Easily openable can with foldably concealed tab

An easily openable can includes a foldable tab having an actuating ring attached on the tab and normally flatly sealing a drinking opening formed on a can cover and operatively openable along a score line along a contour of the tab on the cover, a base folding line concave downwardly and pre-formed in a rear base portion of the tab, and an intermediate folding line convex upwardly and preformed on an intermediate portion of the tab, whereby upon pulling of the actuating ring and the tab to open the drinking opening and then upon folding of the tab along the base folding line and the intermediate folding line, the tab can be folded and retained on a rear opening edge without dropping into a can interior for hygienic purpose and also to allow the actuating ring to conceal a sharp edge of the tab severed from the can cover for safety reason.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A conventional beverage can as shown in FIG. 7 includes an end over C 
having a tab T secured with a pulling ring P and normally sealing a 
drinking opening O formed on the cover C, whereby upon pulling of the ring 
P and the tab T to disclose the opening O for drinking purpose, the tab T, 
if not being suitably disposed, will cause environmental protection 
problem. 
Even though another conventional can as shown in FIG. 8 may prevent a free 
disposal of the tab T for the reason of environmental protection, the tab 
T once biased downwardly inwardly into an interior of the can by pulling 
the pulling ring P to disclose the drinking opening O may decant dust 
particles D previously accumulated on the cover and tab surface into the 
can beverage, causing contamination and hygienic problems to the beverage 
or materials stored in the can and possibly influencing the user's health. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an easily 
openable can including a foldable tab having an actuating ring attached on 
the tab and normally flatly sealing a drinking opening formed on a can 
cover and operatively openable along a score line along a contour of the 
tab on the cover, a base folding line concave downwardly and pre-formed in 
a rear base portion of the tab, and an intermediate folding line convex 
upwardly and preformed on an intermediate portion of the tab, whereby upon 
pulling of the actuating ring and the tab to open the drinking opening and 
then upon folding of the tab along the base folding line and the 
intermediate folding line, the tab can be folded and retained on a rear 
opening edge without dropping into a can interior for hygienic purpose and 
also to allow the actuating ring to conceal a sharp edge of the tab 
severed from the can cover for safety reason.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
As shown in FIGS. 1-6, the present invention comprises: a can 10 having a 
can cover 1 capping a top end portion of the can 10, a foldable tab 2 
normally flatly shielding a drinking opening 13 formed in the can cover 1, 
a score line 11 preformed on the can cover 1 and confining a 
circumferential edge portion of the tab 2, and an actuating ring 3 secured 
to the foldable tab 2. 
The foldable tab 2 is generally formed as an elongate tongue shape and 
includes: a front tab portion 21 secured with the actuating ring 3 by a 
rivet 33 adjacent to a rim flange 14 circumferentially disposed around the 
can cover 1, a base folding line 22 transversely notched on a base portion 
23 of the tab 2 with the base portion 23 formed on a rear end of the tab 2 
adjacent to a central portion of the can cover 1 with the base folding 
line 22 having a longitudinal section of the tab 2 at the base folding 
line 22 concave upwardly when the tab 2 normally flatly shields the 
drinking opening 13 of the can cover 1, and an intermediate folding line 
24 transversely formed on an intermediate portion of the tab 2 and having 
a longitudinal section of the tab 2 at the intermediate folding line 24 
convex upwardly when the tab 2 normally flatly shields the drinking 
opening 13 of the can cover 1. 
The actuating ring 3 includes: a front plate portion 31 secured to the 
front tab portion 21 by a rivet 33, an acute end portion 32 formed on a 
central front portion of the front plate portion 31 and bent downwardly 
from the front plate portion 31 towards an outermost end 211 of the front 
tab portion 21, and a ring member 34 protruding rearwardly from the front 
plate portion 31 for pulling or pushing the ring member 34. 
