EP2576364A1

EP2576364A1 - Wrapped bundle of smoking articles

Info

Publication number: EP2576364A1
Application number: EP11716901.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Andrew Johnathan Bray; Roger Kenneth Beck; Paul Hodges; David Robert Villiers
Original assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd; British American Tobacco Co Ltd
Current assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Priority date: 2010-05-28
Filing date: 2011-04-27
Publication date: 2013-04-10
Also published as: JP2013527092A; KR20130115110A; GB201008962D0; RU2012157625A; CL2012003296A1; CA2798114A1; ZA201208591B; WO2011147655A1

Abstract

A bundle of smoking articles (1) for insertion into a smoking article pack is disclosed. The smoking articles (1) are arranged in rows with their longitudinal axes parallel to each other. The bundle is enclosed in a sheet of wrapping material (2) such that a portion of said wrapping material (2) that extends over an end of the smoking articles (3) lies in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles (3).

Description

Wrapped Bundle of Smoking Articles

Description

The present invention relates to a wrapped bundle of smoking articles and to a bundle of smoking articles received within a pack.

Smoking articles such as cigarettes are typically stored in cuboidal-shaped 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. Irregular shaped packs are also known, for example, US5584389 discloses a pack having a base extending at an oblique angle relative to the side walls of the pack such that the two rows of cigarettes held in the pack are held offset to one another in a longitudinal direction so that the back row is slightly higher than the front row, thereby making it easier to remove a smoking article from the pack.

A problem with the stepped configuration known from US5584389 is that the lower end of the smoking articles only make edge contact with the angled base of the pack thereby exposing the smoking articles to concentrated pressure points which may result in damage to the smoking articles. Therefore, this storage configuration does not fulfil its protective function as well as, for example, a standard hinged-lid pack in which the entire end of the smoking article lies in contact with, and rests upon, the base wall of the pack. US5584389 seeks to overcome the problem referred to above by providing a supporting structure in the pack which comprises a wall extending across the pack that has recesses in it to receive the smoking articles. The recesses are only slightly larger than the diameter of a smoking article so that each smoking article extending through a recess is a snug fit in that recess. The smoking articles are thereby held and supported within the pack and with their ends spaced at a short distance above the base wall of the pack. A disadvantage of the pack known from US5584389 is that the supporting structure means additional complexity in the assembly and manufacture of the pack, as well as using additional material to form the support wall, thereby increasing manufacturing costs. Furthermore, it is much harder to insert a bundle of smoking articles into the pack as each smoking article needs to be carefully aligned with its recess prior to being inserted therethrough.

The present invention seeks to provide a wrapped bundle of smoking articles and to a pack containing said wrapped bundle, which overcomes or substantially alleviates the problems mentioned above.

According to the present invention there is provided a bundle of smoking articles for insertion into a smoking article pack, said smoking articles being arranged in rows with their longitudinal axes parallel to each other, wherein the bundle is enclosed in a sheet of wrapping material such that a portion of said wrapping material that extends over an end of the smoking articles lies in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles.

Preferably, each row of smoking articles is offset in a longitudinal direction from its adjacent row.

In one embodiment, the portion of the wrapping material lying in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles extends over one end of the smoking articles. Said one end may be a lower end for insertion into a smoking article pack.

In another embodiment, the portion of the wrapping material lying in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles extends over both ends of the smoking articles.

Preferably, said portion of wrapping material extending over one end of the smoking articles is parallel to said portion of the wrapping material extending over the other end of the smoking articles. The sides of the wrapped bundle extending between the ends may have a

parallelogram shape. Preferably, the portion of the wrapping material extending over one end of the smoking articles is angled relative to the said portion of the wrapping material extending over the other end of the smoking articles.

