Crown Cork & Seal develops new can end - Crown Cork and Seal Co - Brief Article - Product Announcement

Modern Brewery Age, July 9, 2001

Crown Cork & Seal Co. has reported the development of the SuperEnd can, which uses 10 percent less metal than the old can ends and is stronger.

Industry experts said the SuperEnd, as Crown Cork has dubbed the new design, is the first significant breakthrough in can ends since the stay-on tab replaced the pull-tab in the mid-1970s.

"Crown's SuperEnd undoubtedly offers a significant breakthrough and cost saving," said Philip Rogers, a metal-packaging expert in England told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The added strength comes from a change in the angle of the ridge where the top of the can end connects to the walls. The new angle is 45 degrees, compared with the standard of between 77 and 90 degrees.

The shallower angle redirects much of the pressure from the carbonated beverage--up to 90 pounds per square inch for soft drinks --toward the rim at the top of the can. That rim, made of five layers of metal with sealant in the middle, is the can's strongest component.

Thanks to the shallower angle, Crown Cork is able to produce the SuperEnd from a metal disc that is 7 percent smaller than what is needed to produce a standard end. Additional savings comes from reducing the thickness of metal used for the end to 0.0082 of an inch from 0.0085.

"Cans are produced at the dimensional tolerances of a NASA satellite, but they're produced at a rate of 2,000 a minute," a spokesperson for Crown Cork & Seal reported.

Crown Cork has a patent on the design covering angles from 30 degrees to 60 degrees. The rollout of the SuperEnd, which Crown Cork hopes will become the industry standard, began just a few months ago in the United States and Canada. It is being used on some lines at Pepsi, Coca-Cola Canada, Dr Pepper, and the Cott Corp.

Crown Cork said the new can end is cleaner-looking because the recess around the edge is not as deep, easier to open because the tab stands out a little more, and easier to drink from because of changes in the design of the opening.