Improvements in Preserving Cans and other Vessels of Sheet Metal.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1892-Accepted, 15th Oct., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Preserving Cans and other Vessels of Sheet
Metal.
I, HERBERT JOHN ALLISON, of 52 Chancery Lane, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, which
has been communicated to me from abroad by Frederic Reiset and Gustavus Albert
Waeber, both of No. 165 Duane Street, in the City and State of New York,
U.S.A., Merchants, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
These improvements relate to that class of sheet metal vessels which are 'opened'
by stripping out a band or section of the material of which the vessel is composed.
It is often found desirable to be able to apply these strip systems to the flat surfaces*
of the heads or ends of such vessels, but previous to certain inventions for this:
purpose which have been made by the above-named Frederic Reiset and Gustavus
A. Waeber but which are not here described, it has been impracticable to employ
any of these systems in the flat horizontal parts of the vessel-heads, for the reason'
that all these systems require the use of a "tongue" and it has not been found
possible to successfully provide these indispensable tongues in this portion of
the vessel.
This is a matter of more importance than appears at first sight. For example,
it is quite undesirable that preserving vessels containing articles packed in their
own juices or in syrup, such as most vegetables and fruits, or containing soups, or
some other classes of liquid goods, should be required to be opened on the side,
because when so opened some spilling of the contents unavoidable. Again, when
a can is filled with liquid contents the lack of support to the sides of the can causes
the latter to " wobble" under the operation of opening and makes the opening more
difficult, because the resistance to the key of the can body is less and the effort of
keeping the torn out part of the strip-section in the right path considerably
greater. Furthermore, when a can is opened on its side it is very difficult to tear
the strip-section out where it crosses the soldered joint of the side walls. There
are also other objections to the method of side opening as compared with that of
opening on one of the heads or ends of the vessel.
But the strip-section and tongue of none of the methods which have been
referred to as prior to the above mentioned inventions of the said Reiset and.
Waeber can be employed on the head or end of the vessel for the reason that the
head, being struck up out of a single piece, has-unlike the sidewalls-no part which
overlaps another part in the line of the strip-section and out of which a tongue can
be formed, and consequently no such tongue can be made in it. On this account,
all of these prior methods, have hitherto been limited to the side-walls of the
vessel:
These improvements are designed to overcome this difficulty, and to enable any
of the strip-section methods to be cheaply and conveniently applied to the head
of a sheet metal can or other vessel in such manner that the can may be as
readily opened as if the strip-section were placed in the side wall and without any
liability to break off the tongue in the act of opening. To this end, they consist in"
the first part in combining with the head or end of the can or other vessel a strip-*
section which is provided at any desired point in the course of its path with a tongue
formed by cutting the strip-section on each side of it entirely through the metal
for the required length of the tongue and also cutting it through the metal entirely
across the width of the section at one end of the intended tongue so that this end
of the latter will be free and may project above the plane of the section, and in
further combining with the vessel-head a short piece of metal of the" requisite

page_text: length to fully fill the open space which will be made below the tongue by the
operation of forming the latter, this short piece being soldered in place when the
vessel is sealed and the tongue thereby being left with its free end projecting
slightly above the vessel head ready for. the application of the key in the
customary way.
The second part of these improvements consists in the combination with the
strip-section, at any desired point in its path, of a tongue formed of a separate short
piece of metal one half-more or less of which is carried through a cut or slit
made in the strip-section across or substantially across its length and is soldered or
otherwise secured to its under side, while the remaining half is permitted to project
out of and beyond the slit and above the surface of the strip-section so as to con-
stitute the tongue.
A, Fig. 1, is the body and B the head or cover of a cylindrical sheet metal vessel
of a very usual construction. It is represented as having applied to it, in con-
nection with the first part of the herein described improvements, that form of
strip-section in which the section, shown at b, is torn out around the vessel between
two incisions made partially through the material of the head and placed
respectively in the inner angles or corners of the stiffening beads d, d. These
incisions are always preferably made on the inside surface of the metal and are
therefore not seen in the figures, but it is not necessary that they should be seen'
as their construction and location are well known.
:
Instead, however, of forming the tongue by prolonging the strip-section, which
as before stated could not be done in a vessel head, the section is cut entirely
through the metal of the head at the points marked a, a, in the figure, so as to,
permit a short portion of it to be freed on three of its sides from the surface of the
head and to project slightly above such surface and thereby constitute a tongue b.
It will now be obvious that the free end of this tongue may be grasped by a key or
any suitable instrument and the entire strip-section torn out around the head with-
out any liability whatever of the tongue or any other portion of the strip-section
being fractured in the operation.
In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is shown the short supplemental pieces with which the open
space left beneath the tongue by this mode of forming the latter, is closed up to
render the vessel air tight. This supplemental piece is stamped out slightly larger
in length and width than the space it is to close and is fastened in place readily by
soldering it tightly either by hand or by a soldering machine in any of the well
known ways.
It is generally preferable to insert it into position from the upper
side of the head in such manner that its ends will be in contact with the under
surface of the head and its side edges with the upper surface thereof and slightly
overlapping the sides of the open space, as seen in Fig. 2. But it may be secured:
in place in any other convenient manner.
Figure 4 shows a modification of these improvements constituting the second
part of the invention. In this figure, the strip-section instead of being cut through
on three sides as before, is cut at only one point, as seen at n in the figure, this cut
or slit being made entirely across its width and being barely wider than the thick-.
ness of the sheet metal of which the head is composed. Through this slit one half 4
or one third-more or less of a separate short piece of metal is passed, as seen in
the figure, so that while this half will remain beneath the surface of the head,
the remaining or outer half will project out of and beyond the slit and above the .
head and will form a tongue !. When thus placed in position, the inner end or:
half of this supplemental piece is soldered to the under side of the head and all 5
space around or caused by the slit or opening n is at the same time closed with.
solder, thereby making the joint air tight.
By either of these methods, a thoroughly practical tongue for the head or end
of a sheet metal vessel may be provided, and by it the strip-section may easily be
torn out without giving rise to any of the difficulties which have rendered the prior 5
modes of forming the tongue impracticable.
Figure 2 represents a special mode of locating the path of the strip-section.

page_text: around the head or end of the vessel in such manner that the point where the
tongue which in this form of these improvements is seen at b, is placed shall be
removed more or less from the edge of the head, in order that the manipulations
in soldering or sealing the head to the body of the vessel after the
latter has been packed, shall not melt or loosen the solder which secures in position
the supplementary or separate piece, whether the latter be in the form of s in
Figures 1, 2 and 3, or of 7 in Figure 4.
necessary.
For the sake of convenience the drawing illustrates and shows the present
improvements as applied to only one special strip-section method, but it should
be understood that the invention is equally applicable to any others of the strip-
section devices.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
:
:-
First A head or cover for a sheet metal can or other vessel, such head or cover
having a strip-section of any suitable construction provided with a tongue formed
by cutting the strip-section at any desired point through the metal on three of the
sides of the tongue in combination with a supplementary piece for closing the
space beneath the tongue, substantially as described.
Second A head or cover for a sheet metal can or other vessel, such head or
cover having a strip-section of any suitable construction provided with a tongue
formed of a separate piece of metal one end of which is inserted through an
opening in the strip-section and is soldered or otherwise secured to the under side
of the latter, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 2nd day of September 1892.
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.