EP3137385B1

EP3137385B1 - An inner frame blank

Info

Publication number: EP3137385B1
Application number: EP15717607.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Stephen Lewis; Paul Gibson
Original assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Current assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Priority date: 2014-04-28
Filing date: 2015-04-14
Publication date: 2018-06-06
Anticipated expiration: 2035-04-14
Also published as: GB2525599A; WO2015166208A1; GB201407413D0; EP3137385A1; CA2945917A1

Description

The invention relates to an inner frame blank for a pack for tobacco industry products such as a bundle of smoking articles. The invention also relates to an inner frame folded from the blank, a pack for tobacco industry products comprising the inner frame and to a method of folding the blank to form the inner frame.
Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, are sold in packs. Known packs often comprise an outer carton made from cardboard which has a base and a hinged lid and which is folded from a single blank. The base receives a bundle of smoking articles which are accessible from an open upper end of the base when the lid is pivoted into an open position. An inner frame is received in the base which surrounds the smoking articles and protrudes from the open upper end of the base so that, when the lid is closed, it extends over the part of the inner frame that protrudes from the base.
It is known from US2163828 to provide a blank for an inner frame for a pack of smoking articles, comprising a front panel foldable to form dividing wall panels, and end panels extending from opposite edges of said front panel that are foldable relative to said front panel.
A blank for an inner frame according to the present invention is characterised by a rear panel section extending from an edge of each end panel to a free edge, wherein each rear panel section is foldable such that each rear panel section is parallel to, and spaced from, the front panel by each end panel, with said dividing wall panels extending towards the rear panel sections to form separate side-by-side compartments, each compartment being located between the dividing wall panels and an end panel, wherein the dividing wall panels extend beyond said free edge of each of said rear panel sections with said rear panel sections parallel to said front panel.
Preferably, a tab extends from a free edge of each rear panel section, each tab being attachable to a corresponding dividing wall panel so that each rear panel section is parallel to the front wall.
In one embodiment, the tab is a locking tab and a slot is formed in each dividing wall panel. The locking tab may be configured to locate in a slot in a dividing wall panel to fix each rear panel section to a dividing wall panel in a position parallel to the front panel.
Each rear panel section is preferably foldable relative to its associated end panel from which it extends along a fold line. A cut line may extend into each rear panel section from the fold line to form a tab from part of each of said rear panel sections. The tabs can remain in the plane of end panel from which they extend when the rear panel section and end panel are folded relative to each other about the fold line so that said tabs extend beyond their respective rear panel section in a direction away from the front panel.
In some embodiments, the tab is located between the ends of the fold line. Edge tabs may also be located at each end of the fold line.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided an inner frame folded from the blank according to the invention.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tobacco industry pack comprising a base having front and rear walls parallel and spaced from each other and, an inner frame folded from the blank according to the invention received in the base so that the front panel of the inner frame lies against an inner surface of the front wall of the base, and the rear panel sections of the inner frame are spaced from the rear wall of the base by the dividing wall panels.
If the end panels have tabs extending therefrom beyond the rear panel sections, then the rear panel sections may also be spaced from the rear wall of the base by said tabs.
The tobacco industry pack according to the invention may also have a first bundle of smoking articles received in the base between an end panel and a dividing wall panel, and a second bundle of smoking articles received in the base between the other end panel and the other dividing wall panel, each of said first and second bundles being spaced from the rear wall of the base.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of folding a blank for an inner frame according to the invention, comprising the steps of folding each end panel and each rear panel section relative to the front panel so that each rear panel section is parallel to, and spaced from, the front panel by each end panel, folding the front panel to form dividing wall panels that extend toward the rear panel sections to form separate side-by-side compartments between the dividing wall panels and each end panel, and so that the dividing wall panels extend beyond a free edge of each of said rear panel sections with said rear panel sections parallel to said front panel.
In a preferred embodiment, a tab extends from a free edge of each rear panel section and the method includes the step of attaching each tab to a corresponding dividing wall panel so that each rear panel section is parallel to the front wall.
In one embodiment, the tab may be a locking tab. If so, a slot is formed in each dividing wall panel and the method includes the step of inserting the locking tab into an associated slot to attach each rear panel section to an associated dividing wall panel parallel to the front wall.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows an unfolded blank for an inner frame of a tobacco industry pack;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the inner frame shown in Figure 1 after folding;
Figure 3 shows a plan view of a tobacco industry pack with the inner frame received within it and the lid in a fully open position; and
Figure 4 shows a front perspective view of the pack shown in Figure 3 with the lid in a partially open position.

