Patent Application
20160009483
The present invention relates to a blank of wrapping material for enclosing a tobacco industry product. A blank of wrapping material for enclosing a charge of smoking articles and a bundle of smoking articles received in a pack are also disclosed.
Smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos, are typically bundled together and wrapped in a sheet of material, for example, a sheet of paper laminated with metal foil. The sheet of material helps to preserve the freshness and the aroma of the tobacco in the smoking articles. The wrapped bundle of smoking articles is further stored in a pack which protects the cigarettes from mechanical and environmental damage. The pack can be enclosed in an outer transparent plastic film so as to further ensure that the smoking articles are protected from any environmental impact.
To access the smoking articles, a user pulls on a tab of the plastic film such that the plastic film tears open. Thereafter, the user opens a lid of the pack such that the laminated paper is exposed. The paper is typically formed with a line of weakness, such as perforations, so that a user can easily separate a portion from the remainder of the paper by tearing it along the line of perforations so as to gain access to the smoking articles held within.
According to the present invention, there is provided a blank of wrapping material foldable about a tobacco industry product having a peripheral edge, wherein at least part of the peripheral edge has a non-linear profile, and when the blank of wrapping material is folded about a tobacco industry product, the at least part of the edge having a non-linear profile overlaps another part of the peripheral edge.
In one embodiment, the at least part of the edge having a non-linear profile is uppermost when the blank of wrapping material is folded about a tobacco industry product.
In one embodiment, the blank of wrapping material comprises a portion that is separable from a remainder of the blank of wrapping material and at least an edge of the removable portion has a non-linear profile. The non-linear profile may be in the form of a zigzag.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a bundle of smoking articles for insertion into a smoking article pack comprising a charge of smoking articles and a wrapping material enclosing the charge of smoking articles, the wrapping material having overlapping edges, wherein at least one edge has a non-linear profile.
In one embodiment, the wrapping material comprises a portion that is separable from a remainder of the wrapping material and at least an edge of the removable portion has a non-linear profile.
The non-linear profile may be in the form of a zigzag.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a smoking article pack having a bundle of smoking articles as described above received therein, the pack comprising a body and a lid that closes over an edge of the wrapping material having a non-linear profile.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present invention relates to a sheet or a blank of wrapping material 3 for enclosing or being folded about a tobacco industry product, for example, a charge of smoking articles.
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in
The sheet or blank of material 3 encloses the charge of smoking articles 1. It is folded about the charge of smoking articles such that it forms a front wall 4 and a rear wall (not shown), wherein the front 4 and rear walls are parallel to the longitudinal axis ‘A’ of the smoking articles. The sheet of material 3 also forms a bottom wall 5 facing the combustible end 6 of the smoking articles. Furthermore, the sheet of material forms side walls 8, 9 and atop wall 11 of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles 2 as will now be described.
The side walls 8, 9 comprises side flaps 4a, 4b (only right side flaps are visible in
Similarly, top flaps 14a, 14b, 14c, 14d extending from the front wall 4, rear wall and the two side walls 8, 9 in an opposite direction to the bottom wall 5 are folded across the mouth end 7 of the smoking articles so as to form the top wall 11. The top flaps 14c, 14d extending form the side walls 8, 9 are folded first, thereafter the top flap 14b extending from the rear wall is folded and lastly the top flap 14a extending from the front wall 4 is folded such that it overlaps all the other top flaps 14b, 14c, 14d.
The sheet of material 3 comprises a line of weakness 12. This line can be scored, perforated or punctured so as to form a weakened line. The line of weakness 12 extends between opposite long edges of the sheet of material 3 such that it defines a portion 13 of the sheet of material. When the sheet of material 3 encloses the charge of smoking articles 1, the line of weakness 12 is located on the front wall 4 and on its corresponding side flaps 4a (only one flap is visible in
To remove the portion 13 from the wrapped charge of smoking articles, a user pulls on the top flap 14a extending from the front wall 4 of the wrapped charge of smoking articles 2 such that wrapping tears or separates along the line of weakness 12. The user pulls in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis ‘A’ of the smoking articles which is represented by an arrow ('B′) in
The top flap 14a extending from the front and forming part of the top wall comprises a leading edge 14e as is best seen in
In an alternative embodiment, the leading edge 15 of the flap 14a extending from the front wall 4 is curved as seen in
The leading edge of the top flap 14a that lies uppermost is not limited to following the paths or be formed into the shapes described above. It should be appreciated that the scope of the invention includes any configuration where at least a portion of the leading edge of the uppermost top flap is configured to follow a non-linear path. For example, the leading edge of the uppermost top flap 14a, 14b may alternatively follow a wavy or an oscillating path.
The present invention is not limited to the top flap 14a extending from the front wall 4 lying uppermost. It should be appreciated that the top flap 14b extending from the rear wall may lie uppermost. Thus, in this embodiment, the top flap 14b extending from the rear wall comprises a leading edge having at least a portion which is configured to follow a non-linear path.
In yet another un-illustrated embodiment, the uppermost side flap 4a, 4b which extends from the front and/or rear wall comprises a leading edge which has at least a portion which follows a non-linear path. Thus, the side flap(s) extending from the front and/or rear wall which lies uppermost comprises a leading e which may follow a zigzag, curved, wavy or oscillating path as described above. It should be appreciated that the leading edge of the uppermost side flaps and the top flap may follow a particular path.
The bundle of smoking articles is receivable in a smoking article pack. Preferably, the smoking article pack 20 comprises a body 21 and lid 22 as seen in
In the embodiment described with reference to
It should be appreciated that the bundle of smoking articles 2 as described above is not limited to the pack described herein. The bundle of smoking articles can be inserted into any pack which enables a charge of smoking articles to be wrapped in a wrapping having a removable portion so as to access smoking articles held therein.
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. The smoking article may be provided with a filter for the gaseous flow drawn by the smoker.
Furthermore, the blank of wrapping material according to the present invention can be folded about any tobacco industry product and so is not limited to enclosing a charge of smoking articles.
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.
A tobacco industry pack refers to any pack that can contain and/or receive a tobacco industry product.
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 bundle of smoking articles or superior blanks of wrapping material. 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 principles. It should be understood that they are not representative of all claimed inventions. As such, certain aspects of the disclosure have not been discussed herein. That alternate embodiments may not have been presented for a specific portion of the invention or that further undescribed alternate embodiments may be available for a portion is not to be considered a disclaimer of those alternate embodiments. It will be appreciated that many of those undescribed embodiments incorporate the same principles of the invention and others are equivalent. Thus, it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the disclosure. As such, all examples, implementations, and/or embodiments are deemed to be non-limiting throughout this disclosure. Also, no inference should be drawn regarding those embodiments discussed herein relative to those not discussed herein other than it is as such for purposes of reducing space and repetition. Various embodiments may suitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, various combinations of the disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. Some of the disclosed features, elements, implementation, etc., may be mutually contradictory, in that they cannot be simultaneously present in a single embodiment. Similarly, some features are applicable to one aspect of the icy disclosure, and inapplicable to others. In addition, the disclosure includes other inventions not presently claimed. Applicant reserves all rights in those presently unclaimed inventions including the right to claim such inventions, file additional applications, continuations, continuations in part, divisions, and/or the like thereof. As such, it should be understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, function, features, structural, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to be considered limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claims or limitations on equivalents to the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1303445.9 | Feb 2013 | GB | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/GB2014/050530 | 2/21/2014 | WO | 00 |
