GB2032887A

GB2032887A - Hinged-lid Packets

Info

Publication number: GB2032887A
Application number: GB7935000A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: British American Tobacco Co Ltd
Current assignee: British American Tobacco Investments Ltd
Priority date: 1978-10-16
Filing date: 1979-10-09
Publication date: 1980-05-14
Also published as: GB2032887B

Abstract

A hinged-lid packet for cigarettes has a body formed of a front panel 2, a rear panel 3 and side walls 4, 5; a lid having a front wall 12 side walls 13, 14, 17, 18 and a top wall 11; and a frame to provide resistance to inadvertent opening of the lid defined by a panel 20 extending upwardly from the front panel 2 and side flaps 22, 23 secured to the side walls, 4, 5. When the lid is closed, engagement portions 24, 25 enter and engage between the inner face of the front wall 12 of the lid and the front edges of the side wall panels 13, 14 to hold the lid closed. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements Relating to Hinged-Lid Packets This invention relates to hinged-lid packets, for example, hinged-lid packets for packaging elongate objects such as cigarettes.

Hinged-lid packets for packaging elongate objects such as cigarettes have long been known and commonly comprise a deep rectilinear body and a lid hingedly attached to a rear wall of the body. It is known for the body and the lid to be formed from a single blank and for the lid to hinge about a crease provided in the blank.

It is also known for hinged-lid packets to be provided with an inner frame, formed from a separate blank, comprising an inner front panel and inner side panels at opposite ends of the inner front panel, the inner front panel extending upwardly of the top edge of a front panel of the body and the inner side panels extending upwardly of the upper edges of respective side walls of the body. Thus when the lid is in a closed position the frame extends upwardly therewithin to provide resistance to inadvertent opening of the lid.

There are also known hinged-lid packets in which, instead of having a separate inner frame, have front and side panels for extending within the lid when closed, which front and side panels form a frame integral with the blank from which the body and lid are formed. Such packets, one of which is described in United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 507,998 are commonly tormed "one-piece hinged-lid packets".

In some one-piece hinged-lid packets the side walls of the integral frame are attached both to the front wall thereof and to respective side wall panels of the body part. A blank for a packet of this type is disclosed in United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 819,205. As is described in Specification No. 819,205 the front and side walls of the frame are inwardly offset, dog-leg fashion, so as to be readily accommodated within the closed lid.

In other one-piece hinged-lid packets the side walls of the integral frame, although being attached to the front wall thereof, are not attached to sidewall panels of the body part.

Blanks for packets of this type are disclosed in United Kingdom Patent Specification Nos.

819,204 and 1,431,173. Reference to these specifications shows that in each case there is a slit between the side walls of the frame and adjacent side wall panels of the body part.

Although the frame parts in both two-piece and one piece hinged-lid packets serve to resist inadvertent opening of the lids, the interference between the front, upper corners of the frame parts with the associated lids does not always hold the lids in a fully closed position. Thus it is sometimes the case that the lids tend to gape even when in a nominally fully closed position.

It is known, as reference to the above mentioned specifications shows, to provide the frame, whether integral or formed from a separate blank, with an ear at each end of the front panel, each ear extending in the plane of the front panel outwardly from the corner of the frame. It is intended that the ears should serve to contact respective inner side-wall face of the lid so as to hold the lid in a fully closed position, thus preventing the above mentioned gaping. In the case of frames formed from a separate blank, the provision of ears has met with some success in holding the lids closed. Integral frames however, are formed of less material than separate frames and possess less strength and rigidity.For this reason the provision of ears on integral frames has caused a problem in that the resultant lateral compression applied to the front wall of the frames has caused buckling at the lower corners of cut-outs provided in the front walls. The creases thereby occurring at these corners are unsightly and make the packets unattractive to the consumer.

The present invention provides a hinged-lid packet comprising a body and a lid hingedly attached to the body; said body comprising a front wall, a rear wall and side walls and said lid comprising a front wall and side walls, the side walls of the lid comprising inner and outer side wall panels, the front ends of the inner side wall panels extending close to the front wall of the lid; and frame means comprising a front panel, extending upwardly of the front wall of said body, and side flaps extending parallel to the side walls of said body, said front panel having adjacent each side thereof engagement portions extending upwardly of said front panel and said side flaps and lying in the plane of the front panel whereby when the lid is closed the outer side edges of said engagement portions abut the corners between the inner face of the front wall of said lid and the respective side walls of said lid, to hold the lid closed.

Although the invention is primarily concerned with one-pieced hinged-lid packets, it could find application in hinged-lid packets having a separate frame.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a blank for a hinged-lid cigarette packet, broken lines indicating lines of creasing and chain lines indicating lines of offsetting; and Figure 2 is a perspective view, to a different scale, of the packet erected from the blank of Figure 1, the lid of the packet being shown in an open position.

Referring now to Figure 1, the blank there shown comprises, for forming the body of the packet, a base panel 1 at respective longer sides of which are attached a front wall panel 2 and a rear wall panel 3. At respective opposite sides of the front wall panel 2 are attached outer side wall panels 4 and 5. Similarly, at opposite sides of the rear wall panel 3 there are attached inner side wall panels 6 and 7, to respective lower ends of which are attached tabs 8 and 9. As will be seen from Figure 1, an upper triangular portion of each of the side panels 6 and 7 is offset along lines 6', 7' respectively. The off-setting is in dog-leg fashion inwardly of the plane of Figure 1, it being assumed that Figure 1 shows the face of the blank which face in the erected packet is to the outer side of the packet.The triangular portions are offset by approximately the thickness of the sheet material of the blank.