Detailed Description

A tobacco industry product refers to any item made in, or sold by the tobacco industry, typically including a) cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, tobacco for pipes or for roll-your-own cigarettes, (whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes); b) non-smoking products incorporating tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes such as snuff, snus, hard tobacco, and heat-not-burn products; and c) other nicotine-delivery systems such as inhalers, lozenges and gum. This list is not intended to be exclusive, but merely illustrates a range of products which are made and sold in the tobacco industry.
The term "smoking article" includes smokeable products such as cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes and also heat-not-burn products. The smoking article may be provided with a filter for the gaseous flow drawn by the smoker.
As used herein, the term "tobacco industry pack" includes any pack that can receive and contain a tobacco industry product.
The tobacco industry pack to which embodiments of the present invention primarily relates, and in which is received the folded inner frame according to embodiments of the invention, is primarily intended for holding two side-by-side bundles of cigarettes each of which have a narrower diameter than a standard cigarette. This type of cigarette is often referred to as a 'slim' cigarette.
An unfolded inner frame blank 1 to form a folded inner frame 2 (see Figure 2) for insertion into a tobacco industry pack 3 (see Figure 3) is shown in Figure 1. The blank 1 and inner frame 2 has a front panel 4 formed from two front panel sections 4a, 4b, separated by a central fold line 5 and two secondary fold lines 6, 7, parallel to and spaced from the central fold line 5 to form a pair of dividing wall panels 8, 9 between the two front panel sections 4a, 4b. When the blank 1 is folded, as explained below, the central fold line 5 forms an apex. The secondary fold line 6 joins one of the dividing wall panels 8 to front panel section 4a, whereas the other secondary fold line 7 joins the other dividing wall panel 9 to front panel section 4b.
A pair of elongate slots 10,11 are formed in each dividing wall panel 8,9 parallel to, and spaced from, the central fold line 5, for reasons that will be explained below.
Each front panel section 4a, 4b has a cut-out region 12 formed in an upper edge 20 of the inner frame blank 1 to facilitate the removal of smoking articles from a pack 3 in which the folded inner frame 2 is located.
An end panel 13,14 extends from an edge of each front panel section 4a, 4b, each end panel 13,14 being foldable relative to its associated front panel section 4a, 4b from which it extends about a fold line 15.
The rear wall of the inner frame blank 1 is formed from two rear panel sections 16a, 16b. One rear panel section 16a extends from an edge of end panel 13, whilst the other rear panel section 16b extends from an edge of end panel 14. Each rear panel section 16a, 16b is foldable relative to its associated end panel 13, 14 about a fold line 17, shown in dashed lines in Figure 1. A cut line 18 is also formed in each rear panel section 16a, 16b that extends from and interupts the fold line 17 to form a central tab 19 out of a part of the rear panel section 16a, 16b, which is enclosed by the cut line 18 and extends from an end panel 13,14.
The fold line 17 does not extend all the way to the upper and lower edges 20, 21 of the inner frame blank 1. Instead, the fold line 17 stops short of the edges 20, 21 and a cut line 22 extends from each end of the fold line 17 into the rear panel section 16a, 16b and terminates at each of the upper and lower edges 20, 21. The cut lines 22 define edge tabs 23, 24 formed out of a part of the rear panel sections 16a, 16b at the upper and lower edges 20, 21 of the inner frame blank 1.
Each rear panel section 16a, 16b has a free edge 25 with tabs 26 that extend away from the free edge 25 in the plane of the rear panel section 16a, 16b.
The inner frame blank 1 shown in Figure 1 is folded into the configuration shown in Figure 2, prior to insertion into a pack 3. This is achieved by first folding the blank 1 about the central fold line 5, and also about the secondary fold lines 6, 7 so that the dividing wall panels 8, 9 face each other and extend outwardly from the plane of the drawing in Figure 1. Next, each end panel 13,14 is folded upwardly, also in a direction out of the plane of Figure 1, so that they each extend perpendicular to the front panel sections 4a,4b. Then, each rear panel section 16a, 16b is folded relative to the end wall 13,14 from which it extends about fold line 17, and so that each rear panel section 16a, 16b extends perpendicular to each end panel 13, 14 and is parallel to, and spaced from, the front panel sections 4a, 4b. It will be appreciated that, when a rear panel section 16a, 16b is folded relative to its associated end panel 13, 14 about fold lines 17, the central tab 19 and the edge tabs 23, 24, which lie in the plane of the rear panel sections 16a, 16b prior to folding, separate from the rear panel sections 16a, 16b along the cut lines 18,22 so that they remain in the plane of the end panel 13, 14 from which they extend, and so that they protrude beyond the plane occupied by each rear panel section 16a, 16b that extends perpendicular to each end panel 13, 14.
