GB2061713A

GB2061713A - Pouch

Info

Publication number: GB2061713A
Application number: GB8032522A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Focke and Co GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Focke and Co GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1979-10-30
Filing date: 1980-10-08
Publication date: 1981-05-20
Also published as: GB2061713B; DE2943825A1; DE2943825C3; NL8005295A

Abstract

A pouch is formed from a blank comprising two plastics foil blanks joined together at their edges and between which there is an insert blank of paper. The pouch blank is folded over to form a pocket (11) which is open on one side (20) and which has a front wall (14) a rear wall (15), and a closure strip (12). The sides are joined together to form side walls (17, 18) and a bottom wall (16), at right angles to the front and rear walls (14, 15). The paper blank (28) extends exclusively in the regions of the front wall (14), rear wall (15) bottom wall (16) and closure strip (12), whilst leaving the side walls (17, 18) free. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in pouches The invention relates to a pouch formed from a pouch blank which comprises at least two plastics foil blanks joined together at their edges and between which there is an insert blank, particularly a paper blank, the pouch blank being folded over to form a pocket which is open on one side and which has a closure strip and the sides are joined together in such a way that in each case side and bottom walls directed at right angles to the front and rear walls are formed, giving a so-called lateral fold pouch, particularly for receiving cut tobacco.

Cut tobacco is almost exclusively packed in soft pouches formed from a multilayer pouch blank by thermal welding. The tobacco is received in a pocket which is open at the top. When closed, a closure strip is applied to or wound round the pocket.

Two basic versions of the aforementioned pouch are known. So-called wrapping pouches form a pocket, which is flat at the edges and results from merely joining together the front and rear wall of the pouch blank. The closure is relatively long and is wound round the pocket.

The pouch type according to the present invention forms a base extending at right angles to the front and rear walls in the vicinity of the pocket and correspondingly arranged side walls which, when the pouch is closed in the vicinity of the pocket opening pass into inwardly directed lateral folds, the socalled lateral fold pouch. In the initial position the bottom wall and side walls are in the form of inwardly directed substantially V-shaped folds extending between the front and rear walls. The pocket assumes a parallelepipedic configuration as a result of the filling thereof, whilst there is a folding up of most of the bottom walls and the side walls.

Without exception the aforementioned pouches are provided with an insert blank, namely a printed paper blank positioned between the plastics foil blanks. This paper blank extends over the entire width and length of the pouch blank, i.e. into the lateral and terminal welds. The paper blank is folded over on folding the pocket, accompanied by the formation of the side and bottom walls, so that the paper blank extends into the vicinity of the bottom and the side wails.

In connection with pouches of this type, efforts have been directed at bringing about an improved tight seal in order to maintain the aroma of the tobacco over a longer period. These efforts are directed at placing a suitable, effective closure over the pocket opening. If this closure is formed by welding or stuck-in, strip-like elements, welds or like difficulties occur in the edge area of the pocket, where there are numerous folded-over material layers which act counter to an adequately tight seal. It has been found that it is very difficult to form precise side walls.

The present invention aims to so improve a pouch of the aforementioned type, i.e. with side walls and a bottom wall in the vicinity of the pocket, that a tight seal can be produced as a result of a corresponding construction of the pouch blank.

According to the invention, there is provided a pouch formed from a pouch blank comprising at least two plastics foil blanks joined together at their edges and between which there is an insert blank, the pouch blank being folded over to form a pocket which is open on one side and which has a front wall and a rear wall as well as a closure strip, the sides being joined together in such a way that in each case side and bottom walls directed at right angles to the front and rear walls are formed, giving a so-called lateral fold pouch, wherein the insert blank extends exclusively in the regions of the front wall, rear wall and bottom wall as well as the closure strip, whilst leaving the side walls free.

Thus, the pouch or pouch blank according to the invention is provided with an insert blank, which may be made of paper which is narrowerthan the pouch blank. In the vicinity of the pocket and the closure strip on either side there is a strip formed exclusively from the two foil blanks left free by the paper blank. The size and arrangement of the paper blank within the pouch blank are such that the pocket side walls formed by the lateral folds are preponderantly or entirely free from the paper blank. In particularthe paper blank ends exactly in a fold edge formed between the front and rear walls on the one hand and the side walls on the other.

