EP3162734B1

EP3162734B1 - Rigid packet of smoke articles with a hinged lid

Info

Publication number: EP3162734B1
Application number: EP16195371.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Roberto Polloni; Luca Federici
Original assignee: GD SpA
Current assignee: GD SpA
Priority date: 2015-10-29
Filing date: 2016-10-24
Publication date: 2018-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 2036-10-24
Also published as: PL3162734T3; EP3162734A1; ITUB20155004A1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is related to a rigid packet of smoke articles with a hinged lid provided with a heat-sealable outer wrapper.
The present invention can be advantageously applied to a packet of cigarettes, which the following disclosure will explicitly refer to without losing generality.

BACKGROUNG ART

The rigid packets of cigarettes with a hinged lid are the packets of cigarettes currently more spread on the market because they are simple to make, are easy and practical to use, and offer a good protection to the cigarettes contained therein.
A rigid packet with a hinged lid includes an inner wrapper made of metallized paper fully wrapping a group of cigarettes, and a container body housing the inner wrapper and provided with a hinged lid. The container body is cup-shaped and has an open top end. The lid, also being cup-shaped, is hinged to the container body along a hinge to rotate, with respect to the container body, between an open position and a close position of the open end. Usually, a collar is provided, which is folded "U-like" and is connected inside the container body to partially protrude outside the open end and to engage a corresponding inner surface of the lid when the lid is arranged in the close position.
It is known that tobacco is very sensitive to the external environment effects, because when contacting the atmosphere, it tends to modify its organoleptic characteristics both because of the humidity variations (tobacco can dry too much, or it can adsorb too much humidity), and for the evaporation of the volatile substances used to soak tobacco (especially in case of cigarettes having particular aromas like menthol).
In order to preserve the integrity of the tobacco in the cigarettes, the packets of cigarettes are polybagged, i.e. they are covered with a heat-sealed outer wrapper made of a waterproof plastic material. However, the heat-sealed outer wrapper could be not enough to fully preserve the organoleptic characteristics of the tobacco contained in a packet of cigarettes, particularly when the packet of cigarettes is consumed after a certain period of time since its production. Moreover, at the first opening of the packet, the outer wrapper is at least partially eliminated and therefore the tobacco of the cigarettes contained in the packet contacts the external environment; if the cigarettes contained in the packet are not quickly consumed after the first opening of the packet, the organoleptic characteristics of the tobacco contained in the remaining cigarettes can be obviously degraded.
In order to try to overcome the above-described drawback, rigid packets of cigarettes have been proposed, for example of the type described in the European patent EP2250103B1 , wherein the inner wrapper is waterproof, is sealed by means of heat-sealing, and includes a wrapping sheet made of waterproof material having an opening for the extraction of the cigarettes, which is closed by a reusable closing label; particularly, the closing label is provided with a strip of non-permanent repositionable glue which does not dry and allows locking the closing label more than once in a closing position of the extraction opening of the cigarettes.
A known drawback of a rigid packet of cigarettes with a sealed inner wrapper and provided with a closing label is that, in order to extract a cigarette from the packet, the user must first open the lid and later must also open the closing label by grabbing a graspable tab of the closing label; particularly, the opening operation of the closing label can be quite difficult, especially in case of a user having reduced manual skills, because the graspable tab of the closing label has reduced dimensions. In order to overcome that drawback, it was proposed to increase the dimensions of the graspable tab of the closing label; however such a graspable tab having increased dimensions inevitably comes out from the lower edge of the lid making more difficult to keep the lid in the close position, it tends to get entangled in the external objects causing the accidental opening of the lid, and compromises the appearance of the packet of cigarettes with the closed lid.
The European patent EP2155568B1 solves the above-mentioned problem by permanently gluing a bottom tab, i.e. an end tab, of the closing label permanently and inseparably to an inner surface of the lid. By making the bottom tab of the closing label permanently integral with the lid, it is possible to obtain the concurrent lifting of the closing label together with the lid.
Another problem, in common with the packets of cigarettes of the type described in EP2250103B1 and EP2155568B1 , is that those packets are expensive to make. Actually, there is the need to provide in the packaging machine a phase where the closing labels are applied on the wrapping sheet or, alternatively, to buy wrapping sheets being already provided with closing labels with a clear increase in the production costs of the packet of Other packets of cigarettes are known from documents US2011/042249 A1 , US2005/130822 Al and US4947994 A , the latter disclosing a package according to the preamble of claim 1.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to provide a rigid packet of smoke articles with a hinged lid being free of the above-described drawbacks and, particularly, being easy and inexpensive to make.
According to the present invention, a rigid packet of smoke articles with a hinged lid is provided according to what claimed in the attached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention now will be described referring to the attached drawings, which illustrate one of its exemplary and non-limiting embodiments, wherein:

