AIM OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention refers to an improved drinks can, being of the type that is made up
of a hollowed out sheet body, having a side wall that extends from the base upwards,
and with a lid whose edge is fixed in a permanent way around the periphery of the
upper part of the side wall; said lid being fitted with an easy opening device, which
includes a line of weakening that outlines a part of the lid which can be torn away
by means of a ring pull.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
[0002] At the present time the drinks cans are widely known, having a hollowed out sheet
body and a lid that is fitted in an immovable way to the mouth of the lid, the lid
having a line of weakening aimed at forming the outline of an opening for the extraction
of the drink when the breaking of the lid is made by means of lifting the ring pull.
[0003] These cans form an internal space in which the drink is kept until the moment of
its opening, and they are sized to contain the amount of drink that approximately
corresponds to one consumption.
[0004] When the consumer wishes to make a combination of two different drinks, for example:
lemonade - beer, beer-soda water, lime - lemon, etc., he/she must use the contents
of two cans, or of one can and a bottle that contain the corresponding drinks. This
causes a problem, on one hand because of the high cost of the consumption, due to
the need of purchasing two drinks containers, and on the other hand, because the amount
of drink obtained greatly exceeds the normal amount consumed, which in the majority
of cases means wastage of a significant part of same. This is especially so on taking
into account that once the cans have been opened they cannot be used to keep the drink
for a later consumption as they lack the means to close them.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0005] In order to solve the problems mentioned, the idea has been thought up of an improved
drinks can, aim of the invention, that has some constructional peculiarities aimed
at allowing the packing of two different drinks in the same can and keeping them separate
on the inside.
[0006] The drinks can, aim of this invention, is of the previously mentioned type, that
is made up of a hollowed out sheet body, having a side wall that extends from the
base upwards, and with a lid being fitted with an easy opening device; it has the
peculiarity that the hollowed out sheet body, forming the can has an internal vertical
wall fixed to the entirety of its periphery at the bottom, to the side surface and
to the drinks can lid, forming two independent compartments inside said can for the
purpose of containing two different drinks.
[0007] Thanks to the incorporation of this dividing wall, the drinks can is able to hold
two drinks separately that can be consumed on separate occasions or together forming
a mixed drink, which resolves the problem explained in the previous section.
[0008] According to the invention, the can lid has separate means of easy opening in the
zones corresponding to each one of the compartments. This facilitates the individualised
opening and extraction of the drink contained in same.
[0009] Likewise, the compartments have been provisioned with respective valves connected
to the area of the location of the easy opening device in order to allow the exit
of the drink contained in one compartment when the can is inclined towards the corresponding
side of said compartment keeping the other exit closed.
[0010] Therefore, the aim of these valves is to prevent the involuntary spilling of the
contents of any one of the compartments while the can is inclined in the opposite
direction, in order to extract the contents from the other compartment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] In order to complete the description that is going to be made below and for the purpose
of helping to give a greater understanding of its characteristics, the present description
is accompanied by a set of drawings, which are by way of illustration and not by way
of limitation.
Figure 1. Showing a perspective view of the improved drinks can, in the lid of which,
the means of opening of each one of the inner compartments can be seen.
Figure 2. Showing a schematic section view of the can in a vertical plane in which
the vertical wall can be seem which divides the can into two separate compartments
for different drinks.
DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0012] As can be seen from the referred to drawings, the drinks can has a hollowed out sheet
body, generically referenced in its entirety as (1) and which is made up of a side
wall (11) that extends from the lower base (12) and by an upper enclosing lid (13)
fixed around its periphery to the upper part of the side wall (11) in an immovable
manner.
[0013] On the inside of the hollowed out sheet body (1) there is a vertical sheet forming
a dividing wall (2), with its entire periphery fixed to the base (12), to the side
wall (11) and to the lid (13).
[0014] Said vertical wall (2) divides the internal space of the hollow body (1) into two
separate compartments (21 and 22), which contain two separate drinks.
[0015] In turn, the lid (13) has some easy opening means (21a and 21b) represented schematically
by the respective ring pulls in the areas corresponding to each one of the separate
compartments (21 and 22).
[0016] In the example of the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the compartments (21 and 22)
have some easy opening means (21a and 22a) connected to the respective compartments
with some valves (21b and 22b) that only allow the exit of the drink contained in
one compartment (21 and 22) when the can is tilted sideways corresponding to said
compartment (21 and 22).
[0017] Once having sufficiently described the nature of the invention, in addition to an
example of its preferred embodiment, to whom it may concern let it be known that the
materials, shape, size and arrangement of the elements described can be modified provided
that it does not mean an alteration to the essential nature of the invention that
is claimed below.
1. Drinks can, of the type that is made up of a hollowed out sheet body (1), having a
side wall (11) that extends from the base upwards (1), and with a lid (13) whose periphery
is fixed in a permanent way around the periphery of the upper part of the side wall
(11); said lid (13) being fitted with an easy opening device, which includes a line
of weakening that outlines a part of the lid which can be torn away by means of a
ring pull and characterised in that the hollowed sheet body (1) has a dividing wall (2) on its inside that is fixed along
the entirety of its periphery to the base (12), to the side surface (11) and to the
lid (13) of the drinks can; this arrangement forms two separate compartments (21 and
22) on the inside of said can for the purpose of containing two separate drinks; and
in that the lid (13) has some easy opening means (21a and 22a) connected to the respective
compartments at the areas corresponding to each one of the compartments (21 and 22)
for their individualised opening and the separate extraction of the drinks contained
in same.
2. Drinks can, according to the previous claim, characterised in that the compartments (21 and 22) have connected to the areas of location of the opening
means (21a and 22a) corresponding valves (21b and 22b) that only allow the drink contained
in one compartment (21 and 22) to exit when the can is tilted sideways towards the
corresponding said compartment (21 and 22).