Title of the Invention

Tear strip opening device for a Cigarette Container

The present invention relates to a tear strip opening device for a cigarette container made of silver paper and more particularly, to an improved cigarette container having a tear tab disposed next to an attaching band thereof for easily and readily opening the cigarette container.

Description of the Prior Art

Cenerally, many types of cigarette containers made of silver paper for protection cigarettes from absorbing mois¬ ture are well known. Such cigarette containers are wrapp¬ ed with cellophane paper. A cellophane container form¬ ed by the cellophane paper has a tear strip tape wound along the upper portion of the cellophane container. When such cigarette container is opened by the user, after the upper portion of the cellophane paper is removed from the cello¬ phane container by detaching the tear strip tape, the silver paper cigarette container is torn off by tearing a surface portion in the vicinity of an attaching band of the cigaret¬ te container through the finger or a paper opener. However, these cigarette containers suffer- from a number of disadvan-

tages, such as a paper opener or a finger must be ^" used for opening these cigarette container.

Object of the Invention

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tear strip opening device for a cigarette container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide and improved cigarette container containing a tear strip opening device disposed next to an attaching band of the cigarette container, wherein the tear strip opening device has a tear tab such as a handle and a slot portion disposed adjacent the attaching band for easily and readily opening the cigarette container.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Briefly described, the present invention relates to an improved cigarette container having a tear strip opening device disposed next to an attaching band of the cigarette

container for easily and readily opening the cigarette con¬ tainer .

Brief Description of the Drawings

The present invention will become more fully under- stood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illus¬ tration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein :

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the cigarette con- tainer containing a tear strip opening device according to the present invention illustrating the removal of the upper portion of the cellophane cigarette container;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a preassombled cigarette container including the tear strip device according to the present invention; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the cigarette con¬ tainer having the tear strip opening device according to the present invention to be used.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Referring now in detail to the drawings for the pur¬ pose of illustration preferred embodiments of the present invention, the tear strip opening device for a cigarette container as shown in Fig. 1,2 and 3, which comprises a

cigarette container 1 made of silver paper and a tear strip opening member disposed adjacent, an attaching band 5 of the cigarette container 1. The tear strip opening member includes a handle 7 such as a tear tab and a slot portion 2 for easily and readily opening the cigarette contianer 2 by pulling the handle 7. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, although the slot portion 2 tears along an extension line thereof, the slot portion 2 is supported by one top surface portion 9 so that the cigarette container 1 is sealed for preventing the cigarette powder from falling out from the cigarette container 1. Also, after the handle 7 is pulled by the user, the user can easily tear off another top surface por¬ tion 7 and one side top surface portion 8 throuhg the finger, The attaching band portion 5 is attached to the top surface portions 6 and 9 and extends to side walls of the cigarette container 1.

In operation, the silver paper to be formed into the cigarette container 1 is provided with the tear tab 7 and the slot portion 2. After the cigarette container 1 is constructed by folding the silver paper along its crease lines, it is ready to be used. That is, a plurality of cigarettes (not shown) can be inserted into the cigarette container 1 and the cigarette container 1 can be sealed at the surface with a glue. As shown in Fig. 1, at that time, an upper cellophane paper is removed from the cigaret¬ te container 1 by detaching a detachable tear strip tape (not shown) , the cigarette container 1 is wrapped with a

lower cellophane paper 3. After the handle 7 is pulled by the finger, the top surface portions 6 and 9 and the side top surface portion 8 can be easily cut off by the finger so as to remove the cigarette from the cigarette container 1 one by one(Fig. 3) . Thus, the tear strip opening member according to the present invention is very simple in con¬ struction, economical to manufacture, durable in use, and refined in appearance.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included in the scope of the following claims.