figure 1 is a front axonometric view and in a closed configuration of a packet of cigarettes according to the invention;
figure 2 is a rear axonometric view and in a closed configuration, of the packet of cigarettes of figure 1;
figure 3 is a front axonometric view, in a closed configuration, and with an outer wrapper removed, of the packet of cigarettes of figure 1;
figure 4 is a rear axonometric view, in a closed configuration, and with an outer wrapper removed, of the packet of cigarettes of figure 1;
figures 5 to 9 are rear axonometric views illustrating a step of first opening of the packet of cigarettes of figure 1;
figure 10 is a plan view of a wrapping sheet used to make the outer wrapper of the packet of cigarettes of figure 1;
figures 11 and 12 are plan views of a first layer and of a second layer of the wrapping sheet of figure 10, respectively; and
figure 13 is a plan view of an inner surface of the second layer of figure 12.

PREFFERED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In the figures 1 to 9, with the number 1, a rigid packet of cigarettes is shown as a whole, extending along a main extension longitudinal axis X.
According to what shown in the figures 3 and 4, the packet 1 of cigarettes includes a container body 2, made of paperboard or cardboard, which is cup-shaped and has an open top end 3 (shown in figure 9); a lid 4, also made of paperboard or cardboard and being cup-shaped, which is hinged on the back of the container body 2 along a hinge 5 in order to rotate, with respect to the container body 2, between a closed position (shown in the figures 3 and 4) and an open position (shown in figure 9) of the open top end 3; an inner wrapper 6 (shown in figure 9), which encloses a group of cigarettes, not shown, is housed in the container body 2, and it is composed by a wrapping sheet made of metallized paper provided with a top portion being tearable at the first opening of the packet 1 of cigarettes; and an outer wrapper 7 enclosing the container body 2 and the lid 4 (figures 1, 2, 5 to 9).
According to what shown in the figures 3 and 4, the container body 2 together with the lid 4, when the lid 4 is in its closed position, define a rigid container with a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a top wall 8 and a bottom wall 9 being parallel and opposite to each other, a front wall 10 and a rear wall 11 being parallel and opposite to each other, and two lateral walls 12, 13 being parallel and opposite to each other.
Between the front 10 and rear 11 walls, respectively, and the lateral walls 12 and 13, four longitudinal edges are defined, which are arranged parallel to the main extension longitudinal axis X of the packet 1 of cigarettes, namely parallel to the cigarettes of the group of cigarettes, while between the top 8 and bottom 9 walls and the front 10, rear 11 and lateral 12, 13 walls eight transversal edges are defined, which are arranged perpendicularly to the main extension longitudinal axis X of the packet 1 of cigarettes, namely perpendicularly to the cigarettes of the group of cigarettes.
In the embodiment shown in the attached figures, all the edges have right angles; according to other perfectly equivalent embodiments not shown, at least part of the longitudinal and/or transversal edges can be beveled or rounded.
The packet 1 of cigarettes also includes a collar 14, shown in figure 9, which encompass the inner wrapper 6; it is internally glued to the container body 2 and protrude from the open top end 3 of the container body 2. The collar 14 has a front wall 15, which is glued to an inner surface of the front wall 10 of the container body 2, and two lateral walls 16, 17, which are arranged on opposite sides of the front wall 15 and are folded by 90° with respect to the front wall 15. The front wall 15 of the collar 14 has a top recess that is "U-shaped" and has the function of making easy to extract the cigarettes from the inner wrapper 6. The collar 14 has the function of keeping the lid 4 in the close position with a certain strength in order to avoid an undesired opening of the lid 4; that "locking" function of the lid 4 in the close position is carried out by the collar 14 because, when the lid 4 is in the close position, the collar 14 (partially protruding from the open top end 3 of the container body 2) engages a corresponding inner surface of the lid 4: in this way, in order to open the lid 4, it is necessary to elastically and slightly bend the lid 4 and/or the collar 14 and therefore it is necessary to apply a certain force to the lid 4 in order to open the lid 4 itself. According to a preferred embodiment shown in figure 9, the front wall 15 of the collar 14 is provided with a pair of claws 18 laterally protruding in order to engage with interference the lid 4 when the lid 4 is in the closed position in order to keep the lid 4 in the closed position with a greater strength.
According to the embodiment shown in the figures 1, 2, 5 to 9, the outer wrapper 7, when the lid 4 is in its closed position, has a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a top wall 19 (facing the top wall 8 of the rigid container) and a bottom wall 20 (facing the bottom wall 9 of the rigid container) being parallel and opposite to each other, a front wall 21 (facing the front wall 10 of the rigid container) and a rear wall 22 (facing the rear wall 11 of the rigid container) being parallel and opposite to each other, and two lateral walls 23, 24 (facing the lateral walls 12, 13 of the rigid container) being parallel and opposite to each other.
