US2207930A - Means for applying tax stamps to packaged goods - Google Patents

Description

F. A. MILLER July 16, 1940.

MEANS FOR APPLYING TAX STAMPS TO PACKAGED GOODS Filed Feb. 14, 1958 INVENTOR FRED A. MILLER ATTORNEY Patented July 16, 1940 MEANS FOR APPLYING TAX STAMPS T PACKAGED GOODS Fred A. Miller, St. Johns, Mo., assignor of onehalf to Roland M. Klemme, St. Louis, Mo.

Application February 14, 1938, Serial No. 190,402

1 Claim. (01. 81-43) This invention relates generally to improved means for applying tax stamps to packaged goods wrapped in transparent wrappingmaterial and more specifically to an improved means involving a device capable of being employed to introduce a tax stamp beneath a portion of the wrapper of a package, such, for instance, as a package of cigarettes, without disturbing the wrapper, the predominant object of the invention being to provide an extremely simple device of this type which is capable of performing its intended function in a highly eflicient manner.

A number of the States of the United States have in operation State laws which levy a tax on packages of cigarettes sold within the confines of the States, and in most cases these laws require that sellers of cigarettes purchase State tax stamps and apply them to the packages of I cigarettes before they are sold. The great difficulty in connection with. such a requirement is that practically all of thebetter known brands of packaged cigarettes are wrapped in Cellophane and because of the chemical characteristics of this material it is almost impossible to successfully secure a tax stamp to the wrapper of a package of cigarettes with the aid of known adhesive material. The result of this. situation is that a great majority of tax stamps adhesively applied to the wrappers of packages of cigarettes come loose and are lost whereby a difficult problem is presented to the State authorities to decide what packages of cigarettes were sold untaxed and what packages of cigarettes'had tax stamps applied thereto which subsequently came loose and fell from the cigarette packages.

To remedy the situation outlined above the device disclosed inthe present application was devised, and the predominant feature of said device is that by its use a tax stamp may be introduced beneath the wrapper of a package of cigarettes and adhesively secured directly'to the paper or cardboard package in which the cigarettes are contained. Thus a face of the tax stamp-s may have ordinary glue applied thereto, just as in the case of an ordinary postage stamp, this glue serving to very securely fasten the tax stamp to the cigarette package, and because the wrapper of the cigarette package is transparent the tax stamp is clearly visible at all times.

Most of the better known brands of packaged cigarettes have the transparent wrappers applied to thejpackages in such fashion that openings in the wrappers are present at the bottoms of the narrower sides of the packages. points portions of the wrapper extend upwardly At these from the wrapper portion at the bottom of the package and such upwardly extended wrapper portions are overlapped by other portions of the wrapper which extend about the sides of the package. The improved device disclosed herein 5 is so made that a portion thereof may be inserted between the upwardly extended portions of the wrappers and the wrapper portions which overlap said upwardly extending portions. The portion of the device which is so inserted grips a tax stamp, the adhesive covered face of which is moistened, and by applying pressure to the tax stamp in a manner to be hereinafter set forth the stamp may be adhesively attached directly to the paper or cardboard container in which the cigarettes are enclosed.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved device.

. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. '3 is a front elevation of the device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a View similar to Fig. 5 showing how the tax stamp is caused to adhere directly tothe cigarette package beneath the wrapper thereof and illustrating the manner in which the stamp- 5 gripping jaws of the device are separated preparatory to withdrawing the device from the package.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line 88 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line 99 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary section similar to Fig.

9 but illustrating the manner of applying a tax stamp to a double wrapped package.

In the drawing, wherein is shown for the purpose of illustration, merely, one embodiment of v the invention, A designates the improved device generally. The device A includes a strip of spring material I which is bent double to provide substantially parallel portions 2 and 2 that terminate in coacting jaws at the forward end of the device, said substantially parallel portions of said strip being joined together by-a loop portion 3 at the rear end of the device. The resiliency of the strip of material I causes the jaws at the forward end of the device to move toward each other. The forward end portions of the strip portions 2 and 2' are normally in contact with each other as shown in Fig. 1 and the strip portion 2 is offset as indicated at 4 to provide a raised portion which serves as a fulcrum as will be presently ex plained. The jaw 5 provided by the forward end portion of the strip portion 2 is of the full width of the strip I, but the jaw 6 of the strip portion 2' is extremely narrow as shown in Fig. 2 and is located at the approximate center of the jaw 5.

