PACK OF SMOKING ARTICLES WITH A HINGED LID AND A SEALED WRAP

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is related to Italian Patent Application No. 102021000028022 filed on Nov. 3, 2021, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a pack of smoking articles with a hinged lid and a sealed wrap.

The present invention finds advantageous application to the production of a pack of cigarettes, to which the following disclosure will make explicit reference without thereby losing generality.

PRIOR ART

Packs of cigarettes with hinged lid are the most popular packs of cigarettes currently on the market as they are simple to produce, are easy and practical to use, and offer good protection for the cigarettes contained within the same.

A pack of cigarettes with a hinged lid comprises a wrap made up of a group of cigarettes wrapped in a wrapping sheet and an outer casing that houses the wrap. The outer casing is made up by a cup-shaped container, which houses the wrap containing the group of cigarettes, and a lid, which is also cup-shaped and hinged to the container.

In a traditional pack of cigarettes, the group of cigarettes is wrapped in a glue-free rectangular foil wrap. This type of pack is easily recyclable but does not allow to preserve the integrity of the tobacco of the cigarettes.

In order to preserve the integrity of the tobacco of the cigarettes, it has been proposed to make a sealed (waterproof) wrap made up of a wrapping sheet made of waterproof and heat-sealable material provided with an extraction opening for the cigarettes, which is closed by a reusable closing label made of a plastic material. This type of pack allows to preserve the tobacco of the cigarettes but is difficult to recycle (as a separation of the different materials by the smoker is required).

Patent application WO2016001826A1 describes a pack of smoking articles comprising: a container; a lid hinged to the container; a group of smoking articles; and a wrap that encloses the group of smoking articles, which is housed in the container, and at the top and in front having a liftable portion separated from the rest of the wrap by a pre-weakened separation line which is torn off upon the first opening of the lid.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a pack of smoking articles with a hinged lid and a sealed wrap, which pack allows to preserve the tobacco of the cigarettes, has greater environmental sustainability and, at the same time, is simple and intuitive to use.

According to the present invention, a pack of smoking articles with a hinged lid and a sealed wrap, according to what is claimed in the attached claims is provided.

The claims describe embodiments of the present invention forming an integral part of the present description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate some non-limiting embodiments thereof, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view and in a closed configuration of a rigid pack of cigarettes;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the pack of cigarettes of FIG. 1 in a closed configuration;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the pack of cigarettes of FIG. 1 in an open configuration;

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a sealed wrap of the pack of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a group of cigarettes contained in the sealed wrap of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a reinforcement element coupled to the group of cigarettes of FIG. 5 and contained in the sealed wrap of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a plan view and devoid of folds of an alternative of the reinforcement element of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a wrapping sheet used to make the sealed wrap of FIG. 4;

FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 are three alternatives of the wrapping sheet of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a collar of the pack of cigarettes of FIG. 1;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of an alternative of the collar of FIG. 12; and

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a blank used to make a container provided with a hinged lid for the pack of cigarettes of FIG. 1.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 number 1 denotes as a whole a rigid pack of cigarettes with a hinged lid. The pack 1 of cigarettes comprises a cup-shaped container 2 made of cardboard or rigid paperboard and a sealed wrap 3 (illustrated in FIG. 3) housed inside the container 2.

The container 2 has an open upper end and is provided with a lid 4, which is cup-shaped and is hinged to the container 2 along a hinge 5 (illustrated in FIG. 2) so as to rotate, relative to the container 2, between an opening position (illustrated in FIG. 3) and a closing position (illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the open upper end. The container 2 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape oriented in a vertical development direction, is cup-shaped, and has an open upper end, a lower wall 6 opposite the open upper end, a front wall 7 and a rear wall 8 (wherein the hinge 5 is obtained) that are parallel and opposite one another, and two side walls 9, which are parallel and opposite one another. Four longitudinal edges are defined between the front 7, rear 8 and side 9 walls of the container 2, while four transverse edges are defined between the walls 7, 8 and 9 and the lower wall 6 of the container 2.

The lid 4 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, is cup-shaped, and has an open lower end (facing the open upper end of the container 2 when the lid 4 is in the closing position), an upper wall 10 (which is parallel and opposite the lower wall 6 of the container 2 when the lid 4 is in the closing position), a front wall 11 (which is parallel and aligned with the front wall 7 of the container 2 when the lid 4 is in the closing position), a rear wall 12 (which is parallel and aligned with the rear wall 8 of the container 2 when the lid 4 is in the closing position and is hinged to the rear wall 8 of the container 2 along the hinge 5), and two side walls 13 parallel and opposite one another (which are parallel and aligned with, in particular coplanar and adjacent, the side walls 9 of the container 2 when the lid 4 is in the closing position). Four longitudinal edges are defined between the front 11, rear 12 and side 13 walls of the lid 4, while four transverse edges are defined between the walls 11, 12 and 13 and the upper wall 10 of the lid 4. The longitudinal edges and the transverse edges of the lid 4 are parallel and aligned with the corresponding longitudinal and transverse edges of the container 2 when the lid 4 is in the closing position.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 12, the pack 1 of cigarettes comprises a collar 14, which is fixed (normally by gluing) inside the container 2 to partially protrude outside the open upper end and engage a corresponding inner surface of the lid 4 when the lid 4 is arranged in the aforementioned closing position. The collar 14 comprises a front wall 15 which is overlapped and glued to the front wall 7 of the container 2, two side walls 16 which are bent by 90° with respect to the front wall 15 and are overlapped and glued to the side walls 9 of the container 2.