The outer wrapper 7 is formed by directly folding a wrapping sheet 25, shown in figure 10 (including a plurality of panels that will be marked with accented reference numbers being equal to the reference numbers marking the corresponding parts of the outer wrapper 7), around the container body 2 and the lid 4, in order to directly contact the container body 2 and the lid 4 and to completely wrap the container body 2 and the lid 4. Once the wrapping sheet 25 has been folded around the container body 2 and the lid 4, the shape of the outer wrapper 7 is stabilized by means of heat-sealing the overlapping portions of the wrapping sheet 25.
The wrapping sheet 25 is formed from a plastic laminated material that is waterproof and heat-sealable and includes at least an innermost first layer 26, shown in figure 11, being fixed to an outermost second layer 27, shown in the figures 12 and 13.
Preferably, the first layer 26 is glued to the container body 2 and the lid 4 by means of a permanent glue causing a permanent gluing, which also in use is never separated, of the first layer 26 to the container body 2 and the lid 4, and includes a first intended separation line 28, being obtained through the first layer 26 but not through the second layer 27, in order to ease the separation of a first portion 29 of the wrapping sheet 25 being fixed to the lid 4 from a second portion 30 of the wrapping sheet 25 being fixed to the container body 2.
In an alternative embodiment, if the heat-sealable wrapping sheet 25 has also the quality of being heat-shrinkable, the heat-sealing allows the wrapping sheet 25 being wrapped in an adequately stable way around the underlying container body 2 and lid 4, namely being not easily removable from the container body 2 and the lid 4 also without the mentioned permanent glue.
The first intended separation line 28 (shown as a dot-and-dash line) is formed, for example, by a plurality of cuts being mutually separated by joining sections, or by a continuous cut, the cuts being made in the wrapping sheet 25, for example, using a laser cut device. Moreover, the first intended separation line 28 is placed at consecutive walls of the rigid container and includes a front section 31, which extends perpendicularly with respect to the main extension axis X of the packet 1 of cigarettes and being placed at the front wall 10 of the rigid container, and lateral sections 32, 33, which extend transversally with respect to the main extension axis X of the packet 1 of cigarettes and being placed at respective lateral walls 12, 13 of the rigid container. More precisely, the first intended separation line 28, when the wrapping sheet 25 is folded around the container body 2 and the lid 4, follows a first linear path, being substantially arranged at, i.e. overlapped to, a separation line 35 (figures 3 and 4) separating the container body 2 from the lid 4, when the lid 4 is in the close position.
The second layer 27 includes a second intended separation line 36, being obtained through the second layer 27 but not through the first layer 26, in order to ease the separation of a reclosable adhesive panel 37, formed by a portion of the second layer 27, from an underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 facing the front wall 10 of the rigid container. The adhesive panel 37 is fixed to the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 by means of a non-permanent repositionable glue 39 (which does not dry), namely remaining always sticky, i.e. a glue allowing separating and then joining again the parts also after a long time; in that way, the adhesive panel 37, when the lid 4 is placed in the close position, adheres to the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 in order to close (seal) the packet 1 of cigarettes, and it can be temporarily lifted from the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 in order to allow extracting a cigarette through the open top end 3 of the container body 2 (figure 9).
In other words, the presence of the non-permanent repositionable glue 39, which is present on a bottom surface of the adhesive panel 37, causes a temporarily gluing between the adhesive panel 37 and the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26, in order to allow the adhesive panel 37 being separated several times (i.e. at each opening of the packet 1 of cigarettes) from the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 and then being joined again to the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26.
More precisely, the non-permanent repositionable glue 39 is placed below the front section 31 of the first intended separation line 28, when the adhesive panel 37 adheres to the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26.
The reclosable adhesive panel 37, at one free end thereof, is provided with a graspable tab 40, which is without glue. The graspable tab 40 is adapted to ease the grasp of the adhesive panel 37 when lifting the adhesive panel 37 itself; in other words, in order to lift the adhesive panel 37, a user can easily grasp the graspable tab 40, which is not by any means fixed to the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 in contrast to the remainder of the adhesive panel 37.
In order to ease further the lift of the adhesive panel 37 from the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26, friction promoting means 41 are provided, which are arranged or obtained on an outer surface of the graspable tab 40 of the adhesive panel 37. The friction promoting means 41 has the function of increasing the longitudinal friction of the graspable tab 40 in order to ease the separation of the reclosable adhesive panel 37 from the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26, and include a high friction material, for example an ink strip, and/or a knurl and/or an embossing.
