EP0149721A2

EP0149721A2 - Cigarette lighter holder/cigarette package clip

Info

Publication number: EP0149721A2
Application number: EP84111242A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Glen Aubrey Mcgillivray; Borden Robert Mctavish
Original assignee: LEONE INDUSTRIES Inc; Leone Industries Inc
Current assignee: LEONE INDUSTRIES Inc; Leone Industries Inc
Priority date: 1983-09-20
Filing date: 1984-09-20
Publication date: 1985-07-31
Also published as: CA1241306A; EP0149721A3

Abstract

A cigarette lighter/cigarette package holder provides an apertured sleeve for slidably receiving and retaining a cigarette lighter and also provides a cigarette package holder having a pair of opposed, narrow lips which may be slid over an edge of the cigarette package and which firmly grip that edge.

Description

Field of the Invention

This invention pertains to a cigarette lighter holder having means for removably attaching the holder to a cigarette package.

Background of the Invention

Many cigarette smokers like to have a package of cigarettes and a cigarette lighter on hand at all times. It happens, however, that a smoker is sometimes frustrated to find that these two items have been separated and cannot readily be located. The present invention provides a cigarette lighter holder which can be attached to a cigarette package so that the lighter and cigarette package together form a compact unit. The smoker may be assured that his lighter and cigarettes will always be found together, since the lighter can be operated without removing it from the holder and without separating it from the cigarette package.
The prior art discloses various attempts to combine a cigarette lighter holder with a cigarette package holder. United States patent No. 3/057,180 granted.9 October, 1962 to Erwin Thomas Steppan typifies the prior art. The Steppan patent discloses a lighter and cigarette package holder having a casing for holding a cigarette lighter and having a clip for clipping the cigarette lighter casing to a cigarette package. Such devices, however, have relatively complex shapes and are therefore somewhat difficult and expensive to manufacture. Other prior art devices provide flanges which grip the sides of a cigarette package. However, these devices suffer the disadvantage that the flanges often tend to crush the cigarettes within the package.
The present invention provides a compact device having a very simple shape which may be easily manufactured at low cost and which overcomes the foregoing disadvantages.

Summary of the Invention

The preferred embodiment of the invention provides a cigarette lighter holder comprising an apertured sleeve for slidably receiving and retaining a cigarette lighter and a cigarette package holder affixed to the sleeve. The cigarette package holder comprises a pair of spaced, narrow lips for gripping an edge of a cigarette package. The lips define a shallow channel which slidably receives and grips the cigarette package edge along a portion of its length. Preferably, the lips are tapered at one end of the channel to ease slidable receipt of the channel along the cigarette package edge.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment.
Figure 2 is a side elevation view of the preferred embodiment.
Figure 3 is a front elevation view of the preferred embodiment.
Figure 4 is a pictorial illustration showing the preferred embodiment holding a cigarette lighter and a cigarette package.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

The drawings illustrate a cigarette lighter/ cigarette package holder which is generally designated 10. Holder 10 includes an apertured sleeve 12. The size and shape of the sleeve aperture may be selected to conform to the size and shape of any desired cigarette lighter so that the lighter can be slidably received within and tightly retained by sleeve 12. In the drawings, sleeve 12 is illustrated as having an oval shape conforming to the shape of the disposable RIC'" cigarette lighter which is currently popular with many smokers.
A cigarette package holder having a base member 14 is affixed to sleeve 12. A pair of spaced, narrow, generally "C" shaped lips 16 protrude from opposite sides of base member 14 and extend along each of said sides. Lips 16 are curved inward toward one another as may be seen in Figure 1 to define, between lips 16, a shallow channel 18 for slidably receiving and gripping an edge 100 of a stiff cardboard cigarette package 102 along a portion of.the leng-th of cigarette package edge 100. Channel 18 is made slightly narrower than cigarette package edge 100 so that edge 100 can he securely gripped within channel 18.
It is to be noted that, when cigarette package edge 100 is slidably received within channel 18, lips 16 protrude only very slightly along the sides 104 of ciga- _rette package 102 and therefore do not exert any significant compressive forces on cigarette package sides 104 which might crush the cigarettes inside cigarette package 102. Lips 16 need only protrude about one- sixteenth inch from base member 14. The inventors have found that this is sufficient to facilitate secure gripping of cigarette package edge 100 within channel 18 and affords remarkable resistance to forces which may tend to separate holder 10 from cigarette package 102 without sliding holder 10 completely off the end of edge 100.
Lips 16 are preferably each tapered at one end of channel 18 as shown by reference numeral 20 in Figure 2. (Figure 2 in fact illustrates tapering of lips 16 at both ends of channel 18 to facilitate sliding of either end of channel 18 over edge 100.) Such tapering makes it easier to "start" channel 18 sliding over cigarette package edge 100. If lips 16 continued, untapered, to the end of channel 18, the lip corners might damage cigarette package 102, or otherwise impede the sliding of channel 18 over edge 102.
In operation, the cigarette smoker slides cigarette lighter 106 into sleeve 12 so that lighter 106 is retained by sleeve 12 as shown in Figure 4. Channel 18 is then guided over and along edge 100 of cigarette package 102 so that holder 10 assumes the position shown in Figure 4.
Cigarette lighter 106 and cigarette package 102 may remain in the positions shown in Figure 4 until it becomes necessary to replace either lighter 106 or cigarette package 102 (i.e. because the disposable lighter fluid has been exhausted, or because the cigarette package has been emptied). Cigarette lighter 106 may be activated without removing it from sleeve 12 and without removing cigarette package 102 from holder 10. Care need only be taken to close the cigarette package cover before operating cigarette lighter 106.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. For example, although holder 10 is preferably fabricated by plastic injection moulding it may also be formed from sheet metal. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A cigarette lighter holder, comprising:

(a) an apertured sleeve for slidably receiving and retaining a cigarette lighter; and,

(b) a cigarette package holder affixed to said sleeve, said cigarette package holder comprising a pair of spaced, narrow lips for gripping an edge of a cigarette package.

2. A cigarette lighter holder as defined in claim 1, wherein said lips define a shallow channel for slidably receiving and gripping said edge along a portion of the length of said edge.

3. A cigarette lighter holder as defined in claim 2, wherein, said lips are tapered at one end of said channel to ease slidable receipt of said channel along said cigarette package edge.

4. A cigarette lighter holder, comprising:

(a) an apertured sleeve for slidahly receiving and retaining a cigarette lighter; and,

(b) a cigarette package holder affixed to said sleeve, said cigarette package holder comprising a base member having a pair of opposed sides shaped to form a narrow, generally "C" shaped lip along each of said sides.

₅. A cigarette lighter holder as defined in claim ₄, wherein said lips define a shallow channel for slidably receiving and gripping an edge of a cigarette package.

6. A cigarette lighter holder as defined in claim 4, wherein said lips are tapered at one end of said base member to ease sliding of said lips over an edge of a cigarette package.