BACKGROUND OF THE PRIOR ART In general, in containing cooling beverage or alcoholic drink such as beer in a container, a glass bottle or a metal cylindrical container (hereinafter, to be referred as a can) is normally used.

The former, the glass bottle has an excellent preservation ability for the contents kept therein, since it is not easily affected from an external environment. The glass bottle having a good transparency may cause the purchasing desire for the beverage can from the consumer, since the contents can be viewed from outside.

However, since the glass bottle is fragile, it is required to be cautious in dealing with the glass bottle. Further, since the glass bottle normally becomes heavy in a proportion to an amount of the contents kept in an internal space thereof, there is a reduced efficiency in transporting the glass bottle.

Moreover, the glass bottle having a crown-shaped cap on top thereof entails a separate tool to open the glass bottle.

For these reasons, a can is widely used which has advantages the glass bottle keeps and overcomes the shortcomings of the glass bottle.

The can is made of a thin steel plate whose inner side is subjected to an anticorrosive treatment or a nonferrous metal such as aluminum having a rustproof property.

Such can includes a body having a cylindrical profile and can ends assembled to an upside and a downside of the body, respectively. One of the can ends has a tab for opening a dispensing opening formed on the can end, through which the beverage in the can is poured out.

In this configuration, when the consumer wants to enjoy the contents in the can, he opens the dispensing opening by using the tab. However, it is difficult for the old and the weak or kids to use the tab.

To be more specific, in order to open the dispensing opening using the tab attached on the can end, grasping and pulling up a finger touch portion of the tab attached on the can end are required to allow a leading nose of the tab to be depressed down and to tear a score line formed on the can end, thereby making the dispensing opening through the beverage can.

However, in the prior art can, since the tab is kept on the can end with its finger touch portion being closely contacted to an upper surface of the can end, it is quite difficult to grasp the finger touch portion of the tab in opening the dispensing opening.

In this situation, most of the consumers raise the finger touch portion of the tab from the upper surface of the can end by using their nails by a distance defining a space into which their fingers can be inserted. During this, a pain or an ache in the consumer's finer or the nail is caused and an increased power must be exerted by the consumer.

For this reason, it is substantially difficult for the old and the weak or kids to open the dispensing opening by themselves. Particularly, this problem makes it difficult for everyone to enjoy the can beverage.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a tab for opening a dispensing opening of a beverage can having improvements in that it enables the beverage can to be more simply and easily opened with a reduced power of consumer's, thereby maximizing the purchasing wants for the beverage can.

The above and other objects of the invention are accomplished by providing a tab provided with a finger touch periphery formed along a periphery of an insertion hole having an oval shape, an engagement hole into which an engagement protrusion is inserted, the engagement hole formed through a center of the tab, being separated from the finger touch periphery in a predetermined distance, a cutout formed along a periphery of the engagement hole, an engagement plate formed via the cutout and a leading nose formed on one side of the engagement plate, the tab characterized in that the leading nose projects upwardly with respect to a plane defined by the finger touch periphery.

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 drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 gives a perspective view of an inventive tab for allowing a beverage can to be easily opened; Fig. 2 shows a top planar view of the inventive tab for allowing a beverage can to be easily opened; Fig. 3 represents a sectional view of the inventive tab assembled with a can end; and Fig. 4 depicts a sectional view showing the inventive tab in use.

MODES OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereunder, a detailed description of the inventive tab for allowing a beverage can to be easily opened will be made with reference to accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an inventive tab for allowing a beverage can to be easily opened and Fig. 2 shows a top planar view of the inventive tab for allowing a beverage can to be easily opened.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the inventive tab provided with a finger touch periphery 110 formed along a periphery of an insertion hole 112 having an oval shape, an engagement hole 128 into which an engagement protrusion 230 is inserted, the engagement hole 128 formed through a center of the tab, being separated from the finger touch periphery 110 in a predetermined distance, a cutout 124 formed along a periphery of the engagement hole 128, an engagement plate 126 formed via the cutout 124 and a leading nose 120 formed on one side of the engagement plate 126, is characterized in that the leading nose 120 projects upwardly with respect to a plane defined by the finger touch periphery 110.

In other words, one side of the engagement plate 126 having the engagement

hole 128 formed therethrough is of a slanted surface 122 inclined along a direction toward the leading nose 120. As a result, the leading nose 120 projects upwardly with a predetermined separation between the leading nose 120 and the can end 210.

It is preferable that the distance L3 between a bottom of the leading nose 120 and a can end 210 be equal to at least 0.5 mm or larger. Further, it is preferable that a proportion of a distance LI between a center of the engagement hole 128 and the leading nose 120 to a distance L2 between the center of the engagement hole 128 and the finger touch periphery 110 range from 1: 2.5 to 1 : 3.

For this configuration, when the leading nose 120 is depressed down to make an opening through which beverage is dispensed, a distance by which the finger touch periphery 110 is moved up becomes 2.5 times to 3 times larger than a distance by which the leading nose 120 is moved down, thereby enabling an easy and simple operation to the finger touch periphery 110.

Effects resulted by the inventive tab for allowing the beverage can to be easily opened constructed in this manner is now explained.

The inventive tab enables a pulling-up procedure of the tab engaged on the can end to be easier, which causes to tear a score line formed on the can end in order to make the dispensing opening through the beverage can, thereby allowing the contents in the beverage can to become available to the consumer.

Fig. 3 represents a sectional view of the inventive tab assembled with a can end; and Fig. 4 depicts a sectional view showing the inventive tab in use.

Operation of the inventive tab will be more specifically explained with reference to the above drawings. Firstly, the leading nose 120 projecting upwardly from one side of the tab 100 is depressed downwardly by using a finger.

Downward movement of the leading nose 120 projecting upwardly from on

one side of the tab 100 as described above pivotally separates the finger touch periphery 110 of the tab 100 oppositely positioned to the leading nose 120 from an upper surface of the can end 210 about the engagement protrusion 230 on the can end 210.

At the moment, the distance between the upper surface of the can end 210 and the finger touch periphery 110 separated from the can end 210 becomes 2.5 times to 3 times larger than the distance between the can end 210 and the leading nose 120 from the can end 210, since the proportion of the distance between the leading nose 120 and the center of the engagement hole 128 to the distance between the finger touch periphery 110 and the center of the engagement hole 128 ranges from 1: 2.5 to 1: 3.

Since the finger touch periphery 110 has been separated from the upper surface of the can end 210 by depressing downwardly the leading nose 120 of the tab 120, the consumer can now easily insert his finger into the insertion hole 112 of the tab 100.

After the finger of the consumer is inserted into the insertion hole 112 of the tab 100, the consumer can pull the tab 100 upwardly, causing the oppositely positioned leading nose 120 to depress down the can end 210 for tearing the score line 220 formed on the can end 210 around the leading nose 120. As a result, the dispensing opening 240 is finally opened.

In the present invention, since the leading nose of the tab for tearing the score line formed on the can end of the beverage can is configured to project upwardly with respect to the finger touch periphery, when the consumer wants to open the beverage can, the separation of the finger touch periphery from the can end is easily obtained by depressing down the upwardly projecting leading nose of the tab to allow the finger touch periphery to be in a state for being easily dealt with by the consumer. That is, the consumer can more easily open the beverage can with his reduced power.

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.