The collar 14 has the function of keeping the lid 4 in the closing position with a given force to avoid unwanted opening of the lid 4; this “locking” function of the lid 4 in the closing position is performed due to the fact that when the lid 4 is in the closing position the collar 14 partially protrudes from the open end of the container 2 and therefore engages a corresponding inner surface of the lid 4: in in this way to open the lid 4 it is necessary to elastically and slightly deform the lid 4 and/or the collar 14 and therefore it is necessary to apply a given force to the lid 4 in order to open the lid 4. According to the embodiments illustrated in the attached figures, the front wall 15 of the collar 14 is provided with a pair of projections which protrude laterally to engage the lid 4 with interference when the lid 4 is in the closing position so as to keep the lid 4 in the closing position. According to a different embodiment not illustrated, the front wall 15 of the collar 14 is devoid of the projections.

According to a different embodiment not illustrated, the pack 1 of cigarettes is devoid of the collar 14.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the sealed wrap 3 contains a group 17 of cigarettes formed by twenty cigarettes with the filter arranged on three layers, but the group 17 of cigarettes may comprise a different number of cigarettes.

As illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the sealed wrap 3 also contains a reinforcement element 18 which is directly in contact with the group 17 of cigarettes and embraces the group 17 of cigarettes. The reinforcement element 18 is made of cardboard or rigid paperboard (completely similar to the cardboard or rigid paperboard making up the container 2), is “U”-shaped and comprises a front wall 19 having a rectangular shape, which is arranged in contact with a front wall of the group 17 of cigarettes and a pair of side walls 20, which are connected to opposite sides of the front wall 19 and are arranged in contact with the side walls of the group 17 of cigarettes. The front wall 19 has a window 21 which is arranged on the upper part, is “U”-shaped, and facilitates the extraction of the cigarettes from the group 17 of cigarettes as it leaves an upper area of the front wall of the group 17 of cigarettes exposed.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the sealed wrap 3 has a parallelepiped shape, encloses the group 17 of cigarettes, and is made up of a wrapping sheet 22 (illustrated in FIG. 8) that wraps the group 17 of cigarettes. The wrapping sheet 22 has a rectangular shape, comprises at least one layer of airtight and heat-sealable plastic (or bioplastic) material, is folded in a known manner around the group 17 of cigarettes, and is (preferably) stabilized by heat-sealing (obtaining a heat sealing of the overlapping portions of the wrapping sheet 22) so as to make the sealed wrap 3 sealed (namely, airtight).

According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the sealed wrap 3 that encloses the group 2 of cigarettes is made by folding the rectangular wrapping sheet 22 to initially form a tube having two open ends at the upper and lower walls, and then to close each tubular open end according to the traditional “soap-bar fold”, namely, by initially making two (smaller) side flaps 23 in the upper wall (as well as in the lower wall) and subsequently making two central (larger) flaps 24 and 25 having a trapezoid shape that overlap one another and are arranged above the side flaps 23. The front central flap 24 has a trapezoid shape having a major base coinciding with an upper edge of the front wall (namely, a front edge of the upper wall), while the rear central flap 25 has a trapezoid shape having a major base coinciding with an upper edge of the rear wall (namely, a rear edge of the upper wall). As illustrated in FIG. 4, the front central flap 24 (namely, which originates from the front edge) overlaps the rear central flap 25 (namely, which originates from the rear edge).

The sealed wrap 3 comprises a removable portion 26 delimited, at least partially, by a non-through incision 27 (namely, that does not completely cross the thickness of the wrapping sheet 22 and therefore preserves the sealing of the wrapping sheet 22), which is obtained through the wrapping sheet 22 and defines a tearing line. The removable portion 26 is permanently and firmly fixed to an inner surface of the front wall 11 of the lid 4 so as to be definitively and completely separated, by tearing, from the rest of the sealed wrap 3 upon the first opening of the lid 4. In other words, a quantity of glue 28 (which could also be replaced by a heat seal) is provided, which connects the removable portion 26 of the sealed pack 3 in a stable and permanent way (namely, in a non-separable way except for a destructive tear during a dismantling of the pack 1 of cigarettes) to the inner surface of the front wall 11 of the lid 4; when the lid 4 is opened for the first time, it carries with it the removable portion 26 (which is inseparably glued to the lid 4), causing the removable portion 26 to be torn from the rest of the sealed wrap 3 and along the incision 27 (which defines a tearing line).

