Importance

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Abstract

A tab for use with an easy-open can end, which is made free from any protrusion with a cut edge thereon that would otherwise contact a finger or a lip of the user without a increasing the number of manufacturing steps to complete the tab. A tab having a body, a nose end with a tip, an opposite grip end, and an island formed within the tab body and attached to the nose end along a hinge, the island including a rivet hole for receiving a rivet on a can end panel to attach the tab to the end panel. The tab body is joined to a carrier strip, from which the tabs are made, by a joint formed in a tab making process. In a tab severing process, the joint is cut off to sever the tab from the strip, leaving a protrusion on the tab with a cut edge. The tip of the nose has a gap into which the protrusion can be bent or curled, to guard the cut edge, as the tab is moved to attach the island to the end panel with a rivet. When the tab is lowered in the downward passage, the swing arm moves to cause the curling surface to press the tab and curl the protrusion onto the tab.

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First Claim