WHITMAN, Mass. -- A Whitman, Mass., couple have patented Steppin' Outs, a pack of 20 color-coded cigarettes in three different sizes. The idea, according to a report by The Enterprise News, is that smokers can either gradually reduce their intake in order to quit, or those who don't can still have a shorter smoke break without wasting most of a cigarette.
The three sizes of Steppin' Outs are green for regular-sized cigarettes, yellow for midsized cigarettes and red for small-sized cigarettes. A patented step-spacer separates the cigarettes according to size.
Steppin' Outs would sell [image-nocss] for about half the cost for a regular pack of cigarettes, now at about $7, said Dean Roberts, the inventor with his wife, Michelle, of Steppin' Outs.
After Michelle came up with the idea when she became annoyed whenever her then-boyfriend Dean stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, the couple contacted the Invention Submission Corp. (ISC), which conducts background research on patent ideas to determine their novelty and sales potential. The ISC looked as far back as the 1800s to see if anyone had come up with a similar idea, and nobody had. The ISC reported back to the Roberts with a top "A" rating for their patent idea.
On March 3, 2005, the Roberts filed an official patent application with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and on May 27 this year, the couple received a letter from the agency, the report said. The letter stated that their patent application had been approved and that the Roberts had exclusive rights to the patent.
Since their patent approval, the Roberts have received dozens of letters from marketing companies, they told the newspaper. The marketing company they chose will then make a formal proposal to major cigarette companies for the sale or licensing of Steppin' Outs, they said.
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