JPH11157588A - Cigarette packet, method and apparatus for manufacture of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a change in a sentence to be printed in a short time by providing a printing area including warning information regarding health applied by laser printing on a region which can be visually recognized to be blank when a cigarette packet is opened. SOLUTION: Contents of a packet, that is a group of cigarettes are surrounded by an inner packaging material 28 to form a block of the cigarettes. A printing area 45 in a region of a printing strip is provided in a blank of the inner packaging material 28 of the cigarette block 29, wherein the printing area 45 is to be processed by laser printing through deletion of a layer by heat. Two colored layers suitable for laser printing are provided, wherein one of the layers is overlaid on the other, so that when the cigarette packet is opened, a useful printed document regarding danger of smoking to health is exhibited to indicate a warning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a cigarette packet in which one or more groups of cigarettes are each wrapped by at least one blank made of (thin) cardboard, paper, foil or other wrapping material. About.
The invention further relates to a method and an apparatus for producing a cigarette packet of this type.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Two types of tobacco packets used on a worldwide scale are hinged lid packets and soft pouch type packets. Common to both these types of packets is the contents of the packet-a group of cigarettes
-Is usually covered with paper, tin foil or other thin inner wrapping material. The tobacco block produced in this way is placed inside the actual package, ie the outer wrapping material, ie a packet with hinge lid or a soft pouch packet. Inner wrap and / or outer packet,
That is, in particular, a packet with a hinge lid or a soft pouch packet comprises a printing unit with information about the contents. The printing section includes a so-called health warning article that gives information about the dangers of smoking to health.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The fundamental supporting object of the invention is to propose a strategy for designing and manufacturing a cigarette packet, thereby effectively meeting the costs and at the same time being more rational. This leads to a variety of tobacco packet manufacturing modes.

[0004]

To this end, to achieve this object, the cigarette packet of the present invention is provided with a so-called health print which is applied by laser printing to an area where a blank is visible when the cigarette packet is opened. It is characterized in that a print area accompanied by warning information regarding is provided.

[0005] Giving a cigarette packet, especially health warning information, raises various problems in the technology of manufacturing tobacco packets. This is because such information is often provided differently based on national rules of each country. It also needs to be adapted to the relevant national languages. These adaptations imply the expense of the conversion, which translates into significant losses. In particular, this expense has heretofore been necessary in order to have ready-to-use ready-to-use packaging materials with a variety of different health warning articles to be prepared in advance and used as required.

In the cigarette packet of the invention, this information is provided by laser printing, preferably in the area of the packaging machine. Laser printing assemblies, on the other hand, have very high packet production rates,
It is powerful enough to give the necessary information to each packet. On the other hand, the text to be printed can be changed on the laser printing assembly in a very short time and with little expense.

[0007] The laser printing process used by the present invention is based on the (thermal or chemical) removal of the colored layer (ablat).
ion). According to the invention, the wrapping material therefore comprises a localized coating of the material, in particular a printing area consisting of at least the (outer) colored layer. While the laser printing takes place, the text or, if necessary, a decorative design is created in this area, the letters, symbols or decorative patterns created being visible in contrast to the (outer) colored layer. . If desired, the printing area may consist of two colored layers arranged one on top of the other, whose shine or color is clearly contrasted.

[0008] Print areas with health alerts or other information can be provided at a number of different locations in the context of a cigarette packet. For example, an inner wrapper is suitable as a medium for this type of printing area, which printing area is provided so that it is visible from the outside at least when the packets (packets with hinge lid) are opened. Instead or in addition,
The printing area can also be provided on the outside of the outer package, ie the hinged lid packet or the soft pouch packet.

In the case of manufacturing a cigarette packet or packaging material according to the present invention, the process is as follows. That is, in the factory, the printing area is applied to the exact location of the packaging material for the packet, i.e. the thin packaging material such as paper on the surface of the corresponding material web.
If a preformed blank is used for the hinged packet, this printing area is advantageously provided when the tobacco packet is at least partially completed.

[0010] Another feature of the invention resides in a method and apparatus (laser printing assembly) for applying a print, preferably with the aid of a diaphragm having the entire text to be printed. The laser beam of the laser printing assembly is prepared such that the area of the diaphragm with text or other picture is completely sensed by the laser beam so that it is effectively applied in one sweep.

[0011] Further details of the method and apparatus for manufacturing the cigarette packet, as well as the cigarette packet, will be described in more detail below with the aid of specific examples given by way of illustration.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows a cigarette packet of the hinged lid type.

