US222778A - Improvement in cigar-boxes - Google Patents

Description

n rarns ATENT OFFIo-E.

WILLIAM FREDRIOKS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN CIGAR-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,778, dated December 23, 1879; application filed July 15, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM Fnnnnroxs, of the city, county, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements'in Cigar-Boxes; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is such a full, clear, and exact description thereof as will enable others skilled in the art tomake and use the same.

In said drawings, Figure 1 represents said box with a perspective view, both of its lids being shown as open. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of said box, bot-h lids being closed. Fig. 3 represents an endelevation of said box, the top lid being open. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of one corner of the box, showing particularly the construction andmode of attachment of the top-lid fastening.

Under the restrictions imposed by the present laws of the country, it is required that cigars shall be packed in boxes or box-like packages, and be sold therefrom. This has led to the adoption by the trade of many construciions of box that not only facilitate the exhibition of the stock contained in the box, but aid the convenient removal of one or more cigars at a time therefrom until the entire contents are disposed of.

My invention relates to this class of cigarboxes, and not only aims to produce a box that is very cheap in its cost, (since the law prohibits its second use,) but one so constructed that each cigar contained in it may be readily examined, and the same conveniently removed in retailing or using them.

Said invention, consists, primarily, in a cigar-box having a bottom, ends, and rear sides, and provided with a hinged top lid, as is usual, whereby the upper layer of the cigars may be exposed to view and the contents conveniently removed, which box has a partial front side or narrow strip, beneath which it is furnished with a front lid, whereby the layers of cigars will be held in place, and those underlying the top layer may be examined either by inspecting their ends or removing one or more single cigars.

The invention also embraces an improved form of hinge for the top lid and a novel fastening for its front lid.

In order to a perfect understanding of my improvements, I will nowproceed to explain the same in all their details. 7

The box is constructed of thin pieces of wood-preferably cedar-and, being rectangular in form, is composed of a bottom, A, sides B O, and ends D E, which are secured together, in the usual manner, by nails or gluing, or both.- It is provided, as is common, with a top lid, F, hinged to the rear side, E, which lid may be provided with any usual means for retaining it closed. The front side, D, does not cover the entire front of the box, as is ordinarily the case, but is provided throughout its lower section with a lid, G,

that may be hinged in any common manner, and fastened in its closed position by any simple means.

Thus is constituted a box which, when filled with cigars packed therein in layers, as is the custom, may be readily opened to permit an inspection of the quality or condition of its contents by raising the lid F, which exposes the top layer, and by opening the lid G, which exposes the layers packed underneath the top layer. Each cigar may thus be examined either by visual inspection in its packed condition or by removal. Such a box, when opened, as in Fig. 1, also affords a highly desirable means for exhibiting its contents for sale.

A box thus constructed also admits the removal for use or sale from a sin gle package of cigars in various conditions. Thus if a dry or well-cured cigar is desired it maybe obtained from the top layer, where the cigars are most exposed to the air, and consequently the driest; but if a fresh or damp cigar is desired, it may be removed from either of the layers underlying the top layers. Such construction also enables the entire contents to be evenly freshened or tempered, since when its lids are opened the humid airin a freshing-case may enter freely and permeate the whole mass, since it may have a free circulation and act equally on all the cigars.

Cigar-boxes usually have their top lids secured by a muslin hinge-joint, which lids are held closed by tie-strin gs. The present structure is improved by a hingejoint that is composed of a right-angular plate, 2, attached to the top of the lid F by simple rivets, as 3, and

pivoted to the back E of the box by a pivot or pin, 4, which is driven through the end piece, B or O, and longitudinally into the back E, which plate 2 may occupy a slot betwen the end of said back E and the end piece, or overlie the latter, which construction provides a simple, strong, and inexpensive hinge.

To facilitate the opening of the lid F, I have provided the same with a spring-arm, 5, that, projecting from a spiral coil, 6, that is secured to the back E, presses against the cover F and forces the same upward; and to retain this lid in its closed position I have provided it with catches 7 at opposite ends, which co-operate with spring catch-bars Sthat are attached to the endsB O, and protrude into the box sufiiciently to engage said catches 7. Thus, when the lid F is closed the inclined sides of these catches 7, meeting the faces of the catch-bars 8, force said bars aside till the recessed parts of the catches permit the bars 8, by their resiliency, to press into said recesses, whereupon the lid will be held closed. One set of these devices will ordinarily sufficc.

In order to conveniently release the catches from the catch-bars, the latter are extended through the front D and terminate in thumbpieces which lie in recesses in said front D, so as not to protrude therefrom, and yet be conveniently disposed, so as to be operated by the lateral pressure of the thumb.

Thus constructed the box-lidF may be readily closed by pressing it downwardly, when it will be secured by the automatic action of the catches 7 and catch-bars 8, and upon disengaging said catch-hars the spring-arm 5 will immediately operate to raise the cover to its open position.

To retain the front lid in its closed position I have devised a peculiar structure of turnbutton, the same consisting of a flat metal plate pivoted centrally, and provided with a hook, 9, at one end and a projecting stud, 1, at the other, which hooked end engages a simple headed pin, 10, that projects from the front D. I thus provide a fastening that does not materially project beyond the face of the box, and yet forms a simple and effective means for securing the lid in its closed position.

What therefore is claimed is 1. A cigar-box consisting of a bottom, A, ends B 0, rear side,'E, a partial front side or narrow strip, D, a hinged front lid, G, and a hinged top lid, F, each of the lids controlling access to the entire interior of the box, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the lid F, of the hinge formed by a right-angular plate, 2, attached by rivets 3, and pivoted to the back E by a driven pin or pivot, 4, substantially as described.

3. The sheet-metal turn-button provided with a hooked end, 9, and with a projecting stud or pin, 1, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM FREDRICKS.

Witnesses:

H. T. MUNsoN, Gno. H. GRAHAM.

Images