Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Feb., 1887.
Complete Left, 21st July, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 20th Sept., 1887.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS SEYMOUR of 14, Regent Street, Stockton-on-Tees, in the
County of Durham, Tin plate worker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved method of fitting up covers, lids, or caps to
metallic or other receptacles, such as the tin boxes ordinarily used for enclosing
meat, fish, or other material, which boxes or other receptacles require to be closed up
securely to exclude air and to resist the treatment to which they are usually subjected
in packing and transmitting them from the producer to the consumer; my object
being to furnish a simple means of leverage to each cover by which the cover can be
removed from the box or receptacle whenever required.
In carrying out my invention I fit the cover or lid into the box or receptacle so
that the rim of the box or receptacle extends beyond that of the cover or lid and
becomes a fulcrum at any part of its rim to apply leverage for removing the lid or
cover. The lid or cover may be fitted in any suitable manner into the box or
receptacle, but, should be fixed in position by means of a shoulder or other equivalent
means provided in the formation of the box or receptacle for the purpose of both
forming a strong and compact case or receptacle, and to adjust the leverage to the
best advantage. Instead of the independent or detached levers which have hitherto
been used for removing specially constructed lids or covers from tin boxes or the
like and which would not apply to a lid or cover fitted up in accordance with my
invention, I provide one or more levers attached to the cover itself and fitted into a
socket or hinge so that they can be turned down flat onto the cover when not in use
or be turned over the rim of the box or receptacle which forms their fulcrum.
1000

page_text: Improvements in Lids or Covers and in Fitting them to Metallic
or other Receptacles.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS SEYMOUR, of 14, Regent Street, Stockton-on-Tees, in the
County of Durham, Tin Plate Worker, 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 relates to improvements in metallic or other receptacles such as the
tin cans or boxes ordinarily used for enclosing meat, fish, or other material, which
boxes or cans require to be closed up securely whether to exclude air or to endure
the treatment to which they are usually subjected in packing and transmission from
producer to consumer and afterwards require to be opened with facility. Boxes or
cans employed for this purpose are often closed up by having the lid or cover
soldered onto the rim of the box or can which has to be ript open to obtain access to
the inside of the box or can.
Attempts to overcome the objections to this mode of closing up this class of boxes
or cans have resulted in constructing them with specially formed rims into which
specially constructed lids or covers can be made to fit so that a detached lever of a
simple character can be applied to the underside thereof and employed to force the
lid or cover from the box or can.
The essential features of my invention are a simple means of applying leverage to
the cover or lid combined with the mode of fitting the cover or lid into the end of the
box or can so that by attaching the lever to the upper or outside surface of the lid or
cover the rim of the said box or can which extends beyond the top of the lid or cover
can be employed as the fulcrum for applying the lever to force up the cover or lid to
which it also affords protection from external pressure.
And in order that my invention may be fully understood I will now proceed to
describe it by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which sectional views of
boxes or cans constructed and furnished with levers in accordance with my invention
are illustrated in Figs. 1, 3, and 5; the corresponding views in plan being illustrated
respectively in Figs. 2, 4, and 6.
In order to obtain a compact and close fit between the cover or lid a and the box
or can b, I turn up the edge of the cover or lid a to form the rim c which is enclosed
within the corresponding rim d of the box or can b, and in order to obtain the
requisite degree of tightness in the fit between these rims and to facilitate the
withdrawal of the lid when required, I prefer to give to these rims a slight and

page_text: corresponding taper, the lid or cover practically forming a tapered plug enclosed by
the rim d, the edge of which extends beyond the rim e and is rounded or wired over
or otherwise rendered stiff and serves both as a guard to protect the lid or cover from
external pressure and as a fulcrum for the lever e which is shown in the figures as
permanently attached to the lid or cover a in a suitable manner but which may if
preferred be only temporarily attached thereto; a ledge forms a plug seat within
the box or can b in any suitable manner such as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 5 for
fixing the position of the lid or cover a when pushed into the box or can its proper
distance; but I prefer as an effective and simple means of providing the requisite
seat or ledge d¹ to unite the rim d to the box or can b in the manner clearly illus-
trated in Fig. 3, in which a difference is provided between the internal diameters of
the box or can b and the rin d which forms the ledge or seat d' for the cover or lid a,
the rim d being provided with a wire shaped edge d² to make it stiff to serve as the
fulcrum for lever e and to protect the lid or cover, fitted into it. The advantage of
this mode of fitting the cover to the can in addition to that of simplicity of con-
struction is that such a ledge or seat whilst serving its purpose for supporting the
cover a presents no obstacle to the discharge of the contents of the box or can whereas
when the seat or ledge forms an internal flange or projection extending into the box
or can an obstruction is formed which is detrimental to effecting a complete clearance
thereof by affording a lodgement for a residue of the contents. In order to force up
the lid or cover a to open the box or can b, which it is obvious cannot be done by any
form of lever applied to the underside thereof, one or more levers e are attached either
temporarily or permanently to the lid or cover a; Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a box or
can provided with one lever only in Figs. 3 and 4, three levers are provided, each
lever when permanently attached fits into a socket secured to the lid or cover to
enable it to be turned over the rim or down on the lid as required. In Figs. 5 and 6
I illustrate a form of lever designed to turn round the circle so as to be applicable at
any part of the circumference of the lid or cover a; this is effected by providing a
lever e precisely similar to the levers illustrated and described with reference to
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, but instead of turning in a socket fixed in position near the edge
of the cover or lid the lever is hinged to the bar e¹ turning round on the pin f in the
centre of the lid or cover a, a¹ is a flange extending over the lid or cover so as to
overlap the free end of the bar el to hold it down when resisting the strain produced
by applying the lever e; instead of the bar e' as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 the
levere may if preferred be hinged to a plate or disc extending underneath the
recess a² in all directions in which case the strain from the lever e would be better
distributed to the flange a¹ than in the case of a narrow bar.
Means of leverage applied to the lids or covers as before described admits of these
levers being only temporarily attached, for instance, by providing an eyelet, hook, or
other equivalent means attached to the outer surface of the lid or cover, a lever may
be connected thereto and disconnected therefrom at will. This modification is so
obvious that I have not thought it necessary to illustrate a mode of carrying it into
effect.
Having now particularly described my invention and in what manner the same
may be carried into effect, what I claim is :-
Firstly -The employment of one or more levers attached whether permanently or
temporarily to the cover or lid of the box, can, or the like receptacle, whereby the
said box, can, or other receptacle can be opened, substantially as described.
Secondly In the construction of metallic boxes, cans, or the like articles, the
employment of a means of leverage attached whether temporarily or permanently to
the lid or cover of the box or can combined with the mode of fitting the lid or cover
into the box or can so that the rim thereof can be employed both as a guard to protect
the lid or cover from external pressure and as a fulcrum whereby the lever can be
used to force up the lid, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.

page_text: "
Thirdly The particular mode of constructing the lid or cover so as to fit into the
box or can like a plug by turning up the outside edge to form a rim c which fits
within the rim d of the box or can whether tapered or not, substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Fourthly: The particular mode of providing the seat or ledge d' for the lid or
cover a by uniting the rim d with the shell of the box or can as described and
clearly illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.