EP3194282B1

EP3194282B1 - Pack for tobacco industry products

Info

Publication number: EP3194282B1
Application number: EP15771696.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Isaak MUSTAFA
Original assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Current assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Priority date: 2014-09-15
Filing date: 2015-09-15
Publication date: 2019-02-20
Anticipated expiration: 2035-09-15
Also published as: PH12017500458A1; CA2958329A1; GB201416244D0; GB2530090A; AU2015316590B2; AU2015316590A1; WO2016042311A1; EP3194282A1; NZ728358A

Description

Field

The present invention relates to a pack, particularly but not exclusively a pack for tobacco industry products, such as cigarettes.

Background

A hinged-lid cigarette pack has a base that receives a wrapped bundle of and a hollow lid that is hingedly attached to a rear wall of the base so that in the closed position the lid covers an end of the cigarettes and in the open position the ends of the cigarettes are exposed to allow a consumer to remove them from the pack. An inner frame is positioned in the base such that is protrudes from the end of the base and surrounds the sides of the cigarettes.
US1791340A discloses a pack for cigarettes that includes a casing and an inner member that is slidable within the casing. Cigarettes are held by the inner member, which can slide within the casing to lift the cigarettes towards an open end of the casing for extraction. DE 10 2011 107531 A1 and DE 19 40 071 U disclose similar packs for cigarettes.

Summary

In accordance with embodiments of the invention, there is provided a pack according to claim 1.
The base may further comprise an inner frame that defines the opening and being arranged such that in the closed position the lid covers the inner frame and the opening, and in the intermediate position the lid can pivot over the inner frame to uncover the opening.
The lifting member may be configured to move said at least one tobacco industry product such that an end of that tobacco industry product is substantially level with the opening when the lid is in the intermediate position.
The lifting member may be disposed in the base between a wall of the base and said at least one tobacco industry products.
The at least one tobacco industry product may be provided in a wrapper, and said wrapper may be attached to the lifting member. The wrapper may be attached to the lifting member using an adhesive.
Alternatively, the lifting member may comprise a protrusion that engages said at least one tobacco industry product.
The tab and slot may be configured to limit the sliding movement of the lid relative to the base.
The slot may be defined between the inner frame and a wall of the base.
The lid and the base may be arranged such that the lid must be slid to at least the intermediate position to enable the lid to pivot open.
At said intermediate position, an end of said at least one tobacco industry product may be substantially level with the opening.
The lifting member may be configured to move all of said at least one tobacco industry product as the lid is slid relative to the base.
A plurality of tobacco industry products may be provided in the pack.
The tobacco industry products may be smoking articles, for example cigarettes.
The void may extend along at least 5% of a length of the pack.
There is also provided a set of blanks for making the pack described above according to claims 16 and 17.
The second and third parts of the set of blanks may be integral.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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

FIG. 1 shows a pack of tobacco industry products, with the lid in a closed position;
FIG. 2a shows a schematic cross-section of the pack of FIG. 1 in the closed position;
FIG. 2b shows a schematic cross-section of the pack of FIG. 1 in the open position;
FIG. 3 shows the pack of FIGS. 1 and 2, with the lid in an intermediate position;
FIG. 4 shows the pack of FIGS. 1 to 3, with the lid in an open position;
FIG. 5 shows the pack of FIGS. 1 to 3, with the lid in an alternative open position;
FIG. 6 shows the pack of FIGS. 1 to 4 without the wrapped bundle of tobacco industry products;
FIG. 7 shows the base of the pack of FIGS. 1 to 6;
FIG. 8 shows the lid and lifting member of the pack of FIGS. 1 to 6;
FIG. 9 shows a schematic cross-section of a pack having an alternative lifting member; and,
FIGS. 10a and 10b show blanks for the inner frame, and the lid and lifting member respectively.

