Cigarette With a Snuffer

This invention relates to cigarettes, and more particularly to cigarettes adapted with snuffer.

The smokers usually extinguish their finished stubs in ash trays which are placed in the rooms, corridors and lobbies of buildings or in the gardens or other outdoor places where smokers smoke. If there are not such ash trays, the smokers have to extinguish their finished stubs by stamping them on the floors or on the ground.

The smokers experience inconveniences in disposing of their finished stubs particularly when they smoke cigarettes in a room without an ash tray, since an unextinguished stub can be a cause of a fire even when thrown away in outdoor places. Furthermore, the discarded cigarette stubs litter floors, ground and lawns, necessitating additional labor to keep them clean.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette adapted with a snuffer so as to eliminate the inconveniences and difficulties as experienced with the existing cigarettes.

According to the invention, there is provided a cigarette, comprising a filter generally of a cylindrical shape, a cigarette having a cylindrical thin paper cover open at opposite ends and a roll of stuffed tobacco therein, a sleeve of an incombustible material having one end fit over and adhesively secured around the circumference of said filter and the other end forming a cylindrical extension projecting outwardly toward and over said cigarette, said extension of said extinguishing sleeve having a cylindrical cavity releasably holdin one end of said roll of tobacco. The sleeve may be formed from an incombustibilized paper sheet, or a hardly combustible paper or an incombustible material. The smoker can enjoy the cigarette in the same manner as with a filter-tipped cigarette up to the margin of the cylindrical extension. The cigarette becomes extinguished of itself if left as it is, but it is desirable to extinguish it positively by wrapping the lit portions of the cigarette in the cylindrical extinguishing sleeve. On the other hand, when the cigarette stub to be discarded has a substantial length, it is drawn out from the cylindirical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve and then the opposite lit end of the cigarette is thrusted into the sleeve to extinguish itself within the limited space of the cylindrical cavity therefor. The extinguished cigarette can be quite safely kept in a the cigarette packet or in a pocket without littering the environment.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become clear from the following particular description of the invention and from the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show by way of example several preferred embodiments of the invention and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cigarette with a snuffer embodying the present invention with the sleeve shown in open, developed form;

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing on an enlarged scale the snuffer tip mounted on the cigarette of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing another embodiment according to the invention with the sleeve shown in open, developed form;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 2 showing on an enlarged scale the snuffer tip of the cigarette shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing still another embodiment of the invention with the sleeve shown in open, developed form;

FIG. 6 is a partical sectional view similar to FIG. 2 showing on an enlarged scale the snuffer tip of the cigarette shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing similar to FIG. 1 still another embodiment of the invention with the sleeve shown in open, developed form;

FIG. 8 is a view developed showing a sleeve of still another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a cigarette stub which is drawn out of the cylindrical sleeve shown in any one of the preceding embodiments, for example the embodiment of FIG. 3;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a lit portion of a cigarette stub which is thrusted into the cylindrical sleeve shown in FIG. 9 to extinguish itself: and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a stub of which the lit portion has been extinguished within the cylindrical sleeve shown in FIG. 9.

Referring to FIG 1, the cigarette in combination with the snuffer according to the invention comprises a filter 1 generally of a cylindrical shape, a cigarette 2 having finely-cut tobacco (not shown) rolled in a cylindrical thin paper cover 6 open at both ends, and an extinguishing sleeve 3. This extinguishing sleeve 3 is formed from a thin incombustibilized paper or from a suitable incombustible material such as aluminum foil and has one end fit over and securely adhered to the circumference of the filter 1 by means of any suitable adhesive agent 4 such as is well known in the manufacture of cigarettes. The other end of the cylindrical sleeve 3 is extended outwardly to form a cylindrical cavity for receiving one end of the cigarette 2. The inner surface of the extinguishing sleeve 3 contacting the paper cover of the cigarette 2 is free from the adhesive agent 4 and the cigarette 2 is retained releasably within the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve 3 by paper cover 6 of the cigarette 2, so that the cigarette 2 may be drawn out of the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve 3 by pulling the former with one' s fingers if desired. The extinguishing sleeve 3 has an extinguishing layer 7 of a suitable material such as powdered sodium bicarbonate or powdered amonium phosphate on the inner surface of the cylindrical extension to ensure extinction of the cigarette when the lit end of the cigarette is inserted into the cylindrical cavity.

