MXPA00005492A - Packaging of smoking articles - Google Patents

Abstract

A rigid pack of smoking articles is made to have improved shelf life and to be resealable. A barrier material is sealed around the rigid pack. The rigid pack has a potential or actual access aperture extending from a top face into a major face. The barrier material has a line of severance or weakening defining a flap, which is in register with the potential or actual access aperture. Over the flap is a layer which overlaps it on each severable side with a portion having permanently-tacky adhesive. A non-adhered pull tab is preferably provided on the layer. To open the pack the user lifts the flap and if necessary the access aperture. After removal of a smoking article the gap in the barrier layer is reclosed and resealed by the repositioning of the adhesive layer, carrying with it the flap of barrier material. A machine for assembling the pack is also disclosed.

Description

PACKAGING OF ARTICLES FOR SMOKING FIELD OF THE I NVENTION This invention refers to the packing of articles for smoking, and to machines for that packaging. For convenience, smoking items (cigars, cigarettes, cigars, for example) will be referred to as cigars.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is conventional for cigar packs, whether soft or rigid, to be overwrapped with a transparent cellophane or similar material. Although this has some protective properties it does not seriously prolong shelf life, especially in adverse conditions such as those of very high or very low humidity. To access the package the user breaks to open and discards the transparent layer. EP-A-395249 however shows a transparent overwrap which is not entirely discarded. In US-A-5333729, Figures 1 1 and 12, a soft cuboid pack of cigarettes has a cover on the top face which upon breaking it breaks part of an overwrap layer. The cap can have permanently sticky adhesive so that it can be squashed again on the top face and reseal, to a certain extent, the hole it made in the barrier layer. There are still leak paths, and it is not clear how the opening gives access to the contents of the package.

We have previously proposed, in WO-A-9822367 to provide a resealable barrier enclosure for a package.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a pack of smoking articles containing a rigid cuboid package having a top face, a bottom face, two side faces and front and rear main faces, a load of smoking articles contained in said rigid package and a layer of barrier material that envelops said package to form a sealed enclosure around said package, wherein the barrier layer includes a weakening line defining a cover and an access opening, said enclosure includes a label applied on said lid, said label comprising a permanently sticky portion, said portion, when said label is in an opening closing position surrounds said access opening to allow resealing said opening when said label is brought to said position of closure of the same, and said rigid package includes either a potential access opening, being a lid defined by a weakening line in the package material, or an actual access opening, a missing portion of the material of said package being said potential or actual opening extending from the top face to one of said main faces of said rigid package and being generally in register with said lid of said barrier layer. The present invention further provides a machine for making a package as defined above, said machine including an operable supply for supplying a network of barrier material, a cutting station operable to form a line of weakness defining a cover and an opening for access in said network, an application station operable to apply a label, comprising a permanently sticky portion, on said lid such that when said label is in an opening closing position said sticky portion of said label surrounds said opening access, operable means for presenting a length of the network supporting the label as a wall for the upper face of a rigid package comprising a load of smoking articles, operable driving means for transferring said rigid transverse package to said wall and it is further operable to advance said rigid packet through the location of di The wall of barrier material, a knife cutter operable to cut said network to a length immediately after said network has been impacted by said package, said rigid package including either an actual access opening., which is a missing portion of the package material, or a potential access opening, which is a lid defined by a weakening line in the package material, said actual or potential access opening is generally in register with the lid of said package. barrier layer, and heaters operable to form seals in said network of barrier material around said package to form an enclosure. A relative machine is seen in our European Application 98306328.0 (EP-A-0 895 930) co-pending where however what is over-wrapped is a load of articles for smoking in an incomplete frame. The barrier material can be, for example, a metallized plastic or a plastic / metal laminate. The rigid package of the present invention can be similar, for example, to the top cover or cover and slide type packages. The package of the present invention can be inserted into an external one, said outer can be a rigid package of top cover. In this way an efficient, appropriate access opening is available, but it is hermetically resealable effectively.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cigar load; Figures 2-6 show respective cardboard blank model face views; Figures 7-10 are perspective view of boxes made of blank models and comprising a load of cigarettes; Figure 11 shows a rigid package overwrapped; Fig. 12 shows the package of Fig. 11 in an outer box of the upper lid; Figures 13 and 14 are perspective views of a cover and slide box comprising a load of cigarettes; Figure 15 is a side view of an enclosure-forming machine; and Figure 16 is a side view of a network of labeled barrier material.

