An Improved Cutter for Opening Hermetically Sealed Metallic Boxes or Canisters in which Articles of Food, Tobacco, Paint and other like Articles are Stored.
Year: 1897

page_text: An Improved Cutter for Opening Hermetically Sealed Metallic
Boxes or Canisters in which Articles of Food, Tobacco, Paint
and other like Articles are Stored.
I, JOSEPH SAMUEL BEEMAN of 182 Earls Court Road, London, S.W. Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:―
My invention has for its object the facilitating of the opening of certain
hermetically sealed circular boxes or canisters made of tin plate or other suitable
material, and relates to an improved cutter combined with a circular cover or lid, the
cutter having for its object the cutting away of the end of an hermetically sealed
box or canister, made of tin plate or other suitable material or materials, and the
cover or lid having for its object the protecting of the contents of the box or canister
after the end of the box or canister has been cut out and removed.
The class of hermetically sealed circular boxes or canisters to which my invention
is especially applicable is such as are constructed with one end made of thin tin plate,
coninonly called tagger tin plate, or, instead of thin tin plate, sheet lead or
tin foil.
I do not claim any special form or construction of box or canister, as the box or
canister may have the end made to lap over the cylindrical side of the box or canister,
and be soldered thereto on the outside; or the end may be made with a downward-
turned edge, the said end being fastened to the inside of the cylindrical part of the
box or canister, by its downward turned edge being soldered thereto.
For the purpose of more readily explaining my invention I may state that I fix,
by means of a rivet acting as a pivot, to the underside of the lid or cover, a piece of
steel plate, a portion of which is pointed and sharpened and is bent at right angles to
the main portion. This piece I call the knife, to distinguish it from the other part,
or main portion. This knife is at or near one end of the main portion; near the
other end is a hole through which the rivet passes which connects this plate with the
lid. The main portion is so shaped as to allow the knife to approximately lie, when
out of action, against the inside of the cylindrical portion of the lid. Another part
of the main portion is preferably so shaped as to form a stop, in order to prevent the
knife being set so as to cut a smaller circular portion of the top of the box or canister
than is desirable.

page_text: An Improved Cutter for Opening Hermetically Sealed Metallic
Boxes or Canisters in which Articles of Food, Tobacco, Paint
and other like Articles are Stored.
I, JOSEPH SAMUEL BEEMAN, of 182 Earls Court Road, London, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention has for its object the facilitating of the opening of certain hermetically
sealed circular boxes or canisters made of tin plate or other suitable material, and
relates to an improved cutter combined with a circular cover or lid, the cutter having
for its object the cutting away of the end of an hermetically sealed box or canister,
made of tin plate or other suitable material or materials, and the cover or lid having
for its object the protecting of the contents of the box or canister after the end of
the box or canister has been cut out, and removed.
The class of hermetically sealed circular boxes or canisters to which my invention
is especially applicable is such as are constructed with one end made of thin tin
plate, commonly called tagger tin plate, or, instead of thin tin plate, sheet lead or
tin foil.
I do not claim any special form or construction of box or canister, as the box or
canister may have the end made to lap over the cylindrical side of the box or canister,
and be soldered thereto on the outside; or the end may be made with a downward-
turned edge, the said end being fastened to the inside of the cylindrical part of the
box or canister, by its downward turned edge being soldered thereto.
For the purpose of more readily explaining my invention I may state that I fix, by
means of a rivet acting as a pivot, to the underside of the lid or cover, a piece of
steel or other metal plate, a portion of which is pointed and sharpened and is bent at
right angles to the main portion. This piece I call the knife, to distinguish it from
the other part, or main portion. This knife is at or near one end of the main
portion; near the other end is a hole through which the rivet passes which connects
this plate with the lid. The main portion is so shaped as to allow the knife to
approximately lie, when out of action, against the inside of the cylindrical portion of
the lid. Another part of the main portion is preferably so shaped as to form a stop,
in order to prevent the knife being set so as to cut a smaller circular portion of the
top of the box or canister than is desirable.
In order that the foregoing paragraph may be more readily understood drawings
have been appended in which :-
Fig. 1. is a plan of a circular lid of a box having secured thereto the cutting device
which is there shown in position for cutting.
Fig. 2. is also a plan but the cutting device is shown in position when not required
for use.
Fig. 3. is a sectional view showing the cutting device and more particularly the
knife.
Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views of boxes to which the cutting device may be
applied and also showing in Fig. 5. the position of the said device when the cutter is
not in use.
Like letters of reference denote like parts throughout the drawings.
A. is the lid of the box to which is pivotted as already described by means of a
rivet C. the piece of metal B. having a portion D. turned at right angles to the body
or main portion B. of the knife. This is pointed and sharpened as shown in Fig. 3.
and is situated near one end of the main portion, whilst near the other end is the
hole for the rivet C,
.

page_text: A' indicates the rivet end of the body of the cutting device which as shown at E.
in Figs. 1 and may be shaped to receive the finger or thumb nail of the person
opening the tin, and so facilitate the movement of the knife, and forms in addition a
stop to limit the movement of the knife D. as aforesaid.
The knife D. when out of action lies approximately flat against the inside of the
cylindrical portion of the lid and is situated as indicated in Fig. 5. between the top of
the box and the lid.
It is obvious that the cutting device may be applied to any class of sealed circular
metal boxes provided with an outer projecting cover but I prefer to employ the
particular form of box or canister shown in Figs. 4 and 5 in which a small bead F. is
formed upon the body of the box a suitable distance from the mouth, the object of
which is to facilitate the removal of the paper G. which is usually placed over the
cover to secure the same to the box. With a tin as described above the paper may
be readily broken by the thumb nail of the person opening the tin in lieu of employing
a knife as is at present the case.
It is obvious that with a knife attached to a lid in
the manner herein set forth when the tin has been opened, the outer cover may be
replaced and the said cover being unperforated will effectually prevent the contents
being damaged by dust or the like or by insects which would in the event of the cover
being perforated be able to gain admission to the box.
The operation of opening is as follows:-
The cover is removed and the knife brought into position for cutting by turning
the metal piece B. upon its pivot within the limits allowed by the end A¹ coming
into contact with the downward turned part of the lid. The lid is then replaced and
upon pressing upon the top the thin tagger tin or other metal top is perforated by
the cutter and upon turning the lid the top will be cut through and the contents of
the box may be removed as required, the outer lid serving to keep the contents free
from injury.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is—
The combination with a circular lid, for sealed metal boxes or canisters, of an
opening device consisting of a piece of sheet metal pivotted to the lid upon the
underside and having a knife forming part thereof, constructed and operated as set
forth, and as shown by the drawings.
Dated this 6th day of September 1897