Improvements in Boxes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 10th July, 1893-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boxes.
I, JOHANN CARL SCHMAHL of Barmen, Beckmannshofstrasse, Germany,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in paper and other boxes which serve for
showing and presenting articles, as used for instance for certain classes of goods by
commercial travellers, that they can conveniently show the contents of the boxes.
Hitherto such boxes were simply closed by an ordinary cover and had to be opened.
Now my object is to enable the inspection of the contents without opening the box.
In order to attain this I construct the boxes as follows; reference having had to
the figures of the annexed drawing in which similar letters refer to similar parts.
Figure 1 shows in three views a, b and c respectively a plan, a longitudinal and a
cross section of a rectangular box with a covered show hole of oval form;
Figs. 2 a, &c are three similar views of a rectangular box with a similarly
shaped show hole;
Figs. 3 a, b &c represent an oval box in plan and in two sections at right angle
to each other, and by
Figs. 4, a, b & c is shown a square shaped box with a square show hole put
diagonally, and
Figs. 5, a, b and c represent a square box according to my invention having a
show hole of ornamental shape.
Figs. 6 a and b show a circular box in plan and diametrical cross section having
a covered show hole of similar shape put concentrical;
Figs. 7 a and b is a box with a transparent part on two opposite sides in the
lower part of the box.
My invention consists in cutting a hole of any suitable shape and size into the
cover of a box or, if such should be more convenient for the articles contained
therein, in cutting the hole into one of the other sides of the box or in several of
them.
This hole I shut up by pasting over it a piece of thin trausparent celluloid or
gelatine.
I prefer pasting the transparent covering piece to the bottom or inner side of the
card board, although it may be pasted also to the outer side.
The celluloid has the great advantage that it is as transparent as cristal, that it
is almost absolutely unbreakable and that it is very light. Because it is so very
thin it can be pasted to the card board or other material, of which a box may be
made, in a very convenient manner and it may also be bent, if required.
For the commercial traveller boxes of this class have the great advantage that
he can show their contents without opening them; the samples are guarded from
being exposed to the air which in many cases may be of great advantage and they
are protected from the touch of the fingers. The boxes with "show windows" of
celluloid are not breakable and they are as light as if made wholly of card board,
wood or the like; in fact the thin pane of celluloid is lighter than the cut out piece
of the other material.
I am aware that for boxes for toys sometimes the covers have been made of
glass, but of course this can not be compared to my invention and I also do not
claim generally the making of the cover or part of the same or an other side of a box
of a transparent material; I especially exclude glass and claim only celluloid or
gelatine for the reasons stated above.
In Figure 1, a, b and c A is the cover of the box, B the lower body, C is the

page_text: celluloid window fixed in the under side of the cover, in the example shown of oval
shape.
In Figure 2 A, B and C represent the corresponding parts as before; they
only differ from the foregoing by being made of rectangular shape throughout.
By Figures 3 a, b and c is shown a box of oval shape, having in its oval cover a
celluloid window C² of corresponding shape; A³ and B³ are respectively the cover
and lower body of the box.
Figure 4 shows a box of square shape, in the cover A³ of which a diamond
shaped hole is cut out, which is pasted up by the transparent celluloid sheet C³,
and by Figures 5 a, b and c is represented a square box having a celluloid
window C of ornamental shape; the parts A and B corresponding to the
respective parts of the other boxes described and shown before; further Figure 6
shows a round box having a circular concentrical window of celluloid C³;
A and B are respectively the circular cover and bottom part of the box; finally
Figs. 7 a and b shows a box in which the transparent celluloid windows C and C
are put on two opposite sides. The shape of this box may be cylindrical or
polygonal with straight sides; the celluloid may be bent or curved like the other
material, so that one is not limited to any form of the box also in this respect.
These examples show that my invention is independent of any shape of a box..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
In paper or other boxes the combination of the cover or of any one or more of
the sides of the box with a pane of transparent celluloid or gelatine which is pasted
or otherwise fixed over a corresponding hole cut out of the other material of which
the box is made, so as to allow easy inspection of the contents of the box without
requiring opening the same, the whole as set forth and shown.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1893.
JOHANN CARL SCHMAHL,
Per Karl J. Mayer,
Agent.