BOX CONTAINING A SNAPPER DEVICE

Abstract: A box container (40) having an internally attached snapper device (35) such that when the box is manually opened by rupturing a weakened area (23) with the thumb and tearing the top of the box open, it activates the snapper device (35) and causes a small explosion to occur. The snapper device (35) is made of a frictionally detonatable explosive composition.

Description: BOX CONTAINING A SNAPPER DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Snapper devices have been known and used for many years as amusement toys. See, for example, U.S. 1,246,315; 1,253,500; 1,290,300; and 1,622,606. Similarly, the prior art has known quick opening boxes, such as U.S. 1,152,355, which have a weakened area which is ruptured by pushing one's thumb into the area permitting the top to be ripped off. No one has attempted to provide a quick opening box fitted with a snapper device that will be detonated when the box is ripped open. It is an object of this invention to provide a quick opening box that includes a snapper device to be detonated when the box is opened. Other objects will appear from the more detailed description of this invention which follows. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A paper box with a snapper device inside the box and adapted to detonate upon opening of the box comprising a paper box having at least three side panels, and sufficient end flaps to enclose the two ends of the box, one side panel having a weakened area adjacent one end thereof adapted to be forci¬ bly ruptured, a snapper strip comprising two separate strip sections extending longitudinally outward from a central por¬ tion of the strip where the two sections are attached in a frictionally detonatable explosive device adapted to detonate when the two sections are suddenly pulled apart from each other, one of said sections being affixed to said weakened portion of said side panel having a weakened area will cause the strip section attached thereto to be suddenly separated from the other strip section and produce an explosion. In a specific embodiment of this invention the box is rectangular with a top, a bottom, two broad side panels, and two narrow end panels with the weakened area at the top of an end panel and the snapper device attached to the in¬ side of that same end panel adapted to be exploded when the weakened area is pushed inwardly. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The novel features believed to be characteristic of OMPI this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organi¬ zation and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the ac¬ companying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a plan view of the outside of the box blank of this invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the inside of the box blank of this invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the assembled box of this invention. FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the inside of the box of this invention showing four alternative embodiments for the attached snapper device. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the method of opening the assembled box of this invention. FIG. 6 is a side elevational view partially in cross-section, showing the opening of the assembled box of this invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In FIGS. 1-3 there may be seen the basic structure of the box in which a snapper device is attached in accordance with this invention. The assembled box 40 is shown in FIG. 3. The box blank is shown in FIG. 1(outside) and FIG. 2(inside) . Box 40 is shown here as rectangular, which is the more common shape for most containers. It is to be understood, however, that the box may have three or more than four sides, or be cylindrical, conical, pyramidal, or other shapes and still be within the scope of this invention. For illustrative purposes and in the interests of being brief, the rectangular box is the only one shown in these drawings. The box blank as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has two broad side panels 11 and 13 and two narrow side panels 10 and 12 with respective broad top end flaps 15 and 17, narrow top end flaps 14 and 16, broad bottom flaps 19 and 21, and narrow bottom flaps 18 and 20. A suitable sealing tab 22 is attached to side panel 13 to be sealed to end panel 10 when the box is assembled. FIG. 1 shows the outside of the box as a flat blank. In assembling the box blank into box 40 it is neces¬ sary to employ glue or a suitable adhesive at various loca¬ tions to hold the panels and flaps in place so as to form a totally enclosed box to be used as a container for whatever article is desired. A typical machine laid glue design is shown on FIGS. 1 and 2 as heavy solid lines where glue is applied in the form of a line. Glue line 26 on tab 22 will meet glue line 27 on the inside of panel 10 when the box is assembled. Similarly, glue line 28 on top end flap 17 will meet glue line 29 on the inside of top end flap 15. Glue line 32 on bottom end flap 21 will meet glue line 33 on the inside of bottom end flap 19. The above three pairs of glue lines, when mated, will hold a normal rectangular box together. In the box of this invention there are weakened por¬ tions built into the box to facilitate the opening of the box at a specified location so that a snapper device will explode when the box is opened. In order to specify the location for opening, certain areas are weakened, as by minute perforations, so that the box is easily ruptured manually, preferably by thumb pressure followed by pinching the ruptured portion and ripping the top open as depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6. In FIGS. 1 and 2 those weakened areas are shown as dotted lines 23, 24, and 25. Line 23 is shown in semicircular form at the top of panel 12. Lines 24 and 25 are connected to the two ends of line 23 and extend along the top of panels 13 and 11 respec¬ tively. Actually lines 24 and 25 are along the fold lines be¬ tween adjacent side panel and end flap. Line 24 is the fold line between side panel 13 and end flap 17. Line 25 is the fold line between side panel 11 and end flap 15. In order to assure proper operation in opening box 40, there should be a pair of mating glue lines in addition to the three pairs de¬ scribed above. Glue line 30 mate.s with glue line 31 on the inside of flap 17 to make sure that the ruptured semicircular portion of panel 12 will be securely attached to flaps 15, 16 and 17 so that all of these flaps will stay together when the top is torn off along weakened lines 24 and 25. OMPI The snapper device to be used in this invention may be seen in FIGS. 4A and 6, showing a top view and a side view, respectively. These devices are available through commercial channels and, in general, are constructed as shown in U. S. Patents 1,246,315; 1,253,500; and 1,290,300. Each device 35 has two separate sections held together with a paper tape in the central area. Upper strip section 36 and lower strip section 37 each has components of a frictionally detonatable explosive composition attached to it in the central portion 38 where the strips overlap and are wrapped with a paper tape 44 to hold sections 36 and 37 together in the form of a single strip. The snapper device 35 is attached at the upper end of section 36 to semicircular weakened portion 23 by a glue spot 34. Lower strip section 37 of snapper device 35 is attached to the lower part of side panel 12 by glue spot 42. Snapper device 35 explodes when upper section 36 is pulled away from lower section 37 causing the frictional detonation device in explosive composition 38 to be set off. In FIG. 4 there are shown several alternative struc¬ tures which employ snapper devices and are considered to be embodiments of this invention. In FIG. 4A there is employed a single snapper device 35A attached to the inside of box 40 as described above. In FIG. 4B there are shown two snapper devices 35B laid on top of each other, and each being attached to weakened portion 23 at the top and to side panel 12 at the bottom. This embodiment provides a double explosion if foth devices 35B function properly, or alternatively, it provides a safety structure which, hopefully, would produce at least one explosion in the event that a misfire occurred to one device. In FIG. 4C there also are two snapper devices 35C arranged side-by-side rather than one on top of the other as in FIG. 4B. The two devices 35C are attached to box 40 in the same way and they serve the same purpose as those described with respect to FIG. 4B. In FIG. 4D there is shown a single snapper device 35D with the explosive portion 38 encased in a protective envelope 39. This embodiment might be employed aim when the contents of box 40 are food or some other article that might be contaminated by the explosion of snapper device 35D. It is to be understood that the embodiment of FIG. 4D is intended to include the use of single or mul-r tiple snapper devices 35D encased in envelope 39. FIGS. 5 and 6 show the operation of the device of this invention. Assembled box 40 with snapper device 35 installed interiorly is opened by manual pressure of thumb 41 pushing inwardly on weakened portion 23 to cause it to break away from panel 12 and be pushed inwardly. As seen in FIG. 5 when thumb 42 is pushed further inward, weakened lines 24 and 25 are torn and the top of box 40, comprising overlapped end flaps 15 and 17, is ready to be ripped open, usually by pinching the torn portion of the box between the thumb and forefinger and pulling the top off. This causes upper strip section 36 to be sharply pulled away from lower strip section 37 and detonation of explosive portion 38 to occur. The attached drawings show weakened areas defined by lines 23, 24 and 25, with line 23 delineating an area to be pushed inwardly by finger pressure. Other designs are also operable for opening a box and simultaneously causing a snapper device to explode. For example, line 23 may be angular, curved, or merely a linear connection between lines 24 and 25. In the latter instance an outer tab or strip may be included for gripping manually and facilitating tearing the top of the box off. It is, of course, necessary to attach the upper strip section 36 to. the box top, the tab, or the strip so that the snapper device will function when the top of the box is torn off. While the invention has been described with re¬ spect to certain specific embodiments, it will be appre¬ ciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore, by the ap¬ pended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. O ?I W WIPO

