A protecting device for the consumption of canned food

Abstract

 A protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products.
This device prevents the accumulation of dirt on the covers of the cans wherein said products are packaged, said dirt being otherwise mixed with said products when they are consumed, this being due either to the fact that the product is directly ingested from the can or to the fact that when opening the can it cannot be prevented that part of its contents gains access to the top of the cover before pouring said contents into the appropriate container. Said device does for such a purpose comprise a cover (1) removably fitted through appropriate fitting means (2, 3) to the corresponding can (E) thereby covering the latter's cover (T) and being removed before acting on the rip open element (D) of said cover of the can in order to consume the contents of said can (E), the opening of this latter together with the cover (1) being allowed by the attachment of said element (D) to said cover (1), this latter being also possibly formed by a sheet adhered to the contour of the cover (T).

Description

[0001] The present invention refers to a protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products.

[0002] The cans wherein these products are packaged have the serious drawback that their cover, made of the same material as the rest of the packaging and integral with it, does quite easily accumulate dust, dirt, germs, etc. which can affect the user's health, since what normally happens with said packagings is that whether a portion of said cover is ripped off whereupon the user applies the packaging directly to his or her mouth, as in the case of drinks, or when ripping or cutting open the cover as in the case of canned foods or other canned products it cannot be prevented that part of the liquid contained in the cans gains access to the top of the cover before pouring the whole contents of the packaging into the appropriate container.

[0003] In addition to the above-mentioned practice the rip open element at present comprised in almost all drink cans is not ripped off the cover together with the ripped portion, but is attached to the cover in such a way that when pulling it the user forces it to tilt thereby ripping downwards almost the entirety of the corresponding portion of the cover and bending it, while it still includes its portion of dirt, towards the inside of the packaging thereby submerging it into its contents, the user thus ingesting not only the dirt possibly deposited on the cover, but also that directly transferred to the drink by the very ripped open portion of said cover.

[0004] All these problems or drawbacks and others possibly deriving from them are solved with the protecting device being the object of the present invention, said protecting device comprising a new cover that is fitted to the corresponding can thereby covering its cover, said new cover being removed before ripping open the former to thereupon consume the contents of the can, said new cover hence being the one that will get dirty before the consumption thereby preserving the cover directly covering the contents of the packaging.

[0005] Said protective cover can be removably fitted to the corresponding can, for such a purpose being provided with adequate means, whereby the fitting can be carried out by means of a press-on or a screw-on connection or by any other system conveniently serving such a purpose and allowing to easily remove the protecting cover.

[0006] This protecting cover can also be formed by a simple sheet of discoidal or elliptical shape or having any other contour matching the contour of the cover of the can onto which it is to be applied, said sheet being as well made of a material that can be easily ripped or cut off without having to use any special means, and being adhered by any system to the peripheral contour of said cover of the packaging.

[0007] In the case of the removable fitting such an arrangement allows to not totally consume the contents of the packaging and to hence close again said packaging with the protecting cover for an ulterior consumption thereby avoiding not only the above-mentioned soiling of the top of the cover of the packaging but also in the case of drinks their acceleratedly loosing their strength.

[0008] The protecting cover fitted in a press-on connection can also be innerly attached to the element provided to rip open the cover of the packaging, in such a way that when pulling said protecting cover to remove it said element will be pulled at the same time thereby ripping open the cover of the packaging.

[0009] In the case of the packagings with a tiltable rip open element the protecting cover can besides being attached to said element advantageously have a transversally median weakening line delimiting two portions of it, one of them comprising said attachment with which said portion of the protecting cover will be disengaged and the corresponding portion of the packaging cover will be ripped open in one go, whereas the other portion of said protecting cover remaining on the opening having been cut by the rip open element in said cover of the packaging allows to accede to the contents of the latter, the first portion of the protecting cover being for such a purpose brought again into engagement on the packaging in order to thus allow to disengage the other one, this latter being as well removably attachable on said first portion of the protecting cover so as not to be a hindrance during the consumption.

[0010] These and other characteristics will be best made apparent by the following detailed description whose understanding will be made easier by the accompanying sheet of drawings showing practical embodiments cited only by way of example not limiting the scope of the present invention.

[0011] In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the top of a soft drink can provided with a protecting device as per the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the same portion of the packaging of Fig. 1 with the protecting device;

Fig. 3 shows a sectional elevation of the same packaging with the protecting device attached to the element provided to rip open the cover of said packaging, and

Fig. 4 is another sectional elevation of the assembly of Fig. 3 having already been arranged to allow the consumption of the contents of the packaging.

[0012] According to these drawings the illustrated protecting device for the consumption of canned products consists in a circular cover 1 with peripheral, downwardly extending rim 2 that can be removably fitted onto the top of a cylindrical can E for soft drinks, the cover T of said packaging E being itself already integral with said top.

[0013] As per the normal arrangement in this type of packagings, cover T comprises an upper peripheral rim R through which and by means of its external, downwardly oriented folding said cover becomes integrally attached to the top of packaging E, cover 1 being fitted to it in a press-on connection and innerly comprising on its rim 2 a peripheral retaining rib 3 which after said fitting will be arranged under the edge of rim R thereby preventing a removal of said cover 1 from packaging E without the application of an adequate pulling force to it.

[0014] Rim 2 of cover 1 can as well have a somewhat smaller diameter forming a lower circular protrusion (not shown) which would be brought into engagement with packaging E by means of innerly engaging its cover T, this latter for such a purpose innerly having in its rim R a small peripheral recess into which rib 3 of cover 1 would fit, said rib being on this occasion arranged on the outside of rim 2.

[0015] Cover 1 can also comprise a diametral weakening line 4 with cut out ends 5 in rim 2, said line delimiting two portions 1', 1" in said cover 1, whereby the first portion 1' comprises a lower protrusion 6 to which the pull member of the rip open element D of cover T is attached, said rip open element being as well fixed to this latter cover through an intermediary member in such a way that when cover 1 is opened (as indicated by arrow F1 in Fig. 3) by means of lifting its portion 1' (as illustrated with dashed lines in the same Fig. 3) rip open element D is also pulled up and thus made to tilt thereby ripping open the corresponding weakened portion P of cover T and thus lowering it towards the inside of packaging E.

[0016] Once having lowered said portion P portion 1' of cover 1 is again fitted onto packaging E (as indicated by arrow F2 of Fig. 3), and the other portion 1" is then disengaged from it (as indicated by arrow F3 of the same Fig. 3), this then allowing to drink from packaging E.

[0017] In order to allow to more comfortably consume the drink portion 1" can be folded onto portion 1', for such a purpose comprising means to removably secure it on the latter such as by means of a short upper rim 7 with a small inner rib 7' that fits into an appropriate and also small outer recess 8 provided in rim 2 in portion 1'.

Claims

1. A protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products, characterized in that it comprises a cover that is fitted to the corresponding can thereby covering its cover.

2. A protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products as per claim 1, characterized in that the cover is formed by a sheet having an outer contour matching the contour of the cover of the packaging to be covered by it, and being adhered to the contour of said cover of the packaging.

3. A protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products as per claim 1, characterized in that the cover comprises means to removably fit it to the can.

4. A protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products as per claim 3, characterized in that the cover is innerly attached to the pull member of the rip open element comprised by the cover of the can.

5. A protecting device for the consumption of canned products such as canned drinks and foods and other canned products as per claims 3 and 4, characterized in that the cover has a transversally median weakening line.

Drawing