Patent ID: 8584844

Claim:
A package for smoking articles comprising: an outer shell having two major lateral walls and two minor lateral walls; and a plurality of inner shells, each adapted to receive smoking articles, the inner shells being slideable relative to the outer shell along a common straight line to provide access to the smoking articles, each inner shell being independently slideable in the outer shell; the outer shell comprising: a first open end providing a first access opening at one end of an inner shell, that is bounded by said two major and said two minor lateral walls, through which a first of the inner shells is slideable in engagement with said two major lateral walls and two minor lateral walls; and a second open end providing a second access opening that is bounded by said two major and said two minor lateral walls and disposed at the opposite end of the inner shell to said one end, through which a second of the inner shells is slideable in engagement with said two major lateral walls and two minor lateral walls, the inner shells being independently slideable along the common straight line in opposite directions from a closed configuration, in which both of the inner shells are within the outer shell, to a fully open position; and wherein a respective locking means is provided for each inner shell, each locking means being adapted to limit the movement of the inner shell relative to the outer shell, thereby defining the fully open position, beyond which further movement of the inner shell is one of restricted and prevented.