This type of packet is formed from the blank shown in FIG. Its basic structure is the packet part 1
0 and a lid 11. The packet section 10 includes a front wall 12
Formed by the rear wall 13 of the packet, the side flaps 14 and 15 of the packet and the bottom 16. Both side flaps 14, 15 of the packet form a pair and overlap and adhere to each other to form both side walls of the packet (see FIGS. 1, 5). The side flaps 15 of the packet on the outside are at the sides of the front wall 12 of the packet.
Attached to.

The lid 11 is designed for the packet part so as to comprise a front wall 17 of the lid, a rear wall 18 of the lid and flaps 19, 20 on both sides of the lid. Further, an upper end wall 21 is provided. In the completed hinged packet, the inner flap 22 of the lid is
And is connected to the front wall (see FIG. 1). The side flaps 19, 20 of the lid are likewise superimposed and glued together in pairs, resulting in both side walls of the lid (FIGS. 1, 5).

The packet part 10 and the lid 11 are connected to one another in the area of the rear wall by transverse hinge lines 23 to form a back which, when pressed, is turned over.

Another part of the hinged packet is a collar 24, typically manufactured from a separate blank.
This collar consists of a collar front wall 25 and collar side flaps 26. The collar 24 is fixed to the packet section 10 by bonding. In the area of the collar 24 or the front wall 25 of the collar projecting from the packet part 10, there is a recess 27 with a rounded outer diameter.

The contents of the packet, ie a group of cigarettes, are surrounded by an inner wrap 28, thus forming a block 29 of cigarettes.

A cigarette packet of the type described above is thus formed substantially from two blanks. Inner wrap 28 is particularly comprised of a relatively thin wrap, such as paper, foil, or the like.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show two different exemplary types of inner wrapping material 28. FIG. The blank of FIG. 2 is designed according to the principle of "cross-wrapping". Front wall 30 of inner wrap, side wall 31 of inner wrap
And areas of the blank for forming the rear wall 32 of the inner wrapping material are arranged one after the other in the longitudinal direction of the blank. The edge flaps 33, 34 are connected to the front wall 30 of the inner wrap and the side wall 32 of the inner wrap.
On the side of the completely folded inner wrap 28 these flaps abut one another, one covering the other, thus the inner wrap opposite the side wall 31 of the inner wrap. Side walls.

Upper and lower folding strips 35
', 35 form a double-end folded flap and a double bottom folded flap for the inner wrap 28. The top wall, and thus also the bottom wall, is formed in this case such that the trapezoidal longitudinal flaps 36, 37 partially cover each other. According to FIG. 3, the longitudinal flap 36 on the front side is connected to the front wall 30 of the inner wrapping material 28.

Blank 4 for inner wrap 28 of FIG.
9 is formed in a similar manner, that is, by the principle of longitudinal folding. The front wall 30 of the inner wrap and the rear wall 32 of the inner wrap are here connected by a continuous inner wrap bottom wall 38. Side strips 3
9, 40 extend the full length of the elongate blank and partially cover each other to form the side walls of the inner wrapping material. The upper end wall of the inner wrapping material is formed by folding both strips 41, 42 at opposite ends of the blank. These folded strips 4
1, 42 are folded such that the trapezoidal longitudinal flaps 36, 37 occur as part of the inner wrap, as in the embodiment of FIGS.

The blanks for the inner wrap 28 are printed and / or embossed on their entire surface. Embossing is mostly used for tin foil inner wrapping materials, but also applies to inner wrapping materials such as paper.
In the embodiment shown, the inner wrapping 28 comprises only a printed portion of the packet, ie, a portion protruding from a packet with a hinged lid or a soft pouch packet or other packet. Thus, the blank of FIG. 3 has only one printed strip 43 on one side. This strip is
The inner wrap 28 is pre-applied at the factory during manufacture. The material is provided as a continuous material web in the form of a coil wound on a reel. Printing strip 43 applied to one side as a continuous strip
Corresponds to the area including the printed portion regarding the safety of the inner wrapping material that can be visually recognized in the packet.

A unique feature resides in that the blank of the inner wrapper 28 has at least one printing area 45 in the area of the printing strip 43 shown in FIG. This print area 45 is preferably provided with useful printed articles, in particular regarding the health risks of smoking.

