EP2760593B1 - Apparatus for producing a package for a group of smoking articles - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device having the features of the preamble of claim 1.
In the context of the production of cigarettes, it is known to add flavoring and / or flavoring substances to the cigarettes, for example from the document DE 10 2009 058 589 A1 , For example, it is known to provide web-like material for an (inner) wrapping of a cigarette packet with a menthol layer even before the cigarette packets are produced. The menthol layer is applied to that side of the web-shaped wrapping material, which points inwards during the later finished cigarette packet and covers the cigarette group at least partially. The menthol can then flow from the wrapper into the cigarettes. The webs are wound by the manufacturer of such webs on bobbins and then delivered to the cigarette producers. The latter use these reels as part of the production of the cigarette packs and supply them as starting material to the packaging machines.

The disadvantage here is that the menthol is often unintentionally transferred from the coated outer side of a further inwardly disposed winding layer on the inside of the next following winding layer by winding the provided with the menthol layer material webs on the reels (or possibly vice versa). In other words, the actually uncoated sides of the material web are thereby contaminated with menthol. In the production process of the cigarette packs, the menthol crystals then have to be painstakingly removed again from the "wrong" material web side be otherwise contaminated organs of the respective packaging machine by the Mentholkristalle unintentionally.

The invention has for its object to propose measures with which such contamination of the packaging machine can be avoided or reduced.

This object is achieved by a device having the features of claim 1.

A method is provided for producing a package for a group of smokable articles, in particular cigarettes, with a wrapping of thin packaging material, in which a material web of the packaging material is separated into individual blanks, and in which the article groups to be wrapped in each case with the individual blanks be wrapped. Flavor and / or aroma portions for the smokable articles are applied to the packaging material web, which are at least partially reduced in height after application by a processing means, preferably by being flattened and / or flattened by the processing means.

Accordingly, it is provided to apply the flavor and / or aroma portions directly in the packaging process on the packaging material web and then reduce the individual applied portions by a suitable processing means in height or flatten and / or flatten, thereby preventing contamination of the subsequent organs. Without this flattening and / or flattening of the same would otherwise risk that all subsequent units are charged with the flavor and / or flavor.

This applies in particular to a separating element with which the individual blanks are separated from the continuous material web. The separating device is often a knife roller whose blades would otherwise be contaminated.

Preferably, the processing means is therefore arranged upstream of the separating member, in particular between an applicator member with one or more application valves, with which the portions are applied to the material web, and the separating member.

The portions are expediently applied to that side of the packaging material web which, after the wrapping process, points inwards in the direction of the article group. The cigarette group can be partial or completely enveloped by the cladding. The wrapper is preferably an inner wrapper made of tinfoil, paper or foil of a cigarette packet which additionally has a corresponding outer wrapper or packaging in which the inner wrapper is arranged.

The processing means is preferably a heated or heatable roller arranged downstream of the application member, in particular a deflection roller, along which the material web is guided after the application of the portions for flattening the same. For this purpose, the material web is preferably guided under slight tension along a portion of the circumference of the roller and thereby deflected at least slightly.

Alternatively, the processing means may also be at least one bar or comprise such a bar with which the portions are flat-stripped, in particular smoothed. The strip is conveniently guided parallel to the material web, of course adjacent to the side on which the portions are applied. Preferably, the web is similar to the above solution with deflecting guided under slight tension along the bar and thereby also at least slightly deflected.

Preferably, the strip forms part of a nozzle of the valve of the applicator member. Preferably, a nozzle inner surface adjoining the nozzle opening and arranged downstream of the nozzle opening is formed by the strip or by one side of the strip.

Insofar as the applicator member comprises a plurality of valves arranged juxtaposed transversely to the material web conveying direction, the corresponding nozzle inner surface of each nozzle of each valve can be formed in this way by a bar associated with all the valves.