Once the rear panel sections 16a, 16b have been folded as described above, the locking tabs 26 that extend from the free edge 25 of each rear panel section 16a, 16b, are inserted into the corresponding slots 10, 11 in the dividing wall panels 8,9 to hold the rear panel sections 16a, 16b in position and so that they lie parallel to the front wall sections 4a, 4b. It will be appreciated that, in Figure 2, the locking tabs 26 of one of the rear panel sections 16b have not yet been engaged with their corresponding slots 10, 11 and that the rear panel section 16b has not been fully folded about fold line 17 into a position in which it lies parallel to front panel section 4b.
In another embodiment, the slots 10,11 in the dividing wall panels 8,9 are omitted and the tabs 26 are attached to a surface of the corresponding dividing wall panels 8,9, i.e. by gluing. The tabs 26 may be folded about a fold-line relative to the rear panel sections 16b to enable them to be glued to the dividing wall panels 8,9.
As can be appreciated more easily from Figure 2, each of the dividing wall panels 8, 9 have a width (i.e. a dimension extending from the front panel sections 4a, 4b to the central fold line 5) which is greater than the width of each of the end panels 13, 14 so that, when the inner frame blank 1 is folded and the locking tabs 26 are received in the slots 10,11, the dividing wall panels 8,9 extend beyond each of the rear panel sections 16a, 16b in a direction away from the front panel sections 4a, 4b.
The width of each of the dividing wall panels 8,9 may be equal to the width of an end panel 13, 14 plus the width of the central tab 18 or an edge tab 23, 24 formed in each rear panel section 16a, 16b so that, when the inner frame blank 1 is folded, the apex between the dividing wall panels 8,9 formed by the central fold line 5 and a tip or edge 18 of the central tab 19 and a tip or edge 22 of the edge tabs 23, 24 all lie in the same plane parallel to and spaced from the rear panel sections 16a, 16b.
When the inner frame 2 has been folded as described above and as almost shown in Figure 2, it may be inserted into a hinged-lid pack 3 having a lid 27 pivotally connected to the rear wall of a base 29 for rotation about a fold line 30, as shown in the plan view of Figure 3 which shows a pack 3 with the lid 27 open, and the perspective view of Figure 4, which shows the pack 3 with the lid 27 partially open.
As can be seen from Figures 3 and 4, the central tab 18 and the edge tabs 23, 24 extending from the end panels 13, 14, and the part of the dividing wall panels 8, 9 that extends beyond the rear panel sections 16a, 16b, space the rear panel portions 16a, 16b away from the rear wall of the pack 3 and holds the front panel sections 4a, 4b against a front wall 30 of the base 29 of the pack 3. A void is therefore formed between the rear panel portions 16a, 16b and a rear wall of the pack 3. The central tab 18, edge tabs 23, 24 and the part of the dividing wall panels 8, 9 that extends beyond the rear panel sections 16a, 16b may have a length in the order of 3-4mm so the depth of the void will be substantially the same.
The above arrangement enables a standard size pack to be used to receive two bundles of slim cigarettes. The bundles will be retained snugly within the side-by-side compartments formed by the inner frame 2 and will be pushed towards the front wall 30 of the pack 3, spaced from the rear wall of the pack 3 by the dividing wall panels 8, 9 and the tabs 18, 22, 23 that protrude beyond the rear panel sections 16a, 16b.
In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety of this disclosure shows by way of illustration various embodiments in which the claimed invention(s) maybe practiced and provide for a superior inner frame blank, folded inner frame and pack comprising the inner frame. The advantages and features of the disclosure are of a representative sample of embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or exclusive. They are presented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimed features. It is to be understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to be considered limitations on the disclosure as the scope of the invention is defined by the claims.

