Can manufacture

Abstract

A method for manufacture of a metal can body is described in which two or more stretching operations are used so as to reduce the thickness of the central part of a cup base, prior to drawing the cup sidewall and forming a can body. By using two or more stretching operations, it has been found possible to control the thickness of the base without significantly reducing pressure performance of the finished can. Alternative embodiments of apparatus comprising tooling for carrying out this method are also described.

Claims

1. An apparatus for manufacture of a metal can body from a cup formed of metal sheet, in which the cup has a sidewall and an integral base, the apparatus comprising: i) a cup holder on which a cup is mountable; ii) a first clamp ring which is adapted to clamp a first annular region on the base by contacting a top portion of the annular region with a first annular projection and contacting a bottom portion of the annular region with a second annular projection to define a first enclosed portion which includes a central part of the base; iii) a first stretch punch which is adapted to deform and stretch at least some of the central part of the base to thereby increase its surface area and reduce the thickness of the base; iv) a second clamp ring which is adapted to clamp a second annular region on the base and defines a second enclosed portion having a larger area from that of the first enclosed portion and including the central part; in which the first clamp ring and the second claim ring are adapted to restrict metal flow from radially outside respective clamped regions into the first enclosed portion and the second enclosed portion, respectively, during stretching; v) a second stretch punch which is adapted to deform and stretch at least some of the second enclosed portion to reduce the thickness of the base further, and vi) drawing tooling for drawing the cup into a can body by pulling and transferring outwardly material of the stretched and thinned base.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the second stretch punch includes a complementary support surface for supporting the stretched part of the first enclosed portion.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which a central portion of the first stretch punch is substantially flat.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the second clamp ring restrains material radially outside the central portion of the base from flow into the enclosed portion and the second stretch punch contacts and further stretches the at least some of that central part of the base stretched by the first stretch punch.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, comprising a second stage cup holder, and the second stretch punch acts as a central dome former and the first stage stretch punch has a profile which is adapted to form the larger outer dome whereby, in use, the central portion of the cup is formed in a separate operation, during or after completion of formation of the larger outer dome.

6. A method for manufacture of a metal can body, the method comprising the following stages: i) a first stretching stage comprising: on a cup having a sidewall and an integral base, the cup being formed of metal sheet, clamping an annular region on the base to define a first enclosed portion which includes a central part of the base, the clamping including contacting a top portion of the annular region with a first annular projection and contacting a bottom portion of the annular region with a second annular projection, and deforming and stretching at least some of the first enclosed portion to thereby increase the surface area and reduce the thickness of the base; ii) a second stretching stage comprising: stretching a second enclosed portion of the base, the second enclosed portion having a larger area than the first enclosed portion, the second area including the central part of the base; in which the step of clamping the annular region of the base is adapted to restrict metal flow from radially outside the annular region into the first enclosed portion during stretching; and iii) a drawing operation comprising drawing the cup into a can body by pulling and transferring material outwardly from the thinned base.

7. A method according to claim 6, in which the annular region is a first annular region and the first and second stretching stages are carried out in two independent press operations, in which: i) the first stretching stage is a first press operation; ii) the second stretching stage is a second press operation, and comprises: clamping a second annular region of the base to define the second enclosed portion, the second enclosed portion defining an area that is different from the first enclosed portion; and deforming and stretching at least some of the second enclosed portion, to reduce the thickness of the base still further; iii) the steps of clamping the first annular region of the base and clamping the second annular region of the base are each adapted to restrict metal flow from radially outside the first annular region and the second annular region, respectively, into the first and second enclosed portions during the first stretching stage and the second stretching stage, respectively.

8. A method according to claim 7, in which the second stretching stage further includes supporting the stretched part of the second enclosed portion.

9. A method according to claim 7, in which the second enclosed portion comprises substantially only a central part of the base.

10. A method according to claim 7, in which the second stretching stage comprises reverse stretching of the central part of the base.

11. The method according to claim 6, in which the first enclosed portion is the same area as the second enclosed portion.

