Tubular container having a tear opening means

Claim 1

A container comprising a tubular sleeve having opposite end portions and a pair of end closures secured to said end portions to close the sleeve, said sleeve being formed from an initially flat substantially rectangular blank of a stiff base material, such as cardboard, that has a layer of weldable material over the surface thereof that is at the interior of the sleeve, said blank having a pair of opposite end edges which are at the end portions of the sleeve and having a pair of opposite side edges which are adjacent to one another at a side seam extending along the sleeve from one to the other of its said end portions, said container being characterized by: A. a joining strip at the interior of the sleeve and adhering to said weldable layer, overlapping the margins of the blank at its side edges and all along said side seam to hold said side edges in abutting relationship to one another and seal the side seam; B. said blank having a tear opening tongue which is spaced from both of said end edges of the blank and which projects from one of said side edges and across the other one and overlies the exterior surface of the sleeve near the side seam; C. said sleeve having therein an outer pair and an inner pair of spaced apart cut lines all of which extend around the sleeve parallel to said end edges of the blank and which cooperate to define a tear strip that is removable by pulling outward on the tongue and removal of which divides the container into two parts that are hingedly connected with one another by said joining strip, (1) said outer cut lines being substantially aligned, respectively, with opposite edges of the tongue and extending partway into the base material from the outer surface thereof, and (2) said inner cut lines being between said outer cut lines and spaced from both of them and extending from the inner surface of the blank through said weldable material and partway into the base material.