Patent Publication Number: US-4925050-A

Title: Beverage can

Description:
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART 
     Currently manufactured cans have cylindrical liquid-containing body portions with top portions being recessed within the cylindrical portins, forming upstanding annular rims. Cans proposed by some U.S. patents like U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,825,151, 3,692,202 also have upstanding rims. None of the cans provide comfortable mouth-fit upper portions. 
     Dust, soil, dirty and unhygienical things are often stuck and deposited on both lateral and top surfaces of cans, while the cans being placed at stores or other places waiting to be sold and while being transported from manufacturing places to selling places. People usually have to touch, with lips, the unhygienical upper lateral surfaces of the cans. Moreover, during drinking process, some liquid contents may stay in annular grooves (which are immediately inside the rims and are at the outer edge of the top surfaces), solving dirty things deposited in the grooves. The dirty solutions are usually drunk in together with clean contents inside the cans. 
     Currently manufactured cans have cylindrical lateral surfaces. Cans proposed by some U.S. patent, on the whole, also have cylindrical body portion. Although generally speaking cylindrical or round-shape liquid container have bigger volume to hold more liquid, their tens of years lasting round shape look so ordinary to customers that some changefrom cylindrical or nearly cylindrical shape to other shapes will be welcomed and the changemight bring a lot better sale. 
     Some patents have the object of overcoming the shortcoming that currently manufactured cans are slippery and not easy to grasp. They have detachable or undetachable handles or tabs. It might increase production cost to have the undetachable handles or tabs. And it might increase inconvenience in mounting the detachable handles. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One of the purposes of this invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art described in Description of Prior Art. 
     This invention is intended to provide for society some kinds of drinking vessels which have some or all of the following advantages: mouth-fit upper portion, clean and hygienical upper portion, novel and attracting appearance, slippery-preventing and easy to grasp body shape. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1&#39;s left part is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention and FIG. 1&#39;s right part is when the upper portion of outer sheet is removed. 
     FIG. 2 is the side elevational view corresponding to the same embodiment as FIG. 1, when the upper portion of outer sheet is removed. 
     FIG. 3&#39;s left part is a top plan view and FIG. 3&#39;s right part is when part of the outer sheet is removed. 
     FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the can with two concave grooves to facilitate grasp and to prevent slippery from hand. 
     FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a round-oval combining lateral shape can. 
     FIG. 6 is a top plan view at A--A&#39; cross section of FIG. 5. 
     FIG. 7 is a top plan view at B--B&#39; cross section of FIG. 5. 
     FIG. 8 is the cross section of a hexagonal lateral shape can. 
     FIG. 9 is the cross section of an octagonal lateral shape can. 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the invention, with part of covering sheet removed. 
     FIG. 11 is a persepctive view of still another embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The cans according to this invention neither have the upstanding rims which make people&#39;s lips uncomfortable, nor have the grooves on can&#39;s tops which hold dirty things. The cans according to this invention all have mouth-fit upper portions 7. They may have novel and attracting oval, round-oval combining like FIG. 5 through FIG. 7, hexagonal like FIG. 8, or octagonal like FIG. 9 lateral shape, as well as the ordinary cylindrical lateral shape. 
     Some of the cans are such that their top and lateral portions are built by two sheets of metal or other materials, like FIG. 1 through FIG. 5. Part of the top portion of the outer sheet and part of the upper lateral portion of the outer sheet, noted as 2, may be removed, revealing a mouth-fit hygienical inner sheet 3 for people&#39;s lips to touch. On the inner sheet 3 there may be a drain hole 4 and a hole 5 which is to let air get in, or there may be only one drain hole 4. Some of the cans, like FIG. 4, may have two concave grooves 8 to prevent slippery from hand and to facilitate grasp. Bottom piece 6 is firmly joined to the lower edge of can&#39;s lateral portion, forming a rim. Each sheet may have even thickness, or uneven thickness to increase strengh. 
     Some of the cans, like FIG. 10, may have a main sheet 9 and a covering sheet 10 which covers the top portion and some of the upper part of the lateral portion of the main sheet 9. The covering sheet 10 may be partly or wholely removed. 
     Some of the cans, like FIG. 11, may have on integral sheet 11 as top and lateral portion, with an opening means 12.