US2544501A - Cigarette container - Google Patents

Description

March 6, 1951 G. JOHNSON 2,544,501

CIGARETTE CONTAINER Filed April 11, 1947 I! A I v I 2 J" M 2|./ .1

JNVENTOR. GENE JOHNSON.

[/16 A TTQRNEK Patented Mar. 6, {951 OFFICE CIGARETTE CONTAINER Gene Johnson, Westchester County, N. Y. Application April 11, 1947, serial No. 740,869

3 Claims. (01. ace-41(2) invention relates to containers suitable tor-cigarettes and is herein disclosed in some detail-as embodied in a cardboard box adapted to hold fortycigarettes, to be carried in an ordinary clothes pocket, andas adapted to deliver a-single cigarette at-a time.

The ordinary cigarette package consists of cigarettes held by a paper or other flexible wrapper and is troublesome to open, allows the cigarettes to be easily damaged, especially when only a few remain in the pack, and is in'other ways unsatisfactory.

y Some-cigarettes are packed in fiat cardboard boxes which carry openable tops hinged along one long edge and preserve the cigarettes from crushing, but, when half the cigarettes are removed, allow the others to rattle around and thus knock out part of their shreds of tobacco, and, moreover, require some attention when extracting one cigarette when only a few' others remain.

To be satisfactory the cardboard boxes must be flat so as to lie inconspicuously in a clothes .pocket, and ordinarily must not bemore than .two cigarettes thick. They must be so built that the hinged top does not easily open by accident,

and must be capable of being produced by automatic machinery. i For these and other reasons very many smokers remove all the cigarettes from the original pack or box when they open it and transfer the cigarettes to a metal pocket cigarette. case or holder, discarding the box or other original container. a The foregoing objections and disadvantages of cigarette packs and boxes arise independently ofLwhether the coverings are lined with meal foil or other interior facing materialf 'According to the present invention the fore: going and other objections and disadvantages are overcome, and a container is provided which takes the m o a fia Q iscap l of bein cheaply produced andfilledon a very large scale by automatic machinery, and from manyf types of cardboard. a

In the form shown in some detail a fiat box, capable of holding two layers of cigarettes is provided with abottom hingenear one end, so that when the endof thebottom is depressed, it allows a cigaretteto drop with; it between the end wall and the hinge, with the result that the depressed part of the bottom and the end wall, which is carried down with it, forms an open ended channel carrying a single cigarette. By tilting the box, the single cigarette drops out sliding endwise.

Then the end of the bottom is pushed up and the box is effectively closed, and will not ordinarily open in a clothes pocket. Thus the cigarettes are safely carried.

In the form shown, the cigarette case also includes a device for feeding the cigarettes toward the hinged end or for holding them against rattling around, or to efiect both feeding and holding themlagainst rattling.

- In the form shown, this device includes a belt, which may be of cellophane, lying along the bottom, from near the hinge, and underlaying all the cigarettes, and carried up and over the last cigarette and then over all the cigarettes and out through the end above the hinge.

Thus a pull on the belt pulls the cigarettes along toward the hinge, and tends to hold them by reason of friction.

The projecting end of the belt may be torn short, if .desired, along the edge of the stiff top of the box.

The case may include a lid or lids, normally held down but adapted to be released to enable the interior of the case to be inspected and the cigarettes tobe pushed along by a finger, if desired.

Other'features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings:

.Fig. 1 shows the box or container of the present-invention opened out to show the parts normally concealed.

Fig. 2 shows the closed box, indicating in dottedlines how an access door may be opened.

Fig. 3 shows a cigarette falling out when the box is operated to deliver a cigarette.

Fig. 4 is a' sectional side view on the line 4-4 of Fi 2.

Fig. .5 is a similar view showing one cigarette about to. fallout.

T In the form of the inventionv illustrated in some detail,'a sheet of suitable cardboard forms the bottom'lll of the box, and is scored along lines Hand l2 where'it bends up to form relatively shallowsides l3 and. I4, and is further scored at 5 and L6 to provide bends for the top I! and overlap l8 which latter bends down and is usually glued to the .sides l3 to form the side of the case.

The carboard is also shown as scored at I9 along the bottom l0, and at 20 along the top H, to forr n-flaps' 2| and 22, which turn over and are glued. together to form the unitary end of the box. r

v The bottom It] is further scored at 23 to pro-' vide a delivery device for the box. In the form shown, the delivery device includes a flap 24 formed by the score 23, cut clear of the sides [3 and I4, and ending in a score 25 forming a secondary flap 26 also cut clear of the sides and adapted to form a movable bottom end of the box; see Fig. 4.

