Crown Cap With Folded Arm For Manual Opening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Crown-type bottle caps typically require an opener for removal due to their adjustment around the bottle's rim, limiting manual opening capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A crown cap design featuring a metal plate or sheet with a circular body and a lateral extension forming a folded arm, including an inverted U-shaped cut and reinforcement ribs, allows manual opening by lifting the arm to separate the cap from the bottle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a crown cap is adjusted around the entire perimeter of the bottle rim, then the cap provides secure sealing and stable attachment, but it requires an opener for removal and cannot be manually opened
Solution Approach 1:
The cap is segmented into a main circular body that remains attached to the bottle rim and a separate lateral extension that can be manually manipulated. The lateral extension includes a folded arm with an inverted U-shaped cut that can be lifted to initiate cap removal, while the circular body maintains the sealing function throughout the opening process.
Solution Approach 2:
The lateral extension acts as an intermediary element between the user's manual operation and the cap-bottle connection. By lifting the folded arm, the user activates a mechanism that progressively detaches the cap from the bottle rim through the inversion of lateral folds, enabling manual opening without compromising the initial secure attachment.
2Ease of operation
If a lateral extension with inverted U-shaped cut is added to enable manual opening, then the cap can be opened without an opener, but the structural complexity of the cap increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral extension is merged with the circular body of the cap as an integral component, sharing the same metal sheet material and manufacturing process. The folded arm with the inverted U-shaped cut is formed from the same continuous material as the main cap body, reducing the number of separate parts while adding manual opening functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The lateral extension utilizes the radial dimension of the cap structure, extending outward from the circular body's perimeter. This radial extension provides the necessary leverage and mechanical advantage for manual opening without significantly increasing the cap's overall footprint or complexity, as it uses the existing circular geometry as a base.
3Ease of operation
If the lateral extension is folded to form a triangle during opening, then the cap can be effectively separated from the bottle rim, but the manufacturing precision required increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lateral extension is pre-formed during manufacturing with predetermined fold lines and the inverted U-shaped cut already in place. The weakening lines are pre-established along the fold paths, so that during opening, the material naturally follows the pre-planned deformation path to form the triangular configuration, reducing the precision demands on the end-user's manual operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The material properties along the fold lines are modified during manufacturing to create controlled weakness zones. By adjusting parameters such as fold line depth, material thickness variation, or localized annealing, the cap is designed to naturally fold into the triangular configuration during manual opening, compensating for variations in manufacturing precision through material behavior rather than geometric precision alone.
Data Source
AI summary
Crown cap for bottles of the type constituted by a metal plate, although it could be made of another material, having a structural configuration that favors the opening operation of the bottle by means of the removal of the crown cap without requiring an opener.