DESCRIPTION OF PARTICULAR MODALITIES FIG. 1 shows a cigar load 100 assembled in a conventional manner and partially wrapped with a conventional sheet / paper laminate 102 over about half its length only. The sheet having good terminal fold characteristics will retain its shape and the coherence of the cigar load in subsequent stages in which it is fed onto the sealing bed of a conventional baler to erect boxes where it is wrapped in a conventional manner with a box formed from any of the blank models shown in Figures 2-6. The blank model in Figure 2 is essentially conventional for a rigid package, with front and rear main panels 201, 202 joined by chamele lines to a base panel 203 and a top lid panel 204. Between the rear panel 202 and the top lid panel 204 is a rear lid panel 205 and attached to the lid top panel 204 a lid front panel 206 with an extension tongue 207. The side walls of the box are to be formed by side panels 208 of the rear panel 201 which adhere or heat seal outside the respective side panels 210 of the rear panels 202 and side flaps 21 1 of the lid which adhere or heat sealing on the outside of the side panels 209 of the rear cover panel 205, in shaded transverse areas shown on the panels 209 and 210. The end covers 212 and 213 fall on the inner base of the upright box and the panels 203 and 204 top covers respectively, and can be adhered or heat sealed there. The extension tongue 207 is normally returned and gummed into the front cover panel 206. Thus, we obtain a rigid container. The blank models that give more rigidity in the made container are shown in Figures 3-6. All this allows access to the cigars through a central opening in the lid and front panel, through a resealable barrier layer. It will be seen in Figure 3 that the side walls 215 of the rear panel 202 are continuous over the entire length of that back panel, with end tabs 213 that are abbreviated in comparison to the tabs 213. This is because in the top panel 204 ' of cover the cuts 216 define side portions 217 and a lid portion 218. The cuts 216 continue in the front cover wall 206 ', which terminate at points 219 without cutting which are joined by a U-shaped cut 220 in the cover material 206 '. Figure 4 has a continuation 207 'of the front panel which will overlap the front panel 201. When these are made, essentially in the same manner as the conventional blank model of Figure 2 with 208 and 21 1 adhered or heat sealed on the cross-sectional area shaded on the side walls 215, the covers 213 'overlap and can adhere or sealing by heat to side portions 217 of the top cover panel. The continuity of the side walls 215 gives greater rigidity to the box having the appearance of a box with hinged lid, but which gives access to the cigars by opening the lid 218 in the top lid. This is done after pressing the cap defined by the cuts 220 and 216 to break the points at 219. The continuous side walls 215 are useful particularly if it is desired to use continuous side sealing platforms during a procedure - comparison of caps 209, 210 of the wrap-around side of Figure 2. Figure 5 is similar to Figure 4, but has a front cap 206"without side flaps so that the appearance of a hinged opening is not transferred Figure 6 shows a modification of Figure 5 in which the cover 218 is omitted, with a permanent opening 221 in place, Figures 7 and 8 show how a package is made from blank models of Figures 3 and 4 respectively, enclosing a load as can be seen in Figure 1. In Figure 7 the side panels 21 1 and 208, secured together to the continuous side cover 215, give the appearance of an upper lid package. However, access to the cigars is obtained by breaking the points 219 and opening the lid portion 218. The package in Figure 8 is similar, but shows the extension 207 'overlapping part of the front panel 201. Figures 9 and 10 show a package made from the load of the Figure 1 and respec The blank model of Figure 6 and the blank model of Figure 5 are shown. The box assembled from the blank model of any of Figures 2 to 6 is now passed through a pre-hardened barrier material and labeled as seen in Figure 16, in a machine seen in Figure 15, both described more fully below. The result is a resellable rigid package 225 of Figure 11, the barrier material 226 which has been conventionally folded and secured by heat sealing, so that its re-sealable opening 227 by permanently sticky overlapping limiting portions of a label 228 overlaps the opening 221 or is adhered or heat sealed to the lid 218 which then opens with it. Figure 12 shows how the overwrapped rigid package of Figure 1 1 may be, if desired, enclosed in a conventional "top cap" outer container 229 which may have an internal frame 230. Prior to package insertion Overwrapped to the outer case 229 or erection of that outer case around it, a lifting tab 231 of the reseable label, free of adhesion or sealing by heating, is lifted to present the same to the user when the cover 232 top cover is open, as shown in Figure 12. Figures 13 and 14 show how another form of conventional cover and slide case 233 can be modified by cutting and removing part of the front top cover 234 on the ramp and cutting a U-shaped portion. 