Oh, patents! Oh, LifeSavers®!

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

LifeSavers®’ lore is sweet. According to Bellis (2025), the hard candy LifeSavers® were invented in 1912 as a heat-resistant, summer candy, an alternative to chocolate prone to melting. The first flavor was mint (Pep-O-mint). By 1919, six flavors were marketed (Wint-O-Green, Cl-O-ve, Lic-O-Rice, Cinn-O-Mon, Vi-O-Let, and Choc-O-Late). The five-fruit flavor packs (pineapple, lime, orange, cherry, and lemon) came in 1935 with flavor and formula variations to date. Most significantly, because the candies looked like little life preservers, they were called LifeSavers®.

LifeSavers® were initially packaged by hand in cardboard tubes. Tinfoil ply was introduced later to keep the candies fresher.  Machinery to package the candies was developed in the 1930s. In 2004, Wrigley acquired the company, introducing a new flavor (Hot Cin-O-Mon) and reintroducing an old mint flavor (Wint-O-Green), among other innovations. 

LifeSavers®’ two-ply, foil + wax, laminated packaging is a patented invention. The US utility patent US2926833, titled Life saver package, was awarded on March 1st, 1960, to Harry E. Engleson and Elmer D. Sramek. Specifically, the patent discloses both how the candies are wrapped and an improved way of opening the packages.  An improvement for accessing the candies, comprising a strand or thread that is secured inside the wrapper, with a protruding end that the user can pull to tear off the end of the wrapper, thereby enabling access to the candies.  

Below, the patent Figures 1 and 4, respectively depict perspective views of the stack of candies in position relative to the wrapper, and the opened package, using the opening strand. An image of an opened LifeSavers® five-flavor pack, currently marketed, is also included beneath the patent Figures 1 and 4.

Specifically, the patent Figure 1 shows a stack 11 of cylindrical candies 10, termed articles in the patent. The bottom of the stack 11 sits below the dotted fold line 22, and the top of the stack is just under the flexible opening strand or filament 19. The opening strand or filament 19, with its protruding end 20, is heat-sealed to the wrapping paper 12. The wrapping paper 12, is made of Rayseal, comprising an inner wax paper wall 18, and an outer aluminum paper wall 17. The flexible wrapping paper 12  has two parallel sides, 14 and 13, and two parallel top and bottom edges, 15 and 16. The top edge 15 will be folded and heat-sealed after the stack is tightly wrapped. 

The patent Figure 4 shows the wrapped stack 11, with an outer band of paper 30, used for labeling the product. The top 25 of the wrapped stack 11, is folded, heat-sealed, and torn off, using the protruding end 20 of the opening strand or filament 19.

References 

Bellis, M. (May 13. 2025). The History of LifeSavers® Candies. 

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-life-savers-candy-4076664 

LifeSavors® (official website)

https://www.life-savers.com/

Oh, patents! Stella by Stella McCartney®

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Stella by Stella McCartney® was the first Stella McCartney® perfume created. The floral fragrance(1) was released in 2003, and then discontinued. In 2014, the Stella by Stella McCartney eau de parfum was relaunched.

Interestingly, both the packaging, and the flask, for the 2014 Stella by Stella McCartney® eau de parfum were patented. Specifically, the US design patent USD538675S, titled Perfume bottle, assigned to Stella McCartney Perfumes (FR), was awarded on March 20, 2007, whereas the US design patent USD774906S, titled Packaging, assigned to Stella McCartney Ltd., was awarded on December 27, 2016.   

Below, two patent Figures 1, extracted from each of the design disclosures, respectively for the flask and packaging of the Stella by Stella MacCartney® eau de parfum, together with an image of the marketed perfume bottle and its packaging.

