This application claims priority to Italian Patent Application No. BO2008A000411, filed Jun. 27, 2008, which application is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a packet for articles of elongated shape such as cigarettes, for example, or sticks of chewing gum, or pouches of smokeless tobacco (snus).
Packets or wrappers of the type in question are fashioned from substantially rectangular leaves of pliable packaging material, generally affording a high degree of impermeability to air and moisture, and appear substantially parallelepiped in shape, presenting a rectangular section.
The packet is delimited by four side walls extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the parallelepiped, namely a front wall, a rear wall or back, and two narrow walls or flanks, also by two walls disposed transversely to the selfsame axis, the one upwardly directed, identifiable as a top, the other downwardly directed, identifiable as a base.
Certain packets of this type provide the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,676, which discloses and depicts packets containing cigarettes, inserted into cardboard outer wrappers of the type appearing as a box with a hinged lid.
The cigarettes in the packet are disposed alongside one another, and parallel to the aforementioned longitudinal axis.
The topmost part of the packet presents a cutout substantially of letter “U” outline, including an arcuate central portion occupying the front wall, and two parallel portions extending from the ends of the arcuate portion along the front wall, across the top and onto the uppermost part of the back.
The cutout delimits a closure element on the wrapper, resembling a flap or tongue, positioned over an opening through which the user can draw out an article contained in the packet by taking hold of one end and pulling.
The closure element and an area around the selfsame element are covered completely by an adhesive label that extends across an area including a top portion of the front wall, the top of the packet, and an adjoining portion of the back.
The part of the label positioned on the front wall is furnished with a tab that both facilitates the operation of pulling back the tongue and allows the user to reclose the packet each time a cigarette, or other article, is taken from the packet.
Importantly, in order to ensure that the adhesive label will cover the entire area occupied by the cutout completely, and consequently guarantee an airtight closure of the wrapper, the parallel portions of the cutout are placed at a predetermined distance from the corner edges along which the front wall, the top and the back of the packet are joined to the two flanks.
This means that when the closure element is pulled back, the top of the packet will not be raised in its entirety to expose the top ends of all the articles contained in the packet, as would be the case, conversely, when a conventional hinge-lid packet is opened.
As a result, the articles of which the top ends are positioned at the two ends of the top, lying outside the line of the cutout, are not exposed to view; moreover, given that the contents of the packet are generally enveloped by the wrapper in a tight fit, these same endmost articles can prove difficult to access and extricate.
The object of the present invention is to provide a packet for articles of elongated shape such as will enable all of the articles contained in the selfsame packet to be removed without the drawbacks typical of prior art packets as described above, and which also affords cost advantages compared to conventional hinge-lid packets.
The stated object is realized in a packet for articles of elongated shape according to the invention, which comprises an outer wrapper of substantially parallelepiped appearance containing articles arranged parallel to a longitudinal axis of the packet, presenting a front wall, a rear wall or back, two flank walls, a top and a base, also a cutout, serving to delimit a closure tongue, composed of a portion lying transversely to the longitudinal axis of the packet and occupying a central area of the front wall, and two portions extending from the ends of the transverse portion, at a predetermined distance from the corner edges of the relative flank walls, along the front wall and at least across the width of the top. The area occupied by the cutout is covered by an adhesive label with a pull tab.
The packet further comprises an inner element serving to fill two longitudinal and substantially parallelepiped spaces within the wrapper, each coinciding positionally and dimensionally at one end with a relative portion of the top located externally of the cutout.
The invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which:
With reference to
In the example of
The packet 1, which is manufactured on a cigarette packer or other packaging machine (not illustrated), comprises an outer wrapper 7 substantially of parallelepiped appearance and rectangular section, made from a pliable material affording a high degree of impermeability to air and moisture, and typically heat-sealable.
The wrapper 7 is delimited by four side walls, extending parallel to the longitudinal axis A, comprising a front wall 8, a rear wall or back 9 and two narrower walls or flanks 10, also by two walls disposed transversely to the selfsame axis A, one upwardly directed, identifiable as a top 11, the other downwardly directed, identifiable as a base 12.
