US2991875A - Cigarette package with lighter - Google Patents

Description

T. ZARRELLO CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH LIGHTER Filed Nov. 28, 1958 July 11, 1961 Fig.4

Fig-3 10 26 24 3O 4 36 28 5 3 Thomas Zarre/lo INVENTOR.

United States Patent 9 2,991,875 CIGARETTE PACKAGE WITH LIGHTER Thomas Zarrello, 80 Passaic Ave., Passaic, NJ. Filed Nov. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 777,025 3 Claims. (Cl. 206-413) This invention relates to a conventional-type cigarette package which is expressly constructed at one end to provide an added compartment, said compartment being unique in that it contains a disposable cigarette lighter which functions to ignite twenty or more cigarettes.

The obvious object of the invention is to provide the purchaser and user with a pack of cigarettes distinguishable from the regular or ordinary pack in that the lighter is built into the pack. To this end, the cigarette lighter is desirable and more practical than an attached folder of matches inasmuch as it is capable of practical and reliable use by reason of the fact that the filament-type heater, which is employed, is shielded and makes for reliable operation, regardless of winds and weather.

In carrying out a preferred embodiment of the invention the cigarette package itself may be a conventional one except that the bottom part of the package will be provided with an added compartment to satisfactorily contain and hold the miniature type cigarette lighter. It is believed that this can be satisfactorily done by extending the front, back, end and bottom walls beyond the normal bottom of the package proper and joining them together to define a compartment for the lighter. However, one end wall has a hole therethrough through which the ignitable end of the cigarette may be passed. At the time of sale this hole is of course covered by the removable cellophane or equivalent transparent wrapper.

The improved cigarette lighter is characterized by a dry cell battery having a carbon electrode therein with an end projecting beyond the corresponding end of said battery, an elongated cylindrical shell completely encasing said battery and closed at one end and open at the other end, said open end portion extending beyond the corresponding end of said battery and providing a socket-like receiver, a cup-like follower fitted slidingly and operatively in said receiver and having a filament which may be moved into operative contact with said electrode, and a coil spring confined for operation in said receiver and interposed between the follower and the adjacent end of said battery.

The aforementioned follower has a central opening in alignment with the electrode. The filament means provides the desired heater and comprises two wires which are centrally crossed and suitably attached to the follower so that they span the opening thus providing a cruciform heater. The terminal open end of the shell has stop members or lugs against which the marginal portion of the follower is pressed by the depressible coil spring.

Manifestly, since the miniature lighter is to be incorporated in and sold as a part of the package of cigarettes it, like the cigarette package, will be made up of components or parts which are sufficiently economical that when the lighter has served its relatively short intended purposes it may be discarded with the cigarette package.

Other features and advantages not referred to above will become apparent from the description of the details and the illustrative views of the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a package of cigarettes in which the novel cigarette lighter is embodied.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation with portions broken away and appearing in section.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view with parts in section and elevation.

2,991,875 Patented July 11, 1961 case or casing before the struck-out tongues are bent in' to provide stop lugs.

With reference first to FIGS. 1 and 2 the cigarette.

package is denoted as an entity by the numeral 6. The customary openable end is denoted at 8 but is shown at the bottom for convenience of illustration of the improvements at the top 10. As before mentioned, the pack or package proper is contained in a cellophane or equivalent wrapper which will of course be elongated in order to encompass the added compartment at the end 10. With the wrapper 0d the added wall portions are designated by separate numerals, the two end walls being denoted respectively at 12 and 14 with the wall 14 provided with an entrance opening 16 for the cigarette A as seen in FIG. 3. The extended front wall is denoted in FIG. 4 by the numeral 18 and the opposed extended rear wall at 20. These walls combine with the added bottom 23 and normal bottom wall of the main package 22, as also shown in FIG. 4, to define a substantially rectangular compartment which contains the cartridge. like unit which, generally speaking is a cigarette lighter modate a normally expanded compressible coil spring 32 5 which bears at one end against an adjacent end of the battery or dry cell and concentrically surrounds the projecting end of the carbon electrode 34. The aforementioned follower comprises a spring-loaded slidingly mounted shallow metal cup 36 having a central opening 38 and the coil spring is interposed between the follower and the battery. The heater element comprises a cruciform member 40 of filament wires spanning the opening or hole 38 which in turn registers with the entrance opening or hole 16 as brought out in FIG. 3. The open end of the shell denoted at 42 in FIG. 5 is provided with circumferentially spaced bendable tongues 44 which are laterally bent to radiate in and to engage the rim portion of the cup or follower. These tongues serve as stops to limit the outward sliding movement of the follower cup. The spring holds the cup in the normally projected position seen in FIG. 3. Consequently, and assuming that the package is made as described and the lighter cartridge has been installed in the manner shown, the operation will be clear. That is to say, after having removed the cellophane or equivalent wrapper the hole 16 is now available. By placing the ignitable end of the cigarette against the filament type heater 40 and exerting the desired pressure the follower rides in against the tension of the spring and the spring is compressed until the filament wires come into contact with the electrode 34. The circuit is then closed and in a moment or two the filament wires are heated to a glowing red and, by pulling on the cigarette it will be ignited in an obvious manner.