Having to allow a complete separation of the removable portion 26 from the rest of the sealed wrap 3 (namely, upon the first opening the lid 4, the removable portion 26 is completely separated from the rest of the sealed wrap 3, thus not maintaining any residual connection point with the rest of the sealed wrap 3), the incision 27 preferably has a closed shape in order to delimit the removable portion 26 on all sides. Alternatively, the removable portion 26 can be partly delimited by the tear-off incision 27, which has an open shape, and partly by a separation line that has no residual connection points to be torn (namely, by a definitive and complete cut from the beginning); the separation line connects the two ends of the tear-off incision 27 having an open shape so that, upon the first opening of the lid 4, a complete separation of the removable portion 26 from the rest of the sealed wrap 3 takes place.

In summary, when the lid 4 is first opened, the removable portion 26 remains integral with the front wall 11 of the lid 4 without maintaining any residual connection point with the rest of the sealed wrap 3 and therefore, upon first opening the lid 4, the entire removable portion 26 moves away from the rest of the sealed wrap 3 from which it is completely separate.

The sealed wrap 3 also comprises a liftable portion 29 which is delimited by a non-through incision 30 (namely, which does not completely cross the thickness of the wrapping sheet 22 and therefore preserves the seal of the wrapping sheet 22), which is obtained through the wrapping sheet 22 and defines a tearing line. The liftable portion 29 is completely separate and independent from the lid 4 (namely, unlike the removable portion 26, it does not have any type of connection with the lid 4) and therefore does not move together with the lid 4.

The two incisions 27 and 30 have a common portion and therefore the liftable portion 29 directly borders the removable portion 26; in particular, an upper portion of the incision 27 overlaps a lower portion of the incision 30 and therefore an upper edge of the removable portion 26 directly borders a lower edge of the liftable portion 29. In other words, the upper portion of the incision 27 coincides with the lower portion of the incision 30 and therefore in this area there is, in fact, a single incision which performs both the function of the incision 27 (delimiting the removable portion 26), and the function of the incision 30 (delimiting the liftable portion 29).

According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the liftable portion 29 affects a part of a front wall and a part of an upper wall of the sealed wrap 3, while the removable portion 26 only affects a part of the front wall of the sealed wrap 3 under the liftable portion 29 (as previously stated, the upper edge of the removable portion 26 directly borders the lower edge of the liftable portion 29).

According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the incision 30 has a closed shape in order to delimit the liftable portion 29 on all sides and therefore allow a possible manual tear-off removal of the liftable portion 29; consequently, in use, a user can grasp the liftable portion 29 from below (thus exploiting the “hole” created by the tear and consequent complete separation of the removable portion 26 upon the first opening of the lid 4) and pull upwards and with a given force the liftable portion 29 to completely tear the liftable portion 29 from the rest of the sealed wrap 3. Alternatively, a user can choose not to completely (but only partially) tear off the liftable portion 29, thus lifting only the liftable portion 29 upwards to access the group 17 of cigarettes contained in the sealed wrap 3 (and therefore to lower the liftable portion 29 once a cigarette has been extracted from the inside of the sealed wrap 3).

According to a different embodiment, the incision 30 has an open “U”-like shape to delimit the portion 29 that can be lifted on three sides (at the bottom and on the side); obviously in this embodiment the liftable portion 29 is never meant to be completely torn from the sealed wrap 3 as the user only has to lift the liftable portion 29 to access the group 17 of cigarettes contained in the sealed wrap 3 and subsequently lowering the liftable portion 29 once a cigarette has been extracted from the inside of the sealed wrap 3.

The tear (always complete and “automatic” as it is obtained from the movement of the lid 4) of the removable portion 26 and the tear (complete or partial and always manual as it is performed manually by the user) of the liftable portion 29 causes the creation, in the sealed wrap 3, of a cigarette extraction opening of the group 17 of cigarettes which affects part of the front of the sealed wrap 3 and part of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3.

The tear (always complete and “automatic” as it is obtained from the movement of the lid 4) of the removable portion 26 allows to create a first “hole” in the sealed wrap 3: by exploiting this “hole” it becomes easy for a user to grasp from below the liftable portion 29 (by inserting a finger into the “hole” created by the tearing of the removable portion 26) and then pull the liftable portion 29 upwards to completely tear off the liftable portion 29 or only to lift the liftable portion 29. According to a possible embodiment, the lower edge of the liftable portion 29 may comprise a rounded appendage which extends downwards; said appendage helps and invites the user to grasp the liftable portion 29 from below.