The inner surface of the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve 3 is further provided with a layer 8 of a heat-sensitive adhesive powder made of glue or silicone resin so that when the lit end portion of the cigarette is thrusted into the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve 3, the lit end portion is held securely therein by the adhesive powder. The extinguishing sleeve 3 has adhesively connected to the marginal edge of the cylindrical extension a thin expansible member 9 of an annular shape and of a material which has a thermal expansion coefficient larger than that of the extinguishing sleeve 3. The expansible member 9 is expanded by the heat of the lit end portion of the cigarette and serves to facilitate the insertion of the cigarette 2 into the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve 3.

Referring to the modification shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cylindrical extension of the extinguishing sleeve 3' which is in contact with the outer surface of the cigarette 2 is internally coated with an incombustible non-adhesive film layer of such as aluminum foil or glass fiber.

An adhesive agent such as starch thickening is applied over the entire inner surface of the extinguishing sleeve 3' before putting the sleeve around the filter 1 and the cigarette 2, including the area with the just-mentioned non-adhesive layer. As a result, the filter 1 and the extinguishing sleeve 3' are adhesively bonded to each other, however, the adhesive agent on the inner surface of the cylindrical extension contacting the cigarette 2 is deposited on the external surface of the latter to form thereon a layer 4', of the transferred adhesive, without allowing adhesive bondage between the extinguishing sleeve 3' and the cigarette paper 6 due to the existence of the non-adhesive film layer on the outer surface of the cigarette 2. Thus, the sleeve 3' releasably holds the cigarette 2 within the cylindrical cavity over the layer of the adhesive agent deposited on the cigarette paper.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6 which show another modification according to the invention, the inner surface of the cylindrical extinguishing sleeve 3 is applied with an adhesive agent only in the area which is wound around the circumference of the filter 1 and a narrow area 4" in the form of an annular stripe along the marginal edge of the cylindrical extension, as indicated by hatching. The extinguishing sleeve 3 is formed with perforations 12 the narrow adhesive layer 4" so that the cigarette 2 which is normally retained in the cylindrical cavity of the sleeve 3 by the adhesive layer 4" may be separated from the sleeve 3 easily along the perforations 12 when it is desired to thrust the opposite lit end of the cigarette into the cylindrical cavity of the sleeve 3 for extinction.

Still another embodiment according to the invention is shown in FIG. 7. It shows a cigarette with snuffer, comprising: a cigarette having a cylindrical thin paper cover open at both ends; a filter of a cylindrical shape and provided at one end of said cigarette; an extinguishing sleeve made of an incombustibilized paper sheet, hardly combustible paper or incombustible material applied around said filter and a part of said cigarette; said extinguishing sleeve having an inner side coated with adhesive material 13, and said thin cover paper of the cigarette being coated or soaked at the end facing said extinguishing sleeve with an adhesive weakening agent as shown at 10 with hatched lines; the extension of said extinguishing sleeve having a cylindrical cavity for releasably holding therein the end of said cigarette.

A still further embodiment according to the invention is shown in FIG. 8. In this case a cigarette with self-extinguishable tip comprises: a cigarette having a cylindrical thin paper cover and open at both ends (not shown); a filter (not shown) of a cylindrical shape and provided at one end of said cigarette; an extinguishing sleeve made of an incombustibilized paper sheet, hardly combustible paper or incombustible material and coated on its inner side with adhesive material 11 so as to be secured to the circumference of said filter and having a cylindrical extension projecting toward said cigarette; said extension of said extinguishing sleeve being coated with adhesive weakening material on its inner side and having a cylindrical cavity for releasably holding therein one end of said cigarette. In other words, the adhesion weakening agent is applied not to the paper (FIG. 7), but to the sleeve.

FIG. 9 shows by way of example a cigarette stub 2 which is drawn out of its cylindrical sleeve 3, both of which may be as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 3; FIG. 10 shows a lit portion of a cigarette stub which is thrusted into the cylindrical sleeve to extinguish itself: and FIG. 11 shows a stub 2 of the lit portion of which has been extinguished within the cylindrical sleeve 3.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, should the smoker desire to smoke the cigarette without the filter 1, the cigarette 2 may be drawn out from the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve 3 or separated from the latter by tearing along the mentioned perforations as previously described before lighting, after smoking thrusting the lit end of the finished stub for extinction into the cylindrical cavity of the extinguishing sleeve which has been kept separately by the smoker in a pocket or in the cigarette packet.

The filter 1 has been described and shown as being of the single filter type in the foregoing embodiments, however, it will be appreciated that a multiple number of disc type filters of acetate or active carbon may be connected one after another in the longitudinal direction of the cigarette, if desired.

While there have been shown and described several embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is understood that the same is not limited thereto but is susceptible of various changes and modifications by the person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.