The printing area 45 is an area of the blank or blank web 44 that has been specially designed and prepared in advance. This is the area that is processed by laser printing via thermal ablation. This print area 45 comprises at least one colored layer, in the present example two colored layers 46, 47 (see FIG. 2). The two colored layers, one on top of the other,
It is made of a material suitable for laser printing. Coloring layer 46,
47 is chosen so that the contrast stands out with respect to color or shine. The outer colored layer 46 is removed in the form of grooves 48 by means of a laser beam in the area of the character or other pattern. In this case, the lower or inner colored layer 4
7, that is, articles and patterns are visually recognized from the outside. Instead of using a second colored layer, it is also possible for a backing layer, for example a blank of the inner wrap 28, to serve as said control layer. The material of the coloring layer is selected to provide a large capacity to absorb the actual wavelength of the laser light and is adapted to the laser printing assembly. The colored layers 46, 47 have an intermediate thickness between 3 μm and 10 μm.

The printing area 45 is provided at least when the cigarette packet is open, as long as it is visible from the outside.
It can be applied to an appropriate part of the cigarette packet. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, ie the packet with hinge lid, the printing area is provided in the area of the front wall 30 and the adjacent upper end wall of the inner wrapping material, ie in the outer longitudinal flap 36 of the front wall 30. (FIG. 3). The printing area 45 is in this case partly inside the recess 27 formed by the front wall 25 of the collar, in this case at least in the area where useful articles (health warnings) are visible. Occupy a position as in

Also in FIG. 4, the blank of the inner wrapping material 28 is cut off from the continuous web of the material web 49. The width of the material web 49 matches the width of the blank of the inner wrapping material 28. As shown in FIG.
In order to assure that the printing strips are visible from the outside, printing strips 50, 51 are respectively formed in the end of the elongate blank, ie in the area facing the opening of the packet.

Printing strip 5 on the front side of the inner wrapping material
0 comprises a print area 45 of the type described above. here,
Also, a print area 45 extends into the area of the front wall 30 of the inner wrap, as well as into the adjacent upper end wall with the trapezoidal front longitudinal flap 36.

Another feature of the blank of FIGS. 3 and 4 lies in the fact that the printing area 45 is formed in the area of the flaps 36, 37. According to FIG. 3, the flap 36 is defined by an angled perforation row 54. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, a transverse perforation row 55 extends in the area of the printing area 45 over the entire width of the blank or blank web 49. Providing the printing area 45 in the flaps 36, 37 is particularly advantageous if the flaps 36, 37 are used, for example, as coupons for eligibility for competition.

5 and 6, a blank for the outer packet is shown, that is, FIG. 5 shows a blank for a packet with a hinge lid, and FIG. 6 shows a blank for a soft pouch packet. In general, the blank for the hinged packet consists of a thin cardboard and the blank for the soft pouch packet consists of paper.

These blanks are also prepared in the factory together with the printing section 56 (hatched area).
This printing section is usually designed in several colors, and the color differs for each brand. The printing unit 56 is generally
That is, it is provided in the process of manufacturing the blank of FIG. 5 or in the process of preparing the continuous material web 57 for manufacturing the blank 58 for the soft pouch packet.

In both types of outer packet embodiment, a print area 45 formed in the manner described is arranged. The blank for the packet with hinge lid (FIG. 5)
The printing area 45 is designed to be located in the area of the rear wall 13 of the packet adjacent to the bottom wall 16. The printing area 45 has a rectangular shape and
Extend over approximately the width of

The blank 58 for the soft pouch comprises a front pouch wall 59 and a correspondingly formed rear pouch wall 6.
0, pouch side wall flaps 61 between the two parts, and
It consists of side wall flaps 62 and connection flaps 63 respectively provided at the two free ends of the blank 58 (FIG. 6). When the soft pouch is completed, the side wall flaps 62 cover the connection flaps 63. These two parts are connected to each other by gluing. In addition, a fold strip 64 is attached to one side of the blank to form the bottom wall of the pouch. Inside the blank web 57, the blanks 58 thus formed are arranged such that the sections of the wall described above are continuous with one another in the longitudinal direction of the blanks 58.

The blank comprises a brand dependent printing section 56, as in the embodiment of FIG. further,
The blank 58 is located in the area of the side wall 61 of the pouch itself.
A printing area 45 is provided. This print area 45 is arranged as an upright rectangle below the upper end of the soft pouch to fit within the width of the side wall of the pouch. The print area 45 is provided inside a print unit 56 determined by a packet in this specific example.

The printing area 45 includes not only all the wrapping materials described above, that is, the inner wrapping material 28 but also FIGS.
The outer packet blanks are advantageously applied to the packaging while they are manufactured and prepared at the factory. In the application examples of FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, the print area 45 is advantageously applied to the moving material web. The blank of FIG. 5 can likewise be cut from a continuous web of material by punching or can be cut from a curved “panel”, ie a large sheet with multiple blanks printed on the surface.