Detailed Description

FIG. 1 shows a pack 1 of tobacco industry products, in particular a pack of smoking articles, in this example cigarettes.
As shown, the pack 1 has a base 2 and a lid 3 which form a parallelepiped pack 1. The base 2 comprises a front wall 4 and a rear wall 5 that are spaced by opposing side walls 6, 7 and a bottom wall 8. The end of the base 2 which is opposite the bottom wall 8 is an open end 9, and in FIG. 1 is covered by the lid 3.
The lid 3 comprises a front wall 10 and a rear wall 11 that are spaced by opposing side walls 12,13 and a top wall 14. The end of the lid 3 which is opposite the top wall 14 is an open end 15 and covers the open end 9 of the base 2, as shown in FIG. 1. Therefore, when the lid 3 is in the closed position the pack 1 has an overall parallelepiped shape.
Also shown in FIG. 1, the closure line formed between the open ends 9, 15 of the base 2 and the lid is angled with respect to the top wall 14 and the bottom wall 8, so that the front wall 10 of the lid 3 is longer than the rear wall 11 of the lid 3, whereas the rear wall 5 of the base 2 is longer than the front wall 4 of the base 2.
A collation of cigarettes is received within the pack 1, particularly received within the base 2 and covered by the lid 3. The collation of cigarettes may be wrapped to form a wrapped bundle (16, see FIGS. 2a to 5).
FIG. 2a shows a schematic cross-section of the pack 1 of FIG. 1, showing the base 2 and the lid 3, as well as a wrapped bundle of cigarettes 16 received within the pack.
As shown in FIG. 2a, the pack 1 is further provided with an inner frame 18 that extends from the base 2 into the lid 3. The inner frame 18, more clearly shown in FIG. 4, has a protruding end 19 which defines an opening into the base 2.
The inner frame comprises a front wall 28 and opposing side walls 29, 30 that are received within the base 2, against the inside faces of the front wall 4 and opposing sides walls 6, 7, respectively, of the base 2.
The inner frame 18 further comprises a cut-out 34 in the front wall 28 to allow a user to grasp the cigarettes when the pack 1 is open.
Therefore, the base 2 comprises a box part (formed of walls 4 to 8, see FIG. 1) and an inner frame 18, which is covered by the lid 3 when the lid 3 is in the closed position.
In the closed position, the inner frame 18 extends from the base 2 towards the top wall 14 of the lid 3 so that the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18 is close to, or even abutting, the top wall 14 of the lid 3.
Referring again to FIG. 2a, the wrapped bundle 16 has a length that is less than a length of the pack 1, so that a void 20 is formed in the lid 3 when the lid 3 is in the closed position.
In particular, the cigarettes within the wrapped bundle 16 are shorter than the pack 1. Therefore, the void 20 is formed between an end 21 of the wrapped bundle 16 (ends of the cigarettes) and the top wall 14 of the lid 3.
Different cigarettes have different lengths. For example, some smoking articles have a length of between 80 millimetres and 90 millimetres, while others have a length of between 60 millimetres and 100 millimetres. Some smoking articles have a length of between approximately 60 millimetres and approximately 75 millimetres.
Equally, different packs have different lengths. For example, the pack may have a length of between 65 millimetres and 110 millimetres.
Therefore, the void 20 within the pack 1 may comprise between 5% and 30% of the length of the pack 1 - the distance between the top wall 14 of the lid 4 and the bottom wall 8 of the base 2 when the lid 3 is closed.
Therefore, the length of the pack 1 may be at least 5% longer than the length of the wrapped bundle 16, such that a void 20 is formed in the lid 3 when the lid 3 is in the closed position. In other words, the length of the wrapped bundle 16 is at most 95% of the length of the pack 1.
Therefore, when the lid 3 is in the closed position, the void 20 comprises at least 5% of the length of the pack 1. For example, the void 20 may comprise between 5% and 30% of the length of the pack 1, or between 5% and 20%, or more preferably between 10% and 20% of the length of the pack 1.
As shown in Figures 2a and 2b, the pack 1 also comprises a lifting member 17 that extends from the lid and into the base 2.
Also shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, a hinge 22 is formed in the lifting member 17, about which the lid 3 can pivot when it has been moved to the intermediate position, as explained in more detail hereinafter.
In the closed position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2a, the lid 3 is positioned over the inner frame 18, which prevents the lid 3 from being opened. The lid 3, hinge 22 and inner frame 18 are arranged such that when the lid 3 is in the closed position the inner frame 18 prevents the lid 3 from pivoting into the open position.
As shown in FIGS. 2b, 3 and 4, the lid 3 and lifting member 17 can be moved relative to the base 2 to move the lid 3 away from the base 2 and the inner frame 18, so that the lid 3 can freely pivot about the hinge 22 into the open position shown in FIGS. 2b and 4.
The lid 3 slides away from the base 2 and once the lid 3 reaches an intermediate position it is able to clear the inner frame 18 and pivot about the hinge 22 into the open position shown in FIGS. 2b and 4, providing access to the wrapped bundle 16. In the position shown in FIG. 3, the lid 3 is in an intermediate position in which it can be pivoted to uncover the wrapped bundle 16.
