Bowl lid having integral lever mechanism
AssigneeRubbermaid Incorporated
InventorsDavid L. Feer, William A. Pesa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A container lid (10) is disclosed for enclosing a container (12). The lid has a top wall (14), and a peripheral rim flange (18) dimensioned to flex outward and receive the upper rim of the container therebetween. The rim flange (18) terminates at a downturned skirt (20). A lever arm skirt portion (32) is provided to extend vertically downward from the lid rim flange, and tapers inward from a top end (38) to a bottom end (40). The lever arm (32) is pivotal outward, whereby applying a force moment to the rim flange (18) which serves to break the seal between the rim flange and the outside rim surface (34) of the container (12), and allow the lid to be easily removed therefrom.
Claims18
A storage container comprising:
- a container base having an upper rim and a rim surface located proximate to the upper rim;
- a resilient lid of unitary plastic construction having a top wall, an outer peripheral edge, and a downturned peripheral skirt extending continuously along the lid peripheral edge and downward therefrom to terminate at a lower skirt edge, and the lid fitting closely over the container base upper rim and further having lid surface means for engaging the container rim surface;
- and
- an integrally formed cantilever lever portion depending from a segment of the lower terminal skirt edge and extending substantially below the lower terminal skirt edge of the flared skirt, the lever portion rigidly pivoting outward and upward away from the container base to non-frangibly flex and deform the terminal skirt edge segment and a lid peripheral edge portion located above the terminal skirt edge segment outward and upward and to disengage the lid surface means from the container rim surface.
A storage container comprising:
- a container base having an upper rim and a sealing rim surface located proximate to the upper rim;
- a resilient lid of unitary plastic construction having a top wall, an outer peripheral edge, and a downturned peripheral skirt extending from the lid peripheral edge downward to terminate at a lower skirt edge, the lid fitting closely over the container base upper rim and further having sealing surface means for engaging against the container rim surface to form a seal therewith;
- and
- at least one integrally formed cantilever lever portion depending from a segment of the lower terminal skirt edge and extending substantially below the lower terminal skirt edge of the flared skirt, the lever portion rigidly pivoting outward and upward away from the container base to non-frangibly flex and deform the terminal skirt edge portion located above the terminal skirt edge segment outward and upward and break the sealing engagement between the lid sealing surface means and the container base sealing rim surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.