EP0725018B1

EP0725018B1 - Cigarette parcel, container including a plurality of such cigarette parcels, and method of feeding the cigarette parcels to a vending machine

Info

Publication number: EP0725018B1
Application number: EP19960300736
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yutaka C/O Japan Tobacco Inc. Okumoto
Original assignee: Japan Tobacco Inc
Current assignee: Japan Tobacco Inc
Priority date: 1995-02-03
Filing date: 1996-02-02
Publication date: 1999-06-16
Anticipated expiration: 2016-02-02
Also published as: JP3402820B2; EP0725018A1; DE69602856D1; JPH08207958A; DE69602856T2

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cigarette parcel in which a plurality of cigarette packs are bundled as a block and a container in which a plurality of the cigarette parcels are packed.

Description of the Related Art

In a cigarette manufacturing plant, filter cigarettes manufactured are packed by the twenty to have cigarette packs, and these cigarette packs are gathered and packed by the predetermined number to have parcels (cartons). After this, these parcels are packed in a container, that is, a corrugated fiberboard box, and then, shipped from the above plant to cigarette shops.
At a cigarette shop, the corrugated fiberboard boxes are opened and the parcels or cartons are taken out of the boxes. The cigarette packs are sold by the parcel, or sold individually after cigarette packs are taken out of the parcels. Also, the cigarettes packs are loaded in a vending machine to be sold by the machine.
Recently, under the influence of raise in personnel expenses, sales of cigarette packs by vending machines is increasing compared with facetoface sales. Thus, the size of a vending machine is growing, and the number of cigarette packs containable in a vending machine is also increasing.
Therefore, replenishing a vending machine with cigarette packs takes more time as the number of cigarette packs to be supplemented is increasing. In more detail, in replenishing a vending machine with cigarette packs, it is necessary to first take out parcels from a corrugated fiberboard box, but this takingout work is not easy. That is, the parcels packed in the corrugated fiberboard box are arranged in close contact with each other, and it is not easy to take out a first parcel from the fiberboard box. Also, in order to take out separate cigarette packs from the parcel after that, it is necessary to tear off the packing paper of the parcel. Moreover, cigarette packs should be supplemented by the two or three cigarette packs at a time so that a caretaker of the vending machine can grab with his/her one hand.
Also, as the cigarette packs to be sold by vending machines are taken out of the parcel, a large quantity of packing paper becomes waste, which is not favorable in view of resource conservation.
A simplified packing method is described in Japanese published patent application 5051079, see Patent Abstracts of Japan, 17,358.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a cigarette parcel for cigarette packs and a container in which the cigarette parcels are packed so that consumption amount of packing paper is reduced to make suitable for resource conservation and a takingout work from the container and packing work of cigarette packs into a vending machine can be carried out easily.
The above objective is achieved by a cigarette parcel for cigarette packs according to the present invention, and this cigarette parcel comprises a pack set obtained by stacking a plurality of cigarette packs, this pack set being in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped with six faces, and packing means for packing the pack set, the packing means including a first band wound around the pack set in one direction for binding the pack set, this first band having two first ends connected separably to each other, and a second band wound around the pack set in a direction crossing the first band for binding the pack set, this second band having two second ends connected separably to each other.
According to the abovementioned cigarette parcel, the pack set is bound only with two bands, and packing paper covering the pack set in whole is not needed for the pack set.
Each of the first and the second bands has preferably an adhesion part in which both of the first ends and both of the second ends are overlapped and bonded to each other. In this case, the first and the second band ends are separated from each other at their adhesion parts.
Moreover, the first ends of the first band and the second ends of the second band are preferably arranged on two adjacent faces, respectively, of the pack set. In this case, with cigarette parcels packed in a container, that is, a corrugated fiberboard box, if both ends of the upper band of the first and the second bands are arranged on a top face of the cigarette parcel, the cigarette parcels can be taken out of the fiberboard box easily by pulling these both ends upward after the adhesion between the both ends on the band is peeled off.
In the first and the second bands, one of the first ends and one of the second ends which are respectively overlapped on the outside of the other ends preferably have grab parts extending integrally from the adhesion part. In this case, when the grab part is grabbed and then, pulled, the adhesion between the both ends of the first or second band can be peeled off easily.
