AU659313B2

AU659313B2 - Point of sale carton wrap splitter

Info

Publication number: AU659313B2
Application number: AU39981/93A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Paul David McKimmie
Original assignee: LE MAC ENTERPRISES Pty Ltd
Current assignee: LE MAC ENTERPRISES Pty Ltd
Priority date: 1992-06-02
Filing date: 1993-06-02
Publication date: 1995-05-11
Anticipated expiration: 2013-06-02
Also published as: AU3998193A

Description

7 _L r )FRA: I589 659

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

444I* .44 4 4 F c Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Le Mac Enterprises Pty Limited 9/15 Carrington Road Castle Hill New South Wales 2154

AUSTRALIA

Paul David McKimmie Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Point of Sale Carton Wrap Splitter er r cc I i ccFe le c~ ASSOCIATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION DETAILS [31] Application No(s) [33] Country PL2736 AU [32] Application Date 2 June 1992 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- RR1 /3 The present invention relates to packaging and, in particular, to barcoded packaging which enables a single package to be split into two separate packages each of which is barcoded. The present invention will be described in relation to cigarette packaging but is applicable to other products including groceries and personal care products.

One style of packaging cigarettes for sale is to package ten packets of cigarettes in a "carton" formed by wrapping the packets in a soft packaging wrap. This style of packaging allows the consumer to buy the cigarettes in greater quantities than by single packets. This form of packaging is popular with some consumers because a price discount per packet is normally offered. Since the carton is an item which is actually sold, a barcode is located on the outside of the carton for use by computerised sales equipment. This barcode includes information to the effect that the carton includes ten packets of cigarettes.

The number of packets of cigarettes in a carton is a standard, set at ten packets. However, marketing research has determined that it is sometimes advantageous to sell half cartons or packages of five packets of cigarettes. It is known to indicate a half carton of cigarettes (and other articles such as drink bottles) by having a separate dividing or perforated line on the carton which separates the two groups of five packets into a separate half carton.

However, this procedure suffers from the disadvantage that the carton barcode remains on one half of the carton and the other half of the carton has no barcode. This results in inconvenience when either half carton is sold since barcode reading apparatus cannot be used at the cash register at point of sale. This is because the other half carton has no barcode at all whilst the one half carton has a barcode which, if entered into the cash register, would indicate that the entire carton was being sold.

30 It is the object of the present invention to provide both a package and a method of packaging which enables a single barcoded carton to be easily split into two separate half cartons each of which has its own barcode.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a package for a plurality of items able to be sold either together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages each of which is able to be sold In a separate sale, said package being divisible into said sub-packages along a dividing line indicated by at least a portion HRN/1l152c -2of a tear-off strip, said portion of said tear-off strip including a barcode or other indicia indicative of the entire package, and said portion after tearing-off revealing an area of each said sub-package which is concealed by said strip prior to tearing-off and which includes a barcode or other indicia indicative only of the corresponding sub-package.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of packaging a plurality of items into a package able to be sold together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages each of which is able to be sold separately, said method comprising the steps of arranging said items into a plurality of sub-groups, juxtaposing said sub-groups, and packing said juxtaposed sub-groups to form said package, said package being divisible into said sub-packages along a dividing line indicated by at least a portion of a tear-off strip, said portion of said tear-off strip including a barcode or other indicia indicative of the entire package, and said portion after tearing-off revealing an area of each said sub-package which is concealed by said strip prior to tearing-off and which includes a barcode or other indicia indicative only of the corresponding sub-package.

Two embodiments of the present invention will now be described with ,t reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carton of cigarettes of a first SC, embodiment, illustrated prior to splitting of the carton, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the carton of Fig. 1 illustrating the splitting of the carton, Fig. 3 is a partial plan view of the carton of Fig. 1 in the direction of arrow III, with a tearable strip removed, Fig. 4 is a cutaway partial plan view of the removable tearable strip, Fig. 5 is an exploded cross sectional view along the lines V-V of Fig. 1, 4 Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment illustrated prior to splitting of the carton, and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the carton of Fig. 6 illustrating i the splitting of the carton.

i_ HRW/1152c -3- The point of sale carton wrap packaging arrangement of a first embodiment is illustrated in Figs. 1-5 of the drawings. Illustrated in Fig. 1, a carton 1 of ten packets of cigarettes has a centreline strip 2 located at the middle 3 of the carton 1. The strip 2 includes a disposable portion 8 which is removable to split the carton 1 into two separate half cartons 4 as illustrated in Fig. 2. The remaining portions 9 of the strip 2 remain adhered to the corresponding half cartons 4. The half cartons 4 each containing five packets of cigarettes are then able to be sold separately as "a half carton" of cigarettes.