In any event, this is followed by the step of applying articles or decorations to the printing area 45 in the area of the packaging machine or in connection with the packaging machine. FIG. 7 shows one assembly for handling the blank webs of FIGS.
The assembly for handling the blank of FIG. 6 is correspondingly formed.

According to FIG. 7, the material web 44 is withdrawn from the first working reel. Another reel 66 is introduced into the flow when the reel 65 is exhausted.

The blank web 44 passes through a plurality of processing and control assemblies. These include, for example, an embossing assembly 67 for embossing the material web 44 for the inner wrapping material 28.

In the area of the uprights of the web 44, a laser printing assembly 69 is arranged. A mirror reflection system 72 is guided to the housing 70. Further, an electrical control line 73 is connected to the housing 70 to control a current measuring device as a component of the laser. Preferably, the component is a Nd-Yac laser whose principle is known.

The laser printing assembly 69 is controlled such that each time the printing area 45 comes into the area of the laser printing assembly 69, the printing behavior appears repeatedly. The operating speed of the laser printing assembly 69 is such that the web of material 44 is continuously transferred.
Material web 45 having print area 45 where printing is completed
Reaches the blank assembly 74, the individual blanks are cut off at the correct location and held and wait to wrap a group of cigarettes or a block of cigarettes.

When manufacturing a hinged packet using the blank of FIG. 5, the blank of FIG. 5 is generally transported as a stack of blanks. The printing of the printing area 45 by the laser printing assembly 69 is performed by depositing a blank, for example, a blank into a rotary folding unit 76.
Once separated into individual blanks in the path of the blanks transferred to (FIG. 8), it is feasible. The blank 75 is located in this case with the print area 45 facing up in each case and the laser printing assembly 69 is arranged above the blank path.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show further details of such a packaging machine. The rotary folding unit 76 rotates about a vertical axis, and operates in two tracks.
That is, each contains one blank 75,
It is set to have pockets 77 and 78 provided as a set. Thus, in the unloading station area, two completely folded hinged lid packets 79, 78 are provided by the rotary folding unit 7
6 are simultaneously pushed into the connecting straight packet path 81. In the straight packet passage 81, the side flaps 15 of the outer wrapping material protruding from the side surfaces of the hinged packets 79 and 80 and extending to the upper surface, and the side flaps 20 of the lid are bent.

Above the packet path 81 is located a laser printing assembly 69 formed in the manner described above. The lens system 71 of this assembly is above the hinged lid packets 79, 80 and points downward. The hinged lid packets 79, 80 comprise at least one printing area 45 on their upper surface. The printing area 45 is located in the area of the side flaps 15 of the outer packet or in the area of the front wall of the upwardly facing packet.
The printing area 45 is processed by the laser printing assembly 69 as the packet is being transported along the path 81 of the packet (FIG. 9).

Another unique feature of general importance and its application is shown in FIG. This is the schematic basic structure of the laser printing assembly 69. The assembly operates according to FIG. 10 comprising a diaphragm, in particular a diaphragm having a type of printing, which is the content to be applied to the printing area 45, the diaphragm being capable of passing laser light through the type. It is one area that is particularly equipped with an aperture consisting of letters and the like. The article to be added is arranged as a mirror image in this case.

The article or other printed content to be applied, or a defined portion thereof, is applied in one working cycle by the laser beam. For this purpose,
The normal laser beam 83 arriving at the area of the optical unit 84 is converted so that the contents of the diaphragm 82 can be detected. The laser beam 83 is used for this purpose in the first
First, the light is diffused through the lens 85 (convex lens), and is collimated into parallel rays as shown in the figure via the second lens 86 (concave lens) as shown. Therefore, since the laser beam extending in parallel acts on the diaphragm 82, its type is completely detected.

Another optical unit 87 has at least one lens 88 for imaging a laser beam on an aperture 89. The laser beam 83 formed according to the type of the diaphragm
And prints the type or scheduled article of the diaphragm on the material web, blank, or, as shown in FIG.
To the front wall 12. A printing area 45 for laser printing is applied in this area, ie in the lower end area of the packet front wall 12.

If the packaging material-coiled web or punched blank-is pre-prepared for processing in a packaging machine, the technique described above is similar to other packets. The present invention can be applied in the following mode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a packet with a hinge lid in an open state.

FIG. 2 is a large enlarged view of a cross section of a packaging material having a printing area.

FIG. 3 is a part of a material web for producing an inner wrapping material.

FIG. 4 is a part of a material web for producing the inner wrapping material, but having a different structure from that of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a blank for a packet with a hinge lid.

FIG. 6 is a part of a material web for a soft pouch packet.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a packaging material preparation device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic horizontal projection of a rotary folding unit with a trailing packet path.