Referring to FIGS. 2a and 2b, the lifting member 17 depends from the rear wall 11 of the lid 3 and extends into the base 2, between the rear wall 5 of the base 2 and the wrapped bundle 16. The lifting member 17 is planar and is positioned against the rear wall 5, within the base 2. Therefore, the lifting member 17 occupies minimal space within the pack 1. The lifting member 17 may be formed as an extension to the rear wall 11 of the lid 3, or may be a separate component that is attached the rear wall 11 of the lid 3.
As shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the hinge 22 is formed at the boundary between the lid 3 and the lifting member 17. The hinge 22 may be formed in the lifting member 17 or in the lid 3. The hinge 22 may be a fold line in the material that extends from the lid 3 to form the lifting member 17.
Referring to FIGS. 2a to 4, the wrapped bundle 16 is attached to the lifting member 17 so that, when the lid 3 and lifting member 17 are moved away from the base 2, the wrapped bundle 16 moves towards the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18.
Once the lid 3 reaches the intermediate position in which it can pivot to the open position shown in FIGS. 2b and 4 (i.e. once it is able to pivot over the inner frame 18), the end 21 of the wrapped bundle 16 is approximately level with the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18. Therefore, when the pack 1 is open, a consumer can access the wrapped bundle 16 to extract cigarettes.
Alternatively, the pack may be configured such that, in the open position, the end 21 of the wrapped bundle 16 may be below the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18.
As shown in FIG. 5, in an alternative embodiment the lid 3 and lifting member (17, see FIG. 2a) may be arranged such that in the open position the wrapped bundle 16 protrudes above the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18. In this case, the end 21 of the wrapped bundle 16 may be more easily accessed by the consumer.
As shown in FIG. 6, the lifting member 17 extends from the lid 3 into the base 2 along the rear wall 5 of the base 2. The lifting member 17 is planar and is attached to the lid 3 via the hinge 22.
As explained with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8, the lifting member 17 comprises tabs 23 that extend into slots 24 formed in the inner frame 18 and/or in the base 2 to secure the lifting member 17 to the base 2, while facilitating and limiting the sliding movement of the lifting member 17 relative to the base 2.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 7, the inner frame 18 comprises rear panels 25 that extend partially across the rear wall 5 of the base 2 and cut-outs 26 are formed in the inner frame 18 to receive the tabs 23 that extend from the lifting member 17.
FIG. 8 shows the lifting member 17 and lid 3, with the lifting member 17 having a planar body portion 27 and tabs 23 extending from opposing side edges of the planar body 27.
As shown in FIG. 6, when the pack 1 is assembled the lifting member 17 is positioned inside the base 2 and on the inside of the rear panels 25 of the inner frame 18. The tabs 23 extend through the cut-outs 26 in the inner frame 18 so that the tabs 23 are positioned in the slots 24, between the inner frame 18 and the opposing side walls 6, 7 of the base 2.
The tabs 23 are able to slide in the slots 24, between the inner frame 18 and the side walls 6, 7 of the base 2 to the extent that the cut-outs 26 extend along the inner frame 18. Therefore, the size and position of the cut-outs 26 relative to the tabs 23 will define the extent of sliding movement of the lid 3 and lifting member 17, and also prevent the lid 3 and lifting member 17 from coming detached from the base 2.
In the examples described with reference in FIGS. 1 to 8, the wrapped bundle 16 is formed from a sheet material which is wrapped around a collation of cigarettes or other tobacco industry products. The wrapped bundle 16 is then attached to the lifting member 17 so that the wrapped bundle 16 is lifted towards the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18 as the lid 3 is moved into the open position.
The cigarettes within the wrapped bundle 16 may be arranged in rows, for example in three rows: 7-6-7; making twenty cigarettes in total. In this way, the ends of the cigarettes are aligned and the wrapped bundle has a substantially cuboid shape.
The wrapped bundle 16 may be attached to the lifting member 17 by attaching the sheet material to the lifting member 17, for example using adhesive.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 9, the lifting member 17 may comprise a protrusion 31 that extends from the lifting member 17 and engages the wrapped bundle 16. For example, the protrusion 31 may extend below the wrapped bundle 16 and support the underneath of the wrapped bundle 16, so that moving the lifting member 17 towards the intermediate position will lift the wrapped bundle 16 towards the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18.
The protrusion 31 and/or the lifting member 17 may be attached to the wrapped bundle 16, for example by adhesive. Alternatively, the protrusion 31 may have sufficient rigidity to support the wrapped bundle 16 without having to be attached to the wrapped bundle 16.
In another example, the collation of cigarettes is not wrapped in a sheet material, and instead the cigarettes are received directly within the base 2. In this case, the lifting member 17 may comprise a protrusion 31 similar to that shown in FIG. 9, which extends from the lifting member 17 and engages the bottom of the cigarettes, so that moving the lifting member 17 towards the intermediate position will lift the cigarettes towards the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18. In this example, the protrusion 31 may engage all of the cigarettes, or only one or some of the cigarettes. For example, the lifting member 17 and protrusion 31 may only lift one row of cigarettes, or it may lift a single cigarette or a group of cigarettes, depending on the size and position of the protrusion 31.