This leads to a number of advantages. Apart from the saving of material, i.e. paper, particular note should be made of the easier handling of the lateral folds or side walls from the packing standpoint, which can be more accurately folded and aligned without the reinforcing paper blank. The number of layers superimposed by folding is reduced in the vicinity of the pocket opening, so that a gap-free and joint-free closure can be provided.

At least in the vicinity of the side walls, the foil blanks are preferably made from transparent material, particularly a thermoplastics material. This makes it possible to optically examine the packing content when using transparent foils.

The pocket closure can be constructed in various ways. It is advantageous to place on the pouch blank sealing strips which can be activated after filling the pocket and which close the opening in such a way that manual opening is easy on putting the pouch into use. In this connection it is particularly advantageous to use a so-called peel seal closure according to German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1949723. It is alternatively possible to place a separate closure strip in the opening, for example in accordance with Fig. 1 of British Patent Specification No. 1,561,817.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a pouch according to the invention for receiving tobacco in the partly opened state; Fig. 2 shows a pouch blank suitable for producing a pouch as shown in Fig. 1 in the spread-out state; Fig. 3 is a front view of the finished pouch shown in Fig. 1, with the closure strip open; Fig. 4 is a side view of the pouch shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken on the line V-V in Fig.

4, in the vicinity of the pocket.

The embodiment of a pouch of the "lateral fold type" shown in the drawings is used for cut tobacco 10 which is received in a pocket 11, formed together with a closure strip 12 from a multilayer, rectangular pouch blank 13 (Fig. 2).

The pocket 11 is bounded by a front wall 14, a rear wall 15, a bottom wall 16 at right angles thereto and side walls 17 and 18 which are also transversely directed. The pocket 11 has a preponderantly parallelepipedic configuration when filled.

On the side opposite to the bottom wall 16, an opening 20 for access to the contents of the pocket 11 is provided between a gripping flap 19 of the front wall 14 and the rear wall 15 or a closure strip 12 connected thereto. The gripping flap 19 engages on the closure strip 12 when the pouch is closed (Figs. 1, 3-and 4). The closure strip 12 can now be engaged on the pocket 11 or, if sufficiently long, can be wrapped around it.

Before using the pouch, the opening 20 is appropriately tightly sealed. In the present case, the grip- ping flap 19 and closure strip 12 are detachably interconnected by facing sealing strips 21,22. The sealing strips 21,22 applied to a suitable point ofthe pouch blank 13 before forming the actual pouch are for example constructed according to the peei seal principle. They extend here overthe entire width of the pouch or pouch blank 13.

The bottom wall and side walls 17, 18 are in the case of the present pouch formed from areas of the pouch blank 13 which appear as substantially V-shaped, inwardly directed folds before the pocket 11 is filled, i.e. with the pouch in the flat initial state.

In the folded state according to Fig. 1 this V-shaped fold in the vicinity of the closed opening 20 is maintained. As can be seen from Fig. 4 the fold gradually passes into the side walls 17, 18 directed transversely to the front and rear walls 14, 15. In thevicin- ity of the laterally not interconnected areas of closure strip 12 and gripping flap 19 side strips 23 and 24 are formed due to the projecting material resulting from the side walls 17, 18. In the present case strips 23,24 are wrapped around and consequently form a double-walled area of the pouch blank 13.

As the starting product for the pouch, the pouch blank 13 has a rectangular configuration. By folding over a partial area thereof, the front wall, rear wall 15, etc. are formed. Accompanied by the formation of the side walls 17,18, the front wall 14 and rear wall 15 are joined together approximately in the median plane thereof, e.g. by welds 25. In the case of a collapsed flat pocket 11 the welds also form the inwardly directed fold edge of the V-shaped, foldedin side walls 17,18. If sealing strips 21,22 are pro- vided the welds 25 extend at least up to these.

