US2284171A - Package - Google Patents

Description

May 26, 1942 5. J. SILBERMAN PACKAGE Filed June 1, 1959 lNVENTOR 5441051 JflzamMn/v ATTOR EY Patented May 26,1942

PACKAGE Samuel J. Silberman, Hartford, Conn, assignor to Consolidated Cigar Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application June 1, 1939, Serial No. 276,783

4 Claims.

The invention relates in general to tobacco products and in particular to a method for preserving tobacco and to correlated improvements designed to enhance the characteristics, features and utility of the preserved products;

It has been the practice heretofore in the preservation of tobacco products, in particular cigars, to package the cigars in individual moistureproof pouches or wrappers and thereafter to assemble a large number, such as fifty, of the individually wrapped cigars, in a single container in which the cigars remain during display andsale to the public. It is customary, however, in the sale of such packaged cigars that the cigars are soldv in small numbers, from one to'three at a-time, so that the cigars remaining in the container are exposed to atmospheric conditions fora-varying period of time. It is obvious that the last of the cigars in the boxcannot be expectedto retain all of the desirable characteristics to the extent that they would if the main container had not been opened.

Accordingly it is a general object of the present invention to preserve a'plurality of tobacco units in a uniform manner so that they may be retailed over a period of time without adversely affecting the original characteristics of the unit which remain in the main container.

It is a further object of the invention to preserve a plurality of cigars in a main container in such a manner that the individual cigars can be used gradually without subjecting the unused cigars to varying atmospheric conditions and while preserving substantially the original char acteristics of the cigars. It is a further specific object of the to provide an improved method of packaging cigars to facilitate their preservation over long periods of time in a substantially uniformmanner.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

According to the present invention, a plurality of individualunits of tobacco, such as cigars, are preserved in a substantially uniform manner for long periods of time by enclosing the individual units of tobacco in preserving wrappers and thereafter enclosing some of the individually wrapped units collectively in another preserving wrapper to form a group package and thereafter enclosing the group package and the remainder or other individually wrapped units in a common container. The present invention thus provides a preserved tobacco product comprising a multif plicity of individual units of tobacco, such as invention I unit of tobacco enclosed in a cigars, all of the units being individually enclosed in a preserving wrapper, some'of the individually wrapped units being collectively enclosed as a groupin another preserving wrapper and all of the units being packed in a common container.

. It is a general principle of the present inven-' tion that in the preserving of a multiplicity of tobacco units in accordance with'the present invention some of the units are enclosed in Tn number of Wrappers, and other units are enclosed in n plus 1 number of wrappers. In the dispensing, as by retailsale, of the tobacco units preserved in accordance with the present invention, the individually Wrapp d units are first dispensed and thereafter the group wrapper is broken and the remaining individually wrapped units are then dispensed, the group wrapper serving to preserve the unused portion of the tobacco units from adverse changes due toiiuctuating atmospheric conditions. p

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the article possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements, which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated inthe claims.

1 For a more complete understanding of the nature and objects of the present invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 represents one embodiment of a single Fig. 2 represents one embodiment of a'group of individually wrapped tobacco units of the type shownin Fig. 1;'

Fig.3,representsone embodiment of the pre j served tobacco product of the invention; and

Fig. 4 represents another finished preserving article of the invention.

By way of illustrating, but not by way of limiting the. invention. the method of preserving will be illustrated in connection with the preserving of cigars, but it is to be understood that the invention isnot limited to preserving cigars, but isapplicable for preserving cigarettes, chewing tobacco and other tobacco chandised in small units. V

The individual units are each enclosed either in a pre-formed pouch or bag or in a Wrapper in a conventionalmanner. The bags or wrappers employed for preserving the individual units may be formed of any suitable flexible sheet material such for example as metal foil, wood, paper preserving wrapper;

embodiment of the products which are meror non-fibrous organic plastic material such for example as regenerated cellulose, cellulose esters,

cellulose ethers, gelatin-casein, chlorinated rubher and synthetic resins of all kinds. It is to be understood that if the sheet materialis not in- V herently moistureproof, it may be rendered moistureproof in a suitable manner known to the art as by impregnating or coating the wrapper or bag with a moistureproof composition such for example as a composition such as that disclosed in; U. S. Patent No. 1,737,187. For collectively wrapping the individually wrapped units of to bacco to form a group package as shown-in Fig. 2, there may be used any suitable preserving wrape per'or bag. The group wrapper or bagmay be formed of any of the materials described above as j suitable for the individual wrapper or bag.

