The present invention relates to a carton of soft packets of cigarettes, containing a reusable rigid box.
Rigid, hinged-lid packets of cigarettes are currently the most widely marketed, by being easy to produce, practical and easy to use, and by effectively protecting the cigarettes inside.
A rigid, hinged-lid packet of cigarettes comprises an inner package comprising a foil-wrapped group of cigarettes; and a rigid outer package housing the inner package. The outer package comprises a cup-shaped container housing the group of cigarettes and having an open top end; and a cup-shaped lid hinged to the container along a hinge to rotate, with respect to the container, between an open and a closed position opening and closing the open end respectively. A U-folded collar is normally fitted inside the container, and projects partly outwards of the open end to engage a corresponding inner surface of the lid when the lid is in the closed position.
Soft packets of cigarettes are also marketed, and which are cheaper to produce than rigid packets, by employing less packing material. A soft packet of cigarettes, in fact, comprises an inner package identical to that of a rigid packet of cigarettes; and a soft outer package (i.e. made of much thinner packing material than a rigid outer package) which encloses five sides of the inner package, leaving the top wall of the inner package free to withdraw the cigarettes.
A soft packet of cigarettes, however, does not protect the cigarettes nearly as well as a rigid packet, and withdrawal of the cigarettes is more awkward, particularly when the packet is nearly empty. For both these reasons, rigid packets of cigarettes are more popular and by far the most widely marketed.
Environment awareness over the past few years makes it increasingly important to reduce the amount of packing material for disposal, which means soft packets of cigarettes employing less packing material may become more popular.
In an attempt to combine the advantages of soft packets of cigarettes (less packing material) with those of rigid packets (better protection and easy withdrawal of the cigarettes), a reusable rigid box has been proposed for housing a soft packet of cigarettes which, when empty, is replaced with another.
Patent EP1497203B1, for example, describes a carton of packets of cigarettes, having an outer package housing a reusable rigid box, and a number of soft packets of cigarettes arranged, with the reusable rigid box, in a given order and which serve as refills for the reusable rigid box. More specifically, the reusable rigid box contains a soft packet of cigarettes, and is housed inside the carton together with the other soft packets of cigarettes. Conventional soft packets of cigarettes, however, are unsuitable for withdrawing the cigarettes from inside the reusable rigid box, which is often so awkward as to call for partial removal of the soft packet from the reusable rigid box.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a carton of soft packets of cigarettes, containing a reusable rigid box and designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks while at the same time being cheap and easy to produce.
According to the present invention, there is provided a carton of soft packets of cigarettes, containing a reusable rigid box, as claimed in the attached Claims.
A number of non-limiting embodiments of the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Number 1 in
Reusable rigid box 4 is housed inside outer package 2 and contains a soft packet 3 of cigarettes, and the other soft packets 3 of cigarettes serve as refills for reusable rigid box 4. As shown more clearly in
In the example shown in the drawings, carton 1 is a conventional soft carton in the form of an elongated rectangular parallelepiped; reusable rigid box 4 is a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped hinged-lid box; and each soft packet 3 comprises a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped inner package 7.
For it to be used repeatedly, reusable rigid box 4 is preferably made of relatively strong material, such as cardboard, plastic or metal, and, at any rate, of printable material, so that the outer surface of reusable rigid box 4 can be printed with graphics indicated as a whole by 8 and comprising images 8a and/or writing 8b.
To make soft packets 3 as environment-friendly and cheap as possible, each preferably only comprises inner package 7, and an airtight overwrapping 9 opened by means of a tear strip 10. In other words, each airtight overwrapping 9 comprises a second sheet of heat-seal packing material wrapped and heat sealed about respective inner package 7; and a tear strip 10 extending about the whole of a top portion of airtight overwrapping 9, and by which to tear open, and subsequently dispose of the top portion of, airtight overwrapping 9.
In the embodiment shown in the drawings, airtight overwrapping 9, which may be transparent or opaque, is also made of printable material, so its outer surface can be printed with graphics indicated as a whole by 11, and comprising images 11a and/or writing 11b, not necessarily the same as graphics 8.
In actual use, after opening outer package 2, the user extracts reusable rigid box 4, and, after opening and finishing the original packet 3 inside reusable rigid box 4, refills reusable rigid box 4 with successive soft packets 3 until carton 1 is empty. Obviously, before or after inserting a soft packet 3 of cigarettes inside reusable rigid box 4, the top portion of airtight overwrapping 9 must be torn off using tear strip 10 for easy access to inner package 7 of soft packet 3 of cigarettes.
In the
As stated, in the
In a different embodiment shown in
In a preferred embodiment, each cover flap 17 is fixed to inner package 7 using non-setting re-stick adhesive, which is applied to the underside surface of cover flap 17 and extends about the whole of extraction opening 16, so cover flap 17 can be repeatedly detached partly from inner package 7 (i.e. each time packet 3 of cigarettes is opened) and then fixed back onto inner package 7. Cover flap 17 preferably has a bottom grip tab 18, by which to grip and lift up cover flap 17, and which has no re-stick adhesive and rests on a front wall of a collar of reusable rigid box 4 (obviously, when the respective soft packet 3 of cigarettes is inserted inside reusable rigid box 4). In other words, to lift up cover flap 17, the user simply grips grip tab 18, which is in no way fixed to the front wall of the collar of reusable rigid box 4. Grip tab 18 of each cover flap 17 normally forms an integral part of cover flap 17, and is defined by a bottom extension of cover flap 17. In a possible embodiment not shown, for easy grip of grip tab 18, a front wall of the collar of reusable rigid box 4 has a through hole where grip tab 18 of cover flap 17 rests on the collar.
As shown in
Before being folded about group 13 of cigarettes, sheet 19 of packing material is cut to define extraction opening 16; and cover flap 17, gummed on the underside, is then applied to sheet 19 of packing material. That is, the underside surface of the cover flap is coated with re-stick adhesive which, inside extraction opening 16, glues the inner portion of sheet 19 of packing material permanently to cover flap 17, and, outside extraction opening 16, glues sheet 19 of packing material detachably to cover flap 17.
As stated, in the
In the
To do this, reinforcing member 20 need simply be fixed to sheet 19 of packing material of inner package 7 at least about extraction opening 16, i.e. at least close to extraction opening 16, but is preferably fixed completely to sheet 19 of packing material of inner package 7. In a preferred embodiment, reinforcing member 20 is heat sealed, but may alternatively be glued, to sheet 19 of packing material of inner package 7.
As shown in
In a different embodiment not shown, each cover flap 17 comprises a movable portion; and a fixed border fixed permanently to the outer surface of inner package 7 and separated from the movable portion by a tear line, which is torn the first time cover flap 17 is opened.
Carton 1 of soft packets 3 of cigarettes has numerous advantages: it is easy to produce, employs much less material than a similar carton of rigid packets of cigarettes, and, at the same time, ensures adequate protection of the cigarettes currently being used (i.e. inserted inside the reusable rigid box). Moreover, soft packets 3 of cigarettes are particularly suitable for withdrawing the cigarettes from inside reusable rigid box 4, i.e. the cigarettes in soft packet 3 housed inside reusable rigid box 4 can be withdrawn quickly and easily, with no need to extract the soft packet 3 of cigarettes partly from the reusable rigid box.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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BO2007A 000401 | Jun 2007 | IT | national |