Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Cans, Canisters, and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Feb., 1893-Accepted, 18th Feb., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Cans, Canisters,
and the like.
A communication from THE CANISTER MACHINE COMPANY LIMITED, of East Side,
Cross Street, Dundas, Ontario, Canada, Manufacturers.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 111, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
This invention is an improvement in the art of making packing cans or canis-
ters, on the general principle shown in the invention, covered by Letters Patent
of Great Britain granted on the 8th day of March 1893 and numbered 5033.
The main object of the invention has been to provide the wholesale dealer
with the material for cans, which may be shipped and stored in much less space
than occupied by the completed cans, and which also may be put together to
form completed and filled cans, easily, quickly, and by simple machinery, in
the warehouse in which they are used. The further object is to improve the
cans, particularly in the construction of the head and side seam, whereby the
can may be made and sealed more certainly and securely, may be opened readily,
and may be provided with an opening the full size of the can with a supple-
mental removable cover, adapted to be used with the can, after its first opening
and during the gradual use of the contents. In Specification 4438 of 1898 s
described a machine for forming or moulding the body of the can and for apply-
ing the heads thereto, and in Specification 4439 of 1898 a machine is described
for making a weakened line in the can head to enable it to be readily opened.
The parts hereinafter described, are designed to be and are sold to the trade,
and are articles of manufacture and sale, and may be used in putting up goods
for the retail trade, as substantial ornamental cans, fit also for domestic use as
canisters, to contain the goods after portions have been used.
The parts and details of construction are illustrated in the accompanying
drawings, in which,
Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the parts prepared to form the body of the can,
Figure 1 representing the strip for the side seam, Figure 2 the body blank,
and Figure 3 a section of the body blank taken across the strip for the side
seam.
Figures 4 to 10 show the can and parts thereof.
Figure 11 is a view in section of the device for forming the supplemental
cover.
The blank A shown in Figure 2 is designed to form the body of the can and
is preferably made out of sheets of fibrous material, such as wood fibre. They
are of proper rectangular form, fitted exactly to the desired size and shape
of the can and have the proper label and outside finish. They are designed to
be formed or folded into the shape of the body, by clamping upon a suitable
mandrel, and the edges are connected to form the side seam by the form of

page_text: strip shown in Figure 1. But in supplying these materials to the trade, the
slender strip shown in Figure 1 being formed of thin sheet metal, is liable
to be bent, or to be misplaced, and further, is not easy to manipulate in form-
ing the body. It must be held in place and when the edges of the blank A
are brought down to rest on the flanges 2, the flanges 3 and 4 must be pressed
down thereon. To avoid these difficulties my correspondents have combined
the strip and the blank, and formed the article shown in Figures 2 and 3. In
this the strip is attached to one edge of the blank A by clamping that edge
between the flanges 2 and 3, while the flange 4 remains raised, leaving open
the space between it and the horizontal flange 2.
In forming the can the blank is folded upon the former or mandrel, the
edge having the strip attached is first brought around, laid upon the surface,
and then the opposite edge is folded down onto the flange 2, and the flange 4
is pressed down, thus clamping the remaining edge and forming the side seam.
The end closures (Figs. 5, 7, 9) are alike, excepting that the head is formed
with a weakened line while the bottom is not. These end pieces are struck up
out of sheet metal, preferably the ordinary sheet tin of commerce.
The edges
of the end closures are turned up to form flanges 7 all around the plane sur-
face A¹ of the end piece. This flange is also turned over and down to form a
recess fitted to receive the edge of the can body and to be clamped thereon, as
illustrated in Figure 5. The turned over flange which clamps the edge of the
can body, holds the head or end piece firmly upon the can and forms a finish
for the said edge. Around the inner wall is formed a weakened line (Fig. 9)
by pressing the metal upon a die having a blunted edge, which thins the metal
to any desired degree, and renders this part easy of rupture for removal to
open the can.
The weakened line is near the interior surface of the wall or flange, and when
the line is ruptured a slight ledge is left, projecting inward, and serving to form
the bottom of the seat for a supplemental cover. The line is weakened to such
an extent that the head may be broken by pressure of any blunt instrument,
as a knife handle, and then the interior plane part of the head all that is within
the rim flange, may be removed and an opening, the full width of the can,
is secured. This permits the free exit of many materials (such as starch for
example) which could with difficulty only, be poured from a narrow opening.
The materials ordinarily sold in cans, are, in few instances used at one time,
but generally a small quantity at a time. Under such circumstances where the
permanent cover is removed, a supplemental cover is required, and this is pro-
vided to meet the conditions of the case. This consists of a cover (Figs. 7, 8
and 10) with a flange fitted to the cavity in the head, so that the exterior sur-
face of the cover flange bears in frictional contact against the inner face of the
head flange, and the lower edge of the said cover rests on the ledge left by the
rupture of the head. The flange of this cover needs to be slightly elastic, and
to meet this and other requirements, it is made of fibrous board such as the
ordinary wood pulp board. It is struck up from the sheet on a hot former
(Fig. 11) to give it proper shape. In Fig. 11 a suitable device is shown for
pressing the fibrous board into proper shape between heated dies, the dies being
heated by an admixture of gas and air, through inlets 1 & 2 respectively. But
as it requires to be cooled under formative compression to avoid subsequent
expansion, and as it is not practicable to retain it upon the die former, the sup-
plemental cover is combined with the can head (top and bottom Fig. 7) thus
avoiding the expansion of the fibre flange, and providing a convenient part of
the article to be supplied to the trade. In the head B having the weakened line
is placed the fibre cover C hot from the die, as it will be placed to cover the
can, and as shown in Figure 7. Over this is placed the inverted bottom. D
which is exactly like the head, except that it has not the weakened line. These
end pieces therefore enclose the fibre cover and retain its proper form, and the
package comprises all that is necessary for closing the ends of a single can, and

page_text: with the body blank and side seaming strip comprises all that is necessary for
a complete can. These parts of the article are made and supplied to the trade
in form convenient for shipment, storage and use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what claim is
-
1-A combined can body blank and side seaming strip, the strip being clamped
on one edge of the blank and having flanges open to receive the other edge of
the blank.
2-A head for cans having a plane surface, a flange around the same having
a turned over edge to engage and grip the can body and having also a weak-
ened line and a supplemental fibre cover having a flange fitting within the
flange of the head substantially as described.
3 The method herein described consisting in pressing into shape a supple-
mental cover of fibre board between hot dies and placing said cover while hot
between the head and bottom of the can whereby the cover is confined while
cooling and sets to proper shape, substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of February 1898.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.