Self-heating container

Claim 1

A container capable of heating the contents of the container from inside, having at its bottom a cylindrical inner shell made of a thermoconductive material opening downward and defining internally of itself a reaction chamber in which are disposed an active substance and a reacting substance capable of causing an exothermic reaction upon contact with each other, a partition isolating said substances from each other, a covering lid disposed across the opening of said inner shell so as to cover the reaction chamber and to constitute the bottom of the container, said covering lid having a temporarily sealed piercing hole therethrough, and a separate piercer for piercing through said temporarily sealed piercing hole and said partition into the reaction chamber, said piercer having an enlarged head that is of lesser width than the internal diameter of said piercing hole, a shank of substantially lesser width than said enlarged head, an enlarged tail of substantially greater width than said shank, and an extent such that when said piercer is fully inserted in said cylindrical inner shell said enlarged head is disposed beyond said partition and said enlarged tail is disposed in said piercing hole to temporarily seal such and act as a pressure release control.