As seen in Fig. 1, the disposable portion 8 has indicia or a barcode 5 visible on its outside surface. The barcode 5 is used with computerised sales equipment to facilitate the sale with regards the price and amount of remaining stock in the store. The barcode 5 has the price details regarding the price of the carton 1 of ten packets of cigarettes.

As seen in Fig. 2, the barcode 5 which is on a lozenge-shaped part 7 of the disposable portion 8 of the tearable strip 2, is removed completely from the carton 1. When the lozenge-shaped portion 7 has been removed, two separate barcodes 6 are exposed on the two half cartons 4.

20 The barcodes 6 include information regarding the price of a half carton 4 •of five packets of cigarettes. Thus, each half carton 4 of cigarettes is able to be sold separately using the computerised sales equipment.

To facilitate the foregoing, a soft packaging paper wrap 10 (Fig.

\.t2 5) is formed and with which the ten packets of cigarettes are wrapped to form the carton 1. The paper wrap 10 has located at its middle 3 (corresponding the midsection of the carton 1 of Fig. 1) a tapE 11 which i is adhered to the inside surface of the paper wrap 10. On the outside surface of the paper wrap 10, the tearable strip 2 includes an inner layer 12 which has adhesive on its underside which adheres the inner c" 30 layer 12 to the paper wrap 10. On the upper side of the inner layer 12, a release coating 13 is located. An outer layer 14 with adhesive 19 coated on its underside is bonded to the release coating 13 of the inner layer 12. i A pair of parallel lines of perforations 15 (Fig. 1) pass through the paper wrap 10, the inner layer 12 and the outer layer 14. The 4 parallel lines of perforations 15 align with the outside edges of the ,S tape 11 and define the disposable portion 8. On the barcode carrying surface 17 of the carton 1, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, four arcuate HRW/1152c -4slits 16 are cut into the outer layer 14. The slits 16 enable the outer layer 14 to be removed from the release coating 13 of the inner layer 12 and define the lozenge-shaped portion 7. The pair of barcodes 6 are printed onto the release coating 13 of the inner layer 12 and are thus visible following removal of the lozenge-shaped portion 7.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, a tag 18 extends from the tearable strip 2 prior to the splitting of the carton 1 into two half cartons 4. To split the carton 1, the tag 18 is pulled thereby pulling the tape 11.

This lifts the inner layer 12 and outer layer 14 between the pair of lines of perforations 15 to expose previously abutting faces of the end packets of cigarettes of each half carton 4.

To ensure that the end packets of cigarettes do not fall out of the half cartons 4, the paper wrap 10 when being wrapped around the packets of cigarettes is glued or otherwise adhered to the two middle packets of cigarettes of the carton 1 which will form the end packets of the half cartons 4.

A second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7. A carton 21 of ten packets of cigarettes has a centre line strip 22 located in the middle 23 of the carton 21. The strip 22 20 includes a disposable portion 28 which is removable to split the carton 21 into two separate half cartons 24 as illustrated in Fig. 7.

4A tab 30 is attached to the top side of the centre line strip 22 and is removed from the carton 21 when the disposable portion 28 is removed. The tab 30 is opaque and has indicia or a barcode 25 visible on its outside surface and this barcode is used with computerised sales equipment to facilitate the sales with regards to the pricing amount of the carton 21 containing ten packs of cigarettes.

As seen in Fig. 7, when the barcode 25 is removed completely from the carton, two separate barcodes 26 are exposed on the two half cartons j I, 30 24. The barcodes 26 are printed on the two half cartons 24 and have a 1 r transparent layer 31 of the multilayered tab 30 adhered thereto. The centre line strip 22 and the opaque layer 32 of the tab 30 are adhered to the outside surface of the transparent layer 31 as illustrated in Fig.