The flap 26 is shown as adapted to be hingedto the top ll, so as'to swing parallel to the bottom l0.

a score 32 at the end of the flap 29, and as glued;

to the inside of the top I! at its edge with the result that the flaps 26 and 28 can move-downward in the form of a channel holding acigarette, see Fig. 5, adapted to support the single cigarette clear of the side l4.

If the box is then tilted on one edge the cigarette slides out easily, the other cigarettes being retained bythe side l3 or the side M, depending on. which way the box is tilted. I

It is found to work thus highly efficiently if the sides [3 and I4 are high enough to hold easily two transversely superposed cigarettes, and'the fiap'26 holds one cigaretteonits bottom but only oneas shown diagrammatically in Fig. 5 with the cigarettes spaced for clearness.

Inorder to insure thefreeclom of the cigarettes from jamming and to feed themtowardthe end 28, if need be, there is shown a pullbelt 34, which has been found satisfactory if made of cellophane and about one inch wide.

The belt 34 is shown as lying on the bottom [0, and fastened, as by gluing, nearthe score, 23. The belt 34-underlies all the cigarettes, going as far back as the end 2|, 22, and thus come forward above the cigarettes, and out at 36 through an open space 35 in the flap 3|, between its glued margins.

The top I! is preferably notched just over the space 35 for convenience in pushing downthe fiap. 29 and, with it, the channel -forming fiaps 26 and 28. In the form shown, the top I! isscoredgat :31, 38, 39, 40 ,to provide accessopenings to enable the I cigarettes to, be pushed, along by inserting a finger. To facilitate opening,thesegopenings each is shown as providedwith a tab' 4! adapted to be released by pressure,but normally held by its imperfectly cut perforations so that it normally forms part of the closed boxwall.

The scored lines 31, 38,539,119, are readily broken to free the areas between them to swingon ,the line as hinge.

The whole box is well adaptedto be constructedof any suitable cardboard, even metal lined board, and to be provided with a paper or other covering fo tightness oriappearance, It is so shaped as to lieeasily and flat inan ordinary clothes pocket.

Having thus described one form of theinvenrtion in some detaiLwhat is claimed is;

l. A fiat box having a top, a bottom and shallow sides and adapted to 110mm: over two superposed layers of cigarettes, the bottom, at one end, being scored along spaced parallel transverselines to provide a first bottom fiap, a second bottom fiap hinged to the first, said first and second bot-- tom flaps being fr ee of the sides so that the second bottom flap swings downparallel-to the bottom, a top hinge within the top, a third flap within the top and turning on the top hinge to move parallel to the first flap, the top hinge beingspaced;inwardly.,from then-end of, the box a. distance equal to the width' of; thiegthird fiap and a fourth flap hinged to the third and second flaps to cause them to swing together to form a bottom open-ended channel adapted to deliver a single-bottom layer cigarette through its open ,end.,

2. A flat box having a top, a bottom and shallow sides and adapted to hold not over two superposed layers of cigarettes, the bottom, at one end, being scored along spaced parallel transverse lines to provide a first bottomfiap, a second bottom flap hinged to the first saidfirst and second bottom flaps being free ;of the sides so that the second bottom flap swings down-parallel tothe bottom, a top hinge within the top, a third flap 5 within the'top and turningonthe-top-hinge-to move parallel to the firstfiap the top-hinge being spaced inwardly from theend of the-box adistance equal to the width-of the third flap and a fourth flap hinged to the'third-and-second flaps to cause them to swing together to form a bottom open-ended channel adapted; to deliver a single bottom layer. cigarette through-its open end, and a belt attached under the-cigarettes near the channel flaps and passing ;around-the back cigarettes and forward over thecigarettes, and adapted to be pulledto move the cigarettes forward.

3. A fiat box having a top, abottom and-shallow sides and adapted to-hold' not over two superposed layers of" cigarettes, the-bottom; at one, end, being scored, alongspaced pa1alleltransverse lines to provide a first-bottom-fiap; a second bottom flap hinged'to thefirst, said firstgand second bottom flaps being --fr ee"-;of the sides so that the second-bottom fiapswingsdown parallel to the bottom, a top hinge -within --the'top,-a third flap within the top and turning on the top hinge to move parallel to the first -flap,; the top hinge being spaced inwardly fromthe end of the box a distance equal to'the width'of thethird flap a'fourth flap hinged to, the third and second fiaps to cause'them to swing-"together-to form a bottom open-ended channel adapted ;to deliver a single bottom layer, cigarette through its open end, a top for the -box,and partially perforated lines onthe top aclaptedto bebroken to provide a hinged section, adapted tobe swung up to inspect the interior where the cigarettes GENE" JOHNSON;

REFERENCES CITED The following, references are .of, record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,718,572 Marcuse June 25,-'l929 1,953,418 MacDonald-1 Apr. 3, 1934 2,115,673 I Stompe Apr. 26, 1938

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