12. The method according to claim 6, in which the first enclosed portion is a different area than the second enclosed portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a side view of a container body of the prior art and resulting from a conventional DWI process;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a first embodiment of the invention showing first and second operations (FIGS. 2b and 2c respectively) of a two stage process;

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a second embodiment of the invention showing first and second operations (FIGS. 3a and 3c respectively) of a two stage process;

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a third embodiment of the invention showing two stages with a single press movement; and

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematic side view similar to that of FIG. 4 but having a double action press.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(7) FIG. 1 shows the distribution of material in the base 1 and sidewall 2 of a container body of the prior art resulting from a conventional DWI process.

(8) An initial “cupping” operation is carried out as described in detail in unpublished patent application PCT/EP11/051666. The cupping operation can be summarised as follows:

(9) A cupping press (also known as a “cupper”) has a draw pad and a draw die. A draw punch is co-axial with the draw die, and a circumferential cutting element surrounds the draw pad. In use, a flat section of metal sheet is held in position between opposing surfaces of the draw pad and the draw die. Steel tin-plate (Temper 4) with an ingoing gauge thickness (t.sub.in-going) of 0.280 mm has been used for the metal sheet. Although neither the invention of PCT/EP11/051666 nor the present invention is limited to particular gauges or metals and even polymer-coated metal could be used, it is considered essential in the metal packaging industry for the gauge to be kept as low as possible, typically less than 0.35 mm for single reduced steel. A disc is cut from the metal sheet to form a circular planar blank.

(10) The cupper forms a cup profile from the blank by progressively drawing the planar blank against the forming surface of a draw die. The cup thus formed has a sidewall and integral base. The wall thickness of the cup is essentially unchanged from that of the ingoing gauge of the blank, i.e. negligible stretching or thinning should have occurred. The cup that results from this initial drawing operation was referred to in PCT/EP11/051666, and will also be referred to in this application as the “first stage cup”.

(11) In a first embodiment of the present invention, the first stage tooling comprises, as shown in FIG. 2a, a cup holder 10, on which is mounted a first stage cup 5. The lower tooling shown in FIG. 2a comprises a clamp ring 20 and stretch punch 15.

(12) In the first operation, the cup holder 10 enters the cup 5 and advances in the direction of the arrow to clamp the outer annulus of the cup base against the clamp ring 20. The cup holder 10 continues to advance with the clamp ring 20 moving the cup down over the stationary stretch punch 15. FIG. 2b shows the position of the tools at the end of the first operation. The enclosed area within the clamp ring 20 corresponds to the central portion of the cup face so that relative movement between the cup holder, and cup, and the stretch punch leads to stretching of only the central portion of the cup face into a domed profile.

(13) FIG. 2a is a schematic side view of an embodiment of a first stage tooling.

(14) The cup is removed from the cup holder of the first operation tooling and placed on a different holder for the second operation. The two stages are at completely separate tooling stations.

(15) Second stage tooling used for a second stretch operation is shown in FIG. 2c. The second operation tools are similar to those of the first operation with the stretch punch 25 having a larger diameter and deeper profile. The cup with stretched inner base, i.e. dome 8, is mounted on a second cup holder 29 and clamped against larger internal diameter clamp ring 27. In the example of FIG. 2c, the central portion of the second operation stretch punch 25 matches the profile of the first operation punch 15, although matching of profiles is not essential, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 2c. The central punch portion supports the dome 8 formed in the first operation cup whilst the outer portion 9 of a second operation dome is formed. Second stretching is carried out as in the first operation.

(16) FIG. 3b is a schematic side view of the second operation shown in FIG. 3c at a start of an operation;

(17) In this embodiment, in contrast with the known single stage stretching of the unpublished prior art, i.e. PCT/EP11/051666, the first stretching operation works specifically on the central portion of the cup. As a result there is a better opportunity to stretch this central region, compared with the current single operation process. In other words, the total chord length of the stretched base following the two stages and two operations is increased over that achieved by the single operation stretching of PCT/EP11/051666.

(18) A second embodiment (method/apparatus) of the present invention using two stages and two operations is shown in FIG. 3. The first operation tooling of FIG. 3a includes a cup holder 30 for holding the cup 31 as before but with a first stretch punch 35 and a clamp ring 40 which have larger diameters (internal in the case of the clamp ring) than those of the apparatus of FIG. 2a so that in the first operation the punch stretches the whole of the base of the cup 31. The profile of punch 35 has a flat central portion 32 so that the first operation predominantly stretches the outer portion of the domed profile.