According to a preferred embodiment, the incision 27 is shaped so as to tear more easily than the incision 30, namely, the incision 27 is shaped to offer a lower tear resistance than a tear resistance of the incision 30; for example, the incision 27 could be deeper than the incision 30. In fact, the incision 27 must be torn as a result of the movement of the lid 4 and therefore it is preferable that it does not have an excessive tear resistance, whereas the incision 30 it is directly torn by the user who grasps the liftable portion 29 and therefore can have a higher tear resistance (among other things, users often appreciate that the first opening of the sealed wrap 3 requires a given force as it is evident proof of the first opening and therefore evident proof of the integrity of the sealed wrap 3).

According to a possible embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 7, the reinforcement element 18 has a printed area 31 (with lettering, with drawings, with colours . . . ) which is arranged in the area of the removable portion 26 and becomes visible from the outside of the sealed wrap 3 once the removable portion 26 has been torn from the rest of the sealed wrap 3. Namely, the printed area 31 is covered by the removable portion 26 and therefore becomes visible when the removable portion 26 is separated by tearing from the rest of the sealed wrap 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, the wrapping sheet 22 has a transverse development and the liftable portion 29 only affects part of the front wall of the sealed wrap 3 and part of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3; in particular, the liftable portion 29 only affects the front central flap 24 of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3 and therefore does not affect the rear central flap 25 of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, the wrapping sheet 22 has a transverse development and the liftable portion 29 affects, in addition to part of the front wall of the sealed wrap 3 and part of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3, also part of the rear wall of the sealed wrap 3; in particular, the liftable portion 29 affects both the front central flap 24 and the rear central flap 25 of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3. According to a further alternative not illustrated, the liftable portion 29, while affecting both the front central flap 24 and the rear central flap 25 of the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3, does not reach the rear wall of the sealed wrap 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10, the wrapping sheet 22 has a transverse development and has two through windows 32 in the area of the side flaps 23 to reduce the extension of the side flaps 23; in this way it is possible to slightly increase the width of the portions 26 and 29 and therefore the width of the cigarette extraction opening of the sealed wrap 3.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 11, the wrapping sheet 22 has a longitudinal development and consequently, the upper wall of the sealed wrap 3 has no folding flap being completely devoid of overlapping portions of the wrapping sheet 22.

The embodiments described herein can be combined with one another without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In the embodiments illustrated in the attached figures, the longitudinal and transverse edges are straight; alternatively, the longitudinal and/or transverse edges could be rounded or bevelled.

In the embodiments illustrated in the attached figures, the pack 1 of cigarettes contains a group 17 of cigarettes; alternatively, the pack 1 of cigarettes can contain any other type of smoking articles such as for example cigars, electric or electronic cigarettes (namely, cigarettes that generate an aerosol without combustion), cartridges and refills for electronic cigarettes, new generation cigarettes.

The pack 1 of cigarettes described above has numerous advantages.

In the first place, the pack 1 of cigarettes described above has greater environmental sustainability since the entire sealed wrap 3 is made with a single wrapping sheet 22 formed by a single wrapping material; namely, the making of the sealed wrap 3 requires the use of a single wrapping material and therefore allows to reduce the variety of wrapping materials compared to a similar known pack 1 of cigarettes provided with a sealed wrap.

In addition, the pack 1 of cigarettes described above preserves the tobacco of the cigarettes since, before the first opening, the sealed wrap 3 seals the group 17 of cigarettes (namely, completely isolates the group 17 of cigarettes from the external environment).

In addition, the pack 1 of cigarettes described above has a very simple and intuitive use, as it is completely natural for a user (even without any prior instruction) to grasp the liftable portion 29 so as to pull the liftable portion 29 upwards.

Finally, the pack of cigarettes 1 described above can be produced in a standard packing machine for rigid packs of cigarettes with hinged lid with very few modifications. Therefore, the pack 1 of cigarettes described above for its production does not require the use of an expensive special packing machine (that is, specially designed for this type of pack of cigarettes).

List of Reference Numbers of the Figures

• • 1 pack of cigarettes
  • 2 container
  • 3 sealed wrap
  • 4 lid
  • 5 hinge
  • 6 lower wall
  • 7 front wall
  • 8 rear wall
  • 9 side walls
  • 10 upper wall
  • 11 front wall
  • 12 rear wall
  • 13 side walls
  • 14 collar
  • 15 front wall
  • 16 side walls
  • 17 group of cigarettes
  • 18 reinforcement element
  • 19 front wall
  • 20 side walls
  • 21 window
  • 22 wrapping sheet
  • 23 side flaps
  • 24 central flap
  • 25 central flap
  • 26 removable portion
  • 27 incision
  • 28 glue
  • 29 liftable portion
  • 30 incision
  • 31 printed area
  • 32 through windows