If the adhesion parts of the first and second bands have a readhesive property, the both ends can be rebonded to each other when the band has been used for taking out from the fiberboard box, as mentioned above.
The above object can be also achieved by a container in which the cigarette parcels of the present invention are packed, and this container comprises a rectangular box whose top face can be opened and cigarette parcels arranged and packed in this box. In this case, each of the cigarette parcels is the same as those mentioned above, but as can be seen from the abovementioned explanation, the both ends of the upper band of the first and the second bands are arranged on the top face of the pack set.
Moreover, the present invention provides a method for feeding cigarette packs to a vending machine, as described in appended claim 10. In this case, in a column of a vending machine, cigarette packs which have been taken out from a container, that is, a corrugated fiberboard box and whose band used for the takingout has been eliminated are stacked and filled. In this supplement, both ends of the remaining band of each of the cigarette packs are positioned on the front side to which the column is opened. After that, both ends of the band remaining on each of the cigarette packs in the column are separated and pulled out.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a cigarette parcel of a preferred embodiment;
Figs. 2 and 3 are side views showing ends of bands, respectively;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a corrugated fiberboard box in the state where cigarette parcels are packed;
Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the state where one cigarette parcel is taken out from the corrugated fiberboard box;
Fig. 6 is a schematic view showing an inside of a vending machine;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a column of the vending machine of Fig. 6; and
Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing a variation of a cigarette parcel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to Fig. 1, a cigarette parcel 2 for cigarette packs comprises, for example, five packs of cigarette 4 and a pair of pack bands 6 and 8 for binding these cigarette packs 4. Each of the cigarette packs 4 contains 20 pieces of filter cigarettes. The cigarette pack 4 is manufactured by a packing machine for packing manufactured filter cigarettes (not shown) by the twenty, but cigarette packs are classified into soft pack or hard pack according to its packing paper and packing method. In this preferred embodiment, the cigarette packs 4 are shown as soft packs.
As can be seen from Fig. 1, five cigarette packs 4 are placed horizontally and stacked vertically to constitute a pack set 10. In more detail, each of the cigarette packs 4 has a front face 12 and a rear face (not shown) in parallel with each other, and in the pack set 10, two vertically adjacent cigarette packs 4 have their rear face of the upper cigarette pack and the front face 12 of the lower cigarette pack in contact with each other and are stacked in the state their profiles accord to each other. However, the vertically adjacent cigarette packs 4 have their tops 14 and bottoms 16 arranged contrary to each other. This is because the top side of the cigarette pack 4 is different in strength from the bottom side.
When this point is explained in detail, as filters of the filter cigarettes are located at a position on its top side of the cigarette pack 4, the part on the top side is greater in strength than the part on the bottom side and hard to crush. However, as mentioned above, with the tops 14 and the bottoms 16 of the adjacent cigarette packs 4 arranged in opposite direction to each other, even if a large number of cigarette parcels 2 are vertically stacked, the degree of deformities of the top side and the bottom side of each cigarette pack 4 in the stacked cigarette parcels 2 can be made even. As a result, in the stacked cigarette parcel 2, the rear face of the lowest cigarette pack 4 and the front face 12 of the highest cigarette pack 4 are held in parallel with each other. Incidentally, in Fig. 1, the closure of each of the cigarette packs 4 is shown by a reference number 18.
In the case where the cigarette packs 4 are hard packs, a difference in strength is hardly generated between the top side part and the bottom side part, and thus, the adjacent cigarette packs can be stacked with their tops and bottoms aligned.
One pack band 6 is wound around the pack set 10 along the profile of the longitudinal section of the pack set 10, while the other pack band 8 is wound around the pack set 10 along the profile of transverse section of the pack set 10 and crosses the pack band 6 on the top and the bottom faces of the pack set 10, respectively. Here, it should be noted that the pack band 8 is located over the pack band 6. Incidentally, it is needless to say that the winding strength of the pack bands 6 and 8 is limited to the degree that each of the cigarette packs 4 of the pack set 10 is not deformed.