235 outside the cover, and then over-wrapping as before to give the package 236 of Figure 14, analogously to the package 225. If the box is to be erected on conventional machinery, the load it should be as in Figure 1. As described in our WO-A-9822367, a hermetically resealable barrier enclosure can be provided by applying a label 228 (Figure 16) to a network 226 of barrier material such as a plastics laminate / foil or metallized film , with sticky adhesive permanently in a margin 237 of the label around a potential opening through the barrier, defined by the line of weakness 238. This line of weakening must correspond to the potential or actual opening 218, 221 in the rigid package which will wrap the network 226. A cutting step 239 of sheet is illustrated. The tongue 231 is non-adhesive and is to help the eventual user to lift the tag. The label guides the user when he resets the opening so that the barrier material fills that opening and only a cutting line remains as a potential leakage path. This is covered by the label and its sticky adhesive region permanently beyond the line that effectively and completely rests the enclosure. The cutting step is provided by a main blade in the machine of Figure 15. A reel of sheet 401 (preferably laminated sheet) carried on a spool is mounted on a rod. The sheet is conducted on two rolls 402 and 403, one or both of which is held at the end of an arm loaded with a pivoted spring to be of the nature of a jump roller. One of the arms is accommodated with a braking arrangement which, in the event that the blade becomes too loose as it is pulled from the draw rolls, causes the brake to act against the rod to restore the desired level of tension . Other voltage control methods can be used including equalizing the electrical speed of a motor used to drive the reel compared to the desired speed of the roll determined by the pull rolls. The sheet is led to the draw rolls 405 via a series of crazy rolls 404 which guide it free of obstructions and through a table 406 which forms a platform for a manual or automatic splice system (not shown), which is it requires to join the start of a new reel of sheet with the end of a previous reel. In case the used sheet had a pattern printed on it the sheet will have to be registered correctly with the pattern on the cutting roll 407 which forms the weakening line 238 and the main cutting blade 408. To accomplish this, an encoder is used to determine the position of the cutting roller 407. The signal from this is compared to a record mark on the sheet which is detected before the draw rolls. Any deviation from the desired comparison results in the speed of the draw rolls increasing or decreasing in a programmable rate to restore the desired comparison. To ensure that the sheet is cut in the correct position its length between the cutting roller 407 and the main blade 408 can be adjusted by moving the position of the idler rollers 409 between them. Shortly after the cutting roller the label 228 is applied to the sheet 226 by a conventional applicator 410. The tag overlaps all sides of line 238 defined by the rotary cutter. Both, the tongue defined by the weakening or cutting line and the pull tab 231 of the tag are better arranged to pass in the direction of drag than in the driving direction. The sheet with labels 228 therein is pulled through an additional pair of drive rollers 41 1 and guided to the rotating main knife cutter where it is cut to length immediately after being imbricated by a pack driven in the direction of arrow A The package, which continues to move forward by a pusher, has the ends of the phalluses attached drawings of the sheet folded and its sides folded into wrapping by an arrangement of pleats and grooves. 414. From this point on the overwrapped packages with foil are pushed against each other through a series of upper and end heaters which seal the foil to itself and laminate to "grooved" tongue-shaped openings in the package to allow it to be lifted when the tag is lifted. Typically, the side 412 and upper heaters 413 may be of the reciprocating type as shown or may be belt or tractor heaters. To enable sealing of the skirt end, the wrapped packages are preferably raised one at a time by a reciprocating lifter mechanism 415 to pass in front of a reciprocating heater 416. Then they can be taken in turn from the top of the four heaps high for the next process that could be, for example, over-wrapping film or over-wrapping cardboard. The latter, if required, could take the form of a box with a hinged lid. If so, the internal frame in the hinged lid box would be of a style to accommodate the opening of the label in such a way that the tab of the label overlaps the inner frame to make it lift to be easier to hold. Prior to the application of the film or before the final overwrap step, it may be desirable to fold the pull tab 231 of the label back to allow it to be opened more easily. If this is required the packages are pushed forward by a push-pull (towards the paper) (not shown) and under a vacuum nozzle 417 which lifts the label tab and leads it down a groove (not shown) on the which is pushed from one side to another by subsequent packages. The furrow flips the tongue back towards itself. The tongue is creased / held in position as it passes under a heater which presses it down. The process and equipment described above can be easily modified to provide the manufacture of a cover and slide resealable package n'g? Do.

