EP2961669A2

EP2961669A2 - A pack

Info

Publication number: EP2961669A2
Application number: EP14706690.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paul Hodges
Original assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd; British American Tobacco Co Ltd
Current assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Priority date: 2013-02-27
Filing date: 2014-02-21
Publication date: 2016-01-06

Abstract

A pack is disclosed. The pack comprises a front and a rear wall, and side walls extending therebetween. At least one side wall comprises at least three layers.

Description

A pack

Field of invention

The invention relates to a pack and to a tobacco industry pack. The invention also relates to a blank for a pack according to the invention.

Background

Conventional tobacco industry packs are generally parallelepiped shaped packs having a body portion with an access opening. Typically, the pack further comprises a lid configured to open and close the access opening.

Summary

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a pack comprising a front and a rear wall, and side walls extending therebetween, wherein at least one side wall comprises at least three layers.

The layers of the side wall may be formed from a single sheet of material, and the sheet of material may include fold lines to enable the sheet to be folded about said fold lines to form said layers. The layers may be held together by an adhesive.

The pack may comprise a body that includes a side body panel that overlaps with a secondary side body panel, wherein the pack further comprises a reinforcement body panel being positionable so that it overlaps its corresponding side body panel and secondary body panel to form a multi-layered side wall.

In one embodiment, the side body panel extends from the front wall and the secondary side body panel extends from the rear wall, and the reinforcement body panel extends from the side body panel and/ or the secondary side body panel. The pack may comprise a lid that includes a side lid panel that overlaps with a secondary side lid panel, wherein the pack further comprises a reinforcement lid panel being positionable so that it overlaps its corresponding side lid panel and secondary lid panel to form a multi-layered side wall.

In one embodiment, the side lid panel extends from the front wall and the secondary side lid panel extends from the rear wall, and the reinforcement lid panel extends from the side lid panel and/or the secondary side lid panel. The reinforcement body panel may be folded about a fold line in a direction such that it is located between the side body panel and the secondary body panel and the reinforcement lid panel may be folded about a fold line in a direction such that it is located between the side lid panel and the secondary lid panel.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided a blank for forming a pack according to the invention. The invention also provides a method of forming a pack comprising the steps of providing a blank, folding the blank so as to form a pack comprising a front panel, a side panel, a secondary side panel and a side reinforcement panel, and positioning the side, secondary side and side reinforcement panels so that they overlap. The side reinforcement panel may be positioned between the side panel and secondary side panel.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tobacco industry pack comprising a front and a rear wall, and side walls extending therebetween, wherein at least one side wall comprises at least three layers. The pack may further comprise any of the features mentioned above.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a pack of a first embodiment of the invention in a closed position;

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of the pack of Figure 1 in an open position;

Figure 3 shows a blank of the pack of Figure 1;

Figure 4 shows a blank for a pack according to a second embodiment of the invention; and,

Figure 5 shows a blank for a pack according to a third embodiment of the invention. Detailed Description

A pack l is shown in Figures ι and 2 and comprises a generally parallelepiped container having a body 2 and a hinged lid 3. The pack 1 has major front and rear walls 4, 5 minor side walls 6, 7 a bottom wall 8 and a top wall 9. The front and rear walls 4, 5 of the pack comprises front and rear body panels 4a, 5a and front and rear lid panels 4c, 5b. The side walls 6, 7 of the pack comprise side body panels 6a, 7a overlapping secondary side body panels 6b, 7b, and side lid panels 6c, 7c overlapping secondary lid panels 6d, 7d.

The hinged lid 3 is integrally connected to the body 2 at a folding hinge line 10 between the rear body panel 5a and the rear lid panel 5b and is pivotable between an open position in which an access opening 11 in the top of the body 2 is exposed to allow access to tobacco industry products, for instance smoking articles such as cigarettes, contained therein, and a closed position. An inner frame 12 having a front wall 13 and side walls 14, 15 is disposed within the body 2 of the pack 1 to project out of the opening 11 therein. The inner frame 12 includes a cut-out 22 in the front wall 13 of the inner frame 12 to provide easy access to the contents of the pack 1. Figure 3 shows a blank 20 used to form the pack 1 of Figures 1 and 2. The blank 20 comprises a single sheet of material, such as cardboard, that comprises the various panels of the constructed pack 1 described above. The front body panel 4a meets the bottom wall 8 of the pack at a first body fold line 18a that is remote to a second body fold line 18b where the bottom wall 8 meets the rear body panel 5a. The side body panels 6a, 7a meet the front panel 4a at respective third body fold lines 18c, i8d and the secondary body panels 6b, 7b meet the rear body panel 5a at respective fourth body fold lines i8e, i8f. The blank 20 is folded along the first, second, third and fourth body fold lines 18a, 18b, 18c, i8d, i8e, i8f to form the body 2, so that the front body panel 4a faces towards the rear body panel 5a, the side body panels 6a, 7a face towards each other and overlap corresponding secondary body panels 6b, 7b so to form a double or dual layer.