Claims

A blank for an inner frame (2) for a pack of smoking articles (3), comprising a front panel (4) foldable to form dividing wall panels (8,9), and end panels (13,14) extending from opposite edges (4a,4b) of said front panel (4) that are foldable relative to said front panel (4), characterised by a rear panel section (16a,16b) extending from an edge of each end panel (13,14) to a free edge (25), wherein each rear panel section (16a,16b) is foldable such that each rear panel section (16a,16b) is parallel to, and spaced from, the front panel (4) by each end panel (13,14), with said dividing wall panels (8,9) extending towards the rear panel sections (16a,16b) to form separate side-by-side compartments, each compartment being located between a dividing wall panel (8,9) and an end panel (13,14), wherein the dividing wall panels (8,9) extend beyond said free edge (25) of each of said rear panel sections (16a,16b) with said rear panel sections (16a,16b) parallel to said front panel (4).
A blank according to claim 1, comprising a tab (26) extending from a free edge (25) of each rear panel section (16a,16b), each tab (26) being attachable to a corresponding dividing wall panel (8,9) so that each rear panel section (16a,16b) is parallel to the front panel (4).
A blank according to claim 2, wherein the tab is a locking tab (26), and a slot (10,11) is formed in each dividing wall panel (8,9), wherein the locking tab (26) is configured to locate in a slot (10,11) in a dividing wall panel (8,9) to fix each rear panel section (16a,16b) to a dividing wall panel (8,9) in a position parallel to the front panel (4).
A blank according to any preceding claim, wherein each rear panel section (16a,16b) is foldable relative to its associated end panel (13,14) from which it extends along a fold line (17), and a cut extends into each rear panel section (16a,16b) from the fold line (17) to form a tab (19,23,24) from part of each of said rear panel sections (16a,16b), said tabs (19,23,24) remaining in the plane of end panel (13,14) from which they extend when the rear panel section (16a,16b) and end panel (13,14) are folded relative to each other about the fold line (17) so that said tabs (19,23,24) extend beyond their respective rear panel section (16a,16b) in a direction away from the front panel (4).
A blank according to claim 4, wherein the tab (19) is located between the ends of the fold line (17).
A blank according to claim 5, wherein edge tabs (23,24) are located at each end of the fold line (17).
An inner frame folded from the blank (1) according to any of claims 1 to 6.
A tobacco industry pack comprising a base (29) having front and rear walls parallel and spaced from each other and, an inner frame (2) according to claim 7 received in the base (29) so that the front panel (4) of the inner frame (2) lies against an inner surface of the front wall (30) of the base (29), and the rear panel sections (16a,16b) of the inner frame (2) are spaced from the rear wall of the base (29) by the dividing wall panels (8,9).
A tobacco industry pack according to claim 8, wherein the rear panel sections (16a,16b) are also spaced from the rear wall of the base (29) by the tabs (19,23,24) that extend from each end panel (13,14) beyond the rear panel sections (16a,16b).
A tobacco industry pack according to claim 8 or claim 9, having a first bundle of smoking articles received in the base (29) between an end panel (13,14) and a dividing wall panel (16a,16b), and a second bundle of smoking articles received in the base (29) between the other end panel (13,14) and the other dividing wall panel (16a,16b), each of said first and second bundles being spaced from the rear wall of the base (29).
A method of folding a blank (1) for an inner frame (2) according to any of claims 1 to 6, comprising the steps of folding each end panel (13,14) and each rear panel section (16a,16b) relative to the front panel (4) so that each rear panel section (16a,16b) is parallel to, and spaced from, the front panel (4) by each end panel (13,14), folding the front panel (4) to form dividing wall panels (8,9) that extend toward the rear panel sections (16a,16b) to form separate side-by-side compartments between the dividing wall panels (8,9) and each end panel (13,14), and so that the dividing wall panels (8,9) extend beyond a free edge (25) of each of said rear panel sections (16a,16b) with said rear panel sections (16a, 16b) parallel to said front panel (4).
A method according to claim 11, comprising a tab (26) extending from a free edge (25) of each rear panel section (16a,16b), the method including the step of attaching each tab (26) to a corresponding dividing wall panel (8,9) so that each rear panel section (16a, 16b) is parallel to the front wall (4).
A method according to claim 12, wherein the tabs are locking tabs (26) and a slot (10,11) is formed in each dividing wall panel (16a,16b), wherein the method includes the step of inserting the locking tab (26) into an associated slot (10,11) to attach each rear panel section (16a,16b) to an associated dividing wall panel (8,9) parallel to the front panel (4).