Patent ID: 8251239

Claim:
A container assembly comprising a sealing lid and container, the container comprising: (a) a lip defining a container open end; the sealing lid comprising: (b) a silicone closure membrane made of a flexible silicone membrane having a bottom surface; (c) a heavier silicone rim member having an outer edge defining a first diameter, an inner edge defining a second diameter and a top surface extending from the inner edge to the outer edge, the first diameter being larger than the second diameter; wherein the bottom surface of the silicone closure membrane is integrally bonded to the top surface of the silicone rim member such that the silicone closure membrane overlies the silicone rim member; further wherein the sealing lid is adapted to impart a vacuum seal to the container; the heavier silicone rim member is adapted to hold the lid in place on a container to define a first position, the membrane adapted to be axially depressed from a first position to a second position to hermetically seal the container under a lower pressure; the rim member has a weight substantially greater than the weight of the membrane adapted to press down the lid over the container to support hermetic sealing; and the lip diameter is less than or equal to the second diameter of the silicone rim member such that the rim member overhangs the container lip along a plane that makes an angle of approximately 20 degrees with a plane defined by a top surface of the lip.