The rear lid panel 5b meets the pack top wall 9 at a first lid fold line 19a which is remote to a second lid fold line 19b where the pack top wall 9 meets the front lid panel 4c. The side lid panels 6c, 7c meet the front lid panel 4c at respective third lid fold lines 19c, i9d and the secondary side lid panels 6d, 7d meet the rear lid panel 5b at fourth lid fold lines 19ε, igf. The blank 20 is folded along the first, second and third lid fold lines 19a, 19b, 19c, i9d to form the lid 3, so that the front lid panel 4c faces towards the rear lid panel 5b and the side lid panels 6c, 7c face towards each other and overlap

corresponding secondary side lid panels 6d, 7d so to form a dual or double layer. The rear body panel 5a meets the rear lid panel 5b at the folding hinge line 10 so that the lid 3 may pivot relative to the body 2.

The blank 20 further comprises first reinforcement panels 16a, 17a, that meet with respective side body panels 6a, 7a at first reinforcement fold lines 21a, 21b. Each first reinforcement body panel 16a, 17a is folded at the first reinforcement fold line 21a, 21b. The first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a are preferably folded about respective first reinforcement fold lines 21a, 21b in a direction such that they fold up out of the page when viewing the blank shown in figure 3 so that they lie against an inner surface of the side body panels 6a, 7a that is visible in Figure 3. Thus, in this embodiment, a major surface of each first reinforcement body panel 16a, 17a abuts against a major surface of the side body panel 6a, 7a, and an opposite major surface of each first reinforcement body panel 16a, 17a abuts a major surface of the secondary side body panels 6b, 7b such that they form a triple layer. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a are folded such that they are positioned between the secondary side body panels 6b, 7b and the side body panels 6a, 7a as they form said triple layer.

In an alternative embodiment, the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a may be folded about respective first reinforcement fold lines 21a, 21b in an opposite direction, down into the page of figure 3. Thus, in this embodiment, a major surface of each first reinforcement body panel 16a, 17a abuts against a major surface of respective side body panel 6a, 7a, and an opposite major surface of each side body panel 6a, 7a abuts a major surface of corresponding secondary side body panel 6b, 7b such that they form a triple layer. In this embodiment, the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a are folded such that the side body panels 6a, 7a are positioned between the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a and the secondary side body panels 6b, 7b.

In any of the above described embodiments, the triple layer formed by the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a, the side body panels 6a, 7a and secondary side body panels 6b, 7b are held together by an adhesive. The additional layer of material provided by the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a abutting against the side body panels 6a, 7a and/ or the secondary side body panels 6b, 7b improves the rigidity and durability of the pack 1. Therefore, the contents of the pack 1 are better protected against external forces applied to the pack 1. In one embodiment, each first reinforcement body panel 16a, 17a may overlap the whole surface area of a corresponding side body panels 6a, 7a and/or secondary side body panels 6b, 7b. However, in an alternative embodiment each first reinforcement body panel 16a, 17a may overlap a portion of a major surface of corresponding side body panels 6a, 7a and/or secondary side body panels 6b, 7b.

It will be appreciated that, in another embodiment one or more further reinforcement body panels may extend from the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a and be separated from the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a by a fold-line. The side body panels 6a, 7a, secondary side body panels 6b, 7b, first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a and any additional reinforcement body panels provide a multi-layered structure to the pack 1.

