Patents Assigned to Western Can Company
  • Patent number: 4366696
    Abstract: A nestable can and method of manufacture is described wherein a blank cut from sheet metal stock is drawn into a tapered die with a tapered drawhorn to form a first stage cup having a bottom, a tapered cylindrical sidewall and a peripheral flange. Care is taken to avoid coining of the sidewall in the first stage of manufacture. The partially formed can is then reformed by expanding the sidewall while maintaining its taper, thereby removing wrinkles and forming a second stage cup having smooth interior and exterior sidewall surfaces.The nestable quality of the cup is dependent upon a novel profile created while reforming the first stage cup. In that operation the upper end of the cup is reshaped to form an upper rim that is offset from a tapered sidewall and having convex contact surfaces that support one cup within another. The location of the contact surfaces is such that adjacent sidewalls of two nested cups are spaced apart by at least 0.0015 inch, the peripheral rims being vertically spaced by at least 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1980
    Date of Patent: January 4, 1983
    Assignee: Western Can Company
    Inventors: Ronald A. Durgin, Florentino Q. Apelin, Gordon D. Henderson