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US 5,178,266 AGranted
Carrier for beverage cans that breaks apart upon can removal
OwnerDonald J. Villainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A carrier for beverage cans is modified so that the rings that surround the cans are broken as the cans are removed from the carrier. A pair of circumstantially spaced V-shaped notches are formed in each ring at points where the carrier bends when a can is removed so that the ring breaks at one or both notches. A line drawn through the notches is parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the carrier. Each notch is formed on the outermost edge of its associated ring.
Claims9
A carrier for beverage containers, comprising:
- a thin, flat sheet of a plastic material having a plurality of circular openings formed therein, each of said openings snugly receiving a cylindrical beverage container;
- each of said openings being defined by a ring of said plastic material;
- each of said rings of plastic material having a radically innermost edge that contacts its associated beverage container and a radially outermost edge that does not;
- a pair of weakening means formed in said outermost edge of each of said rings for weakening each of said rings;
- each weakening means of each pair of weakening means being disposed substantially diametrically opposite its associated weakening means;
- and
- each weakening means being positioned where said plastic material bends when a container is removed from its associated circular opening.
4 more elements
A carrier for beverage containers, comprising:
- a thin, flat sheet of frangible plastic material having six circular openings formed therein, each of said circular openings having a predetermined diameter slightly less than the diameter of a neck part of a cylindrical beverage can;
- said sheet having a generally rectangular configuration and a longitudinal axis of symmetry;
- said circular openings being grouped in two groups of three each, said groups being on opposite sides of said axis of symmetry;
- each of said circular openings being circumscribed by a ring of said plastic material;
- a pair of weakening means formed in each of said rings for weakening each of said rings in substantially one diametrically opposed relation to another;
- each of said weakening means being formed on an outermost edge of its associated ring;
- a line drawn through all of the weakening means disposed on a first side of the axis of symmetry being parallel to said axis of symmetry and being parallel to a line drawn through all of the weakening means disposed on a second side of said axis of symmetry;
- and
- each of said weakening means being disposed on an arcuate bending line that is created in said sheet of frangible plastic material when a beverage can is pulled from its associated circular opening so that the ring within which said weakening means are formed breaks upon removal of a container from said carrier.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.