The pouch blank 13 is formed from a plurality of layers and in the present case three layers. An insert in the form of a paper blank 28 is received between two foil blanks 26 and 27, which are connected all round, particularly by welds 29. Thus, the paper blank 28 is completely enclosed by the foil blanks 26 and 27.

The width of the paper blank 28 is iess than that of the pouch blank 13 or the foil blanks 26 and 27. The transverse dimension of the paper blank 28 is such that in the finished pouch it extends precisely over the width of the front wall 14, rear wall 15 and bottom 16. As can be seen from Fig. 5, the paper blank 28 passes approximately into the vicinity of a fold edge 30 between the front wall 14 and rear wall 15 on the one hand, as well as side walls 17 and 18 on the other, being supported by the dimensional stability of the filled pocket 11. The side walls 17,18 are completely free from the paper blank 28 so that they have a correspondingly lesserthickness and in particular a greater deformability with respect to the folds.

As the paper blank 28 has the same width over its entire length, the lateral strips 23, 24 are also constructed without a paper blank and are correspondingly thin in the vicinity of the closure strip 12 and gripping flap 19. Thus, in the vicinity of the opening 20 and at the end thereof there are less layers due to the folded-over lateral strips 23, 24. This leads to a tighter seal by sealing strips 21, 22 or some other closure construction. Due to the sealing strips 21, 22 extending over the entire width of the pouch blank 13, the lateral strips 23,24 are connected to one another or with the closure strip 12 and gripping flap 19.

The present pouch is characterized by an excellent dimensional stability of the substantially parallelepipedic structure.

In order to stabilize the free, outer edge area of the closure strip 12, which is gripped first on opening the pouch, a transversely directed reinforcing strip 31 is provided. It is made, for example, from paper, and is internally applied to the closure strip 12 by thermal welding. The arrangement is advantageously such that the reinforcing strip 31 is applied after folding in the lateral strips 23,24, thereby covering the ends of the latter and fixing them in position.

In the present case the paper blank 28 is spaced from the edge connection of the foil blanks 26,27. To ensure the accurate relative positioning of the paper blank 28 within the pouch blank 13, the latter is joined to the foil blanks 26,27. In the present embodiment two diagonally facing fixing points 32 are provided, which are produced during the manufacture of the pouch blank 13 by thermal spot welding using suitable welding rods.

Claims

1. A pouch formed from a pouch blank comprising at least two plastics foil blanks joined together at their edges and between which there is an insert blank, the pouch blank being folded over to form a pocket which is open on one side and which has a front wall and a rearwall as well as a closure strip, the sides being joined together in such a way that in each case side and bottom walls directed at right angles to the front and rear walls are formed, giving a so-called lateral fold pouch, wherein the insert blank extends exclusively in the regions of the front wall, rear wall and bottom wall as well as the closure strip, whilst leaving the side walls free.

2. A pouch according to claim 1, wherein, at least in the vicinity ofthe side walls, the foil blanks are made from transparent material.

3. A pouch according to claim 2, wherein the foil blanks are made of a thermoplastics material.

4. A pouch according to any preceding claim, wherein the insert blank is constructed as a strip having the same width over the entire length thereof.

5. A pouch according to any preceding claim, wherein the insert blank is fixed approximately centrally within the pouch blank.

6. A pouch according to claim 5, wherein the insert blank is fixed to at least one of the foil blanks by at least two diagonally facing fixing points.

7. A pouch according to any'preceding claim, wherein the insert blank is made of paper.

8. A pouch according to any preceding claim, wherein continuous sealing strips are provided over the entire width of the pouch blank and after forming and filling the pocket face one another in the vicinity of the opening and can be joined together by activation.

9. A pouch according to any preceding claim, wherein lateral strips formed by the side walls in the vicinity of the closure strip and a gripping flap are folded inwards.

10. A pouch according to any preceding claim, wherein the free edge of the closure strip is provided with a transversely directed reinforcement.

11. A pouch according to claim 10, wherein the reinforcement comprises an internally applied reinforcing strip.

12. A pouch according to claim 11, wherein the reinforcing strip is made of paper.

13. A pouch according to claim 9 and any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the ends of the reinforcing strip coverthe inwardly folded lateral strips.

14. Apouch substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.