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Note

(1) The perfume was created by Jacques Cavalier, Master Perfumer for the House of Louis Vuitton. Fourth-generation perfumer, haling from Grasse, main perfume-producing southern city of France, Cavalier is the “nose” behind dozens of best-selling perfumes, including Van Cleef & Arpels Murmure, Yves Saint Laurent Opium Pour Homme (1995), Nu (2001), M7 (2002), and Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003), Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gio pour homme (1996), Christian Dior Midnight Poison (2007), Givenchy Hot Couture (2000), Carolina Herrera Chic (2002), Calvin Klein Eternity Moment (2004), plus many more (Fragrantica).  

References

Stella McCartney Inc.   https://www.stellamccartney.com

Fragrantica - https://www.fragrantica.com/noses/Jacques_Cavallier.html

Oh, patents! Spanx (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

US2007199134 A1

 US2015038052A1 

US2014317823 A1

US2006048547 A1

US2014273741 A1 

Reference
Spanx
www.spanx.com 

Oh, patents! Lovesac sacs

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Before Lovesac began marketing the versatile Sactionals, it was a gigantic puffy pillow packaged in a sac called a Lovesac that launched the company.

The original Lovesac is a huge, XXXXL bean-bag-looking item, packaged in a relatively small cubic duffle sac, that you are pressed to never call a bean-bag because it contains no polystyrene beads…! Rather, it is filled with premium shredded foam, called Durafoam, discarded from couch manufacturing, which makes it quite possibly the most comfortable pillow chair/sofa/bed on the face of the earth!

The largest of the Lovesac sacs is the original size, on which a couple of adults can comfortably sit or even lie down.  Since the original Lovesac, the product line includes a total of 6 sibling Lovesacs, of increasingly smaller size (from 88 to 6 cubic feet), the smallest of which accommodates a child. The Lovesac covers come in hundreds of fabrics, all of which (except leather) are machine washable.

©  Lovesac

The packaging method of the Lovesacs, called compressible furniture in technical terms, is patented. The patent US2004107675 titled Packaged furniture assembly and method thereof for compressible furniture discloses this invention.

Relying on a packaging method, the Lovesac invention generally addresses issues of shipment, transportation and storage for bulky furniture, such as sofas and beds, and in particular, for compressible furniture. The patented packaging method invokes vacuuming the air out of the bladder containing the compressible material of the furniture, and thus reducing the size and volume of the furniture. For example, once air-vacuumed, the largest pieces of compressible furniture are reduced to 5 % of their original volume, the intermediate pieces to 8 % and the small pieces to 10 %. This means that a large piece of compressible furniture, with about 86 cubic feet, is reduced to approximately 4 cubic feet!

As a result, once the air is vacuumed out of the Lovesacs, the sacs can be neatly packaged into duffle bags, that are in turn easily stacked, shipped, stored and transported. 

Thus, beyond the comfort and practicality of these puffy pieces of furniture, it is the packaging that is patented, which perhaps explains the brand-name term “sac”, in both the Sactional and the Lovesac. Even though both furniture packaging issues are resolved very differently, with a Lego™-inspired assembly system for the hardwood frame Sactional, and with vacuum for the shredded Durafoam Lovesac, this furniture is also all about mobility in a mobile world! In other words, it's about bringing home your sofa (or Sactional) in a sac...!

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Below, you will find the abstract for US2004107675 titled Packaged furniture assembly and method thereof for compressible furniture, and one of the patent figures showing different vacuuming forces, suctioning the air out of the furniture bladder.

The present invention provides a chair having a removable outer cover. The chair has an air permeable bladder which houses compressible filler material. The compressible filler material allows the chair to be selectively compressed between various compressed states. A method for packaging the chair is provided which significantly reduces the weight and size of the chair. The method includes placing the chair in a vacuum chamber and suctioning air from the chair. The vacuum chamber may be partially open or closed during storage. [Abstract US2004107675]

References
Lovesac -- www.lovesac.com
Herrmann, F (2015) Oh, patents! Sactionals posted at Patents on the soles of your shoes (June 20, 2015) 
http://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2015/06/oh-patents-sactionals.html 
US2004107675 Packaged furniture assembly and method thereof for compressible furniture
http://tinyurl.com/o54h9dm