Patent ID: 9469445
Filing Date: 2016-10-18
CPC Classification: B29C,B29L,B65B,B65D

Claim Text:
1. A process for coupling a lid to a brim of a container to close an opening into an interior product-storage region formed in the container, the process comprising the steps of providing a lid having an elastic top wall made of an elastic material and a container having an annular brim arranged to surround an opening into an interior product-storage region formed in the container, wherein the annular brim includes an inner peripheral surface bounding the opening, an outer peripheral surface surrounding the inner peripheral surface, and an upwardly facing surface lying between and interconnecting the inner and outer peripheral surfaces, moving the elastic top wall of the lid downwardly toward the annular brim of the container to cause a portion of the lid to contact the upwardly facing surface of the annular brim and to locate any spilled product extant on the upwardly facing surface of the annular brim under a downwardly facing surface of the elastic top wall of the lid, and stretching the elastic top wall of the lid relative to the annular brim during further movement of the lid relative to the annular brim of the container to move a portion of the spilled product extant on the upwardly facing surface of the annular brim in a radially inward direction toward and into the interior product-storage region and a remaining portion of the spilled product extant on the upwardly facing surface of the annular brim in a radially outward direction away from the interior product-storage region and into a radially outer space provided between the lid and the outer peripheral surface of the annular brim to cause substantially all of the spilled product extant on the upwardly facing surface of the annular brim to be free of spilled product and to mate with a confronting companion surface of the downwardly facing surface of the elastic top wall of the lid therebetween so that substantially all of the spilled product formerly extant on the upwardly facing surface of the annular brim is wiped away, wherein the lid includes a sheet-support ring having a hollow center portion and a membrane sheet made of the elastic material, the sheet-support ring surrounds the annular brim during the stretching step, the membrane sheet has an outer surface coupled permanently to the sheet-support ring prior to the stretching step to form the lid and an inner surface arranged to face away from the outer surface and comprise the downwardly facing surface of the elastic top wall of the lid.