Dispensing package for paper-cup ashtrays and the like

Nov. 25, 1969 d. l. rowland 3,480,179

DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE

Filed April 18, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1

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Nov. 23» 1969 d. l. rowland 3,480,179

DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE

Filed April 18, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2

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ATTORNEYS

Nov. 25, 1969 d. l. rowland

3,480,179

DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER-CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE

Filed April 18, 1968

Sheets-Sheet 3

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ATTORNEYS

United States Patent Office

3,480,179

Patented Nov. 25, 1969

3,480,179 DISPENSING PACKAGE FOR PAPER CUP ASHTRAYS AND THE LIKE David L. Rowland, 49 W. 55th St, New York, N.Y. 10019 Filed Apr. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 722,351 Int. Cl. B65d 83/00

U.S. Cl. 221—63 5 Claims

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A package for holding and dispensing paper-cup ashtrays and the like. A stack of flattened ashtrays, each with an area of pressure-sensitive adhesive on its back surface near an upper edge and above the upper edge of the next ashtray below in th stack, enabling adhering each ashtray to a vertical surface, is enclosed in a dispenserwrapper made from material that is easily released from the pressure-sensitive adhesive. The wrapper covers the pressure-sensitive adhesive and temporarily adheres thereto», and a tear strip portion on the dispenser-wrapper is at least as wide as the area of pressure-sensitive adhesive and runs between the upper and lower ashtrays of the stack, enabling the package to be opened as desired for dispensing therefrom one ashtray at a time.

As shown in my U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 615,814, filed Feb. 13, 1967, ashtrays resembling paper drinking cups can be made from laminated foil or fireresistant paper or plastic. These ashtray cups are generally flattened and stack compactly. One important purpose of that invention was to provide an inexpensive disposable ashtray of a type which could be placed on the back of the chair in front of the user, to replace the systhem of glass ashtrays set on top of many of the chairs in an auditorium. Hence, these disposable ashtrays were provided with a pressure-sensitive adhesive area near the top of their rear surface so that they could be adhered to vertical surfaces, such as the backs of chairs.

Since pressure-sensitive adhesives readily sticks to practically anything, it is important that it be covered or protected with a layer of paper or plastic, such as wax paper or polyethylene, which does not stick readily to these pressure-sensitive adhesive and which can be readily peeled from them. Even so, it is often a laborious task to remove the protecting paper¹, for the user has to get his thumbnail under the paper to pull it off, and when a great number of cups have cover pieces peeled individually from them, the operation of setting up the paper ashtrays over an auditorium becomes quite tedious.

The present invention combines an easily removed protecting cover with a unique easy-opening wrapper which also serves as a dispenser for the ashtrays, one at a time.

In addition to the particular paper-cup ashtray described in my earlier application, simpler ones may be made from foil-backed paper or from other fire-resistant material; such simplified astrays are likewise provided with pressure-sensitive areas needing a covering, and to these the invention also applies.

The invention thus accomplishes several purposes. The wrapper is provided with a pull tab or strip which, when pulled, tears open the passage; at the same time, it uncovers the pressure-sensitive areas which it had previously covered. Also, the tab can be pulled off a pressure-sensitive adhesive area, and one’s thumb then pressed against the inner back surface of a cup to push the pressuresensitive area against a desired wall or chair back or other vertical surface. Then the whole package is pulled down, and the cup is dispensed from the package. Before

GO such use, the package protects the pressure-sensitive areas of the cups, and the pressure-sensitive area may also help to hold the package together.

Also, the invention enables keeping the cups clean and enables rapid placement of a large number of cups onto vertical surfaces, such as the backs of a number of chairs, shortly before a meeting. Various aspects of the invention will beshown and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of some preferred forms of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a dispensing package of paper-cup ashtrays with pressure-sensitive adherent areas, all embodying the principles of the present invention, the package being shown in the closed, unopened position.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of the package of FIG. 1 being opened by a user who has pulled the pull strip up from the bottom.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged view in perspective of a portion of FIG. 2 showing how a heat-seal line holds two layers together on one side of the pull strip.

FIG. 4 is another fragmentary enlarged view in perspective of the same portion as FIG. 2 as seen from the opposite side and showing how the edge of the inner layer of the pull strip serves as a cutting edge to rip the outer layer.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the upper portion of a modified form of the package of FIG. 1 in which, in place of tucking the upper ends of the wrapper into the cup, the upper end is heat sealed.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a pattern from which the package wrapper of FIG. 1 is made.

FIG. 7 is a view in perspective of a modified form of package embodying the principles of the invention, in which the tab for the pull strip is located at the top instead of the bottom.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the upper portion of the package of FIG. 7 in the course of being opened.

FIG. 9 is a view in perspective showing how an uppermost cup is dispensed from the partially opened package of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a pattern for the package wrapper of FIGS. 7 through 9.

