GB1581537A

GB1581537A - Hinged lid packets

Info

Publication number: GB1581537A
Application number: GB4053376A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Molins Ltd
Current assignee: Mpac Group PLC
Priority date: 1977-09-23
Filing date: 1977-09-23
Publication date: 1980-12-17

Description

(54) HINGED LID PACKETS (71) We, MOLINS LIMITED, a British Company, of 2 Evelyn Street, Deptford, London, SE8 5DH., do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention concerns improvements in or relating to hinged lid packets for cigarettes or the like, and is particularly concerned with blanks for forming such packets.

Hinged lid packets are conventionally made from card blanks, and have side walls of double thickness both on the body and lid portions. Each double side wall of the body portion is separated from that of the lid portion along an inclined edge, commonly known as the mitre. In the formation of the hinged lid packet from such a conventional blank, problems are often encountered in producing good mitres, due mainly to the difficulty in correctly positioning the inner side wall of the lid so that the outer wall of the lid can be secured to it in precise registration.

According to the present invention a blank for a hinged lid packet comprises a lid portion having a back panel with a side panel at each side, and a body portion which comprises a back panel connected by a hinge line to the back panel of the lid portion, a front panel connected by a bottom panel to the back panel, and a side panel at each side of the back panel which is partly joined by a frangible connection to the respective side panel of the lid portion each frangible connection being located at the free edges of the side panels furthest from the nearer end of the hinge line.

The invention also extends to a hinged lid packet formed from such a blank.

Each frangible connection may be from 0.5 to 1.0 mm in length.

An example of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective front view of a hinged lid cigarette packet' according to the invention, with a part of the body and lid broken away, and Figure 2 is a plan view of the blank from which the packet of Figure 1 is formed.

The cigarette packet shown in Figure 1 has a body B, a conventional inner frame F mounted inside the body and shown chain-dotted, and a lid L.

As can be seen from the card blank of Figure 2 from which the packet is made, the respective back walls 10 and 12 of the lid and body are connected by a hinge line 14.

To the left of Figure 1 it can be seen that the packet is part'ly broken away to show inner walls 16 and 18 of the lid and body respectively. An inclined cut or mitre 20 extends from the back wall 10 and 12 between the inner walls, but terminates about 0.5 to 1.0 mm short of the front edge of the inner walls, thus providing a frangible connection 22 between the lid and body. A similar frangible connection 22 is provided to the right of the packet, as Figure 2 shows. Since other parts of the blank are conventional, they will not be described.

To open the packet to gain access to the cigarettes, the consumer need only apply a gentle pull at each front corner of the lid to break the frangible connections 22.

It has been found that provided the outer wall 24 of the body is in register with inner wall 18, and that the edges between the outer wall 26 of the lid and the outer wall 24 of the body are closely aligned in the closed packet (both of which conditions are in practice usually not difficult to achieve), then a good mitre 20 will be produced at each side of the packet.

Other advantages which arise from the invention can best be explained by describing how the present blank is formed in a well known type of hinged lid packing machine, in contrast to the formation of a conventional blank.

A quantity of blanks are held in a vertical stack and are removed one at a time from the bottom of the stack for forming into packets. Considerable complications have arisen in the past with removing conventional blanks from the bottom of the stack at high speed, since such blanks tend to interlock with one another. This tendency is greatly reduced in the present blank by virtue of the frangible connections 22, as the walls 16 and 18 remain in the same plane.

After removal from the stack, the blank is moved sideways by a conveyor, pushers engaging the trailing edge of the blank to propel and locate it while a lid reinforcing panel 28 is folded over against the inside surface of the front wall 30 of the lid L. Since the inner wall 16 and the adjoining tabs 32 are only connected to the rest of the blank by short fold lines 34, it has in conventional blanks not been possible for the pushers to engage the trailing edges of the wall 16 and tab 32. This has required an asymmetric engagement of the trailing edge of such a conventional blank, tending to cause skewing or misalignment of the blank, which is undesirable because subsequent operations such as gumming and folding of the lid reinforcing panel need t'o be accurately performed. With the present blank a more symmetric engagement of the blank is possible, which reduces this problem.

After the folding of the reinforcing panel 28, the inner walls 16 and 18, as well as the tabs 32, are next folded up through almost 90" in preparation for a bundle to be fed on to the back wall 12 in the direction of arrow 36. In conventional blanks the walls 16 are folded through a slightly smaller angle than the walls 18, and engage in shallow recesses so that the inclined edge at the mitre 20 of each wall 16 is accurately located. In the present blank this location is already provided by the connection 22; and the fact that the walls 16 and 18 are thus aligned leads to the further advantage that the bundle, and particularly the inner frame mounted thereon, is much less liable to catch against the edge of the wall 18 at the cut 20.

With the bundle in position on the back wall of the blank, the tabs 32 are next folded over perpendicular to the wall 16 against the top of the bundle. Here again the connections 22 assist in holding the walls 16 in their correct positions. This is important when (as may occasionally happen) a bundle is missing so that the blank has to be formed into an empty packet which will later be rejected. Without the resistance of the bundle to oppose inward pivoting of the wall 16 about the line 34, there is a strong likelihood that in a conventional blank the wall 16 (together with the tabs 32) would be folded over against the back wall 10 of the lid, instead of being folded perpendicular to the wall 16. It is quite possible that such a faulty formation of the blank could subsequently produce a serious jam in the machine.

