US2072796A - Package opener and contents extractor - Google Patents

Description

March 2, 1937- s. a. cums-roman PACKAGE OPENER AND CONTENTS EXTRACTOR Filed Oct. 5, 1934 /9 47 Inventor I 5. afi/"n l'fo/a/mzr fl Home y Patented Mar. 2, 1937 I v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PACKAGE OPENER AND CONTENTS EXTRACTOR I Edwin B. Christopher, Wichita, Kans.

Application October 5, 1934, Serial No. 747,093

. 2 Claims. (Cl. 206 56) My invention relates to an improvement in illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of package and containers having any form of conmy invention, '9 designates conventional package tents packed in uniform regularity, and particucontaining cigarettes, which are arranged in rows larly to cigarette packages which have means in said package, and which are completely and 5 for opening the sameand for projecting the contightly enclosed in the same. 5 tents therefrom. The description hereafter To facilitate the opening of the package and given, for convenience, refers to its use in contheprojectin'g of the cigarettes therefrom, I pronection with the present conventional type of vide a strip of flexible material such as cardcigarette packages and the cigarettes contained board, heavy paper, tinfoil or the like, which contherein. sists of sections III, II, l2 and I3, crimped or 10 Every .smoker has encountered the difficulty otherwise adapted to be bent at their joining of tearing the cover from a package of cigarettes points I5. This strip is so inserted in one end with the fingers and the more diiflcult task of exof the package that the section I I extends along tracting the first two or three cigarettes from the the bottom of the package and immediately bepackage by means of the finger tips. low the tips of the end row'of cigarettes l6, I1 15 Accordingly, my invention has two principal and I8 to form a lifter for the same. The secobjects; one of which is to provide means to facilitions l0 and I2 are provided with foldable flanges tate the opening of a. package of cigarettes; and i9, and are bent at right angles to the lifter II the other of which is to provide means whereby to embrace the sides of the cigarettes l6 and 0 the first cigarettes of a package are partially l8 respectively. The section I 2 extends upward projected at varying degrees from the package from the lifter H the full depth of thepackage without the fingers of the person who is open- 9 to form a follower, from which extends the secing the same, touching the cigarettes, thereby tion l3 of the flexible strip. This section I3 is avoiding the usual pounding of the package, the bent at right angles to they follower I2, and exdigging for and the tearing of the tips of the tends across the top of the cigarettes I6, I! and cigarettes. v a I8 and immediately beneath the corner 20 of the A further object of my invention is to comtop of the package, and has itsfree end l4 disbine the opening and projecting means into one posed through an opening 2| cut in the corner solitary structure and operation; whereby the 20 of said package to form a fingerpiece. This opening of the package, the partial projecting of section l3 and its free end I, so arranged in 30 the cigarettes therefrom and the release anddisthe package, constitute the opening means for position of the projector can be performed by said package, the corner 20 of which having lines one continuous act. of creasings or perforations 22 to facilitate the Other objects of my invention will beapparent operation of said opening means. 7 from the following description of the present pre- To secure the projector in the package during 35 ferred form thereof, taken in connection with the projection of the cigarettes, the end section the accompanying drawing, wherein: H) of the flexible strip is bent at right angles to Figure 1 is a top plan view of the cigarette the lifter H to extend detachably along the side package, showing 1 the invention positioned of the package for a short distance from the bottherein; a tom thereof, thereby forming a drag for the pro- 40 Figure 2 is a top plan view of the cigarette jector by embracing the lower end of cigarette package, showing a corner of the cover of the Hi. It is evident from this construction that package removed. s when theprojector is pulled upon, the drag I0 is Figure 3 isv an end sectional view of the cigafree to slide up or down between cigarette I 6 and rette package showing the invention in a normal the wall of the package; that when, with the cig- 45 position; arettes all in position as packed, a pull is made Figure 4 is a view at right angles to Figure 3; on section l2, section I0 is a sufficient drag to Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3, and cause section II to lift the end row of cigarettes showing the first step of operation. at varying degrees from the bottom of the pack- Figure 6 is asectional view showing the invene age and project them through the opening at 50 tion in operative position. the top of the package. As soon as cigarette l6 Figure '7 is a view at right angles to Figure 6, has thus been lifted a short distance, section l0, Figure 8 is a view of the blank from which the because of its flexibility, will bend in from the invention is formed. bottom in response to the pull on the projector In the drawing, wherein for the purpose of and will continue to lift cigarette l6 until said 55 cigarette is raised high enough to release said section I0 as a drag; After cigarette It thus releases section IO, said section, following section H, will slip from underneath the end row of cigarettes and both sections II and ID will follow section I2 up along the side of cigarette l8 and out of the package, entirely free from the cigarettes and without any of the cigarettes being entirely removed from the package. The projector, being section I0, I I-, I2 and H, can then be cast aside, leaving the end cigarettes partially projected in varying degrees as is shown in Figures 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawing. If only one cigarette is wanted it can then be removed and the rest can be pushed back into place leaving the package with a neat and not excessive opening and with the cigarettes loos ened for further use. In other words, the opening of the package, the projecting of the cigarettes, and the disposition of the projector can be made in one continuous act. No one of cigarettes IS, IT and I8 need be removed from the package before the projector can be completely removed and freed from the cigarettes and package.