The above-mentioned second intended separation line 36 (shown with a dot-and-dash line) is formed, for example, by a plurality of cuts mutually separated by joining sections, or by a continuous cut, the cuts being made in the wrapping sheet 25, for example, using a laser cut device. Moreover, the second intended separation line 36 is placed at consecutive walls of the rigid container and includes a "U-shaped" front section 42, being placed at the front wall 10 of the rigid container and defining a profile of the adhesive panel 37, lateral sections 43, 44, extending transversally with respect to the main extension axis X of the packet 1 of cigarettes, being placed at respective lateral walls 12, 13 of the rigid container and overlapping the lateral sections 32, 33 of the first intended separation line 28, and rear sections 34, 45, extending transversally with respect to the main extension axis X of the packet 1 of cigarettes and placed at the rear wall 11 of the rigid container.
More precisely, the second intended separation line 36, when the wrapping sheet 25 is folded around the container body 2 and the lid 4, follows a second closed path, inside which there is the first path being defined by the first intended separation line 28.
The second closed path delimits a removable adhesive strip 46 being fixed to an underlying portion 47 of the first layer 26 by means of a non-permanent repositionable glue 48 (figure 5). The adhesive strip 46, at a free end thereof, being substantially placed at the rear wall 11 of the rigid container, is provided with a graspable tab 49, which is without glue. The graspable tab 49 is suitable to ease grasping the adhesive strip 46 when removing the adhesive strip 46 from the first layer 26 of the wrapping sheet 25; in other words, a user can easily grasp the graspable tab 49 in order to remove the adhesive strip 46, which is formed by a portion of the second layer 27 of the wrapping sheet 25 and is fixed to the underlying portion 47 of the first layer 26 by means of the non-permanent glue 48.
Referring to figure 13, there is shown a map showing a possible glue distribution on an inner surface of the second layer 27 of the wrapping sheet 25. Particularly, with a narrow hatching there are shown the areas A of the inner surface of the second layer 27 on which a non-permanent repositionable glue 39, 48 has been deposed, without hatching there are shown the areas B of the inner surface of the second layer 27 without glue (at the graspable tabs 40, 49), and with a larger hatching there are shown the areas C of the inner surface of the second layer 27 on which a permanent glue 50 has been deposed (figure 13), causing a permanent gluing, i.e. also in use it is never separated, between the first layer 26 and the second layer 27 of the wrapping sheet 25.
The opening steps of the packet 1 of cigarettes according to the invention are shown referring to the figures 5 to 9.
First, through the graspable tab 49, the adhesive strip 46 is removed from the underlying portion 47 of the first layer 26 (figure 5).
Later, one acts on the friction promoting means 41 in order to break a portion of the front section 42 of the second intended separation line 36 and to lift the graspable tab 40 of the adhesive panel 37 from the underlying first layer 26 (figure 6).
Still later, by means of the graspable tab 40, the adhesive panel 37 is lifted from the underlying portion 38 of the first layer 26 (figures 7 and 8) and it continues to be lifted until breaking the first intended separation line 28 and positioning the lid 4 in the open position (figure 9).
The above-described packet 1 of cigarettes has several advantages.
First, the above-described packet 1 of cigarettes is particularly inexpensive because it does not require applying a closing label on the wrapping sheet 25. The function of the closing label, namely to seal an access area to the group of cigarettes, now is carried out by a separable portion (the adhesive panel 37) of the wrapping sheet 25 itself. The absence of the closing label also involves that the above-described packet 1 of cigarettes can be made in a simpler packaging machine that those otherwise needed to make the packets described in EP2250103B1 and EP2155568B1 .
Moreover, the outer wrapper 7 makes available a wide surface on which messages/images intended for the consumer can be printed. That makes still more inexpensive the above-described packet 1 of cigarettes, because printing on the wrapping sheet 25, being formed by a plastic laminate, is far less expensive than printing directly on the container body 2 and the lid 4, made of paperboard or cardboard.
Further, the packet 1 of cigarettes according to the invention is easily usable also by users having reduced manual skills. Actually, lifting/lowering the adhesive panel 37 allows simultaneously opening/closing the lid 4 that is driven by the adhesive panel 37, which is integral with the lid 4 itself through the first portion 29 of the wrapping sheet 25.
Moreover, the presence of the adhesive strip 46 acts as a seal of warranty for the consumer, namely it makes immediately clear whether the packet 1 of cigarettes has been already opened.
According to a different embodiment not shown, the second separation line 36 follows a second linear path, namely being not closed, and the packet 1 of cigarettes is without the adhesive strip 46.
In that case, the integrity of the second intended separation line 36 acts as a seal of warranty for the consumer, namely it makes immediately clear whether the packet 1 of cigarettes has been already opened.
According to another embodiment not shown, the second intended separation line 36 does not include the rear sections 34, 45 and the graspable tab 49 is placed at a lateral wall 23, 24 of the outer wrapper 7.