6. The centre line strip 22 is between the transparent layer and the opaque layer 32 of the tab 30 so that the transparent layer 31 remains on I the wrapper of the carton 21 whilst the opaque layer 32 of the tab 30 is removed with the strip 22. The transparent layer 31 and opaque layer 32 HRW/1152c ii I have a release coating positioned therebetween to facilitate easy removal of the opaque layer 32.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications obvious to those skilled in the art can be mad- thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, if desired the tear-off strip 2 could extend only over the upper surface of the carton 1 as seen in Fig. 1. In this arrangement the two half cartons 4 would be formed by cutting with a knife, or ripping, the wrapper 10. Similarly, the tear-off strip 2 need not be the only such tear-off strip. In the illustrated embodiment there are ten packets divisible into two sub-packages each of five packets. However if the carton 1 contained twelve packets, three strips 2 can be provided.

The rentre one of these three strips would divide such a carton into two half cartons each of six packets. However, if this strip were not used, the other two strips can be used to divide the carton up into three sub-cartons which each contain four packets. The centre one of these sub-cartons would in turn be divisible by the centre strip into two sub-sub-cartons each containing two packets.

The major advantages of all the above described arrangements 20 include the relatively low cost of implementation, the point of sale i flexibility whilst still permitting use of barcoding equipment, and the ease with which the above can be implemented using substantially conventional wrapping forming and printing machinery.

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HRW/1 1 152c c i c

Claims

1. A package for a plurality of items able to be sold either together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages each of which is able to be sold in a separate sale, said package being divisible into said sub-packages along a dividing line indicated by at least a portion of a tear-off strip, said portion of said tear-off strip including a barcode or other indicia indicative of the entire package, and said portion after tearing-off revealing an area of each said sub-package which is concealed by said strip prior to tearing-off and which includes a barcode or other indicia indicative only of the corresponding sub-package.

2. A package as claimed in claim 1, wherein said portion of the tear-off strip which includes said barcode or other indicia indicative of the entire package includes a tab which is removed from said package.

3. A package as claimed in claim 2, wherein said tab is a multilayered tab with said barcode or indicia indicative of the entire package being printed on an opaque layer and a release coating being located on the underside of said opaque layer so that the tab is easily removed from said package.

4. A package as claimed in claim 3, wherein said barcode or other indicia indicative only of t-e corresponding sub-package is printed on said package, and a transparent layer of said tab is adhered thereto, said release coating and said removable strip being between said transparent layer and said opaque layer of said tab.

5. A method of packaging a plurality of items into a package able to be sold together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages each .of which is able to be sold separately, said method comprising the steps o t of arranging said items into a plurality of sub-groups, juxtaposing said sub-groups, and packaging said juxtaposed sub-groups to form said package, said package being divisible into said sub-packages along a dividing line indicated by at least a portion of a tear-off strip, said portion of said tear-off strip including a barcode or other indicia indicative of the entire package, and said portion after tearing-off revealing an area of each said sub-package which is concealed by said strip prior to tearing-off and which includes a barcode or other indicia indicative only of the corresponding sub-package. HRW/1152c S1 -7-

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said portion of the tear-off strip which includes said barcode or other indicia indicative of the entire package Includes a tab which is removed from said package when tear-off strip is removed.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said tab is a multilayer tab with said barcode or indicia indicative of the entire package being printed on an opaque layer and a release coating being located on the underside of said opaque layer, said release coating enabling easy removal of said opaque layer.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said barcode or other indicia indicative only of the corresponding sub-package is printed on said package and a transparent layer of said tab is adhered thereto, said release coating and said removable strip being located between said transparent layer and said opaque layer of said tab.

9. A package for a plurality of items able to be sold either together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages each of which is able to be sold in a separate sale, said package being substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1-5 or Figs. 6-7 of the accompanying drawings. a

10. A method of packaging a plurality of items into a package able to be sold together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages each #4* o of which is able to be sold separately, said method being substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1-5 or Figs. 6-7 of the accompanying S drawings. DATED this FIRST day of JUNE 1993 Le Mac Enterprises Pty Limited i Patent Attorneys for the Applicant SPRUSON FERGUSON HRN/I 152c IU ._1 ii t I I. i Lr r POINT OF SALE CARTON WRAP SPLITTER ABSTRACT A package or carton (1,21) for a plurality of items to be sold either together in a single sale or as at least two sub-packages (4,24) each of which is able to be sold in a separate sale is disclosed. The package (1,21) is divisible into the sub-packages (4,24) along a dividing line of a tear off strip (2,22) which when removed also removes a barcode (5,25) indicative of the entire package When the tear off strip (2,22) is removed, barcodes (6,26) indicative of the corresponding sub-packages (4,24) are revealed, and the barcode (5,25) is dispensed with. Fig. 7. HRW/1152c t c i r t e: t1