GB2059907A

GB2059907A - Packet of the soft type for cigarettes

Info

Publication number: GB2059907A
Application number: GB8030560A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: GD SpA
Current assignee: GD SpA
Priority date: 1979-10-08
Filing date: 1980-09-22
Publication date: 1981-04-29
Also published as: FR2467150A1; DE3034935A1; JPS5695871A; FR2467150B1; BR8006415A

Abstract

A packet of the soft type for cigarettes or similar articles is formed from a sheet (3) which is divided into a first printed part or label (4) that enshrouds the four sides and one end of the batch of cigarettes, and into a second part 5 that has a metallic appearance and covers the second end. The sheet (3) may comprise a sheet of paper lined with foil, the surface of the foil in the label part (4) being printed and that in the part (5) being left untreated or it may comprise a sheet of paper having a printed label part (4) and a part (5) to which a foil sheet or an ink which gives a metallic appearance, has been applied. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Packet of the soft type for cigarettes or similar articles The invention has as its subject a packet of the soft type for cigarettes or similar articles.

In the conventional soft type packet, the cigarettes are encompassed by three different, superposed, layers of wrapping material, that is say, by: a first complete inner wrapper, in contact with the cigarettes, made of paper covered on one side with a thin sheet of metal (paper-foil); a second wrapper made of paper material (label) that does not cover the access end to the inside of the packet, on which the trade name of the product and various items of commercial art are printed; and an outer, humidity resistant, film customarily constituted by transparent material.

Insofar as the first two layers of wrapping material described are concerned, the said packets can be made on, for example, a packeting machine manufactured by the same applicant as herein, G. D. S.p.A., known on the market under the name "X1" and amply described in U.S. Patent 3,628,309. The said packeting machine, which is of a considerably complex type, is provided with a set of three, intermittently rotating, wrapping heads in which, under the action of numerous folder members, the formation of the packets takes place. Packets of the soft type for cigarettes have been offered for consideration, wherein the conformation is more simple than that of the conventional packets, the purpose of this being to effect a saving in wrapping materal and to allow packeting machines that are less complicated and costly to be employed.

A first type of packet, described in U.K.

Patent 1,000,443, envisages the cigarettes being wrapped in one single sheet composed of two parts of different characteristics, achieved by joining along one edge a sheet of paper and a strip of paper-foil.

Although the appearance of the said packet is identical to that of the conventional soft type packet and the saving in wrapping material achieved is considerable, a number of practical and intrinsic difficulties of an entity that renders this form of production inadvisable, have been found.

For example, it does, in fact, sometimes happen that the two parts of a sheet separate because of the limited superposition area and union provided merely by the edges of the two parts forming the sheet, or that they come apart during the packeting operation due to imperfect gluing, and either cause the packeting machine to get blocked and halted or a faulty packet to be formed.

Also, it is inevitable, because of materials that have different physical properties (in particular hygroscopicity and thermal expansion coefficient) being bonded together to form a sheet, that in proximity of the area where the edges are united of the parts that go to make up the sheet which, when folded, defines one packet, ugly puckers and wrinkles form in the packets subsequent to variations in the temperature or in the ambient humidity.

A packet formed by folding contemporaneously two superposed sheets, the inner one of which covered, on one side, with foil, possibly glued one to the other, has also been offered for consideration (U.K. Patent 715,626).

With this solution, however, it is not possible to save wrapping material and the simplifications that can be made to the wrapping devices of the packeting machines are offset by the necessary presence of means for superposing and possibly gluing the aforementioned pairs of sheets.

The object of the invention is to make available a packet of the soft type for cigarettes asethetically the same as conventional soft type packets but which, with respect thereto, can be produced with a great saving in wrapping material.

A further object of the invention is to make available a packet of the aforementioned type that can be formed with the use of more simple and less costly equipment than is required for the production of packets of the conventional type.

