This application is a National Stage Entry entitled to and hereby claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยงยง365 and 371 to corresponding PCT Application No. PCT/EP2011/067164, filed Sep. 30, 2011, which in turn claims priority to GB Application No. 1018716.9, filed Nov. 5, 2010. The entire contents of the aforementioned applications are herein expressly incorporated by reference.
Smoking articles such as cigarettes are typically stored in packs and the overall function of the packs is to store and protect the cigarettes from mechanical and environmental damage. Various configurations of cigarette packs are known from the prior art including hinged-lid and shell packs with slidable inserts. A hinged-lid pack comprises a body and a lid so as to define a space for holding a bundle of smoking articles. The lid is attached to a rear panel of the body along a hinge-line so that it can rotate between an open and closed position. In a closed position a lower front wall edge of the lid abuts an upper edge of a front panel of the body so as to create a flush outer finish.
When a consumer purchases or receives for example a hinged-lid pack containing smoking articles, they rely on the outer cellophane wrapping and/or the inner foil wrapping to indicate as to whether the pack has previously been opened or not. However, not all packs are wrapped in cellophane and as the foil wrapping is not sealed it may not give sufficient evidence as to whether the content of the pack has been interfered or tampered with.
GB2290778A seeks to overcome the problem referred to above by providing a pack where the front wall of the lid is formed with a downwardly depending semi-circular tab. The tab is received in a complementary cut-out formed in the upper edge of the front wall of the body so that it lies against the frame received inside the pack. When the pack is assembled and the lid closed, a layer of adhesive is disposed between the tab and the frame so as to stick the tab to the frame. To initially open the pack, the adhesive must be broken so as to release the tab.
A disadvantage of the pack known from GB2290778A includes the fact that the adhesive needs to be broken which may require some force. Furthermore, the breaking of the adhesive may cause residues of the adhesive to remain on the frame causing an un-aesthetically acceptable appearance of the pack. The tab always protrudes from the front wall of the lid, even once the pack has been opened and this may also be undesirable.
The present invention seeks to provide a pack for holding smoking articles that overcomes or substantially alleviates the problems mentioned above.
According to the present invention, there is provided a pack for smoking articles comprising a first portion and a second portion configured to move relative to one another, the first portion having a front wall with a lower front wall edge and a tab extending from the lower front wall edge which is adhered to a front panel of the second portion, wherein the tab includes a line of weakening that is broken to initially open the pack such that at least a portion of the tab remain adhered to the front panel of the second portion.
Preferably, the first and second portions form a line of closure when the pack is closed and the line of weakening is coincident with said line of closure.
Alternatively, the first and second portions form a line of closure when the pack is closed and the line of weakening is misaligned relative to the line of closure.
The line of weakening may be formed below the line of closure so that when the line of weakening is broken to initially open the pack, a portion of the tab remains on both the first and the second portions.
In one embodiment, the first portion is a lid and the second portion is a body.
The lid may be formed with a flap extending from the front wall edge along a fold-line, the tab being formed by an incision in said flap, the flap being folded inwardly relative to the tab so as to lie against an inner surface of the lid.
The body may be formed with a front panel edge and an integral tab, the integral tab extends from said front panel edge of the second portion and locates in a recess formed on an inner surface of the front wall of the first portion when the pack is closed.
In an alternative embodiment, the first portion is a body and the second portion is a lid.
The tab may be semi-circular or it may be of any other shape such as rectangular or square.
Preferably, an adhesive is used to connect the tab to the front panel of the second portion.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is also a blank for forming the invention referred to above.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in
The general configuration of the pack 1 in a folded position will now be described with reference to
In
The lid 9 of the blank 20 further comprises the rear wall 14, top wall 12 and the front wall 13 as previously described. The top and rear walls 12, 14 of the lid 9 are formed with side flaps 18 which are overlapped by the side walls 16a, 16b of the front wall 13 of the lid 9 when the blank 20 is in a folded position. The front wall 13 of the lid 9 is further formed with a flap 17 extending from the lower front wall edge 15 along a fold-line 19. The flap folds inwardly so that it lies against the inner surface of the front wall 13 of the lid 9. The flap 17 provides stability and strength to the lid as it together with the front wall 13 of the lid 9 form a double layer. The flap is formed with a semi-circular incision extending from the fold-line 19 so as to form the tab 20 which depends from the lower front wall edge as the flap 17 is folded inwardly. The tab 20 extends from the lower front wall edge 15 along the line of weakening 23 as previously described and the line of weakening may be formed by, for example, cutting, scoring or perforating.
It is envisaged that the line of weakening 23 is coincident with the closure line 8 between the body 2 and the lid 9 so that the tab portion remaining on the front wall 3 of the body 2 of an opened pack does not extend beyond the upper edges 5 of said body 2. Alternatively, the line of weakening 23 may be located below the closure line such that when the pack is opened portions of the tab remain on the body as well as on the lid. In yet another embodiment, the line of weakening may be formed above the closure line so that the tab portion remaining on the front panel 3 of the body 2 extends beyond the upper edges 5 of said body 2.
It should be appreciated that the tab is not limited to a semi-circular shape, and so could be of any shape and/or size. Alternative embodiments of the tab are shown in
To enhance the visual appearance of the pack complementary shapes may be drawn onto the front wall of the lid, for example, a mirror image of the semi-circle of the tabs shown in
In combination with any of the embodiments described above, the front panel 3 of the body 2 may further be formed with an integral tab 30 which extends from the upper front panel edge 5 as can appreciated from
In an alternative un-illustrated embodiment, the pack may be formed with a tab of a suitable shape extending from an upper edge of the panel of the body and is adhered to the front wall of the lid. The tab is also formed with a line of weakening that is broken to initially open the pack such that at least a portion of the tab remain adhered to the front wall of the lid, thus it functions similarly to the pack described with reference to
It should be understood that the configuration of the tab according to the present invention is not limited to hinged-lid packs. It is envisaged that it can be applied to various alternative packs holding smoking articles, for example shell packs.
Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those persons skilled in the art that the foregoing description should be regarded as a description of preferred embodiments only and that other embodiments that fall within the scope of the appended claims are considered to form part of this disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1018716.9 | Nov 2010 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2011/067164 | 9/30/2011 | WO | 00 | 5/31/2013 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2012/059282 | 5/10/2012 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2443428 | Lambert | Jun 1948 | A |
3040957 | Meyers | Jun 1962 | A |
5678690 | Belvederi | Oct 1997 | A |
6343691 | Focke et al. | Feb 2002 | B1 |
6467614 | Tallier et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
29502062 | Jun 1996 | DE |
1724210 | Nov 2006 | EP |
1514374 | Feb 1968 | FR |
2290778 | Jan 1996 | GB |
2290778 | Oct 1996 | GB |
Entry |
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International Search Report and Written Opinion, mailed Nov. 17, 2011, for International Application PCT/EP2011/067164, filed Sep. 30, 2011. |
Written Opinion of the International Preliminary Examining Authority, mailed Dec. 14, 2012, for International Application PCT/EP2011/067164, filed Sep. 30, 2011. |
International Preliminary Report on Patentability, mailed Feb. 27, 2013, for International Application PCT/EP2011/067164, filed Sep. 30, 2011. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20130277249 A1 | Oct 2013 | US |