(19) FIG. 3b shows the second operation tooling at the start of the operation. This includes an inboard clamp ring 45 and second stretch punch 50, which is of smaller diameter than the first operation punch 35.

(20) Initially, the lifter pad 55 is up in line with the clamp ring 45 and stretch punch 50. The stretched cup 31 from the first operation stands on the lifter pad 55. The second operation cup holder 48 enters the first operation cup and advances to the base of the cup. As the cup holder 48 continues to advance, it pushes down the lifter pad 55 until the central portion of the cup's dome is clamped against the clamp ring 45. Continued advancement of the cup holder 48, clamp ring 45 and lifter pad 55 stretches the central portion of the dome over the second stretch punch 50 until the cup is stretched to its final form 59, as shown in FIG. 3c.

(21) Whilst this method requires two operations, these actions of stretching the inner and outer portions of the cup base are completely independent of each other.

(22) A third embodiment of the invention, which combines the two stage stretching in a single movement of the press, is shown in FIG. 4. The tooling for this method is similar to that of the first operation for the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3a, except that the cup holder 60 of FIG. 4 has a central reverse forming tool 64 and the stretch punch 66 has a corresponding recess 68 in its central portion.

(23) In use, the cup holder 60 enters the cup and advances to clamp the outer annulus 72 of the cup base against the clamp ring 70. The cup holder 60 continues to advance with the clamp ring (70), thereby moving the cup down over the stretch punch 66 and starting to stretch form an outer portion 74 of the base into a dome shape.

(24) The reverse forming tool (domed former) 64 on the cup holder then contacts the centre of the cup and as the tooling advances further, the cup base stretches so that the remainder of outer portion 74 of the dome and the reverse formed feature (inverted part) 76 are formed at the same time.

(25) Whilst it is advantageous that the two stages of stretching are carried out in a single movement of the press, by stretching both the outer and inner portions of the dome in that single movement, this may increase the risk of splitting of the cup base. The double action press and tooling of FIG. 5 provides a solution to this.

(26) In FIG. 5, the reverse forming tool 80 is an independently driven component rather than being incorporated in the cup holder 85. In operation, the reverse forming tool 80 can be advanced to stretch form the inverted dome 76 during or after completion of stretching of the outer portion 74 of the dome by the stretch punch 66. This double acting press has the benefits of carrying out the stretching in two independent stages and reducing the risk of splitting.

(27) An example of a drawing operation which causes the stretched and thinned material of the base of any of the above embodiments to be progressively pulled out and transferred from the base into a reduced diameter sidewall is described in unpublished patent application PCT/EP11/051666 with reference to FIG. 10 of that application. This drawing operation has the effect of flattening the stretched regions of the base.

(28) The invention has been described above by way of different examples only and changes may be made within the scope of the invention, as defined by the claims.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

(29) FIG. 1 1 can base 2 can lower sidewall 3 can upper sidewall

(30) FIG. 2 5 first stage cup (unformed) 8 1.sup.st op dome 9 outer portion of 2.sup.nd op dome 10 1.sup.st op cup holder 15 1.sup.st op stretch punch 20 1.sup.st op clamp ring 25 2.sup.nd op stretch punch 27 2.sup.nd op clamp ring 29 2.sup.nd op cup holder

(31) FIG. 3 30 1.sup.st op cup holder| 31 1.sup.st op cup 32 central portion of punch 35 1.sup.st op stretch punch 40 1.sup.st op clamp ring 45 2.sup.nd op clamp ring 48 2.sup.nd op cup holder 50 2.sup.nd op stretch punch 55 lifter pad 59 2.sup.nd op cup

(32) FIGS. 4 And 5 60 cup holder and upper tool 64 reverse forming feature (central dome) on upper tool 66 lower punch tool 68 recess in lower punch tool 70 clamp ring 72 outer dome annulus 74 outer portion of dome 76 inverted dome (reverse forming feature) 80 independent tool for reverse forming (central dome former) 85 cup holder