FIG. 9 is a side view in which a partial area of the apparatus of FIG. 8 is greatly enlarged.

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of a laser printing assembly.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Pack part, 11 ... Lid, 24 ... Collar, 25 ... Front wall, 27 ... Recessed part, 28 ... Inner packaging material, 29 ... Tobacco block, 30 ... Front wall of inner packaging material, 36 ... Long side which becomes a front side Directional flaps, 45 ... printing area, 46, 47 ... coloring layer, 69 ... laser printing assembly, 76 ... rotary folding unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Helmut Heinson, Germany, 31535 Neustadt, Alter Zandberg 35 (72) Inventor Ralph Ginablink Germany, 27308 Kirchlinter-Lun, Kreuzbergbeek 7

Claims (8)

[Claims] Claims: (1) It has the following features (a), (b), (c) and (d):
(Thin) cardboard, paper, foil or other foldable packaging for a group of cigarettes, surrounded by a paper, tin foil or foil inner wrapper (28) to form a tobacco block (29) Cigarette packets, especially hinged or soft pouches, manufactured from blanks of wood. (a) the inner wrapping (28) and / or the blank comprises at least one printing area (45); (b) the printing area (45) comprises at least one coloring layer (46,47) suitable for laser printing. (C) the print area (45) is applied to the area of the blank or inner wrapper (28) that is visible from the outside, at least when the tobacco packet is open; (d) the print area (45) ) Displays information, especially so-called health warnings, caused by laser printing based on material removal, 2. The printing area (45) is accompanied by laser printing, the area of the inner wrapping material (28) of the hinged packet with the packet part (10) and the lid (11), in particular the lid ( When the 11) is open, the inner wrapping material protruding from the packet part (10)
2. A cigarette according to claim 1, characterized in that it is applied in the area of the front wall (30) of the collar (28), in particular in the area of the recess (27) of the collar front wall (25) of the collar (24). packet. 3. The printing area (45) of the inner wrapping material (28) extends into the upper area of the front wall (30) of the inner wrapping material and further comprises the end wall of the adjacent inner wrapping material (28). Longitudinal flap (36)
3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it extends to the area of (1).
The cigarette packet described. 4. A cigarette packet is produced in a packaging machine and surrounded by an inner wrapper (28) made of paper, tin foil or foil, characterized by the following (a) (b) (c): Tobacco packets, especially hinged lids or soft pouches, manufactured from (thin) cardboard, paper, foil or other foldable packaging blanks for tobacco groups forming the block (29) of Manufacturing method. (a) The printing area (45) is provided on the blank and / or inner wrapper (28) of the tobacco packet, at least one colored layer (4) suitable for laser printing, particularly based on material removal.
6,47), (b) after which the tobacco group is wrapped in inner wrapping to form a tobacco block (29), (c) the printing area (45). In the area,
Information, in particular health warnings, is provided by laser printing on blank or fully or partially completed tobacco packets in the packaging machine, 5. The printing area (45) comprises two colored layers (46, 47) of different or contrasting colors arranged one above the other.
The outer layer (46) has a laser
5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that it is deleted during printing. 6. The packaging material, in particular a blank web prepared for producing blanks or blanks prepared especially at the factory for hinged packets, is introduced into at least one (colored) before being guided to the packaging machine. 6.) A printing area according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a printing area consisting of layers (46, 47), wherein the printing of the printing area (45) is only applied by laser printing in the area of the packaging machine. Method. 7. A blank, which can be guided to a rotary folding unit (76) of a packaging machine or other folding assembly, characterized by the following (a) and (b): from paper, tin foil or foil. From blanks made of (thin) cardboard, paper, foil or other foldable wrapping material for a group of cigarettes forming a tobacco block (29) surrounded by an inner wrapping material (28) made A packaging machine for producing packets for cigarettes, especially packets with hinge lids or soft pouch packets. (a) the blank or the substrate web for producing the blank is provided with at least one colored layer (4
(B) for laser printing the blank or material web in the area of the travel path of the blank or material web in the packaging machine, in the area of the printing area (45), comprising a printing area (45) consisting of 6,47). Laser printing assembly
(69) is provided, 8. A laser printing assembly (69) for printing a (substantially) horizontally directed laser beam on the printing area (45) of the blank web (57) in the area of the vertical part of the web (44). And the laser printing assembly (69) is horizontal,
Alternatively, in the area of the sloped packet or blank passageway, the printing area (45) of the blank or fully or partially completed tobacco packet is arranged for printing with a downwardly directed laser beam. The packaging machine according to claim 7, characterized in that the packaging is performed.