North American Packaging Company

Grief Bros. Corporation

North American Packaging (pacific Rim) Corporation

Harry Mays

Michael Morrison

George Patton

A ring reinforcement is utilized on the circular head and bottom of a conventional 55 gallon drum. The conventional drum contains a cylindrical steel body having the two conventional V-shaped ribs expanded into the sidewalls at the middle of the cylinder. The drum&mdash;when either of the open-head or closed-head variety&mdash;has a circular head and a circular bottom closing in sealed relationship with the drum interior. This circular head and circular bottom are reinforced by welding a drum-reinforcing rim preferably inside the barrel. It has been found that remarkable resistance to bulging results, enabling the barrel to be shipped with product with up to 25 psi pressure relative to the barrel exterior without objectional distortion.

Ring reinforcement for conventional drum

A mixing vane is mounted interior of a drum having a plastic lining--preferably a vinyl lining. Preferably two mixing vanes covers a cylindrical solid angle of 240.degree. while 120.degree. remains unoccupied to permit convenient pouring of the contents from the barrel. The mixing vane is preferably constructed with a L-shaped section with the bottom of the 'L' fitted to the interior of the lined drum and the vertical member of the 'L' protruding outward from the barrel wall as the mixing vane. In the preferred embodiment, the vertical member of the 'L' is disposed along a helical path to produce directional movement of the barrel contents during barrel rotation. Preferably, the mixing vane is injection molded from vinyl or polyethylene. In fastening to the sidewall of the 55 gallon, the mixing vane is softened at the bottom of the 'L' by either placement in a vinyl solvent or heating to produce a sticky surface. The vane is placed, preferably by clamping, to the inside surface of the vinyl coated 55 gallon drum. There results a complete and simple bond of the vane to the drum which can withstand the temperatures of materials placed within the drum and effect desired mixing of the drum contents.

Drum with internal static mixer

A 55 gallon drum is provided with a static mixer that enables internal mixing of product during barrel rotation. Before fastening of at least one of the respective lids, a circular elastic ring insert is place within the barrel. This circular plastic ring insert has a diameter exceeding that of the barrel, has two external protuberances for keying to the cylindrical inside of the barrel at internal ribs, and is cut across the ring so as to interrupt the otherwise endless dimension of the ring. Upon insertion to the barrel, the ring is opened at the cut and disposed in an auger like helix along the inside cylindrical wall of the drum. The two protuberances are keyed to the drum interior of the internal ribs to effectively fasten by friction its helical auger like path on the cylindrical inside wall of the drum. Thereafter, the drum is closed and filled with product. Upon drum rotation, relative motion between the contained product and helical auger like static mixer occurs. Product is moved vertically with respect to the drum side walls towards one end of the drum. Product movement continues to the end of the drum with return product flow to the opposite drum end along the axial dimension. When cooling spraying accompanies such rotation, rapid cooling of the entire drum contents results.

An open head drum (2) is provided with an improved seal for preventing the entrance of contaminating air during jarring transport of the drum. The conventional open head drum includes a hollow tubular drum body (4), an integrally attached circular end wall (12) closing one end of the hollow tubular drum body, and a lid seat (6) defined in the hollow tubular drum body adjacent the open end for receiving a removable drum lid (10). The removable drum lid is likewise conventional having an inner wall (16) for closing the open end of the hollow tubular drum body and an outer wall (18) for co-acting with the lid seat in sealed relationship for closing the hollow tubular drum body. The improved seal includes an endless sealing membrane (30) extending continuously around the lid seat and the removable drum lid. The endless sealing membrane has a first annular portion (38) attached to the lid seat, a second annular portion (40) attached to the removable drum lid, and a flexible annular portion (42) between the first and second annular portions. When separation of the removable lid from the seat occurs, the endless sealing membrane at the flexible annular portion prevent ingress of atmosphere interior of the drum. A process of installation of the seal is disclosed together with the seal as an article of manufacture.

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Merced, CA, United States of America

Harry Mays