The device A includes a jaw operating handle I which includes a head portion 8 that'overlies the strip portion 2 and is provided with downturned flanges 8' between which portions of the substantially parallel portions 2 and 2' of the strip I are disposed as shown to the best advantage in Fig. 3. The head 8 of the handle is more or less loosely connected to the substantially parallel portions 2 and 2' of the strip I by a bolt 9, the shank of which passes through alined apertures formed through the head portion 8 of the handle and through the portions of the substantially parallel portions 2 and 2 of the strip l which are disposed between the flange 8' of said head portion. The bolt is provided with a head that contacts with the head portion of the handle 1 and a nut 5a is mounted on the lower end of the bolt for securing it in place. The handle 1 includes also a rigid arm H] which extends upwardly and rearwardly from the head 8 of the handle as shown to the best advantage in Figs. 1, 5 and 7.

Normally the jaws 5 and 6 are in parallel contact with each other as shown in' Fig. l, and when it is desired to move said jaws apart the arm IE1 is depressed by pressure of the thumb thereagainst. When this happens the curved portion Iii of the arm II] of the handle I forces the portion 2 of the strip l downwardly at a point rearwardly of the offset 4 in the strip portion 2', whereby said offset portion is constituted a fulcrum which causes the jaws of the strip portion 2 to move away from each other.

In the use of the improved device the arm I0.

is depressed to separate the jaws 5 and 6 and a tax stamp is introduced between said jaws as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 wherein the stamp is designated by the reference character S.

It is important to note that when the tax.

stamp is gripped by the jaws 5 and 6 the narrow jaw 6 is in contact with the gummed face of the stamp with substantial portions of said gummed face exposed at opposite sides of the narrow jaw. The exposed portions of the gummed face of the stamp are then moistened with the aid of a sponge or otherwise and the forward portion of the device with the stamp gripped by the jaws 5 and 6 is inserted into the opening in the wrapper at the bottom of a narrow side of the package of cigarettes to be stamped as shown in Fig. 5. The forward end portion of the device with the stamp gripped thereby is moved longitudinally of the narrow side of the cigarette package beneath outer portions of the wrapper of the package until the stamp has passed the portion of the wrapper which extends fromthe bottom of the wrapper. The person applying the stamp then presses with his thumb: as shown in Fig. 7 to cause the exposed and moistened portions of the gummed face of the stamp to adhere directly to surface of the paper or cardboard container in which the cigarettes are enclosed. The arm IU of the device is then depressed slightly to separate the jaws 5 and B and. while the stamp is still held by the thumb of the operator the device is removed from beneath the wrapper of the package. The

jaws 5 and 6 will separate slightly even though the operators thumb is pressing against the cigarette package as described because of the fact that the narrow jaw 6 willcompress the cigarette container slightly whenpressure is applied to the arm II] as shown in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 9, the device A is illustrated in use, a stamp S being gripped by the jaws thereof. In this view the paper or cardboard container for the cigarettes is designated by the reference character B while the wrapper portion which extends from the wrapper portion at the bottom of the package is designated by the reference character C. Also in Fig. 9 the portions of the wrapper which overlap the wrapper portion C are designated by the reference character D, and the opening in the wrapper through which the forward portion of the device is inserted is designated by the reference character E. From this view it is plain that the stamp S is. moved beyond the inner end of the wrapper portion C where it is caused to adhere directly to the container B as has been explained.

All of the popular brands of cigarettes are wrapped so that the wrapper includes the wrapper portion C illustrated in Fig. 9 with the exception of the brand known as Old Glory. Packages of cigarettes of this brand are double wrapped in such manner that access may not be had to the surface of the container B through the opening but instead this opening leads between inner and outer layers of the double wrapping. When tax stamps are applied to packages of cigarettes of this brand with the aid of the device A the stamp may be inserted between the layers C and D of the wrapper as shown in Fig. 10 and even though the glue of the stamp does not securely attach it to the wrapper the fact that the stamp is gripped between the layers of the wrapper will securely hold the stamp in place. Also in applying tax stamps to this particular brand of cigarettesthe sharpened forward edges of the jaws 5 and 6,

may be employed to puncture the inner layer of the wrapper so that thestamp may be carried beneath said inner layer and applied directly to the container B. 1 I

I claim:

'A device for applying gummed tax stamps to packages beneath the outer wrappers thereof which includes a pair of jaws adaptedto grip a stamp therebetween, one of said jaws being of at least the approximate width of a stamp gripped by the jaws and the other jaw'being of substantially less width than the first mentioned jaw so that portions of the gummed surface of a stamp? gripped between said jaws are exposed at oppo-' site sides of said narrowerjaw, an entering edge formed at the outer end of at least one of said jaws and shaped and adapted to force its way between portions of the outer wrappers of the packages sothat the portions of the jaws which grip the stamp may pass beneath parts of said outer wrappers, and means for separating said jaws when a stamp is to be inserted between said jaws or the jaws released from the stamp.

FRED A. MILLER.

Images