The foldable tab 2 includes the front tab portion 21 having a first width 
W1 matching with a front opening width 131 of the drinking opening 13 
formed on a front opening edge of the drinking opening 13 when opened by 
tearing the foldable tab 2, and having a second width W2 of a rear tab 
portion 23a adjacent to the base portion 23 of the tab 2 with the second 
width W2 matching with a rear opening width 132 of the drinking opening 13 
formed on a rear opening edge of the drinking opening 13 when opened by 
tearing the foldable tab 2, with the first width W1 at the front tab 
portion 21 larger than the second width W2 at the rear tab portion 23a, 
whereby upon tearing of the tab 2 to open the drinking opening 13 and 
folding and depressing the tab 2 downwardly, the front tab portion 21 of 
the tab 2 can be stably locked on the rear opening edge of the drinking 
opening 13 by downwardly squeezing the front tab portion 21 with wide 
width W1 to be engaged with and retained on the rear opening edge with 
narrow rear opening width 132. The folded and locked tab 2 will not be 
further "sinked" downwardly into the interior of the can 10 to prevent 
injury to a user's fingers and also to prevent contamination of the 
beverage stored in the can 10. 
The foldable tab 2 includes two curved line ends 12 diverging rearwardly 
sidewardly from two end portions of a score line 11 preformed on the can 
cover 1 to reduce a stress or an inertia force whenever tearing the tab 2 
for opening the drinking opening 13, thereby preventing continuously 
cutting and separation of the tab 2 off the can cover 1 for environmental 
protection. 
The foldable tab 2 includes a plurality of reinforcing ribs 25 each 
reinforcing rib 25 longitudinally formed on the tab 2 for strengthening 
the tab 2 and for preventing a bending deformation of the tab 2 when 
folded to be retained on an opening edge of the drinking opening 13 of the 
can cover 1. 
The actuating ring 3 includes the ring member 34 having a ring area along 
an outer circumferential edge slightly larger than a tab area defined 
between a front tab portion 21 and an intermediate folding line 24 (FIG. 
6) when the tab 2 is folded and depressibly retained on a rear opening 
edge of the drinking opening 13 on the cover 1. 
When it is intended to disclose the opening 13 for drinking beverage stored 
in the can 10, several operation steps can be done such as shown in FIGS. 
3-5, in which: 
a. The actuating ring 3 is pulled upwardly (P1) to bias the front acute end 
portion 32 of the actuating ring 3 downwardly about a fulcrum at the rivet 
33 to forcibly depress the front tab portion 21 downwardly to initiate the 
disclosing of the opening 13 along the score line 11 formed on the can 
cover 1; 
b. The ring 3 is continuously pulled rearwardly (P2) about the base folding 
line 22 to fully open the opening 13; and then the ring 33 is pushed 
forwardly (P3) to further fold the tab 2 about the intermediate folding 
line 24 as shown in dotted line of FIG. 4 (the folding line 24 now 
becoming concave downwardly for an easier folding thereabout) to form a 
generally Z-shaped "folding structure" as shown in dotted line of FIG. 4; 
and 
c. The ring member 34 is depressed downwardly (P4) to squeeze the front tab 
portion 21 downwardly to be locked on a rear opening edge of the drinking 
opening 13 of the can cover 1. The tab 2 is now folded and flattened to 
minimize its volume. Since the ring member 34 may have a ring area along 
an outer circumferential edge of the ring member 34 slightly larger than a 
tab area defined between the front tab portion 21 and the intermediate 
folding line 24 as shown in FIG. 6, a sharp edge of the tab 2 as severed 
from the can cover 1 will be shielded by the ring member 34 of the 
actuating ring 3, thereby preventing an injury such as being cut by the 
severed edge of the torn tab 2. 
The present invention is superior to any conventional easily openable can 
with the following advantages: 
1. The tab 2 even having dust accumulated thereon is folded above and 
retained on the can cover 1 to prevent a downwardly deep "sinking" of a 
conventional tab removed from the can into a can interior, thereby 
preventing contamination to the beverage stored in the can. 
2. Severed cutting edge of a torn tab is shielded by (or concealed under) 
the ring member 34 of the actuating ring 3 to prevent injury to the user 
for safety purpose. 
3. The tab is multiply folded to be stably retained on the can cover to 
prevent a removal of the tab from the can in order for a better 
environmental protection. 
4. Since the tab 2 should have a longer distance for providing the multiple 
folding lines 22, 24 thereon, it can therefore be printed or marked with 
more words or features for advertising or promotional purposes in 
comparison with the conventional can tab having shorter length (or less 
area) than that of this application. So, this application can afford a 
better commercial value in addition to its safety and hygienic advantages 
as aforementioned.