The pack bands 6 and 8 are constituted by film tapes with the width of 10 to 30 mm, preferably of 20 mm. The film tape has a sufficient tensile strength for bundling the pack set 10 in addition to thermal degradation and thermal plasticity. The pack bands 6 and 8 may be made of paper such as Japanese paper or singlefaced art paper, but the singlefaced art paper is preferable in this case because of its availability.
The pack band 6 has a pair of ends 20 and 22, and these ends 20 and 22 are overlapped with each other on the side face of the pack set 10, that is, one of first side faces defined by the tops 14 and the bottoms 16 of the cigarette packs 4 in the pack set 10, and bonded to each other at an adhesion part 24. Thus, the pack set 10 is wound with the pack band 6 in the longitudinal direction and bundled by this pack band 6, and the pair of first side faces of the pack set 10 are maintained in the state where the tops 14 and bottoms 16 of the cigarette packs 4 are located within same planes, respectively.
Here, in the pack band 6, the end 20 is located over the end 22 and bonded to the end 22 through the adhesion part 24 with its tip portion remained. The tip portion of the end 20 is formed as a grab part 26, and in this case, the grab part 26 extends upward.
The adhesion part 24 is obtained by bonding the ends 20 and 22 together by heat seal or precoated hot melt adhesive. When considering the material of the pack band 6, which is a film tape as mentioned above, and productivity of the cigarette parcels 2, bonding by heat seal is preferable. In concrete, when the pack band 6 has thermal degradation and thermal plasticity, the adhesion part 24 can be obtained by applying heat from a heat sealer and pressure to the ends 20 and 22 in the overlapped state.
Here, the adhesion strength of the adhesion part 24 is not so great, and when the grab part 26 is pulled downward seen in Fig. 1, the ends 20 and 22 of the pack band 6 can be peeled out of each other from the adhesion part 24.
In the meantime, when the pack band 6 is made of paper, an adhesive layer 28 as the adhesion part 24 is formed in advance on the end 22 of the pack band 6 as shown in Fig. 2. This adhesive layer 28 can be obtained by applying an adhesive such as a common glue made of starch and poly vinyl acetate or an adhesive with readhesive property such as acrylic resin, rubber resin and urethane resin. If the adhesive layer 28 has a readhesive property, even once the ends 20 and 22 are peeled off, the ends 20 and 22 can be bonded together again at a later time.
Moreover, as shown in Fig. 3, a doublefaced tape piece 30 as the adhesion part 24 is bonded to the end of the paper pack band 6. The adhesion strength of this doublefaced tape piece 30 is greater on one face than on the other face. When the ends 20 and 22 are bonded to each other with such a doublefaced tape piece 30, these ends can be bonded again.
The other pack band 8 is made of the same material as that of the abovementioned pack band 6, the its both ends are also bonded to each other as with the case of the pack band 6. That is, both ends 32 and 34 of the pack band 8 are bonded to each other through an adhesion part 36 similar to the adhesion part 24, and the tip portion of one end 36 is constituted as a grab part 38.
As can be seen from Fig. 1, the pack set 10 is wound with the pack band 8 in its transverse direction and bundled with this pack band 8, and a pair of second side faces of the pack set 10, that is, second side faces defined by sides of each of the cigarette packs 4 are maintained within the same planes, respectively. Here, it should be noted that the adhesion part 36 of the pack band 8 is located on the top face of the pack set 10, that is, the front face 12 of the highest cigarette pace 4 in Fig. 1.
As mentioned above, if the width of the pack bands 6 and 8 is set about 20 mm, these pack bands 6 and 8 can favorably bind the pack set 10, and each of the cigarette packs 4 will not wobble. In this point, if the width of the pack bands 6 and 8 is less than 10 mm, a binding force for the pack set 10 is not enough and each of the cigarette packs 4 in the cigarette parcel 2 may wobble. On the contrary, if the width of the pack bands 6 and 8 is more than 30 mm, consumption amount of the material for these pack bands 6 and 8 is increased and it is not favorable in the viewpoint of resource conservation.
