Industrial can opener
OwnerWun C. Chonginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heavy duty industrial can opener operated by hand or by motor which accommodates various sizes of cans and cuts the outer seam wall of a can rather than the top lip of the can. The can opener includes a cutting wheel with a cutting edge and a traction wheel with a gripping surface. The cutting and traction wheels each have associated gears for rotating the wheels. The gear for the traction wheel is releasably engageable with the gear of the cutting wheel. One of the gears is driven to rotate both the cutting and traction wheels. A cam lock provides a series of levers and link pins the ability to releasably engaged and disengaged the gears. The distance between the cutting wheel and the traction wheel is automatically adjusted while the cam is locked in place.
Claims18
A can opener comprising:
- (a) a cutting wheel having a cutting edge for severing a first side of a can seam of a can, said cutting wheel defining a cutting wheel axis;
- (b) a traction wheel having a gripping surface for engaging a second side of the can seam opposite the cutting wheel, said traction wheel defining a traction wheel axis;
- (c) a first member associated with said cutting wheel for rotating said cutting wheel;
- (d) a second member associated with said traction wheel for rotating said traction wheel, said second member being releasably engageable with said first member;
- (e) a third member associated with said first member or said second member for driving said first member or said second member;
- (f) a fourth member for engaging and disengaging said first member from said second member, wherein the fourth member, when moved to a first position, releasably engages the first member and the second member, and when moved to a second position, releasably disengages the first member from the second member, said fourth member being connected to the first member or the second member by a plurality of levers and link pins, the cutting wheel axis and the traction wheel axis being substantially parallel when the first member is engaged wit the second member;
- (g) a cam in the levers and link pins which releasably locks in place against a cam bearing surface to hold the first member and the second member in engagement with one another;
- and
- (h) mechanism for enabling a distance between he cutting wheel and the traction wheel to be automatically adjusted while the cam is locked in place against the cam bearing surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.