The parts of the blank provided for forming the lid of the packet comprise a rear wall panel 10, attached at the upper end of the body panel 3, a top wall panel 11 attached to the edge of the panel 10 further from the panel 3, and a front wall panel 12 which is in turn attached to the panel 11. To respective side edges of the rear panel 1 0 are attached inner side wall panels 13 and 14, and attached at respective longer sides of the panels 1 3 and 14 are tabs 15 and 16 which, as can be seen in Figure 1 are disposed at opposite ends of the panel 11. The lateral dimension A of the inner side wall panels 13 and 14 is preferably slightly less than the depth 8 of the top wall panel 11 to provide a slight gap between the front edges of the panels 13 and 14 and the front wall panel 12 in the formed packet.Each of the panels 13 and 14 may also have lead-in cut outs 1 3a and 14s at their lower edges. To respective side edges of the front panel 12 are attached outer side wail panels 17 and 18, and to the edge of the front panel 12 further from the panel 11 is attached a front-wall reinforcing panel 1 9.

To the edge of the body front wall panel 2 further from the base panel 1 there is attached a frame front panel 20. The panel 20 is offset along a line 21 in a manner similar to that of the upper triangular portions of the panels 6 and 7. To the side edges of the panel 20 are attached frame side panels 22 and 23, which panels are separated from the body side panels 4 and 5 respectively by slits. The top edges 22a and 23a of the frame side panels 22 and 23 lie in the same plane as the top edge 20a of the front panel 20.

At the ends of the panel 20 there extend outwardly from the top edge 20a of the panel 20, and outwardly of the top edges of the panels 22 and 23, engagement portions 24 and 25.

To form the packet shown in Figure 2 from the blank of Figure 1 the front and rear body wall panels 2 and 3 are folded perpendicularly to, and to the same side of the base panel 1. The outer sidewall panel 4 is folded to overlie, and is adhered to, the inner side wall panel 6. Similarly, the outer side-wall panel 5 is folded to overlie, and is adhered to, the inner side-wall panel 7. The tabs 8 and 9 overlie the base panel 1. The side panels 22 and 23 of the frame are received by and adhered to the respective upper offset triangular portions of the inner side-wall panels 6 and 7.

To form the erected lid the reinforcing panel 1 9 is folded over and adhered in face-to-face reiationship to the inner face of the front wall panel 12. The tabs 15 and 16 lie against the inner face of the top wall panel 11. The inner side-wall panels 13 and 14 extend perpendicularly to the tabs 1 5 and 1 6 respectively and the outer side wall panels 17 and 18 are adhered to the outer face of the associated inner side-wall panels 13 and 14. Thus, when after the lid has been opened for removing a cigarette from the packet, the lid is once again closed, the outer side edges of the upwardly extending engagement portions 24 and 25 (see Figure 2) are gripped in the respective corners between the inner face of the front wall 12 of the lid and the respective side walls of the lid.The height of the engagement portions 24,25 is such that, when the lid is closed, the upper edges of the projections closely approach the top wall 11 of the lid. The overall dimension between the outer side edges of the engagement portions is substantially the same as the width of the panel 12 so that the outer side edges are positioned close to the outer side wail panels 17, 18 of the lid when the lid is closed. The lid is thus firmly held in its fully closed position.

The side wall panels of the lid may be dimensioned so that a gap is formed between each of the front edges of the panels 13 and 14 and the front wall 12 of the lid, the gaps being adapted to receive the engagement portions 24 and 25 respectively. The gap is dimensioned in accordance with the thickness of the material from which the packet is made.

The gripping of the engagement portions 24 and 25 of the frame holds the lid fully closed without applying a compressive or lateral force to the front panel 20 of the frame, and thus buckling at the lower corners of the panel 20 is avoided.

Claims

1. A hinged-lid packet comprising a body and a lid hingedly attached to the body; said body comprising a front wall, a rear wall and side walls and said lid comprising a front wall and side walls, the side walls of the lid comprising inner and outer side wall panels, the front ends of the inner side wall panels extending close to the front wall of the lid; and frame means comprising a front panel, extending upwardly of the front wall of said body, and side flaps extending parallel to the side walls of said body, said front panel having adjacent each side edge thereof engagement portions extending upwardly of said front panel and said side flaps and lying in the plane of the front panel whereby when the lid is closed the outer side edges of said engagement portions abut the corners between the inner face of the front wall of said lid and respective side walls of said lid, to hold the lid closed.

2. A hinged-lid packet as claimed in claim 1 wherein the outer side edges of the engagement portions abut the inner face of respective outer side wall panels of the lid.

3. A hinged-lid packet as claimed in claim 2 wherein the lateral dimension of each of the inner side wall panels of the lid is less than the depth of the top wall panel of the lid to provide thereby a gap between the inner face of the front wall of the lid and said front ends of said respective inner side wall panels of the lid.

4. A hinged-lid packet as claimed in claim 3 wherein the lateral dimension of each of the inner side wall panels is less than the lateral dimensions of the side walls of the body.

5. A hinged-lid packet as claimed in claim 1,2, 3 or 4 wherein each of said inner side wall panels of the lid is provided with a lead-in portion adapted, in use, to guide said engagement portions between said inner side wall panels and the front wall of the lid.

6. A hinged-lid packet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the top edges of the frame side flaps have a straight profile and lie in the same plane as the top edge of the frame front panel.

7. A hinged-lid packet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 formed from a one-piece blank.

8. A hinged-lid packet substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

9. A blank for forming a one-piece hinged-lid packet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8.