Airtight lid for container and method of use

Abstract

A lid for forming an airtight seal to a bowl or dish plate to elongate the life of product therein comprises an impermeable membrane having an outer perimeter larger than the rim of the container and an enforcement ring for enabling the formation of an airtight seal between the membrane and rim of the container under vacuum. The membrane is sufficiently soft to cause it to fill the lower sections or imperfections on the rim, thus enabling the lid to form an airtight seal to almost all household containers. The membrane may be adapted to have sufficient low tensile stress, thereby preventing the vacuum in the container from imploding or collapsing the container even if it has a thin or weak wall. The enforcement ring has vertical and horizontal rings connected to the membrane perimeter to prevent the membrane deformation at both vertical and horizontal directions. The lid may further comprise an air evacuation passageway having an air collection chamber for extracting air from the container and a valve for allowing air to flow out of the container but preventing air from entering. In use, the lid may be sealed to a container by simply pushing the membrane into the container and releasing the membrane to generate a vacuum to affix the membrane to the container, or may be sealed to a container by connecting a vacuum generator to the evacuation passageway to evacuate the container.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] This invention relates to a lid for containers, and particularly to a lid that forms an airtight seal to the Container to protect the contents such as food against deterioration or prevent the leakage of the contents therein. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] To slow down the deterioration, food and other spoilable products have been traditionally sealed in a plastic bag by a vacuum packaging system such as a FoodSaver® from Tilia Inc. or in a special container with a specially designed lid having a seal gasket. Normally, users have to transfer the products from their original containers to the plastic bags or special containers, which causes significant inconvenience to the users. [0003] Besides the inconvenience, the traditional method of protecting spoilable products presents several other challenges to the users or consumers. The first one is that this method limits consumers' choices to the plastic bags and special containers, disallowing users to...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a vacuum lid capable of readily forming an airtight seal to a container and of readily releasing the vacuu

Problems solved by technology

Normally, users have to transfer the products from their original containers to the plastic bags or special containers, which causes significant inconvenience to the users.

Besides the inconvenience, the traditional method of protecting spoilable products presents several other challenges to the users or consumers.

The first one is that this method limits consumers' choices to the plastic bags and special containers, disallowing users to use their favorite containers such as bowls or dish plates, which are readily available in kitchens, to store food and other spoilable products.

In addition, the conventional bowls and plates may not have the strength to

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