According to another important feature of the invention, the portions are applied to the material web in such a way that the total amount of individual portions applied to the material web per blank remains constant, independently of the machine speed of the apparatus and / or the web speed. It can be provided that with an identical total portion quantity per blank, the number of individual portions, which are applied to a blank, in accordance with the speed of the machine and / or the web speed he follows. In a further embodiment of this embodiment, it is provided that with identical total serving quantity per blank at a first, lower machine and / or material web speed per blank more individual portions are applied to the material web than at a second, higher speed.

In particular, these measures have the purpose of preventing too much flavoring and / or flavoring substances from accumulating at one and the same place, for example at (too) slow machine speed.

Other features of the invention will become apparent from the appended subclaims, from the following description of preferred embodiments and from the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1

eine Übersichtsskizze des Ablaufs des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens, bei dem die Mentholportionen auf eine Materialbahn aufgetragen werden,

Fig. 2

einen Schnitt entlang der Schnittlinie II-II aus Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

die schematische Darstellung einer alternativen Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens,

Fig. 4

einen Schnitt entlang der Schnittlinie IV-IV in Fig. 3,

Fig. 5

die Einzelheit V aus Fig. 3 in vergrößerter Darstellung,

Fig. 6-8

Draufsichten auf im Rahmen des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens mit Mentholportionen versehenen Zuschnitten.

It shows:

Fig. 1

an outline sketch of the sequence of the method according to the invention, in which the menthol portions are applied to a material web,

Fig. 2

a section along the section line II-II Fig. 1 .

Fig. 3

the schematic representation of an alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention,

Fig. 4

a section along the section line IV-IV in Fig. 3 .

Fig. 5

the detail V out Fig. 3 in an enlarged view,

Fig. 6-8

Top views of blanks provided with menthol portions in the process according to the invention.

The drawings are concerned with the manufacture of cigarette packs, especially with the manufacture of an inner wrapping of tinfoil, paper or foil for the cigarette packs. In particular, hinge-lid packs or soft-cup packs have such inner sheaths covered by an outer sheath. Such cigarette packs are produced with packaging machines, of which only one part is shown below, namely the area in which the individual groups of cigarettes are enveloped in the inner sheaths.

The Fig. 6-8 show blanks 10 before the respective cigarette groups or cigarette formations 27 are wrapped with the blanks 10 to form the inner sheath. Such blanks 10, also called inner liner blanks, are in themselves known. Details thereof are for example in the EP 1 016 593 A1 discloses the content of which is incorporated into the present application.

The blank 10 has bottom wall 11, front wall 12, rear wall 13, front fold tabs 14, 15 forming an opposite upper end wall, and side folding tabs 16 and 17 forming narrow side walls. In the area of the front wall 12, a transverse perforation 18 is provided, which delimits an end region of the blank 10 and serves as a so-called flap, which is removed by grasping the end wall flap 14 when the package is used for the first time. Although the blank 10 is made of thin packaging material, it is provided with stamping lines, namely with two parallel transverse transverse stamping lines 19, 20 bounding the bottom wall 11 opposite the front wall 12 and rear wall 13. The transverse stamping lines 19, 20 form bottom fold edges. Further extending in the longitudinal direction of the blank 10 longitudinal longitudinal lines 21 and 22 are present, which delimit the strip-shaped Seitenfaltlappen 16 and 17 relative to the remaining part of the blank 10. The Längsprägelinien 21 and 22 serve as folding edges. Next, the blank 10 still floor folding tabs 24 and arranged next to this folding wrap 25. These are separated from each other by fold lines 26.

The cigarette groups 27 to be wrapped with the blanks 10 are conveyed along a cut-to-size unit 30 by means of a cigarette conveyor 28 with drivers 29 spaced at equal intervals from one another.

In the area of the trimming unit 30, the blanks 10 are fed one after the other and kept ready for takeover by a group of cigarettes 27. The blanks 10 are separated from a continuous web of paper 31, Stanniol or other packaging material by a separating member 32 and held in a position transverse to the direction of movement of the cigarette groups 27 as a "curtain".