The wrapped bundle may be rhomboid shaped.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a bundle of smoking articles, said bundle being received .within a smoking article pack comprising upper and lower walls extending across the ends of the smoking articles, said upper and lower walls lying in a plane parallel to the plane of the adjacent wrapping material that extends over the ends of the smoking articles.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l a shows a perspective view of a wrapped bundle of smoking articles according to the present invention;

Figure l b shows a cross-sectional view through the wrapped bundle shown in Figure l a and in which two smoking articles can be seen;

Figure 2a shows a shows a perspective view of another wrapped bundle of smoking articles according to the present invention;

Figure 2b shows a cross-sectional view of the wrapped bundle of Figure 2a and in which two smoking articles can be seen;

Figure 3a shows a perspective view of another embodiment of a wrapped bundle according to the present invention;

Figure 3b shows a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of Figure 3a in which two smoking articles can be seen;

Figure 4a shows a perspective view of yet another embodiment of wrapped bundle according to the present inven tion; Figure 4b shows a cross-sectional view of the wrapped bundle shown in Figure 4a in which two smoking articles can be seen;

Figure 5 shows a perspective view of a pack for receiving the bundle of smoking articles shown in Figures la and lb;

Figure 6 shows a perspective view of a pack for receiving the bundle of smoking articles shown in Figures 2a and 2b;

Figure 7 shows a perspective view of a pack for receiving the bundle of smoking articles shown in Figures 3a and 3b;

Figure 8 shows a perspective view of a pack for receiving the bundle of smoking articles shown in Figures 4a and 4b; and

Figure 9 shows a blank for forming a rhomboid smoking article pack as illustrated in Figure 5.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Figures l a and lb a bundle of smoking articles 1 wrapped in a material 2 for insertion into a smoking article pack. The wrapping comprises a sheet of material, sucli as foil, which encloses the bundle of smoking articles 3 such that said smoking articles are arranged in rows with the longitudinal axis of each smoking articles being parallel to one another as can be appreciated from Figure lb showing a cross-sectional view of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles.

The sheet of wrapping material 2 covets the longitudinal surfaces and the ends 5a, 5b of the smoking articles 3. As can be appreciated from Figures l a and lb portions of the wrapping material 2 extend over the ends 5a, 5b of the smoking articles 3 in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 3. This configuration maintains one row of smoking articles to be offset relative to the other row in the longitudinal direction of said smoking articles 3, and so enables a user to easily retrieve a smoking article 3 from the raised row of smoking articles. Furthermore, when the bundle of smoking articles 3 wrapped in the sheet of material 2 is located in a corresponding rhomboid shaped smoking article pack 5, the ends 5a, 5b of the smoking articles are exposed to less concentrated pressure points compared to the pack described in the introduction as there is less edge contact of the smoking articles with the angled base of the pack. This effect is achieved by friction between the smoking articles 3 themselves and between the smoking articles 3 and the sheet of material 2 and so potential damage to the smoking articles is reduced. It should be understood that the scope of the present invention further includes alternative embodiments as shown in Figures 2a to 4b which also provide the advantages described with reference to the above embodiment. For example, the portion of the material 2 extending over the lower end 5b of the smoking articles 3 may lie in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 3 whereas the portion of material 2 covering the upper end 5a is

perpendicular to the longitudinal axis as can be appreciated from Figures 2a and 2b. Similarly to the embodiment described with reference to Figures l and lb, one row of smoking articles 3 is offset relative to the other row of smoking articles 3 so as to enable a user to more easily retrieve a smoking article 3 than if the two rows of smoking articles were vertically aligned. In a further embodiment as shown in

Figure 3a and 3b, the portion of material 2 extending over the upper ends 5a of the smoking articles is at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 3 whereas the portion of material 2 covering the lower end 5b is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. Although this configuration would generally bundle the smoking articles 3 so that the two rows of smoking articles 3 are vertically aligned, friction between the smoking articles 3 themselves and between the smoking articles 3 and the wrapping material 2 initially holds one row of smoking articles 3 offset relative to the other row of smoking articles 3 in the longitudinal direction of said smoking articles 3.