Claims (7)

1. REVIVAL DICATIONS 1. A package of smoking articles comprising a rigid cuboid package having a top face, a bottom face, two side faces and front and rear main faces, a load of smoking articles contained in said rigid package and a layer of barrier material on-wrapping said package to form a sealed enclosure around said package, wherein the barrier layer includes a weakening line defining a cover and an access opening, said enclosure includes a label applied on said cover , said label comprising a permanently tacky portion, said portion, when said label is in an opening closing position, surrounds said access opening to allow resealing said opening when said label is brought to said closing position thereof. , and said rigid package includes either a potential access opening, which is a cover defined by a line of bilitamiento in the material of the package, or a real access opening, which is a missing portion of the material of said package, said potential or actual opening extending from the upper face to one of said main faces of said rigid package and which is generally in register with said cover of said barrier layer.
2. 2. A package according to claim 1, wherein the rigid package is a cover package and slide.
3. 3. A package according to any one of the preceding claims, which is enclosed, with the overwrap, in an external one.
4. 4. A package according to claim 3, wherein the external one is a rigid folding lid package.
5. 5. A machine for making a package according to any one of the preceding claims, said machine includes an operable supply for supplying a network of barrier material, a cutting station operable to form a weakening line defining a lid and a access opening in said network, an application station operable to apply a label, comprising a permanently sticky portion, on said lid such that when said label is in an open closing position said sticky portion of said label surrounds said access opening, operable means for presenting a length of the network supporting the label as a wall for the upper face of a rigid package comprising a load of smoking articles, operable driving means for transferring said rigid transverse package to said wall and that it is further operable to progress said rigid package through the location n of said barrier material wall, a knife cutter operable to cut said network to length immediately after said network has been impacted by said packet, said rigid package including either an actual access opening, which is a portion missing the package material, or a potential access opening, which is a cover defined by a weakening line in the package material, said actual or potential access opening is generally in register with the cover of said barrier layer, and heaters operable to form seals in said network of barrier material, and heaters operable to form seals in said network of barrier material around said package to form an enclosure. A machine according to claim 5, which includes means for pushing an unadhered portion of the layer to form a pull tab for the cap and lid. 7. A machine according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the step between successive layers and length cuts is adjustable.