Tax-stampable half-carton
AssigneePhilip Morris Incorporated
InventorDonald H. Evers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cigarette carton comprising two half-cartons, each containing five cigarette packs, which may be sold as one standard 10-pack cigarette carton or may be separated and sold as individual half-cartons. The dual half-carton configuration permits the use of existing tax-stamping machines without significant modifications. Each half-carton is formed from a single blank and has a perforated extension tab extending from one side wall, and a top closure. Two half-cartons are joined together by positioning the walls from which the top closures are foldably attached remote from each other and by gluing each extension tab to the side wall of the other half-carton.
Claims25
A detachable double half-carton for packaging a plurality of cigarette packs comprising two substantially identical half-cartons, each comprising:
- an interior wall having a free edge at one edge of the interior wall;
- an exterior wall, parallel to, remote from, and substantially the same size as the exterior wall;
- a bottom wall, perpendicularly connected to the exterior wall and to an edge of the interior wall opposite and remote from the free edge of the interior wall;
- a top closure pivotally attached to the top of the exterior wall such that the top closure may enclose the cigarette packs within the half-carton, and so that the plane defined by the free edge of the interior wall and the line along which the exterior wall and the top closure are pivotally attached is perpendicular to each of the interior and exterior walls;
- a first side wall, perpendicularly connected to the exterior, interior and bottom walls;
- and
- a second side wall, parallel to, remote from, and substantially the same size as the first side wall, and further comprising a detachable extension tab extending along the plane defined by the second side wall and detachably attached to the second side wall at the edge adjacent to the interior wall;
- and wherein the two half-cartons are positioned such that:
- the interior walls of the two half-cartons abut each other;
- the top closures of the two half-cartons are remote from each other;
- and
- the second side wall of each half-carton is adjacent to the first side wall of the other half-carton, and each detachable extension tab of each half-carton is secured to first side wall of the other half-carton.
A half-carton for enclosing a plurality of cigarette packs, the half-carton comprising a plurality of walls and further comprising:
- a first wall;
- a second wall perpendicularly attached to the first wall;
- a third wall connected to the first wall, parallel to and remote from the second wall and having a free edge that is perpendicular to the first wall;
- a detachable extension tab that extends out from and in the same plane as the first wall in the direction perpendicular to and away from the second wall;
- and
- a top closure pivotally attached to the second wall such that the plane defined by the line along which the top closure is pivotally attached to the second wall and the free edge of the third wall is perpendicular to each of the first, second and third walls;
- wherein two substantially identical half-cartons may be detachably attached by affixing the detachable extension tab of each half-carton to the other half-carton such that the second wall of each half-carton is parallel to and remote from the second wall of the other half-carton.
A foldable blank for forming a half-carton for enclosing a plurality of cigarette packs comprising:
- an interior panel having a free edge;
- a bottom panel foldably attached to the interior panel opposite the free edge of the interior panel;
- an exterior panel foldably attached to the bottom panel and opposite from the interior panel;
- a first side panel foldably attached to the exterior panel along an edge perpendicular to the bottom panel;
- a second side panel foldably attached to the exterior panel opposite from the first side panel and further comprising an extension tab detachably connected to the edge of the second side panel opposite from the exterior panel;
- and
- a top closure foldably attached to the exterior panel opposite the bottom panel;
- wherein the shortest distance between the free edge of the interior panel and the line along which the interior and bottom panels are pivotally attached is substantially the same as the shortest distance between the line along which the bottom and exterior panels are foldably attached and the line along which the exterior panel and top closure are foldably attached;
- whereby when the blank is folded and formed into a half-carton, the half-carton may be detachably attached to a second identically formed half-carton by abutting the interior panel of each half-carton against the interior panel of the other half-carton and securing the extension tab of each half-carton to the first side panel of the other half-carton.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.