The blank 10 is positioned in the region of the trimming unit 30 so that the group of cigarettes 27 with end surfaces lying forward in the conveying direction, in the present case with the filter-free cigarette ends, grasp the blank 10 in the region of its bottom wall 11, namely between the two transverse stamping lines 19, 20. Upon continuation of the conveying movement of the cigarette group 27, the blank is folded in a U-shape. In the area of the cutting unit 30, a mouthpiece, not shown, is arranged for this purpose with corresponding guides above and below the movement path of the cigarette group 27.

The separating member 32 comprises a rotatingly driven knife roller 33, which separates the continuous material web 31 into the individual blanks 10 by means of a separating knife 34a, which is mounted on its peripheral surface and interacts with a stationary separating agent 34b.

With a Perforationsmesser 35 brings the knife roller 33, the perforation 18 in the blank 10 a.

For introducing the transverse stamping lines 19, 20, the blanking unit 30 has an embossing roller 36, on the circumference of the embossing tools are mounted, namely two transverse, rib-like embossing nubs 37. The embossing roller 36 is located downstream of the knife roller 33 relative to the conveying direction. Correspondingly, the transverse stamping lines 19, 20 are attached to the material web 31, wherein during the embossing process a pressure roller 38 bears against the circumference of the embossing roll 36 or against the material web 31 as a counterpressure element.

Not shown is another, upstream arranged embossing unit, with which the Längsprägelinien 21, 22 are mounted in the web 31.

The blanks 10 cut off from the material web 31 are transferred by the knife roller 33 to rotating suction disks 39. The suction discs 39 are provided along the circumference with suction holes 40 and detect the blank 10 at lateral edges. To guide the blank during this suction / rotary conveying movement, a guide member 41 is provided, namely a baffle on which the blank 10 rests at least partially. The cigarette groups 27 can be conveyed through between the suction discs 39, the blank 10 being grasped by the cigarette group 27 in the region of the bottom wall 11 and drawn off by the suction discs 39.

An important feature is that caterpillar-shaped flavoring portions 42 are applied to the material web 31, which is driven continuously or cyclically, upstream of the separating member 32 in the present case, in this case menthol.

These aroma substance portions 42 are applied to the side of the material web 31 designated below as the inner side 43, which faces the cigarette group 27 in the later wrapped state, that is to the cigarette group 27. This ensures that the (volatile) flavoring substance in the individual cigarettes of the Cigarette Group 27 can go over while they are arranged in the cigarette pack.

For application of the flavoring agent portions 42, the inner side 43 of the material web 31 is assigned an application member 44. In the present case, the application member 44 comprises a plurality of (four), juxtaposed valves 45a-d with nozzles 62 having valve or nozzle openings 52, with which parallel rows or webs 46a-d of individual flavoring agent portions 42 can be applied.

In the Fig. 3-5 a particular embodiment of the invention is shown. The differences relate in particular, but not exclusively, to the formation of the valves 45a-d of an applicator 44, which are opposite to the valves 45a-d of the embodiment according to FIG Fig. 1 , of which only the front valve 45a can be seen, later explained in more detail have special features.

Insofar as no explicit reference is made to differences between the individual embodiments, the following explanations apply to both embodiments.

According to the embodiment of the Fig. 1 . 2 the glue valves 45a-d are arranged at a small distance from the material web 31, in the present case above the same.

In order to prevent the flavoring agent portions 42 from contaminating the subsequent aggregates, in particular the separating member 32, a processing means 47, in this case a deflecting roll 47a, is arranged downstream of the application member 44 in this embodiment.

The material web 31 is guided along the processing means 47, namely in such a way that its inner side 43, with the aroma substance portions 42 applied thereto, bears against the peripheral surface of the deflection roller 47 during the deflection process. The width of the deflection roller or peripheral surface of the deflection roller 47 is adapted to the material web 31 or to the application pattern of the individual flavoring agent portions 42 on the material web 31 such that all portions 42 or all parallel rows 46a-d of portions 42, cf. Fig. 6-8 be flattened by the guide roller 47. For this purpose, the material web 31 is guided at a certain tension along the deflection roller 47. As a result of the flat pressing of the portions 42, these widen somewhat compared to the state before flattening, cf. Fig. 6 ,

The circumferential length of the rotating deflection roller 47 is adapted to the length of the blanks 10 to be separated from the material web 31 in each case. In the present case, it corresponds to this length. Accordingly, the same areas of the roller 47 each contact the same areas of the respective blanks 10 and arranged on the blanks 10 Aromastoffportionen 42. Should be transferred from the flavoring portions 42 certain shares in the course of production on the roller 47, these store only at certain positions the roller 47 from. In other words, each blank 10 from which flavoring ingredients are transferred to the roller 47 would transfer its portions to the same roller areas.