As shown in Fig. 4, the cigarette parcels 2 are shipped from a cigarette manufacturing plant to retail shops in the state where they are packed in vertical two tiers in a corrugated fiberboard box 40. Fig. 4 shows the corrugated fiberboard box 40 with its top face, that is, its two pairs of flaps 42 and 44 opened. In each tier in the corrugated fiberboard box 40, the cigarette parcels 2 are arranged in four ranks and five files, and thus, forty cigarette parcels 2 in total are packed in the corrugated fiberboard box 40 without a clearance. At this time, the cigarette parcels 2 in each tier are positioned so that the grab parts 38 of the pack bands 8 are faced to the opening side of the corrugated fiberboard box 40.
When taking out the cigarette parcel 2 from the corrugated fiberboard box 40, a caretaker of the vending machine grabs the grab part 38 on the pack band 8 of one cigarette parcel 2 to be taken out and then, pulls the end 32 of the pack band 8 to peel the both ends 32 and 34 of the pack band 8 from the adhesion part 36, respectively, as shown in Fig. 4.
After that, the caretaker grabs the both ends 32 and 34 of the pack band 8 which have been peeled off from each other with both hands and pulls up the both ends 32 and 34 as shown by arrows in Fig. 5. By this, the cigarette parcel 2 is pulled out of the upper tier of cigarette parcels with the pack band 8 and easily taken out from the corrugated fiberboard box 40. After the cigarette parcel 2 is taken out, the pack band 8 becomes useless and thus, may be disposed of. As the cigarette parcel 2 is bound with the remaining pack band 6, each cigarette pack 4 of the cigarette parcel 2 will not become loose.
Next, referring to Fig. 6, a vending machine 46 for the cigarette packs 4 is shown with its front door 48 opened. The vending machine 46 is provided with a housing 50, in which a large number of columns 52 are arranged by group in vertical plural tiers. These columns 52 extend vertically, in which cigarette packs 4 are stacked and contained. Thus, each group of columns 52 is different from each other in length or size according to the size or sales share of the cigarette packs 4 to be contained therein.
A dispensing device 54 is arranged at the bottom of each of the columns 52, and these dispensing devices 54 can dispense a cigarette pack 4 from the corresponding column 52. A controller 56 is arranged at a lower part of the housing 50, and this controller 56 receives input of coins or paper money or commands from one of selector buttons for cigarette packs and controls operation of the corresponding dispensing devices 54. Input slots for coins and paper money and the selector buttons are provided on the front face of the front door 48, and display window for cigarette packs is also arranged on the front face of the front door 48.
In the inner face of the front door 48, chutes 58 for guiding cigarette packs dispensed by the dispensing devices 54 from the columns 52 are provided, and these chutes 58 guide the cigarette pack toward a pack receiver 60. The pack receiver 60 is arranged at a lower part of the front door 48 and communicates to a dispensing opening on the front face of the front door 48. Thus, a consumer can take out the cigarette pack received on the pack receiver 60 through the dispensing opening.
Referring to Fig. 7, one of the columns 52 is shown in detail. The column 52 is provided with a pair of side plates 64 protruding from a back wall 62 of the housing 50 toward the front, and these side plates 64 extend in the vertical direction in parallel with each other. The lower ends of the side plates 64 are positioned with a predetermined clearance from the top face of the corresponding dispensing device 54, and this clearance is set smaller than the thickness of the cigarette pack 4. The column 52 has a storage space 66 for the cigarette packs 4 defined by the side plate pairs 64, and this storage space 66 has its upper and lower faces opened.
At almost the center on the front face of the column 52, a stopper rod 68 made of a steel wire is arranged, and this stopper rod 68 extends in the vertical direction. The upper and the lower ends of the stopper rod 68 are bent toward the front side of the housing 50 and then, rotatably supported by a pair of horizontal partition plates 70 and 72. The upper partition plate 70 is arranged above the upper end of the column 52. The lower partition plate 72 is arranged above the top face of the dispensing device 54, and a clearance is secured between this top face of the dispensing device 54 and the lower partition plate 72 so that only one cigarette pack 4 can pass through it.
A handle 74 is horizontally mounted at the lower end of the stopper rod 68, and this handle 74 is positioned on the top face of the lower partition plate 72. When the handle 74 is moved on the horizontal face of the plate 72, the stopper rod 68 can be rotated around the upper and lower ends thereof.
