Hooded carton with reclosure lock

Claim 1

A reclosable, hooded, carton with an integral locking feature, formed from a unitary blank of foldable paperboard, comprising in combination: a. a body having bottom, front, rear, and side walls hingedly interconnected to form a box-like structure open at the top; b. a cover having a top wall hinged at its rear edge to an upper edge of said body rear wall and having depending from its front and side edges front and side panels which are interconnected at the corners of the cover to form a hood for enclosing upper marginal areas of the body front and side walls, respectively; c. means for providing interlocking engagement between said cover hood front panel and said body front wall, upon reclosure of the carton after initial opening, comprising a relative narrow, transversely extending lock strip formed from stock of an upper marginal portion of said body front wall and reverse folded outwardly and downwardly between said body front wall and said cover hood front panel; d. said lock strip comprising: i. one section detachably connected at its upper edge to an upper edge of said body front wall, free from attachment to another section of said lock strip, and adhesively secured to said cover hood front panel so that when the cover is initially opened said one section will be detached from said body front wall and will become a part of said cover hood front panel; ii. said one section having spaced end portions aligned with spaced mating portions on said other section and presenting an upwardly facing edge surface engageable with a downwardly facing edge surface on said other section to prevent accidental opening of the cover after the cover has been reclosed; e. said body front wall being characterized by the absence of said lock strip thereon after initial opening but for the presence of the spaced mating portions of said lock strip thereon.