Outstanding Beverage Cans

Funny you should mention that, My local Indian restaurant sold a beer in a hexagonal can were you peeled the whole lid off! always enjoyed that! you would think these PR types would come up with some new ideas by now. wouldn´t take too much tooling changes to put a 3D pressed logo on a can! come on you guys, get a bit inventive!

Moose, question: You say that metal cans cool faster, but stay cold longer. I'm guessing that you are referring to glass vs. metal containers. Wouldn't the heat conducting metal also lose the cold temperature faster (i.e., heat back up faster when removed from refrigeration) than relatively non-thermal conducting glass?

Cooling quickly and heating slowly, assuming an equal temperature difference of course, would violate the laws of thermodynamics! Unless someone went behind my back and invented a "One-Way" thermal insulation...

I made a meager effort some years ago to promote a can with a series of spiral ridges and valleys pressed into the can (a spiral accordian, if you will), thereby making it easier to crush into a puck ... with a simple twist.

Perhaps not as much fun as a plain old heavy boot, nor as macho as against the forehead ... but practical none the less.

It didn't seem to attract anyone's attention at the time.

"wouldn´t take too much tooling changes to put a 3D pressed logo on a can! come on you guys, get a bit inventive!"

"I made a meager effort some years ago to promote a can with a series of spiral ridges and valleys pressed into the can (a spiral accordian, if you will), thereby making it easier to crush into a puck ... with a simple twist."

Most if not all aluminum drink cans are extruded in a high pressure extrusion press from an aluminum disc blank. Either of the above suggestions would be prohibitively expensive and add another machine and operation to the production line.

Do nothing simply if a way can be found to make it complex and wonderful!

"Either of the above suggestions would be prohibitively expensive and add another machine and operation to the production line."

Prohibitively expensive? Me thinks that the cost of an extra die and extra step in a line, amortized over a billion or two cans a year, might cost less than what their employees drink at lunch.

Novelty and innovation can be priceless.

"Prohibitively expensive? Me thinks that the cost of an extra die and extra step in a line, amortized over a billion or two cans a year, might cost less than what their employees drink at lunch."

ME THINKS there is nothing like complicating life for every bottling line in every bottling plant around the world for each product is hardly trivial.

There are possibly other ways. See the rest of the entries in this thread for starters.

I'm not following you Stirling Stan. Line changes are the nature of the beast. It's part of life, complicated or not. I would think corporations give little thought to the extent of their complicating their line managers lives, when making design decisions. The bottom line and sales are ... well ... the bottom line.

It wasn't so long ago that a reduced neck at the top of some cans was incorporated. This required extra line stations and tooling of course. Was it worth the cost and the grumbling of shop floor managers? Evidently.

My experience is in designing high speed automated packaging and filling lines. The modification that I spoke of would require nothing more than a modified tool substituted during the necking and flanging process.

Everything is do-able. And there are unlimited ways to do all of them. Anything that is "prohibitively expensive" simply wasn't properly designed. The company that dismisses ideas out of hand, with little consideration, often reaches a plateau of growth. Those that reach the hilltops and beyond have often done those things that at some point were deemed as too much trouble or too expensive.

'It wasn't so long ago that a reduced neck at the top of some cans was incorporated. OoBE"

You are absolutely right experience and age (in/on the job) counts far more the lack of those qualities.

The reduced neck must have been incorporated due to some need of some kind. It wasn't done for the mere sake of doing so. What was it, better stability of stacked store displays?

My age on this job and experience on it disqualifies me from another post to this thread.

I remember the name of the beer now, It was Sapporo!

When you say extruded, is this continues tube extrusion or pressure formed with the bottom of the can in place? If the latter, use a split die with the form in one side ( or both sides!) you would have to be careful with the relief (release) angles! Even if it was continues tube extrusion, when the base is crimped on, the holding foot could have the logo form. with one quick press in the cycle of bottom crimping, you could have your fancy logo!

As for the heating up/ cooling down, have you seen the foam beer can holders? could get inventive with those as well!

"When you say extruded, is this continues tube extrusion or pressure formed with the bottom of the can in place?"

That's correct! One continuous extrusion operation. Nothing fancy. The objective is to make an inexpensive container for carbonated beverages. Any embossing that increases the cost of the can increases overall cost and decreases profits. Again the design printed on the can is changed, or varied as long as the "Name" recognition is not lost by so doing.

Now if it were manufacturers of 'perfume cans', cost is no object IF it enhances the image of the "Perfume Name" or personality of the originator, i.e. "Chanel." In the perfume industry it seems that the unique design of the bottle has as much to do with sales as the brand name.

I once herd a snippet about a well known red canned cola company who had grow so much, even if it wanted too, could not grow any bigger (don´t know if that is quite true but even so) if they have so much surplus cash, wouldn´t it be cool to have a soft portion designed into the can with say a indented hand print! so when you finish the drink, you could really give it a good squash crumpling the soft zones and leaving the company logo intact!

OK OK Its just a crazy money spending idea!

"wouldn´t it be cool to have a soft portion designed into the can with say a indented hand print! so when you finish the drink, you could really give it a good squash crumpling the soft zones and leaving the company logo intact!"

Now that is an idea worth pursuing. With advances in printing it might be possible to print a 3-D like impression of a hand on the can and you could grip your hand over it, to squash and crumple away! No big cost beyond the design work and it would be an attention getting novelty to attract attention.

Workable with raised logo's etc. also.

Glad you like it Stan, could incorporate the famous Sapporo ´peel the whole lid off´technology like the tuna tins have! Always liked that one, it helps let the air in and stops back glug! (technically speaking of course!)