Moreover, a pair of stoppers 76 and 78 cooperating with the handle 74 protrude on the top face of the lower partition plate 72 and these stoppers 76 and 78 limit the movement of the handle 74. In more detail, when the handle 74 is in contact with the stopper 76, the intermediate part of the stopper rod 68 extends perpendicularly almost the center of the column 52 as shown by a solid line in Fig. 7 to prevent the cigarette packs 4 flying out from the column 52. In the meantime, when the handle 74 is operated and brought into contact with the other stopper 78, the intermediate part of the stopper rod 68 is rotated from the solid line position to a position shown by a two dot chain line in Fig. 7 and located at the side of the other side plate 64, whereby the front face of the column 52 is fully opened.
A groove 80 is formed on the top face of the dispensing device 54, through which a pusher 80 can be reciprocated. When the pusher 82 is moved forward from the rear face to the front face of the column 52, the pusher 82 is in the standing state protruding from the groove 80. Thus, the cigarette pack 4 at the lowest position in the column 52 (see the two dot chain line in Fig. 7) is pushed out by the pusher 82, dispensed from the column 52 in the direction shown by an arrow A in Fig. 7 and received by the corresponding chute 58. After ejecting the cigarette pack 4, the remainder of cigarette packs 4 stacked in the column 52 is lowered by its own weight by the thickness of one cigarette pack. After that, when the pusher 82 is moved backward, this pusher 82 is brought into contact with the lowest cigarette pack 4 in the column 52, falls into the groove 80 and passes under this cigarette pack 4.
When the remainder of the cigarette packs 4 in the abovementioned column 52 falls short or the column 52 itself becomes empty, it is necessary to replenish the column 52 with cigarette packs 4, and replenishment with the cigarette packs will be hereinafter explained.
First, the caretaker moves the handle 74 in the direction shown by an arrow B in Fig. 7 to bring it into contact with the stopper 78. By this, the stopper rod 68 is rotated in the direction shown by an arrow C in Fig. 7 as mentioned above, and the front face of the column 2 is widely opened.
In this state, the caretaker stacks the cigarette parcels 2 taken out from the corrugated fiberboard box 40 in the column 52 and stores the cigarette parcels 2 in the column 52. Here, as is clear from the above explanation, the cigarette parcels 2 are bound only with the other pack band 6.
Also, when the cigarette parcels 2 are stored in the column 52, the grab parts 26 of the pack bands 6 should be positioned on the front face of the column 52 and be faced upward as shown in Fig. 7.
When replenishment of the column 52 with cigarette parcels 2 is completed, the handle 74 is moved to the original position to be brought into contact with the stopper 76. At this time, the stopper rod 68 is positioned at the center of the front face of the column 52 to prevent the cigarette parcels 2 flying out from the column 52.
After that, the caretaker grabs the grab part 26 of the pack band 6 in relation to each of the cigarette parcels 2 stored in the column 52 and pulls the grab part 26 sequentially in the direction shown by an arrow D in Fig. 7 to peel off the ends 20 and 22 of the pack band 6 in the bonded state from each other, and then, pulls out the pack band 6 in the direction shown by an arrow E in Fig. 7. Thus, the pack band 6 is removed from the cigarette parcel 2 as shown two dot chain line in Fig. 7. By this, each of the cigarette parcels 2 in the column 52 is separated to the individual cigarette packs 4.
When the pack band 6 is pulled out, the individual cigarette packs 4 in the cigarette parcel 2 is drawn to the front side of the column 52 and tend to fly out from the column 52. However, the flying out of these cigarette packs 4 can be surely prevented by the stopper rod 68.
As mentioned above, the column 52 can contain the cigarette packs 4 in the state of the cigarette parcel 2, replenishment with the cigarette packs 4 can be done easily, and time required for the replenishment can be drastically reduced. Also, each of the cigarette parcels 2 can be easily separated to individual cigarette packs 4 only by pulling out the pack bands 6.
As the cigarette parcel 2 is obtained by binding the pack set 10 with two pieces of the pack bands 6 and 8, packing paper which has been required for packing the pack set becomes unnecessary. As a result, the cigarette parcel 2 can be not only obtained at a cheaper price than conventional parcels or cartons but also contribute to resource conservation.