The container employed for holding the llldi- V vidually wrapped units and the group package may be a carton, box, can or oth er suitable container;

Referring to'Fig-Ll of the'drawing, a single unit of tobac'co'such as a cigar serving wrapper 2, suchior example as a wrapper of moistureproof Cellophane, in a known a manner. Assuming that the main retail container is to hold fifty two individual cigars, a substantial proportion of this' number, such for examplefas twenty-four cigarswhich have been in-.

dividually wrapped, as shown in. Fig. l, are now collectively wrapped to form a group as shown in Fig. 2 by means of a sheet of moistureproof Cellophane. To facilitate the, group wrapping of the twenty-four cigars there" is conveniently employed a packaging form 4 as illustrated in Fig. 2.

This form may be produced by folding a strip of stiif cardboard into a rectangle and sealing the overlapping edges 5 and 6 with a suitable adhesive. This packaging form may be provided with a bottom and/or with atop'of the same material, but for economy need only comprise side walls. Intofithis form is placed. four layers each comprising six cigars which have been individual ly wrapped. The package thus produced isthen wrapped in a collective wrapper 3, forexample, a sheet of moistureproof of the wrapper folded to form overlapping flaps 1 and 8 which are sealedagainst the .end of the.

form 4. The outermost edge of the wrapper'may be positioned to extend downward on one side of the package as shown in Fig. 2 and the edge is out along the lines A and B at each'end of the package to form a free flap 9, the flap being seale'd in the area III to the underlying sheet of Cellophane.

sitioned in a retailcontainer II consistingof a wooden .box as shown in Fig. 3. It will be noted that'the group package is ofsuch width that it 7 does not occupy theentirearea of the box II.

Thereforethe group package coacts with the side walls I2 and I3 and the tainer I I to form a space into which is packed the individually wrapped cigars. In the box shown in Fig. 3 this space is sufiiciently large to accommodate twenty-eight cigars.

It is to be understood a single preserving group package as shown in the I isenclosed in a pre-' Cellophane, and the ends end wall I4 of the container I I being occupied by the individually wrapped cigars I6.

The invention also contemplates that in addition to providing a portion of. the tobacco units with a greater number of wrappers than another portion thereof, the preserving characteristics of the collective or group wrappers may be varied by (a) forming these wrappers ofthicker material, or (b) forming these wrappers of more moistureproof material. j

In that embodiment in which the retail container comprises more than one group package.

the group wrappers may vary in preserving characteristics with respect to each other. For example the wrapper on the group I5 may be thicker or more moistureproof than the group wrapper on the group I5. Alternatively the group I5 may be enclosed in a greater number V of group wrappers than thegroup l5. By utilizing one or more of these embodiments, it is possible to vary the preservation time of the'units so that the individuallywrapped cigars will be preserved in a salable condition for X period 'of time, while the cigars in the group I5" will be preserved for 2X periods of time, and the cigars in the group I5 will be preserved for 3X periods of time. When the individually wrapped cigars I6 have been exhausted from the container, the flap 9 on the'group package as illustrated in Fig. 2 will be exposed in the space formerly occupied by the cigars'IB and upon pulling upwardly on this flap, the wrapper on the group package may be that insteadof having ar'ticleillustrated'in Fig. 3, a plurality of group, 7

packages may be formed and packed together.

'th a plurality of individually wrapped cigars'to form an article as shown in Fig. 4. In this figure the container I I holds'two group packages I5 and I5, the space defined by'the wall of the'group package I5 and the walls and end of the con- 1 V 56 The group package shown in Fig. 2 is then poreadily torn ofi. The individually wrapped cigars in the group package then may be dispensed in the usual manner.

-'By' the present inventionfithere has'been provideda novel method of preserving individual units of tobacco so as to retain'certain desired characteristics in some of the units for one peprisinga container enclosing a'plurality of loose cigars individually enclosed in separatepreserving wrappers or moistureproof Cellophane and enclosing at least two groups of such' individually wrapped cigars and each of said groups being enclos'ed'in another and separate preserving; wrappen: each of said groups and each of said first-mentioned cigars being independently re,- movable from said container.

2. A retail'package of preserved tobacco comprising a container enclosing a plurality of loose cigars individually enclosed in separate preserving wrappers of moistureproof Cellophane and enclosing at least two groups of such individually wrapped cigars and each of said groups being enclosed in another and separate preserving wrapper, the group wrappers differing from each other in their relative thickness, each of said groups and each of said first-mentioned cigars being independently removable from said con- Jtainer, 3.'A retail'package of presetved'tobacco comcigars individually enclosed in separate preserving wrappers of moistureproof Cellophane and enclosing at least two groups of such individually wrapped cigars and each of said groups being enclosed in another and separate preserving Wrapper, the group wrappers varying in their degree of relative moistureproofness, each of said groups and each of said first-mentioned cigars being independently removable from said 10 container.

SAMUEL J. SILBERMAN.

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