that slight changes may be made in the specific construction of the opener described, such as the substitution of equivalents, without departing from the spirit or substance of the invention.

Having thus fully described the invention, what claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A can opener provided with a body portion., means for securing said body portion in various positions on the can, and a cutter carried by the body portion and provided with a cutting edge operable in a plane parallel to the plane of said body portion and below the top surface of a can whereby the can body may be severed just below the top ofthe can.

2. A can opener provided with a body portion, means for positioning said body portion on a can whereby said body portion may be shifted into various positions on the can, a stud depending from said body portion, and a cutter pivoted to said stud for movement in a plane parallel to the plane of the body portion and adapted to sever the body 0f said -can for the purpose of removing the top therefrom Without cutting` said top.

3. A can opener provided with a body portion and means for securing a cutter thereto in a plane parallel to the plane of the body portion, and means for securing a cutter thereto in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of said body portion.

4. A can opener provided with a body portion, said body having a stud extending away from and having its axis substantially at rightangles to the plane of said body, a second stud extending away from said body and having its axis in a plane parallel to the plane ofthe body, and a knife adapted to be pivotally secured to either of said studs.

5. A can opener provided with a body portion, said body having a stud extending away from and having its axis substantially at Vright angles to the plane of said body, a second stud extending away from said body and having its axis in a plane parallel to the plane of the body, and a knife having a toe end and a heel end and adapted to be pivotally secured at its toe end to either of said studs.

6. A can opener having a slotted body portion, a can perforating member adjustable within said slot and a cutter pivoted to said body portion and operable in a plane at right angles to the plane in which the axis of the perforating member is located.

7. A can opener having a slotted body portion, a can perforating member adjustable within said slot and extending downwardly from the body portion, a cutter, and means positioned on said body portion for pivotally securing said cutter to the body portion whereby the cutter is adapted to operate in either a plane at right angles to the axis of the perforating member or in a plane parallel to said axis.

8. A can opener provided with a body portion, a member depending therefrom and adapted to pierce the top of a can so as to rotatably secure said body portion in position on the can, and a cutter pivoted to said body portion separately from the depending inember, said cutter being provided with a cutting edge operable in a plane parallel to the plane of said body portion and below the top of the can whereby the body of the can may be severed below the top thereof.

In testimony whereof l have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUGUSTINE F. FITZ GERALD.

Witnesses:

JAs. H. GRIFFIN, H. I. BERNHARD.