When the packet has been almost fully formed, adhesive is applied to the inside surfaces of the outer walls 24 and 26, which protrude from respective front walls 38 and 30 of the body and lid. These walls 24 and 26 are then folded down and secured to the inner walls 18 and 16 respectively as the packet is pushed into a pocket of a drying drum in which the adhesive is allowed to set. As a final check that the walls 16 of a conventional blank are in the correct position, a device is arranged to come into register with the mitres 20. However with the present blank the machine can be simplified by eliminating such a device.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A blank for a hinged lid packet comprising a lid portion having a back panel with a side panel at each side, and a body portion which comprises a back panel connected by a hinge line to the back panel of the lid portion, a front panel connected by a bottom panel to the back panel, and a side panel at each side of the back panel which is partly joined by a frangible con necticn to the respective side panel of the lid portion, each frangible connection being located at the free edges of the side panels furthest from the nearer end of the hinge line.

2. A blank as claimed in claim 1 in which the two side panels at each side are separated by a straight cut extending between the frangible connection and the respective end of the hinge line, said cut being downwardly inclined away from the back panel of the lid portion.

3. A blank as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which each frangible connection is from 0.5 to 1.0 mm in length.

4. A hinged lid packet formed from a blank as claimed in any preceding claim.

5. A hinged lid packet as claimed in claim 4- further comprising a side panel at each side of said front panel which overlies and is secured to the respective said side panel of the body portion, and a front panel for the lid portion having a side panel at each side which likewise overlies and is secured to the respective said side panel of the lid portion, whereby said frangible connections are substantially concealed.

6. A blank for a hinted lid Dacket substantially as herein described with reference

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. invention can best be explained by describing how the present blank is formed in a well known type of hinged lid packing machine, in contrast to the formation of a conventional blank. A quantity of blanks are held in a vertical stack and are removed one at a time from the bottom of the stack for forming into packets. Considerable complications have arisen in the past with removing conventional blanks from the bottom of the stack at high speed, since such blanks tend to interlock with one another. This tendency is greatly reduced in the present blank by virtue of the frangible connections 22, as the walls 16 and 18 remain in the same plane. After removal from the stack, the blank is moved sideways by a conveyor, pushers engaging the trailing edge of the blank to propel and locate it while a lid reinforcing panel 28 is folded over against the inside surface of the front wall 30 of the lid L. Since the inner wall 16 and the adjoining tabs 32 are only connected to the rest of the blank by short fold lines 34, it has in conventional blanks not been possible for the pushers to engage the trailing edges of the wall 16 and tab 32. This has required an asymmetric engagement of the trailing edge of such a conventional blank, tending to cause skewing or misalignment of the blank, which is undesirable because subsequent operations such as gumming and folding of the lid reinforcing panel need t'o be accurately performed. With the present blank a more symmetric engagement of the blank is possible, which reduces this problem. After the folding of the reinforcing panel 28, the inner walls 16 and 18, as well as the tabs 32, are next folded up through almost 90" in preparation for a bundle to be fed on to the back wall 12 in the direction of arrow 36. In conventional blanks the walls 16 are folded through a slightly smaller angle than the walls 18, and engage in shallow recesses so that the inclined edge at the mitre 20 of each wall 16 is accurately located. In the present blank this location is already provided by the connection 22; and the fact that the walls 16 and 18 are thus aligned leads to the further advantage that the bundle, and particularly the inner frame mounted thereon, is much less liable to catch against the edge of the wall 18 at the cut 20. With the bundle in position on the back wall of the blank, the tabs 32 are next folded over perpendicular to the wall 16 against the top of the bundle. Here again the connections 22 assist in holding the walls 16 in their correct positions. This is important when (as may occasionally happen) a bundle is missing so that the blank has to be formed into an empty packet which will later be rejected. Without the resistance of the bundle to oppose inward pivoting of the wall 16 about the line 34, there is a strong likelihood that in a conventional blank the wall 16 (together with the tabs 32) would be folded over against the back wall 10 of the lid, instead of being folded perpendicular to the wall 16. It is quite possible that such a faulty formation of the blank could subsequently produce a serious jam in the machine. When the packet has been almost fully formed, adhesive is applied to the inside surfaces of the outer walls 24 and 26, which protrude from respective front walls 38 and 30 of the body and lid. These walls 24 and 26 are then folded down and secured to the inner walls 18 and 16 respectively as the packet is pushed into a pocket of a drying drum in which the adhesive is allowed to set. As a final check that the walls 16 of a conventional blank are in the correct position, a device is arranged to come into register with the mitres 20. However with the present blank the machine can be simplified by eliminating such a device. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A blank for a hinged lid packet comprising a lid portion having a back panel with a side panel at each side, and a body portion which comprises a back panel connected by a hinge line to the back panel of the lid portion, a front panel connected by a bottom panel to the back panel, and a side panel at each side of the back panel which is partly joined by a frangible con necticn to the respective side panel of the lid portion, each frangible connection being located at the free edges of the side panels furthest from the nearer end of the hinge line.

4. A hinged lid packet formed from a blank as claimed in any preceding claim.

to, and as illustrated in, Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A hinged lid packet substantially as herein described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.