These and other objects too have all been attained with the packet of the soft type for cigarettes and similar articles according to the invention, of the type that is composed externally of a first printed part, defined the label, that enshrouds the four sides and one end of a virtually parallelepiped batch of cigarettes, and of a second part, metallic in appearance, that covers the second end for access to the inside of the packet, in direct contact with the cigarettes, essential features of the said packet being that it is constituted by one single sheet of wrapping material that is divided into the said first printed part cr label, and into the said second part that has a metallic aspect.

Further characteristics and advantages will become more apparent from the detailed description that follows of two forms of embodiment for the invention, illustrated purely as an unlimited example on the accompanying drawings, in which: -Figure 1 shows, in a perspective view, a packet of cigarettes according to the invention; -Figure 2 shows a sheet of wrapping material destined for the production of packets of the type depicted in Fig. 1.

With reference to Fig. 1, shown globally at 1 there is a packet for cigarettes according to the invention, provided at the top with a sealing band 2 of the type commonly to be found also on conventional packets.

The wrapping of the packet 1 is derived from one single rectangular sheet 3, see also Fig. 2, enshrouded, in a known fashion, around a-virtually parallelepiped batch of cigarettes.

In a first form of embodiment, the said sheet 3, the thickness of which is such as to guarantee the cigarettes no less a protection than that ensured by the packets on general sale, is made of paper or of a similar material and has the area thereof destined to constitute the outside surface of the packet 1 lined with foil.

On a first more extensive side of the said sheet 3 and on the said foil surface, and precisely on a strip shown at 4, corresponding in Fig. 2 to the lower part of the sheet 3, a background colour is printed together with items of commercial art intended to constitute the aspect of the sides and lower end of the packet 1.

The said strip 4 virtually corresponds, both as regards the function and aspect, to the label on packets of a conventional type.

The remaining portion, or second part, of the sheet 3, that is to say, an upper strip shown at 5, of a height such that it covers, once the packet has been made, the upper end of the batch of cigarettes, is left unaltered and retains intact its metallic aspect.

In a second form of embodiment, the packet 1 in question can be produced with the sheet 3 made of a paper material of a suitable thickness.

The side of the sheet 3 destined to constitute the visibie part of the packet 1 is, in this case, treated in the following way: The strip 4 has printed on it the items of commercial art that have to appear on the sides and lower end of the packet 1, while ink that gives a metallic aspect is typographically applied to the strip 5 or else a thin sheet of foil is fully superposed and rendered integral therewith.

Although, on account of the reasons outlined with regard to the known art, the danger does exist of puckers or wrinkles forming in the region of the area where one sheet is bonded to the other, thanks to the ample contact surfaces of the two sheets used this particular phenomenon is notably attenuated.

Claims

1. Packet of the soft type for cigarettes and similar articles, of the type that is composed externally of a first printed part, defined the label, that enshrouds the four sides and one end of a virtually parallelepiped batch of cigarettes, and of a second part, metallic in appearance, that covers the second end for access to the inside of the packet, in direct contact with the cigarettes, essential features of the said packet being that it is constituted by one single sheet 3 of wrapping material that is divided into the said first printed part of label 4, and into the said second part 5 that has a metallic aspect.

2. Packet for cigarettes according to Claim 1, wherein the said sheet 3 is constituted by a sheet of a paper material, the surface of which destined to constitute the outer surface of thepacket 1 has, typographically impressed over the foil thereon, the said first part or label 4.

3. Packet for cigarettes according to Claim 1, wherein the said sheet 3 is constituted by a sheet of a paper material that bears, typographically impressed thereon, the said first printed part or label 4 and the said second part 5 that has a metallic aspect.

4. Packet for cigarettes according to Claim 1, wherein the said sheet 3 is constituted by a sheet of a paper material that bears, typographically impressed thereon, the said first printed part or label 4, the said second part 5 that has a metallic aspect being constituted by a thin sheet of foil fully superposed and rendered integral with the said sheet.

5. Packet of the soft type for cigarettes and similar articles, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.