Patent ID: 8540102

Claim:
A two piece clamping ring and lever system for retaining removable lids to containers, comprising: a split circular ring, having an inwardly opening U-shaped channel, having first and second ends, an outer circumferential wall and oppositely disposed inwardly facing sidewalls, said ring first end including a plurality of outwardly extending receiving hooks, a plurality of outwardly facing receiving channels, and a plurality of outwardly extending stress transfer beams; said ring having an oppositely disposed second end including a flared region with mutually inwardly facing internal surfaces slideably moveable in adjacency over the outwardly facing side surfaces of a lever, the inwardly facing sidewalls of said ring second end including inwardly extending pivot bosses comprising a pivot shaft and enlarged pivot button; and a lever having an inwardly opening U-shaped channel, having mutually inwardly facing internal surfaces slideably moveable in adjacency over the side surfaces of the ring first end, said lever having a pivot end formed with a plurality of pivot shafts inwardly extending from the spaced apart sides of the lever to a pivot beam longitudinally disposed about the center of the lever underside, said lever having a plurality of receiving windows projecting through oppositely disposed lever sidewalls comprising ring second end pivot boss access openings connected to longitudinally extending ring second end pivot shaft bearing surfaces, said ring second end pivot shaft bearing surfaces spaced from the lever pivot shafts a distance selected for drawing together the ring first and second ends as said lever is moved from a radial position to a tangential position during closing of the clamping ring, said lever pivot shafts are configured for pivotable engagement with the ring first end receiving hooks and the lever receiving windows are configured for slideably receiving the ring second end pivot bosses.