In an alternative embodiment as illustrated in Figures 4a and 4b, the profile of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles 3 have an overall trapezium shape. In this embodiment, the portions of material 2 extending over opposite ends 5a, 5b of the smoking articles 3 lie in planes substantially perpendicular to one another at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles 3. Similarly to the previously described embodiments, the two rows of smoking articles are offset from one another and the stress concentration at the lower end 5b of the smoking articles is reduced. The material used for wrapping the bundle of smoking articles is preferably foil, however it should be appreciated that alternative materials can be used which protect the smoking articles from environmental damage and reduce the stress concentration on the ends of the smoking articles.

It is envisaged that the aforementioned wrapped bundle of smoking articles 3 may be inserted into a variety of differently shaped rhomboid or trapezium shaped packs 1 1 , 12, 13, 14 whilst providing the advantage of reducing the concentrated contact points on the end of the smoking articles and protecting the smoking articles from environmental damage. Therefore, the overall shape and profile of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles, in which at least one smoking article 3 is offset relative to the remaining smoking articles, may vary so as to fit the overall irregular shape of the pack.

Examples of rhomboid shaped packs 11 , 12, 13, 14 in which the above described wrapped bundle of smoking articles 1 , 8, 9, 10 can be inserted, are shown in Figures 5 to 8. The wrapped bundle of smoking articles 1 described with reference to Figures l a and l b are envisaged to be inserted into the rhomboid shaped pack 1 1 illustrated in Figure 5 and the other three embodiments of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles 8, 9, 10 are to fit into the packs 12, 13, 14 illustrated in Figures 6, 7 and 8 respectively, so that the profile of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles matches the profile of the pack. An example of a blank 15 for forming any of the smoking article packs 1 1 , 12, 13, 14 ilkistrated in Figures 5 to 8 is shown in Figure 9. The blank 15 can easily be modified by changing the angles denoted 'Α', 'Β', Έ' and 'F' so as to achieve an overall rhomboid or trapezium shape of the pack. Furthermore, the angles denoted 'A' and 'B' can be altered independently of the angles denoted Έ' and 'F' and vice versa, such that the top and lower end of the pack 1 1 , 12, 1 3, 14 can be changed independently of each other and so one end of the pack 1 1 , 12, 13, 14 can extend perpendicular across the end of the wrapped bundle of smoking articles relative to the longitudinal axis of the smoking articles whereas the opposing end may be formed to lie in a plane oblique to the longitudinal axis.

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.

Claims

1. A bundle of smoking articles for insertion into a smoking article pack, said smoking articles being arranged in rows with their longitudinal axes parallel to each other, wherein the bundle is enclosed in a sheet of wrapping material such that a portion of said wrapping material that extends over an end of the smoking articles lies in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles.

2. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 1 , wherein each row of smoking articles is offset in a longitudinal direction from its adjacent row.

3. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the portion of the wrapping material lying in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles extends over one end of the smoking articles.

4. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 3, wherein said one end is a lower end for insertion into a smoking article pack.

5. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the portion of the wrapping material lying in a plane at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axes of the smoking articles extends over both ends of the smoking articles.

6. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 5, wherein said portion of wrapping material extending over one end of the smoking articles is parallel to said portion of the wrapping material extending over the other end of the smoking articles.

7. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 6, wherein the sides of the wrapped bundle extending between the ends have a parallelogram shape.

8. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 5, wherein the portion of the wrapping material extending over one end of the smoking articles is angled relative to the said portion of the wrapping material extending over the other end of the smoking articles.

9. A bundle of smoking articles according to claim 8, wherein the wrapped bundle is rhomboid shaped.

10. A bundle of smoking articles substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 1. A bundle of smoking articles according to any preceding claim, said bundle being received within a smoking article pack comprising upper and lower walls extending across the ends of the smoking articles, said upper and lower walls lying in a plane parallel to the plane of the adjacent wrapping material that extends over the ends of the smoking articles.