As a result, the roller 47 would always transfer the deposited image formed on its peripheral surface to the same locations of the subsequent blanks 10 of the continuous material web 31. In the optimal case, the deposit image on the roller 47 would be such that the transfer of the deposits to the subsequent blanks 10 takes place only at those points of the respective blank 10 at which flavoring portions 42 are present anyway.

Unlike the embodiment according to Fig. 1 . 2 can in the embodiment according to the Fig. 3 . 4 and 5 to dispense with the use of a guide roller as a processing means 47. Instead of the guide roller, a strip 61 is used, which flattens the individual portions 42 immediately after the application of the portions 42.

The strip 61 extends transversely to the material web 31, and indeed as in the solution with deflection roller 47 to produce a certain web tension, see. Fig. 5 , The strip 61 is formed as a ceramic strip and heated to prevent flavor deposits on the bar. In the present case, it is arranged directly on the applicator 44.

More specifically, it is part of each outlet nozzle 62 of each valve 45a-d. In this case, the strip 61 forms a wall 62a of each nozzle 62. A rear side 64a of the strip 61 in the conveying direction in each case forms one of the inner sides of the nozzle walls defining the nozzle outlet openings 52. One of the other nozzle walls is in Fig. 5 recognizable, namely the wall 62a opposite nozzle wall 62b with corresponding inner side 64b.

In the space enclosed by the nozzle walls or by their corresponding inner sides, the liquid flavoring substance is present before it is applied to the material web 31.

Finally, it is provided that the application member 44 according to the Fig. 3-5 from a working position, in which the contact strip of the contact nozzle 62 touches the material web 31 under tension, is pivotable into a rest position, cf. the dashed outline of the applicator 44 in Fig. 3 ,

In both described embodiments of the invention, the flavor (menthol) applied to the web 31 by the applicator 44 is derived from a flavor reservoir 48. From the reservoir 48, the liquid flavor is delivered to the applicator via one or more conduits 49 (eg, tubing) 44 supplied, in particular the valves 45 a-d thereof.

The signals by means of which the applicator 44 is controlled to dispense the individual portions 42 come from a controller 50 to which the applicator 44 is connected to one or more signal lines 51. Finally, the controller 50 controls the opening of a closure member 51 in the respective valve 45a-d, which closes the respective nozzle opening 52 in the closed state of the respective valve 45a-d and releases it in the opened state.

The generation of the individual portions 42 takes place in a special manner such that the total amount of individual portions 42 applied to the material web 31 per blank 10 is independent of the machine speed of the apparatus or of the material web speed. In other words, the application member 44 or the individual valves 45a-d of the application member 44 are controlled so that in each case the total amount of flavoring agent applied to the respective blank 10 of the material web 31 is constant, independent of the material web speed / machine speed. This is usually done by adjusting the opening times of the valves 45a-d to the respective machine or web speed.

It is further provided that with identical total portion quantity per blank 10, the number of individual portions 42 which are applied to a blank 10 is set according to the machine speed of the packaging machine and / or the web speed or depends on it.

For example, it may be provided that at a first, lower machine and / or material web speed per blank 10 more individual portions are to be applied to the material web 31 than at a second, higher speed. As a result, an excessive accumulation of flavoring could be prevented in the same place at lower machine or material web speed.