The column 52 of the abovementioned vending machine 46 is the type in which the cigarette parcels 2 are stacked longitudinally with respect to the column 52, but when the pack sets are stacked laterally, the pack set 10 can be bound with the pack bands 6 and 8 as shown in Fig. 8. In this case, the pack band 6 is wound over the pack band 8. And the grab part 26 of the pack band 6 is positioned on the top face of the pack set 10, while the grab part 38 of the pack band 8 is positioned on one of the second side faces of the pack set 10.
Also, the pack set 10 of the cigarette parcel 2 is not limited to an aggregate of five cigarette packs 4 but may be an aggregate of ten cigarette packs 4, and no restriction is applied on the number of the cigarette packs 4 in the cigarette parcel 2.
Moreover, the cigarette parcels 2 not to be packed in a vending machine may be sold at the store counter as they are. In this case, the adhesion parts 24 and 36 on the pack bands 6 and 8 in the cigarette parcel 2 are preferably capable of being rebonded. That is, if, after taking out the cigarette parcel 2 from the corrugated fiberboard box 40, the both ends of the pack band used for the takingout can be bonded again, handling of the parcel 2 becomes easy for buyers.

Claims

A cigarette parcel comprising a pack set (10) obtained by stacking a plurality of cigarette packs (4), said pack set (10) being in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped with six faces, and packing means for packing the pack set (10),
characterized in that said packing means includes:

a first band (6) wound around said pack set (10) in one direction for binding said pack set (10), said first band (6) having two first ends (20,22) connected separably to each other; and

a second band (8) wound around said pack set (10) in a direction crossing said first band (6) for binding said pack set (10), said second band (8) having two second ends (32, 34) connected separably to each other.
A cigarette parcel according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first and second bands (6,8) further has an adhesion part (24,36) where said two ends (20,22:32,34) are overlapped and bonded to each other.
A cigarette parcel according to claim 2, characterized in that the first ends (20,22) of said first band (6) and the second ends (32,34) of said second band (8) are arranged on two adjacent faces of said pack set (10), respectively.
A cigarette parcel according to claim 3, characterized in that the first and the second ends (20,32) positioned on the outer side integrally have grab parts (26,38) extending from the adhesion parts (24,36).
A cigarette parcel according to claim 4, characterized in that the adhesion parts (24,36) have a readhesive property.
A container comprising a rectangular box (40) whose top face can be opened, and cigarette parcels (2) as defined in claim 1 arranged and packed in said box (40), the first ends (22,24) of the first band (6) being positioned on the side face of said pack set (10) when said cigarette parcels (2) are packed in said box (40); and the second ends (32,34) of the second band (8) being positioned on the top face of the pack set (10) when said cigarette parcels (2) are packed in said box (40).
A container according to claim 6, characterized in that each of said first and second bands (6,8) further has an adhesion part (24,36) where the two ends (20,22:32,34) are overlapped and bonded to each other.
A container according to claim 6, characterized in that the first and second ends (20,32) positioned on the outer side integrally have grab parts (26,38) extending from the adhesion parts (24,36).
A cigarette parcel according to claim 8, characterized in that the adhesion parts (24,36) have a readhesive property.
A method for feeding cigarette packs to a vending machine (46), the vending machine (46) being provided with columns (52) in which the cigarette packs (4) are stacked and a front face of the column (52) being opened, the method comprising a step of stacking cigarette parcels (2) in the column (52) of the vending machine (46), the cigarette parcel (2) including a pack set (10) obtained by stacking a plurality of cigarette packs (4), characterised in that the pack set (10) has a band (6:8) wound around the pack set (10) in one direction for binding the pack set (10), the band (6:8) having two ends (20,22:32,34) connected separably to each other, and the ends (20,22:32,34) being positioned on the front side of the column (52) when the cigarette parcels (2) are stacked in the column (52), and this comprises a step of pulling out the band (6:8) after separating the two ends (20,22:32,34) of the band (6:8) of each of the cigarette parcels (2) in said column (52).