A package 20 is shown in FIG. 1 to include a wrapped stack of paper-cup ashtrays 21. Each ashtray 21 resembles the flattened type of paper drinking cup having tapered end walls 22 and 23 so that the ashtrays 21 stack readily. Being provided with closed bottom ends 24, the ashtrays 21 can hold ashes that are flicked into them and can hold extinguished cigarettes or stubs. These ashtrays 21 are necessarily made from fire-resistant material, such as a laminate of paper and metal foil or nonburning paper, so that they will not catch fire when used. Each ashtray 21 is provided with an area 25 of pressure-sensitive adhesive, which may be rectangular, as shown in the drawings, or may be some other shape. In the preferred form of the invention that is illustrated, this adhesive area is located near the rear upper edge 26 of the ashtray 21 and goes down to approximately the edge of the next lower ashtray 21. The areas 25 may be applied as a strip to a stack of ashtrays 21. The pressure-sensitive adhesive area 25 needs some sort of protection, and a feature of this invention is that, instead of using individual pieces of waxed or other peelable paper, an entire wrapper 30 made from such material is used.

The wrapper 30 of FIGS. 1-4 is like a sock with an open end 31 and a closed bottom edge 32, which may be heat sealed from a flat sheet 33 (FIG. 6). The upper edge 31 is tucked into the uppermost ashtray 21. The pat3_;480,179 ³ tern 33, as shown in FIG. 6, has a fold line 34 to indicate where the upper edge 31 is folded over though the fold line need not be an actual physical portion of the flat pattern 33. At the bottom are two outer projections 35 and 36 which are longer than the central portion and which are separated from a central bottom portion 37 by a pair of notches 38 and 39. When the blank 33 is wrapped around the stack of ashtrays 21, it is heat sealed along a line 40 at the bottom and along a vertical line 41 parallel to the side edges 42 and 43 of the pattern 33. At this time, the projections 35 and 36 lie one above the other, and so do wrapper portions 45 and 46 above them. The vertical heat seal 41 thus lies close to and parallel to the edge 42, and the two projections 35 and 36 become a unified pull tab 44 of double thickness, available to help open the package 20 from the bottom. The pressure-sensitive adhesive areas 25 on the ashtrays 21 help to hold the wrapper 30 in place on the cups, while the heat-seal lines 40 and 41 hold the wrapper 30 together as a sock and adhere the outer layer 46 to the inner layer 45. With somewhat thicker paper, it is not necessary to have the overlap, and a tear strip may be provided with only one thickness and only one projection. In either event, the wrapper 30 is made from wax paper or other material that is readily peelable from the pressuresensitive adhesive areas 25 without pulling off or damaging the adhesive.

In use, as shown in FIG. 2, the one who wishes to dispense the ashtrays, pulls the tear strip 44 upwardly, and the notches 38 and 39 cause the strip 44 to tear away from the rest of the wrapper 30. The heat-sealed edge 41 holds the two pull-strip wrapper layers 45 and 46 together, and therefore the inner and outer layers are pulled up together to rip the package 20 open, as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the inner edge 43 serves as a cutting edge to rip the outer layer above it. As the tear strip 44 is pulled up further, the exposed pressuresensitive areas 25 are freed, and the lowermost ashtray 21 can be pulled out from the bottom and its area 25 pressed against a chair or other vertical surface; withdrawal of the lowest ashtray 21 exposes the next one and makes it available. The tear strip 44 may be pulled up only part way to dispense a needed number of ashtrays and the rest of the package left as is, to be opened further later when dispensing other ashtrays. Thus, the ashtrays 21 can be dispensed one at a time.

In FIG. 5 a modified form of package 50 is shown in which, instead of the upper edge 31 being tucked in, the upper edge 31 is closed by a heat seal 51. This enables the ashtrays 21 to be kept somewhat cleaner, although this is seldom necessary. At any rate, the opening operation is the same, the pull strip again working from the bottom.

FIGS. 7 through 10 show a package 60 as an instance of a modified form of the invention, it being realized that other modifications are, of course, also practical. Here again, the same type of stack of ashtrays 21 is shown, but in this instance a wrapper 61 is heat sealed (or glued) across a flat bottom 62 and the upper edge 63 is provided with a tear strip 64 that projects up from the top of the package 60, while the remainder of the upper edge 63 is tucked in. A blank 65 enabling this is shown in FIG. 10; the tear strip 64 is provided by two elongated notches 66 and 67 separating the tear-strip portions 64α and 64Z&gt; from a central strip 68. Outer and inner layers 70 and 71 are heat sealed together by a line 72 in the completed package 60, making a double-thickness pull strip 64. The beginning of ripping is shown in FIG. 8, in which the outer and inner layers 70 and 71 are being ripped, and the pressure-sensitive areas 25 are being exposed. In this form of the invention, as shown in FIG. 9, the dispensing may be done one ashtray 21 at a time. After the strip 64 has beeen pulled down a sufficient amount, one’s thumb is used to press the pressure-sensitive area 25 of the top ashtray 21 against a wall or chair, then the hand pulls the whole package containing the remaining ashtrays down while the top ashtray 21 is held by the thumb (or after it has been adhered in place), and the remainder of the package 60 is ready to go on for the next unit. The tucked-in portion may be unfolded before dispensing the top ashtray 21, or it will just come unfolded as the package is pulled down and the top ashtray retained by the thumb.

Although called an ashtray herein, the member 21 may be used for various other things, such as holding old razor blades and so on.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.