It is to be stressed that the over-all construction is of the utmost in simplicity. The dry cell shell is an integral part of the lighter. The insertion of the cup containing the heating element and the spring into this extending end shell portion completes a simple cartridgelike unit. The use of this lighter on an expandable basis is to be emphasized. Therefore, the claims are directed to the package in combination with the lighter and to the lighter by itself.

Obviously, the shell does What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In combination, a cigarette package having extended back, front, end and bottom walls and the bottom of the package providing a cigarette lighter compartment, one wall at one end of said compartment having a prepared hole therein of a diameter and so located that the end of the cigarette which is to be ignited may be passed through said hole and into the space of the compartment, and a disposable cigarette lighter operatively fitted in said compartment for readily available use and comprising a dry cell battery having a carbon electrode therein with an end projecting beyond the corresponding end of said battery, an elongated cylindrical shell completely encasing said battery and closed at one end and open at the other end, said open end portion extending beyond the corresponding end of said battery and providing a socket-like receiver, a cup-like follower fitted slidingly and operatively in said receiver and having a filament which may be moved into operative contact with said electrode, and a coil spring confined for operation in said receiver and interposed between the follower and the adjacent end of said battery, said follower having a central opening in alignment with said electrode, said filament comprising crossed wires joined in cruciform relationship and spanning said central opening, and the open terminal end of said shell having lateral stop members against which the marginal portion of said follower is removably spring-biased by said spring, and wherein the components comprising said composite lighter are economical and disposable, whereby said lighter may be thrown away with the emptied cigarette package in which said lighter is adapted to be used.

2. For use in conjunction with a special compartment provided therefor on one end of a conventional type package of cigarettes; a prefabricated readily insertable miniature-type cigarette lighter comprising, in combination, a relatively small dry cell battery having a carbonelectrode operatively embodied therein with an end of the electrode projecting beyond a like end of said bat tery, an elongated shell completely encasing said battery and electrode and closed at one end and open at the other end, the open end portion extending beyond the cooperating corresponding end of said battery and projecting end portion of said electrode and cooperating with the battery and providing a short socket-like receiver, the outer open end portion of said shell having turned in stop members, a shallow cup-shaped follower fitted slidingly and operatively in and spanning and substantially closing the open end of said receiver and having a centrally located opening and associated filament wires which may be forcibly pressed and slid into operative contact with the electrode by inserting an end of a cagarette into the receptacle portion of the follower cup and pressing the cigarette against the filament wires in a manner to compress the spring and slide the follower cup, and a light coil spring of predetermined sensitivity and tension confined in said receiver and interposed between an interior side of the follower cup and the ad jacent end of the battery, the over-all lighter being made up of economically disposable materials.

3. The structure defined in claim 2, and wherein said shell is of uniform cross-sectional diameter from end to end, said coil spring being of prescribed cross-section to cooperate with the follower cup and the adjacent end of said battery.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,898,418 Zwilling Feb. 21, 1933 2,030,011 MacLennan Feb. 4, 1936 2,535,665 Boyarsky et al. Dec. 26, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 441,148 Italy Oct. 25, 1948

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