A blank 30 for a pack according to a second embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 4, and is similar to the first embodiment of the invention, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. However, the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a of the first embodiment are omitted and instead the second embodiment comprises second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b which meet with respective secondary side body panels 6b, 7b at second reinforcement fold lines 21c, 2id so that each second reinforcement body panel 16b, 17b form a triple layer with corresponding secondary side body panel 6b, 7b and side body panel 6a, 7a. Similarly to the embodiment described with reference to figure 3, the secondary reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b can be folded about the second reinforcement fold lines 21c, 2id either in a direction out of the page or down into the page when viewing the blank in figure 4. Thus, in one embodiment a major surface of each second reinforcement body panel 16b, 17b abuts against a major surface of the side body panel 6a, 7a, and an opposite major surface of each second reinforcement body panel 16b, 17b abuts a major surface of the secondary side body panel 6b, 7b. In another embodiment, a major surface of each second reinforcement body panel 16b, 17b abuts against a major surface of the side body panel 6a, 7a, and an opposite major surface of each side body panel 6a, 7a abuts a major surface of corresponding secondary side body panel 6b, 7b. The additional layer of material provided by the second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b abutting against the side body panels 6a, 7a and/or secondary side body panels 6b, 7b improves the rigidity and durability of the pack 1. As mentioned above in connection with the embodiment described with reference to figure 3, additional reinforcement body panels may extend form the second

reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b to enable a multi-layered structure to be formed.

In an alternate embodiment (not shown) the blank may comprise both of the first and second reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a, 16b, 17b so as to form a multiple layer comprising four layers of material. The first reinforcement body panels, 16a, 17a and the second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b can be folded about their respective fold lines in any direction as described above, and it should be appreciated that any combinations of the embodiments described with reference to figures 3 and 4 may be formed. The four layers of material further improve the rigidity and durability of the pack 1.

A blank 40 for a pack according to a third embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 5 and is similar to the first and second embodiments of the invention, with like features retaining the same reference numerals. The blank 40 of the third embodiment of the invention includes lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c that are each integrally formed with respective side lid panels 6c, 7c at third reinforcement fold lines 2ie, 2if. Each lid reinforcement panel 16c, 17c is folded at the third reinforcement line 2ie, 2if. In one embodiment, each lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c are folded about respective third reinforcement fold lines 2ie, 2if in a direction such that they fold up out of the page when viewing the blank shown in figure 5 so that they lie against an inner surface of the side lid panels 6c, 7c that is visible in Figure 5. Thus, in this embodiment, a major surface of each lid reinforcement panel 16c, 17c abuts against a major surface of the side lid panel 6c, 7c, and an opposite major surface of each lid reinforcement panel 16c, 17c abuts a major surface of the secondary side lid panels 6d, 7d such that they form a triple layer. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c are folded such that they are positioned between respective side lid panel 6c, 7c and secondary lid side panel 6d, 7d as they form said triple layer.

In an alternative embodiment, the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c are folded about respective third reinforcement fold lines 2ie, 2if in an opposite direction, down into the page when viewing the blank in figure 5. Thus, in this embodiment, a major surface of each lid reinforcement panel 16c, 17c abuts against a major surface of respective side lid panel 6c, 7c, and an opposite major surface of each side lid panel 6c, 7c abuts a major surface of the corresponding secondary side lid panel 6d, 7d such that they form a triple layer. In this embodiment, the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c are folded such that each side lid panel 6c, 7c is positioned between respective lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c and secondary side lid panel 6d, 7d.

Each triple layer formed from respective lid reinforcement panel 16c, 17c, side lid panel 6c, 7c and secondary side lid panel 6d, 7d are held together by an adhesive.

The additional layer of material provided by the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c abutting against the side lid panels 6c, 7c and/or secondary lid panels 6d, 7d improves the rigidity and durability of the pack 1. Furthermore, the increased thickness and rigidity of the lid 3 provided by the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c increases the friction between the lid 3 and inner frame 12, which abuts the lid front and/ or side lid panels 4c, 6c, 7c when the lid 3 is in the closed position, thus enabling the lid 3 to better stay in the closed position. It will be appreciated that, in another embodiment one or more further lid

reinforcement panels may extend from the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c and be separated from the lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c by a fold-line. The side lid panels 6c, 7C, secondary lid panels 6d, 7d, lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c and any additional lid reinforcement panels provide a multi -layered structure to the lid 3.

The embodiments described above wherein the reinforcement panels 16a, 17a, 16b, 17b, 16c, 17c are folded about their respective fold line such that they are positioned between two adjacent layers provide the advantage that any free edges along the side wall of the pack are concealed when the blank is folded. Thus, if the blank is of a white colour and comprises a coloured outer surface, there are no visible white free edges when the blank is folded into a pack.

Although in the above described embodiments the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a, second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b and lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c are held in place by adhesive, in alternate embodiments (not shown) they may be held in place by other means or, they may just be held in place as a result of the pressure applied to the inner frame by the walls of the pack and the tobacco industry products contained therein.