In Fig. 6 the application image of the individual flavor portions 42 of a blank 10 is shown. This application pattern corresponds to a second, higher machine and / or web speed than the application pattern of the blank 10 of FIG Fig. 7 ,

In Fig. 8 an order picture is shown in which the speed of the material web or the machine speed is set even higher
as in the variant of Fig. 6 , With an identical opening time of the valves 45a-d of the application member 44, correspondingly longer flavoring portions 42 are produced.

A further special feature of the control of the application process is that preferably the areas of the blank 10 are recessed, that is not covered with portions 42, which cover the filters of the cigarette groups from the front, side and from the top after the later wrapping of the cigarette groups 27. In Fig. 6 to 8 For this purpose, the Stirnfaltlappen 14, 15 are recessed, which cover the cigarette filter from above or end. Furthermore, the areas are left out, which cover the filter of the cigarette front and side.

Through the cross lines 53 in the Fig. 6-8 each time points are visualized, to which the respective valves 45a-d are opened. In the variant of Fig. 7 In order to generate the double number of portions 42, the valves are additionally opened between two times 53 again.

To detect the material web speed, the knife roller 33 is associated with a rotary encoder 54 which detects the rotational speed of the knife roller 33. The signals of the rotary encoder 54 are transmitted to the controller 50 via a signal line 55. From the rotational speeds of the knife roller 33, the controller 50 calculates the material web speed.

In order to prevent flavor deposits from forming on individual organs that come into contact with the flavoring agent, these organs are heated or heated according to another feature.

Thus, for example, the guide roller 47, the application member 44 and the individual valves 45a-d, the reservoir 48 and the lines 49 with corresponding heating elements, in particular heating wires, equipped, which are connected via suitable power lines 57 to a central heating unit 58. The heating unit 58 includes, inter alia, a necessary voltage source for supplying the heating elements. On the other hand, the heating unit includes a suitable heating control, which is also connected via a line 59 to the controller 50.

Another special feature is a sensor 60, which is connected via a signal line 55 to the controller 50. With the aid of this sensor 60, one or more characteristic features of the portions 42 applied to the material web 31 can be detected and evaluated in the controller 50 for testing. Specifically, in the present case, it is a gloss sensor 60 which records gloss values of the individual portions 42. If the detected gloss values deviate from certain, predetermined setpoint values, an error signal is generated in the controller 50. Possibly. the packaging machine will be switched off.

Claims (3)

1. A device for manufacturing an item of packaging for a group (27) of smokable articles, in particular cigarettes, having a wrapping, preferably an inner wrapping, of, in particular, a thin packaging material, such as paper, tinfoil or the like, having a severing element (32), with which a material web (31) of the packaging material is severable into individual blanks (10), and having a blank subassembly (30), in the region of which the article groups (27) are wrappable with the individual blanks (10) in each case, characterized by an application element (44), which is arranged upstream of the severing element (32) and with which flavouring and/or aromatic portions for the smokable articles can be applied to the packaging-material web, and by a processing means (47) with which the portions (42), after application, can be at least in regions reduced in their height, preferably in that they can be spread flat and/or pressed flat by the processing means (47), wherein the processing means (47) is an, in particular, heatable strip (47b) which is, in particular, arrangeable or arranged parallel to the material web (31), along which the material web (31), after application of the portions, is guided for spreading flat, preferably for smoothing flat said portions, wherein the application element (44) has at least one valve (45a-d) having a valve opening (52) from which the portions (42) are individually dispensable, and wherein the strip (47b) is arranged downstream of the valve opening (52) on the at least one valve (45a-d), preferably in that the strip (47b), or one side of the strip (47b), forms an inner side which is arranged downstream of the valve opening (52) of an outlet nozzle (62) which comprises the valve opening (52) of the at least one valve (45a-d).
2. The device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the processing means (47), in an operating position, in particular under tension, lies against the material web which is being moved past the processing means (47).
3. The device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the application element (44) has a plurality of valves (45a-d) which are arranged beside one another, transversely to the conveying direction of the material web (31), and in that the strip (47b) is assigned to all valves (45a-d) and likewise extends transversely to the conveying direction and here forms a component of all outlet nozzles (62) of all valves (45a-d).

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