Tapered metal cup and method of forming the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10875076-B2
Application number	US-201715811032-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2017
Priority date	Feb 7, 2017
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

A metal cup and method of forming the same is provided. Metal cups of the present disclosure comprise a plurality of thin, straight-walled sections and a tapered profile. A domed portion is provided in the bottom of the cup. The cup may comprise a disposable cup, a reusable cup, or a recyclable cup.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a thin-walled tapered metallic cup, the method comprising:
providing a stock material;
cutting a blank from the stock material;
forming the cup from the blank by performing a draw operation;
performing a redrawing operation on the cup to provide the cup with a predetermined height and a wall thickness;
subsequent to the redrawing operation, trimming the cup;
curling the top edge of the cup to form a lip;
performing a plurality of further drawing steps to form a plurality of straight walled sections and wherein each of the straight walled sections comprise successively smaller diameters;
subsequent to the plurality of drawing steps, expanding each of the straight walled sections to a larger diameter with a die comprising a tapered profile; and
wherein the step of expanding each of the straight walled sections comprises increasing the height of the cup to a final height.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stock material comprises an aluminum coil.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of providing a coating on at least an interior of the cup.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing at least one of a decorating step and a coating step.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of curling the top edge occurs prior to the step of forming the plurality of straight wall sections.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stock material comprises a pre-coated aluminum coil, thereby reducing a need for additional washing and coating steps in the formation of the cup.

Assignees

• Ball Corp

Inventors

• Scott Anthony J

Classifications

• B21D51/10 Primary

  conically or cylindrically shaped objects · CPC title

• B65D1/265

  Drinking cups (B65D81/3865 takes precedence, holders for plastic cups A47G23/0208) · CPC title

• Y02W30/80

  Packaging reuse or recycling, e.g. of multilayer packaging (bio-packaging Y02W90/10) · CPC title

• A47G19/23

  of stackable type · CPC title

• B21D51/2646

  Of particular non cylindrical shape, e.g. conical, rectangular, polygonal, bulged · CPC title