Claims

A packet (1) of smoke articles comprising:
a cup-shaped container body (2) having an open top end (3) and housing a group of smoke articles;

a lid (4) which is hinged to the container body (2) along a hinge (5) to rotate, with respect to the container body (2), between an open position and a closed position of the open top end (3); and

an outer wrapper (7) enclosing the container body (2) and the lid (4); characterised in that the outer wrapper (7) is formed by a heat-sealable laminate wrapper sheet (25) comprising at least a first layer (26) fixed to a second layer (27);

the first layer (26) is fixed to the container body (2) and to the lid (4) and comprises a first intended separation line (28) to separate a first portion (29) of the wrapper sheet (25) fixed to the lid (4) from a second portion (30) of the wrapper sheet (25) fixed to the container body (2); and wherein

the second layer (27) comprises a reclosable adhesive panel (37) fixed to the first layer (26) by means of a non-permanent re-stickable adhesive (39) to rotate the lid (4) between the open position and the closed position for separating, along the first intended separation line (28), the first portion (29) of the wrapper sheet (25) from the second portion (30) of the wrapper sheet (25).
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 1, wherein the reclosable adhesive panel (37) comprises a devoid of adhesive grip tab (40) at a free end thereof.
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 2, wherein an outer surface of the grip tab (40) of the adhesive panel (37) has friction promoting means (41) to increase longitudinal friction so as to promote separation of the reclosable adhesive panel (37) from the underlying first layer (26), wherein the friction promoting means (41) comprises a high friction material, in particular an ink strip, and/or a knurling, and/or an embossing.
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first intended separation line (28) is obtained through the first layer (26) of the wrapper sheet (25) but not through the second layer (27) of the wrapper sheet (25).
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second layer (27) comprises a second intended separation line (36) which defines a free edge of the adhesive panel (37) and is obtained through the second layer (27) of the wrapper sheet (25) but not through the first layer (26) of the wrapper sheet (25).
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 5, wherein the container body (2) and the lid (4) define, when the lid (4) is in the closed position, a rectangular parallelepiped shaped rigid container; and wherein the first intended separation line (28) is arranged at consecutive walls of the rigid container and comprises a front section (31) arranged at a front wall (10) of the rigid container, and lateral sections (32, 33) arranged at respective lateral walls (12, 13) of the rigid container; and wherein the second intended separation line (36) is arranged at consecutive walls of the rigid container and comprises a front section (42) arranged at the front wall (10) of the rigid container and defining the free edge of the reclosable adhesive panel (37), lateral sections (43, 44) arranged at respective lateral walls (12, 13) of the rigid container and, optionally, rear sections (34, 45) arranged at a rear wall (11) of the rigid container.
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 5, or 6, wherein the first intended separation line (28) follows a first path and the second intended separation line (36) follows a second path, wherein the second path is a closed path and the first path lies within the second closed path.
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 7, wherein the first path is a linear path and is arranged substantially at a separation line (35) which separates the container body (2) from the lid (4).
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 7, or 8, wherein the second closed path delimits a removable adhesive strip (46) in the second layer (27), which removable adhesive strip (46) is glued to the underlying first layer (26) by means of a non-permanent re-stickable adhesive (48).
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to claim 9, wherein the removable adhesive strip (46) comprises a devoid of adhesive grip tab (49) at a free end thereof.
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to any one of claims 5 to 10, wherein the first intended separation line (28) and the second intended separation line (36) are formed by a plurality of cuts which are mutually separated by joining sections, or by a continuous cut.
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the second layer (27) comprises zones (C) in which there is a permanent adhesive (50) to permanently fix the second layer (27) to the first layer (26).
Packet (1) of smoke articles according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the first layer (26) is glued to the container body (2) and to the lid (4) by means of a permanent adhesive.