GB2229706A - Combined cigarette carton and matchbox - Google Patents

Abstract

A combined cigarette carton and match box comprises a carton (10) of the flip-lid type having an open ended passage (18) at the base within which is positioned a slide out drawer (28) for matches. The drawer (20) may be positioned with its base lying adjacent a false bottom (26) of the carton, so providing additional reinforcement, or it may be positioned with its base lying adjacent the base (24) of the carton. One or more strikers (20) are provided on the front, back or side walls. The carton may be manufactured from a suitable cut and folded single blank. <IMAGE>

Description

CIGARETTE CARTON The present invention relates to cigarette cartons.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a combined cigarette carton and match box.

According to a second aspect there is provided a cigarette carton of the flip-lid type having a match box at the base thereof. The match box may comprise a drawer located within an open ended passage of the carton. Conveniently, this passage may be defined within the overall body of the carton, for example at the sides by the lower ends of the carton front and rear walls, below by a base extending between the said lower ends, and above by a false bottom of the carton.

In this way, the resultant cigarette carton, incorporating a match box, is only very slightly longer than a conventional flip-lid type carton. The passage may for example be about 7.5 millimetres in depth, and 2.5 millimetres in breadth, this providing ample space for a sufficient number of matches to deal with the cigarettes in the container.

The false bottom may comprise two flaps, secured together, each flap being integral with a respective end wall of the carton. Similarly, the base of the carton may be defined by a single sheet of card which extends between the lower edges of the front and rear carton walls, these walls extending downwardly somewhat more than the carton end walls. If the carton front and rear walls are made out of a single sheet of card, the base can obviously be integral with them.

The carton may have one of more strikers on the exterior thereof, printed upon, adhered to or otherwise provided upon the exterior surface. Convenient positions for the striker are the carton end walls and/or the carton front and rear walls at their lower ends next to the passage.

The carton, if properly designed, can be manufactured from a single card blank.

The invention also extends to a blank for manufacturing a cigarette carton as defined above.

The invention may be carried into practice in a number of ways and one specific embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig 1 is a combined cigarette carton and match box in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Fig 2 is a longitudinal section through the match box of the embodiment of figure 1; Fig 3 is a perspective view of the match box; Fig 4 is a rear view of the combined cigarette carton and match box of figure 1; and Fig 5 shows a blank for making the combined carton and match box.

Fig 1 shows a combined cigarette carton and match box of the present invention. The upper part of the carton, designed for holding cigarettes, is conventional and comprises a main body portion 10 having front and rear walls 16, 16' and a pair of opposite'side walls 14, 14'. The carton has a flip-top lid of the conventional type, illustrated schematically at 12.

The front and rear walls 16, 16' extend downwardly somewhat further than the side walls 14, 14' by virtue of extenders 20, 20'. The lower edges of these extenders are connected together, from front to back, by a bottom wall 24. The lower edges of the side walls 14, 14' are likewise connected together by a false bottom wall 26. Thus, at the bottom of the body portion 10 there is formed between the extenders 20, 20' and the bottom walls 24, 26 a shallow passage 18 which is open at both ends.

Within this passage is positioned a shallow tray, shown in more detail in figures 2 and 3, for carrying matches. As is shown in figures 1 and 4, the tray 28 is conveniently positioned upside-down in the passage 18 so that its base 30 is positioned against the false bottom 26, so imparting additional rigidity to the container 10, but the tray could instead be positioned the other way up.

On the front extender 20, or on the rear extender 20' (or both) there is printed or adhered a striker against which the matches can be struck.

Alternatively, or in addition, there may be a striker on the side wall 14 or the opposing side wall 14'.

In use, the user removes a cigarette from the carton in the normal way, then slides the drawer from the passage in the direction of the arrows in figures 1 and 4, and removes a match. Obviously, if the drawer is in the orientation shown in figure 1, the user will have to invert the carton before removing the match, and in this case it is convenient for the striker to be located on the rear extender 20', this being the side which will face the user after he has turned the carton over.

A typical carton, as shown in figure 1, will have a depth between the front and rear walls 16, 16' of about 2.5 centimetres and an extender 20 height of about 7.5 millimetres. Thus, the overall size of the package is only increased by about 7.5 millimetres.

For convenience in manufacture, the entire carton (excluding the tray 28) can be manufactured from a single sheet of card, using the blank which is shown in figure 5. The blank shown is for the production of a carton in which there is to be a striker only on the extender 20.

The upper and lower parts of the blank shown in figure 5 are the same as those required for a standard cigarette carton, but the middle section, which will when folded form the passage 18 is somewhat different.

The central fold 40 across the blank has two side portions 42, 42' which in use will form the angle between the side walls 14, 14' and the false bottom 26 (comprising the two side ears 46, 46'), and a central portion 44 which simply delimits the rear extender 20' from the rear wall 16'. Similarly, an additional fold 48 across the blank acts, in the central portion 50, to delimit the front extender 20, to which a striker has been secured, from the front surface 16.

If desired, both the central folds 44 and 50 could be omitted since in the finished carton the extenders will in general lie in the same plane as the front and rear walls; it may nevertheless be convenient to have folds here for ease of manufacture.

Between the folds 44, 50 there are two further central parallel folds 52, 54 which will in use form the angles between the extenders 20, 20' and the bottom wall 24 of the carton.

The finished carton is constructed from the blank of figure 5 as follows. * The top flap A is bent over and secured to the surface A' for reinforcing purposes.

The ears C are bent up, out of the page, along the lines 58, 58' and they are then turned inwardly along the lines 60, 60'. The central portion C' can then be bent up along the line 62 and secured at right angles to the plane of the blank to the side flaps C. The section A' may then be bent forward along the line 64, from which position it will be found that the ears B can be folded down and secured to the ears B', so completing the lid 12 of the container. The lid can be flipped backwards, by means of a reverse fold along the line 66.

The main body 10 is formed by folding the ears E up along the lines 42, 42' and the side walls D up along the lines 68, 68'. The distal ends of the ears E can then be secured together so that they together form the false bottom 26, as shown in figure 1. The further side walls D' are then bent up along the lines 70, 70', and the front wall 16 folded up to lie parallel with the rear wall 16' by 900 folds along the lines 52, 54.

The finished side walls 14, 14' may then be formed by securing together the respective flaps D and D'.

Finally, a separately constructed tray 28 is slid into the resultant passage 18.

Claims (13)

1. A combined cigarette carton and match box.

2. A cigarette carton of the flip-lid type having a match box at the base thereof.

3. A cigarette carton as claimed in Claim 2 in which the match box comprises a drawer located within an open ended passage of the carton.

4. A cigarette carton as claimed in Claim 3 in which the passage is defined at the sides by the lower ends of the carton front and rear walls, below by a base extending between the said lower ends, and above by a false bottom of the carton.

5. A cigarette container as claimed in Claim 4 in which the false bottom comprises two flaps, secured together, each flap being integral with a respective end wall of the carton.

6. A cigarette container as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 5 in which the carton has at least one striker on the exterior thereof.

7. A cigarette carton as claimed in Claim 6 in which the striker is adjacent the lower end of one or both of the carton front and rear walls, next to the passage.

8. A cigarette carton as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 7 in which the striker is on one or both of the carton end walls.

9. A cigarette carton as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 8 in which the base of the drawer lies adjacent the carton base.

10. A cigarette carton as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 8"in which the base of the drawer lies adjacent the false bottom.

11. A cigarette carton as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 10 which has been folded from a single blank.

12. A cigarette carton substantially as specifically described with reference to figures 1 to 4.

13. A blank for a cigarette carton substantially as specifically described with reference to figure 5.