US339792A - Louis levi - Google Patents

Description

L. LEVI.l

GIGAR BOX.

Patented Apr. 13, 1886.

(No Model.)

vla WIL IYM/ Imran raras ATENT trice:a

LOUIS LEVI, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

CIGAR-BOX.

iilCIFILiTON forming part of Letters Patent No. 339,792, dated Apri113, 1886.

Application filed December 16, 1885. Serial No. 1S5,b73. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS LEVI, ofthe city and county of N ew York, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cigar-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

Expensive and ornamental boxes and showcases for cigars have been made with a false perforated bottom or plate above the bottom proper, so as to form a compartment into which may be slid a drawer containing moistened blotting-paper or other absorbent material containing moisture. Such a construct-ion, although suitable for showcases and fancy metal or wood boxes for holding cigars, and to be many times refilled, is not practicable for ordinary cigar-boxes in which cigars are packed and sold, because the construc-A tion of the box with a sliding drawer and a compartment to receive it add considerably to its cost and materially increase the depth of the box, so that more room is required for packing a number of boxes.

The object of my invention is to provide a cigar-box which will contain provision for keeping the contents moist, and which is not materially increased in cost or bulk over the ordinary boxes, whereby I enable manufacturers, without raising their prices and without sacrificing any material part of their profits, to pack and sell their cigars in my improved boxes.

The invention consists, essentially, in a cigar-box having a false perforated bottom arranged parallel with and at an approximately uniform distance from the bottom proper throughout its extent, thereby forning between it and the bottom proper a very shallow compartment, open at one side of the box, and a simple cover or shutter for closing the opening after a sheet of blotting-paper or analogous absorbent material has been inserted into the said compartment. I prefer to make the box with a dovetailed or rabbeted slidcway at the side opening, and to close the opening by a simple sliding shutter or strip fitting the slideway.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a box embodying my invention, the sliding shutter or covering-strip being partly withdrawn; and Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical sections of the box in planes at right augles to each other.

Similar letters of reference desi gnate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A designates the body of the box, which is closed by the usual lid, B, and at one of the sides of which is a narrow horizontal slot or opening, a, very near or close to the bottom proper, C.

At a point but very little above the bottom proper, C, is a false bottom, C', which is perforated throughout, and which may be held in place in any suitable manner.

As here shown,the front and back sides of the box are internally grooved at b, and the false bottom C is slid into place through the slot or opening a and into these grooves. In this or any equivalent manner I construct in the box and between the perforated false bottom or plate C andthe bottom proper, C, a very shallow compartment, c, which need only be deep enough to receive one or two sheets of blottingpaper or other absorbent material, d. The compartment c need not rbe at most more than an eighth of an inch in depth, and the false perforated bottom C' is arranged parallel with and at an approximately uniform distance from the bottom proper, C, throughout its extent.

The slot or opening a is closed by a simple cover or shutter, D, which forms no part of a drawer and is complete in itself. I prefer to dovetail or rabbet the opposite walls of the slot or opening a, so as to form a slideway into and out of which the correspondingly dovctailed or rabbeted cover, shutter, or strip D may be conveniently slid to close or expose the slot or opening a, and to permit the blotting-paper or other absorbent material d to be readily placed in or removed from the compartment 0.

It will be seen that by my invention I dispense entirely with any drawer, and enable the compartment c to be made very much less in depth than would be possible were a drawer used. I thus reduce the cost of the box and the bulk which it occupies and provide a box in which cigars may be packed and sold by manufacturers ot' cigars without raising their prices or materially reducing their profits.

The manufacturer or packer of cigars may IOO y meisten and place in the compartment c the blotting-paper or absorbent material, and the purchaser at retail may removethe absorbent material and meisten and replace it as often as may be necessaryv to keep the cigars in proper condition.

`1f desired, the box of cigars may be sold with the compartment empty, and the purchaser at retail, by paying no more than the price of the cigars in an ordinary box, will have a box into the compartment c of which he may introduce a sheet orpiece of blotting paper to keep the cigars moist.

I am aware of Letters Patent No, 219,819, granted September 23, 1879, to Knowlton, and I dovnot desire to include in my invention the box or show-case therein shown. Thatpatent shows and describes a show-case havingv an inclined glass top or front, and constructed with a series of steps or shelves, one above and behind another, the series of stepped shelves constituting a partition below. which is a large compartment of irregular shape, to which access is had by a hinged door at the back of the case. y

I am also aware of Letters Patent No.

` 303,069, granted August 5, 1884, to Swift, and

I do not desire to include in my invention such a box or show-case as is therein shown. In that patent there is a perforated false bottom, forming below it a compartment, to which is fitted a sliding drawer or tray. The emfor closing the compartment, and if the drawer were dispensed with the case vwould have no means of closing the compartment.

The essential object of my'inventionhas not been to provide a showcase, but to provide a.plain cigar-box which would afford convenient provision for keeping the cigars moist, and which would not cost materiallyl more than the ordinary cigar-box, so Vas t0 provide a box whichmanufacturers could use without increasing their prices for cigars.

NVh-at I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The cigar-box herein described, having a false perforated bottom, C', parallel with the bottom proper, and arranged at an approxi. mately uniform distance therefrom through# out its extent, thereby forming a very shal- V slideway in which the opening is lformed, and I also having a sliding strip or shutter for closing the opening, substantially as and for the f purpose herein set forth.

' LOUIS LEVI. Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNEs, HENRY McBRiDE.

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