However, it is apparent that this projector need not be removed from the package when only one cigarette is wanted, but may be caused to lift the aforesaid cigarettes only slightly so that they are merely accessible, and after one of them is removed, the other two end cigarettes together with this projector can be pushed back into place to remain subject to further use and operation in connection with the said remaining two end cigarettes.

Furthermore, the distance and extent to which the aforesaid cigarettes can be lifted and projected from the package can be varied by the increasing or decreasing of the length of section i0 in'the construction of said projector and its placement in the package; thus cigarettes 16, H and i8 can be caused, by decreasing the length of section E0 to be projected only a short distance in the operation of this device or can, by increasing the length of section ill, cause all threeoigarettes, Hi, i! and l8'or the two cigarettes 11 and i8,-or the one cigarette E8, to be completely projected from the package in the operation of this device. i

After the package 9 is wrapped in cellophane,

it is apparent that the finger piece I4 will be held in place against accidentalv displacement or pulling, and the opening 2! will be closed to dustand other foreign substances. Inorder that the fingerpiece may be readily visible, it may be 001- ored to contrast it with the outer appearance of the package; 7

The cellophane inwhich the package is wrapped may be creased or impressed, without breaking through that cellophane and without effecting the airtightness thereof, in such a manner as to cause it to break and tear along the same lines as perforations 22 when the finger or thumb nail of the operator is pushed through the cellophane and underneath of end 14. Thus the package, after the opening or the opening and ejecting process of this invention, can retain its cellophane covering except for the small opening at the end along 22.

In use, the strip is so placed in the package that the bottom and sides thereof will rest against the strip is extended across the and the free top member of top of the cigarettes I6, H and I8,

end disposed through the top of the package,

which top is then sealed. The package is then wrapped in cellophane.

When the package is to be opened and cigarettes projected, the finger piece I3 is pulled across the top of the package, by which action the cover is torn along the line of perforation 22. Then by'continuing the pull on the finger piece l3 in an upward direction, the lifter l I will cause the cigarettes I6, I! and I8 tobe projected in varying degrees from the package for the ready convenience and accessibility of the smoker or opener. The projector may be removed from the package while the cigarettes are in the projected position, or it may be left in the package, accord ing to the wishes of the user.

' It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be below the ends of a row of cigarettes, a follower pivoted to one end of the lift and extending vertically from the same the full depth of the package, operating means pivotally secured to the follower, and a drag pivotally secured to the other end of the lift and extending vertically therefrom to lie detachably between the inner side wall ofthe package and one of the cigarettes of the row of the same, whereby when a pull is exerted on the operating means, the drag slides downwardly betweenthe wall of the package and the cigarette to permit projection of the roll of cigarettes and the removal of the strip from the package without the withdrawal of the projected cigarettes from said package.

2. A device for projecting cigarettes from a package, comprising a flexible strip having top,

bottom and side members detachably enclosed by said package, said bottom member being interposed betwen the bottom wall of the package and the ends of a row of cigarettes, one side member being pivotally secured to one end of the bottom member and extending vertically the full depth of the package between one cigarette of the rowof the same and one side wall of the package, the other side member being pivotally secured to the other end of the bottom member and extending vertically therefrom to lie detachably a short distance between the other side wall of the package and one of the cigarettes of the row of the same, each slde'member having flanges to embrace its respective adjacent cigarette, the top member being pivotally attached to the first-mentioned side member and extending across the interior of the top of the package, the free end of said top member projecting from the package to provide a finger piece for manipulating the device, whereby a continuous pull exerted on the finger piececauses in one continuous operation the opening of the package, the partial projection of the row of cigarettes therefrom and EDWIN B. CIHIRISTOPIHER.

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