In another example, the base 2 may contain two or more separate wrapped bundles of cigarettes, and the lifting member 17 may be adapted to lift one or more of these wrapped bundles. For example, the base 2 may contain two wrapped bundles, one of which is attached to the lifting member 17 and the other of which is not. Therefore, on opening the pack 1, one wrapped bundle is moved towards the protruding end 19 of the inner frame 18 and the other wrapped bundle is not.
If the cigarettes are provided in a wrapped bundle 16 formed from a sheet material, as described above, then the wrapped bundle 16 may be closed on at least one face. For example, if the sheet material is adhered to the lifting member 17 then the bottom face of the wrapped bundle 16 may be a closed face, such that it does not come open as the wrapped bundle 16 is lifted, which would prevent the cigarettes from coming out of the wrapped bundle 16.
A closed face can be formed in the wrapped bundle 16 by forming that face from a continuous part of the sheet material, or by attaching flaps of the sheet material to each other on this face.
For example, the sheet material can be wrapped around the cigarettes to form the wrapped bundle 16 in such a way that the folded parts of the sheet material are not positioned on the bottom face of the wrapped bundle 16. In another example, the folded flaps of sheet material can be attached together, for example by adhesive, heat sealing or other means of attachment. In either example, that side or end of the wrapped bundle 16 prevents the cigarettes from falling out of the wrapped bundle 16 when the wrapped bundle 16 is lifted within the pack 1.
The various embodiments of the packs described herein are advantageous as they allow cigarettes to be packaged in a pack which is longer than the cigarettes themselves. Therefore, various length cigarettes can be packaged in a pack having a common size, meaning that the manufacturing, distribution and sales networks and equipment need not accommodate so many different size packs.
Packs that are larger (longer) than the cigarettes they contain may be advantageous because they provide additional external surface area on which to provide information, such as printed information.
Moreover, as the cigarettes are shorter than the pack, lifting the cigarettes into the opening in the end of the inner frame makes it easier for a user to grasp the shorter cigarettes to extract them from the pack.
FIGS. 10a and 10b show blanks for forming the inner frame 18, and the lid 3 and lifting member 17, respectively. In these FIGS., dotted lines represent fold lines, which may be weakened, for example by scoring, and solid lines represent cut lines.
FIG. 10a shows the blank from which the inner frame 18 of the pack 1 is made. The blank comprises the front wall 28, the opposing side walls 29, 30 and the rear panels 25 of the inner frame 18. Also shown, the blank comprises the slots 24 that receive the tabs (23, see FIG. 4) on the lifting member (17, see FIG. 4).
Also shown in FIG. 10a, the front wall 28 of the inner frame 18 is provided with a cut-out 34 that allows a user to grasp the cigarettes when the lid 3 is in the open position.
FIG. 10b shows a blank for forming the lid 3 and lifting member 17 described above. In this example the lid 3 and lifting member 17 are formed from the same blank, but it will be appreciated that they may be formed from two separate blanks and the attached together.
As shown in FIG. 10b, the lid part of the blank has the rear wall 11, top wall 14, front wall 10, and opposing side walls 12, 13 of the lid 3, being connected by fold lines as appropriate. The opposing side wall 12, 13 are formed by attaching together the flaps 12a, 12b and flaps 13a, 13b respectively. Lid flaps 32 are folded within the lid 3. The lid end flap 33 is folded back against the inside of the front wall 10 of the lid 3 to give a smooth (i.e. not cut) front edge of the lid 3.
Also shown in FIG. 10b, the blank includes the lifting member 17 which is attached to the rear wall 11 of the lid 3 via the hinge 22, which in this case is a fold line formed in the blank. The above described tabs 23 protrude from opposing sides of the lifting member 17, and, as previously described, engage the slots 24 shown in FIG. 10a when the pack is assembled.
It will also be appreciated that, although the specific embodiments described above relate to a pack for cigarettes, the pack is also suitable for other tobacco industry products, particularly but not exclusively elongate tobacco industry products. Alternatively, the wrapped bundle may contain any type of tobacco industry product, whether or not it is elongate and rigid like a cigarette.
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, aerosol generation devices including e-cigarettes, 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.
As used herein, 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 and other nicotine delivery product such as aerosol generation devices including e-cigarettes. The smoking article may be provided with a filter for the gaseous flow drawn by the smoker.
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) may be practiced and provide for superior pack for tobacco industry products.

