Beverage container having integral formed lip guard

Claim 1

A beverage container of the easy-opening type adapted to have the liquid contents thereof consumed by drinking directly from the container opening comprising a container body having a sheet metal end panel, said end panel including an elongated removable panel portion formed by a peripheral score line, said removable panel portion extending radially approximately from the center of the end panel to the periphery of the end panel to form, when removed, an opening for the contents, said end panel having a concave portion extending into the score line and on both sides of the removable panel portion, said concave portion having an area sufficiently great to enable an upper lip of a person drinking from the container to extend therein and a maximum depth removed from the periphery of the end panel by approximately three-quarters of an inch, said concave portion terminating approximately at the center of the end panel and extending only in the same general direction from the center toward the periphery of the end panel as the axial direction of the removable panel portion, said concave portion being approximately symmetrical with the axis of the removable panel portion, wherein the concave portion is in the form of a rib having a kidney shape, said rib having a peripheral arc that extends around the periphery of the removable panel portion for approximately 2 1/2 inches, said rib including steeply tapered walls inwardly directed from the end panel around the kidney shaped periphery thereof and a substantially horizontal region between the walls to define the area in which the upper lip extends and to add structural strength to the end panel to facilitate tearing of the removable panel portion.