The top part of the wrapper 7 presents a cutout 13 substantially of letter “U” outline, including a central portion 14 that occupies the front wall 8, and two parallel portions 15 extending from the ends of the central portion 14 across the front wall 8, the top 11, and the uppermost part of the back 9.
On the back 9 of the wrapper, the two free ends of the parallel portions 15, denoted 16, are curled in toward one another.
The U-shaped cutout 13 delimits a closure element, or tongue 17, complementary to an opening 18 through which the articles 2 are taken from the packet 1.
The part of the wrapper 7 presenting the cutout 13 is covered by an adhesive label 19, of which the part positioned over the front wall 8 is furnished with a tab 20 designed to facilitate the operation of pulling back the tongue 17 when the packet 1 is opened.
The packet 1 also comprises an inner element 21 of stiff or semi-stiff paper material, interposed between the articles 2 and the outer wrapper 7, presenting a flat central portion 22 breasted in contact with the front wall 8 and of similar height and width dimensions (see also
The inner element 21 presents a rib 23 along each longitudinal edge, of depth substantially equal to the depth of the wrapper 7, and more exactly to the transverse dimension presented by the flanks 10 of the packet 1. Accordingly, the ribs 23 occupy two substantially parallelepiped spaces internally of the wrapper 7, each coinciding cross-sectionally with a portion of the top 11 lying between the cutout 13 and the flank 10.
Referring also to
More exactly, the blank 24 is divided by four longitudinal crease lines 25, 26, 27 and 28, on two opposite sides of a central panel 29, into respective second, third and fourth panels denoted 30, 31 and 32, and respective end flaps denoted 33.
Finally, a single crease line denoted 34 extends transversely to the axis A′ across one end of the central panel 29, delimiting a bottom flap 35 that will be breasted in contact with the base 12 of the assembled packet 7.
The edge 36 of the central panel 29 remote from the bottom flap 35 might present a U-shaped cutaway 37, designed to facilitate the removal of the articles 2 from the packet 1, in which case the two end flaps 33 likewise will present respective complementarily shaped cutaways 38.
The process whereby the panels and flaps of the flat blank 24 are bent along the respective crease lines to form the inner element 21, in a succession of folding steps, will be readily discernible from the drawings.
In particular, along each of the two longitudinal edges delimiting the central panel 29, the adjoining panels 30, 31 and 32 combine with a portion of the selfsame central panel 29 to form the longitudinal walls of one of the aforementioned ribs 23; more exactly, the second panel 30 becomes an outer wall breasted in contact with the relative flank 10 of the wrapper 7, the third panel 31 becomes a wall breasted in contact with the back 9, and the fourth panel 32 becomes a wall directed toward the inside of the packet 1, offered in contact to the articles 2.
Once bent into shape, the inner element 21 is secured by affixing the two end flaps 33 to the central panel 29 with an adhesive, in such a way that the thickness of the aforementioned flat central portion 22 will be doubled.
The inner elements 21 are supplied to the packaging machine aforementioned as flat blanks stacked one on top of another (see
One face of the panel 40 in question is designed to engage in contact with the back 9 of the wrapper 7, and the other face with the third panels 31 of the two ribs 23.
Another difference between the blank 39 of
When bent at right angles to the two respective panels 31, these same appendages 42 provide closure elements for corresponding open ends presented by the ribs 23 of the inner element 21.
Furthermore, the free end of the panel 40 presents a cutaway 37 designed to facilitate the removal of artikel 2.
The relative blank 47 illustrated in
The relative blank 48, illustrated in
Self-evidently, in a packet 1 furnished with the inner element 21 described and illustrated, the problems connected with accessing and extracting the articles located nearest to the flank walls of the wrapper are overcome entirely.
It will be appreciated also that the quality and strength of the packet can be determined selectively, on the basis of the type of blank utilized to fashion the inner element 21.
The position of the inner element 21 within the wrapper 7 might equally well be rotated through 180° about the longitudinal axis A′ from the position illustrated in the accompanying drawings, that is to say with the flat central portion 22 offered in contact to the back 9 of the wrapper 7.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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BO2008A000411 | Jun 2008 | IT | national |