Claims: CLAIMS: -6- 1. A paper box with a snapper device inside the box and adapted to detonate upon opening of the box, the paper box having at least three side panels and sufficient end flaps to enclose the two ends of the box, and the snapper device having two separate strip sections extending longi¬ tudinally outward from a central portion of the strip where the two sections are attached in a frictionally detonatable explosive device adapted to detonate when the two sections are suddenly pulled apart from each other; wherein the im¬ provement comprises one side panel of the box having a weakened area adapted to be forcibly ruptured, one of the strip sections of the snapper device being affixed to said weakened area and the other strip section being affixed to the unweakened portion of said side panel having a weakened area such that rupture of the weakened area will cause the strip section.attached thereto to be suddenly separated from the other strip section and produce an explosion. 2. The box of Claim 1 having four side panels, two opposing panels being relatively broad and two being rela¬ tively narrow, with the weakened area being located in one of the narrow panels. 3. The box of Claim 2 having a top and a bottom with the weakened area comprising a generally semicircular area adjacent the top, positioned such that an unweakened diam¬ eter of the semicircular area coincides with the top edge of the panel and a weakened generally semicircular curved line extends downwardly in that panel, and two weakened « lines extend from the ends of the curved line along the top edges of the broad side panels adjacent the narrow panel containing the weakened area. 4. The box of Claim 3 wherein said snapper strip ' com¬ prises two narrow strips of paper aligned lengthwise with one end of each strip overlapping and lightly attached to each other in the overlap area with the components of a frictional detonator on the two overlapped portions. . O PI 7 .. WwIiPpOo 5. The box of Claim 1 wherein the two strip sections are attached to the box by glue. 6. A rectangular paper box container having a top, a bottom, two broad side panels and two narrow end panels and having inside thereof a strip snapper device having two strips of paper aligned lengthwise with a short length of the strips overlapping and attached to each other through a frictionally detonatable explosive composition; wherein the improvement comprises the strip snapper being attached to the inside of the box at the top of the end panel con¬ taining the weakened area with one end of the strip snapper being attached to the weakened area and the other end of the strip snapper being attached to an unweakened area of the box and being adapted to detonate when the box is opened by manually rupturing the weakened area and tearing the top of the box. open. 7. The box container of Claim 6 wherein the strip snapper is attached by glue to the inside of the said narrow end panel having the said weakened area. 8. The box container of Claim 6 wherein one of said end panels is weakened adjacent the top by a generally semi¬ circular weakening line extending downwardly from the edge formed by the top and the end panel, and the weakening line extending along the edges between the top and the two broad side panels. 9. The box container of Claim 6 wherein said strip snapper device comprises two strip snappers with their re¬ spective ends fastened to each other in parallel. 10. The box container of Claim 6 wherein the portion of the snapper device containing the frictionally detonatable explosive composition is encased in an envelope capable of containing the products of detonation.

Inventors: SOMERS JOHN, SOMERS, JOHN
Applicants: SOMERS JOHN, SOMERS, JOHN
Application year: 1983
Main classification: A63H5
IPC codes: A63H37