Claims

A pack comprising: a base (2) and a lid (3),
the base having an opening and the lid being arranged so that the lid can slide between a closed position where the lid covers the opening and an intermediate position where the lid can pivot into an open position to uncover the opening;
wherein the base is arranged to receive a plurality of tobacco industry products (16) having a length less than a length of the pack, such that a void (20) is formed between a wall (14) of the lid and said tobacco industry products received in the base in the closed position;
and wherein a lifting member (17) is arranged to move at least one of said tobacco industry products towards the opening when the lid slides from the closed position to the intermediate position;
characterised in that the lifting member comprises a tab (23) arranged to cooperate with a slot (24) defined within the base.
The pack of claim 1, wherein the base (2) further comprises an inner frame (18) that defines the opening and being arranged such that in the closed position the lid (3) covers the inner frame and the opening, and in the intermediate position the lid can pivot over the inner frame to uncover the opening.
The pack of claim 2, wherein the lifting member (17) is configured to move said at least one tobacco industry product (16) such that an end of that tobacco industry product is substantially level with the opening when the lid (3) is in the intermediate position.
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the lifting member (17) is disposed in the base (2) between a wall (5) of the base and said at least one tobacco industry products (16).
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein said at least one tobacco industry product is provided in a wrapper, said wrapper being attached to the lifting member (17).
The pack of claim 5, wherein the wrapper is attached to the lifting member (17) using an adhesive.
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the lifting member (17) comprises a protrusion (31) that engages said at least one tobacco industry product (16).
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the tab (23) and slot (24) are configured to limit the sliding movement of the lid (3) relative to the base (2).
The pack of claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the slot (24) is defined between the inner frame (18) and a wall (29, 30) of the base (2).
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the lid (3) and the base (2) are arranged such that the lid must be slid to at least the intermediate position to enable the lid to pivot open.
The pack of claim 10, wherein, at said intermediate position, an end of said at least one tobacco industry product (16) is substantially level with the opening.
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the lifting member (17) is configured to move all of said at least one tobacco industry products (16) as the lid (3) is slid relative to the base (2).
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein a plurality of tobacco industry products (16) are provided in said pack.
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the tobacco industry products are smoking articles, for example cigarettes.
The pack of any preceding claim, wherein the void (20) extends along at least 5% of a length of the pack in the closed position.
A set of blanks for making the pack of any preceding claim, the set of blanks comprising a first part for forming said base (2), a second part for forming said lid (3), and a third part for forming said lifting member (17), and wherein the first part comprises the slot (24) such that the slot is defined within the base (2) after making the pack.
A set of blanks for making the pack of any of claims 1 to 15, the set of blanks comprising a first part for forming said base (2), a second part for forming said lid (3), a third part for forming said lifting member (17), and a fourth part for forming an inner frame (18) to be arranged within said base (2), and wherein the first part and the fourth part are configured such that after making the pack the slot (24) is formed in the inner frame (18) and/or in the base (2).
The set of blanks of claim 16 or claim 17, wherein the second and third parts are integral.