Container seal with flexible central panel
AssigneeDart Industries Inc.
InventorsThomas Joseph McMahon, III, Dimitri M. C. J. Backaert, Brent E. D'Alessio, David Daud Kusuma, Johan M. J. K. Mortier, John E. Sumter, Raymond Joseph Trudeau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A seal mountable to the rim of an open mouth container the seal including a resiliently flexible central panel separately formed from and intimately bonded to a substantially rigid peripheral mounting ring adapted to snap-mount to the rim of the container with the central panel being selectively flexible both inward and outward relative to the interior of the container for the accommodation of both overfilled and underfilled conditions through a variation in the head space beneath the mounted seal.
Claims28
A seal removably mountable to the rim of a container, said seal comprising a substantially rigid peripheral mounting ring and a flexible central panel, said mounting ring being of a fixed predetermined shape-sustaining configuration surrounding said central panel, said flexible central panel at rest being generally in a plane defined by said ring and having a peripheral edge portion bonded to said ring, a non-bonded portion of said central panel being flexibly deformable laterally and in opposite directions independently of and relative to said ring to define variations in the effective height of the central panel both above and below said mounting ring relative to a single underlying container.
A seal adapted to mount to the rim of a container for varying the internal head space in the container, said seal comprising a flexible central panel and a substantially rigid peripheral mounting ring surrounding said central panel, said central panel having a peripheral edge portion peripherally bonded to said ring, said central panel being laterally flexible and positionable relative to said ring both above and below said ring and to the rim of a single underlying container to thereby vary the head space within the underlying container.
In combination with a substantially rigid open-mouth container having a peripheral rim defining said mouth, a seal, said seal including an outer peripheral substantially rigid mounting ring releasably sealable to said container rim, a flexible central panel bonded peripherally to said ring to overlie the mouth of the container, a non-bonded portion of said central panel being flexible relative to said container rim and independent of said substantially rigid mounting ring, said panel laterally flexing outward relative to said container rim to enlarge container head space and accommodate an overfilled condition in said container, said panel laterally flexing inward relative to said container rim to reduce container head space in an underfilled container, and said flexing outward and said flexing inward being relative to a single said open-mouth container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.