Slidable locking collar cigarette box with rate and number limiting features
OwnerGregory James Sydney Lynchinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A lockable cigarette box has a slidable collar which slides upwards and links to a cover of the box to hold the cover closed in an embodiment of the disclosed technology. Further, a locking mechanism within the slidable collar which attaches to a front side of the cover keeps the cigarette box closed and locked at times. One can use a dial, button, or other input to set a time and/or to run a program which allows the box to opened only up to a certain amount of times per unit of time (rate) and/or a certain total number of times over the course of the program. This allows a person to control the maximum number of cigarettes removed over a period of time and how fast the cigarettes are removed.
Claims18
A locking cigarette box, comprising:
- a front wall and a rear wall joined together by a pair of sidewalls defining a closed bottom side and an open top providing access to an interior space sized to fit a pack of cigarettes;
- a cover hingedly connected to a perimeter of the open top, the cover including a top section that covers the open top of the box and a front section that covers a front side of the box when the cover is in a closed position;
- a collar slidably disposed around the box, the collar vertically slidable along the box;
- and
- a latching mechanism including a latch disposed on the front section of the cover and a latch receptacle disposed on the collar, the latching mechanism including a locked configuration and an unlocked configuration;
- wherein:
- in the locked configuration the collar is slid over the cover while the cover is in the closed position and the latch is attached in the latch receptacle, thereby locking the collar around the cover and the cover over the open top;
- and
- in the unlocked configuration the latch is not attached in the latch receptacle, thereby allowing the cover to open and close about the open top and the collar to slide vertically along the box.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.