It shall be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to both the side walls 6, 7 of the pack ι comprising a triple layer. In any of the embodiments described above only one of the side walls may be formed with a triple layer. Alternatively, the number of layers may differ between the two side walls of the pack. Furthermore, the side wall of the lid may comprise a different number of layers compared to the side wall of the body.

Although in the above described embodiments the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a, second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b and lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c are integrally formed with the side body panels 6a, 7a, secondary body panels 6b, 7b and side lid panels 6c, 7c respectively and are positioned by means of folding, in an alternate embodiment (not shown) the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a, second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b and/ or lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c may be separate sections of material that are arranged against respective side body panels 6a, 7a, secondary body panels 6b, 7b and/or side lid panels 6c, 7c using an adhesive. Although in the above described embodiments the inner a hinged-lid pack is described, in alternate embodiments (not shown) the first reinforcement body panels 16a, 17a, second reinforcement body panels 16b, 17b and/or lid reinforcement panels 16c, 17c maybe provided on packs of other designs, for example, slide-packs or telescopically extending packs to increase the rigidity and durability of such packs.

A tobacco industry product refers to any item made in, or sold by the tobacco industry, typically including a) cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, tobacco for pipes or for roll-your-own cigarettes, (whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes); b) non-smoking products incorporating tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes such as snuff, snus, hard tobacco, and heat-not-burn products; and c) other nicotine-delivery systems such as inhalers, lozenges and gum. This list is not intended to be exclusive, but merely illustrates a range of products which are made and sold in the tobacco industry. A tobacco industry pack refers to any pack that can contain and/or receive a tobacco industry product.

In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety of this disclosure shows by way of illustration various embodiments in which the claimed invention(s) maybe practiced and provide for a superior pack. The advantages and features of the disclosure are of a representative sample of embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/ or exclusive. They are presented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimed features. It is to be understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features, structures, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to be considered limitations on the disclosure as defined by the claims or limitations on equivalents to the claims, and that other embodiments may be utilised and modifications maybe made without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the disclosure. Various embodiments may suitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, various combinations of the disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. In addition, the disclosure includes other inventions not presently claimed, but which may be claimed in future.

Claims

1. A pack comprising a front and a rear wall, and side walls extending

therebetween, wherein at least one side wall comprises at least three layers.

2. A pack according to claim l, wherein the layers of the side wall are formed from a single sheet of material.

3. A pack according to claim 2, wherein the sheet of material includes fold lines to enable the sheet to be folded about said fold lines to form said layers.

4. A pack according to any of claims 1 to 3, comprising a body that includes a side body panel that overlaps with a secondary side body panel, wherein the pack further comprises a reinforcement body panel being positionable so that it overlaps its corresponding side body panel and secondary body panel to form a multi-layered side wall.

5. A pack according to any claim 4, wherein the side body panel extends from the front wall and the secondary side body panel extends from the rear wall, and the reinforcement body panel extends from the side body panel and/ or the secondary side body panel.

6. A pack according to any preceding claim, comprising a lid that includes a side lid panel that overlaps with a secondary side lid panel, wherein the pack further comprises a reinforcement lid panel being positionable so that it overlaps its corresponding side lid panel and secondary lid panel to form a multi-layered side wall.

7. A pack according to claim 6, wherein the side lid panel extends from the front wall and the secondary side lid panel extends from the rear wall, and the reinforcement lid panel extends from the side lid panel and/ or the secondary side lid panel.

8. A pack according to any of claims 4 to 7, wherein the reinforcement body panel is folded about a fold line in a direction such that it is located between the side body panel and the secondary body panel.

9. A pack according to claim 8, wherein the reinforcement lid panel is folded about a fold line in a direction such that it is located between the side lid panel and the secondary lid panel.

10. A pack according to any preceding claim, wherein the layers are held together by an adhesive.

11. A blank for forming a pack as claimed in any of the preceding claims.

12. A method of forming a pack comprising the steps of providing a blank, folding the blank so as to form a pack comprising a front panel, a side panel, a secondary side panel and a side reinforcement panel, and positioning the side, secondary side and side reinforcement panels so that they overlap.

13. A method of forming a pack according to claim 12, wherein side reinforcement panel is positioned between the side panel and secondary side panel.

14. A tobacco industry pack comprising a front and a rear wall, and side walls extending therebetween, wherein at least one side wall comprises at least three layers.

15. A tobacco industry pack according to claim 14, comprising any of the features of claims 2 to 10.