DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In general, a beverage can includes a cylindrical body made of metal such as steel or non-ferrous metal such as aluminum, and an aluminum end seamed with an upper portion of the cylindrical body. The aluminum end has a score line for allowing a portion of the end to be easily torn to free an opening through which the beverage is poured out. A tab is provided in the end to push the score line to open the can.

Accordingly, in order to enjoy the beverage contained within the can, the tab has to be lifted off the end to tear the score line formed in the end. With this manner that the beverage contained within the can is dispensed through the opening defined with the score line torn by the tab, the consumer can simply enjoy the beverage.

The present invention relates to a method for making a disign tab attached to the can end, providing the consumer with convenience, on which a commercial

indicium is applicable. Hereinbelow, the commercial indicium applied on the tab includes a logo of a manufacturer of the beverage can, an image, advertising copy, characters such as an animation character for promoting sale of the goods or caricature of a famous person, an image of fruit in case that the can contains a fruit beverage, a logo and a mascot for a championship game, and logos and trademarks for private companies.

As a technology related to forming the special information and a decoration on the tab, US Patent No. 300,554 assigned to discloses a method of forming a tab and then applying various information on the tab. However, applying the information on the tab already formed as a finished product can not avoid a significantly reduced productivity under a present normal manufacturing process for a can end.

Meanwhile, although decorating the tab by using a laser etching has been proposed, it is not appropriate to a mass production due to a reduced productivity caused by the laser etching.

In order to solve those problems, the Applicant suggested in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-72711 filed on September 21,2000, a method and an apparatus for attaching a sticker having commercial indicium to a beverage can. The method comprises the steps of forming a tab of a predetermined shape; transferring the tabs to the next step, arranging in three rows on a moving conveyor belt; attaching stickers to top surfaces of the tabs which are arranged in three rows, by using rotating rollers for attaching the sticker, respectively; determining if the sticker has been exactly positioned on the tab; and stacking the tab on an can end supplied from other place.

In the method disclosed in this application, although the chasing power or design of the product can be enhanced by attaching the sticker having thereon characters and marks indicating the kinds of products to the top surface of the tab during the

manufacturing process of the can, it is easy for the characters or the marks to be lost during dealing with the can or the transferring process and to be changed in color after a long time, since they exist in the form of sticker.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a method of making a design tab for a beverage can, wherein an aluminum coil for the tab whose curling portion is blocked is painted with desired colors and then subjected to a varnishing process through printing the commercial indicium thereon before a forming process by using a conversion press, thereby increasing a quality of the printed commercial indicium, and the aluminum coil enters into the forming process by using a pitch-align device, thereby increasing the workability and the accuracy and preventing the quality degradation of the product.

In order to achieve the object, the present invention provides a method of making a design tab for a beverage can provided with a cylindrical body containing the beverage, an end seamed with an upper portion of the cylindrical body and having a score line for allowing a portion of the end to be easily torn to free an opening through which the beverage is dispensed out, the method comprising the steps of painting an aluminum coil for the tab with desired color, printing the commercial indicium of characters, images and letters represented with various colors on the painted surface of the coil for the tab, varnishing the printed surface of the coil for the tab, performing a pitch-align to exactly locate the varnished coil for the tab by adjusting the location of the coil for the tab, forming the aligned coil into a tab by a conversion press, and stacking the newly made tab on a center of a shell supplied from other place.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects and features of the instant invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the inventive method for manufacturing a tab with a commercial indicium for use with a beverage can.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to an accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the inventive method for manufacturing a tab with a commercial indicium for use with a beverage can.

As shown, the present invention exemplifies a method wherein printing the commercial indicium on surface of a coil which is of a curling surface not subjected to a punching is performed before forming the tab using a conversion press. Actually, it is somewhat impossible to insert the printing process between forming the tab and attaching the tab to a shell, since difference in time between forming the tab and attaching the tab to the shell is no more than 0.1 second during manufacturing a complete can end by forming the tab and then attaching the tab to the shell in the conversion press. In this case, the productivity will be considerably reduced.

Accordingly, in the present invention, printing the commercial indicium on the tab is previously preformed through the processes shown in Fig. 1.

First, an aluminum coil for the tab is slowly unrolled from a roll of aluminum winded into a form of roll and both surface of aluminum are then painted with desired color in the next step.

Next, printing the commercial indicium of several colors on the painted coil for the tab is performed.

Next, after the printing step, the coil for the tab is subjected to a varnishing process for protecting the printed commercial indicium thereon. For the varnishing process, UV varnish and a curing device using an ultra violet ray or oil varnish is preferably used as a coating material. In the varnishing process, the coating is performed in such a manner that both surfaces of the coil for the tab are coated by multi-kinds rollers, with the coating material such as the UV varnish or the oil varnish continuously supplied to the surface of the roller from a varnish reservoir.

After the varnishing process, a pitch-align process is performed to ensure an exact location of the commercial indicium on the tab during forming the tab. The coil for the tab exactly aligned through the pitch-align process enters into the forming process to be formed into the tab of a predetermined shape by the conversion press.

The tab with the commercial indicium formed by the press is attached to the shell supplied from other place and is packed as a finished product. Finally, it is supplied to a manufacturing line.

The method for manufacturing the tab with the commercial indicium constructed in this manner can be summarized as follows: That is, the method includes the steps of painting the coil for the tab with desired color; printing the commercial indicium of various colors on the painted surface of the coil for the tab; varnishing the surface of the coil for the tab having been printed; performing a pitch-align to exactly locate the coil for the tab by adjusting the location of

the coil for the tab; forming the coil for the tab into a tab by the conversion press; and stacking the tab on a center of the shell supplied from other place. With the series of processes like these, a center portion of the tab enclosed at its head portion has the commercial indicium such as characters, images, a logo and a trademark of a company exactly printed thereon, so that the chasing power of the product can be increased.

The present invention of a method for manufacturing a tab with a commercial indicium of a beverage can, wherein an aluminum coil for the tab is painted with desired colors and then subjected to a varnishing process through printing the commercial indicium thereon before a forming process, and the aluminum coil enters into the forming process by using a pitch-align device has an advantage that the commercial indicium can be properly printed on the surface of the tab whose curling portion is blocked.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.