Can Lid Guide Recess for Central Tab Pulling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional easy open can lids with embossed portions and tip-up features improve finger hooking but lead to oblique force application during tab pulling, potentially causing defective openings or accidental openings when stacked, as the finger can be displaced from the center hook, resulting in unintended opening of lower cans.
Innovation Solution
A can lid design featuring a guide recess in the embossed portion near the finger hook that narrows towards the center, ensuring the fingertip is guided centrally, and convex portions on either side to prevent oblique opening, with specific height and spacing configurations to enhance formability and prevent accidental openings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an embossed portion and tip-up portion are provided to improve finger hooking, then finger hooking property is improved, but the gap of the can lid with respect to the panel surface becomes large, causing upper can bodies to be inclined and potentially hooked on lower can tabs, enhancing accidental opening risk
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the embossed portion by introducing a guide recess with specific slope angles (5-15 degrees) and depth (0.5-2.0 mm), transforming it from a simple protrusion into a structured guidance feature that controls finger positioning while minimizing overall height increase
Solution Approach 2:
The guide recess acts as an intermediary structure between the embossed portion and the finger, mediating the interaction by guiding the finger to the correct position and orientation, thereby improving hooking reliability without requiring excessive height that would cause stacking issues
2Ease of operation
If the interval between the embossed portion and finger hook portion is made large to improve finger hooking, then finger hooking property is improved, but the movable range of the finger becomes large, causing the finger to be displaced from the center, and the force may be obliquely applied, potentially causing defective opening
Solution Approach 1:
The guide recess serves as a mediating structure that constrains and directs the finger's movement path, ensuring the finger reaches the precise central position on the finger hook portion. This intermediary structure eliminates the need for tight tolerances while maintaining high positioning accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The guide recess introduces local structural variation at the critical interface between the embossed portion and finger hook portion, creating a localized guidance zone that precisely controls finger positioning without affecting other areas of the can lid structure
Data Source
AI summary
In an easy open can lid a pulling-up direction of a tab acts toward a center of the lid while securing a finger hooking property with respect to the tab, by devising a shape of an embossed portion. In a can lid in which a tab for score breaking is fixed to a main body, and an embossed portion, into which a fingertip is insertable, is provided in the vicinity of a rear end of a finger hook portion of the tab, the embossed portion has a slope formed at a rear end side of the finger hook portion, and the slope of the embossed portion is provided with a guide recess for guiding a fingertip that extends toward the center of the lid at least up to a position thereof facing a central portion in a width direction of a back surface of the finger hook portion.