RU2680308C2 - Packaging machine and packaging method for manufacturing packs of smoking articles fitted with at least one gasket located inside group of smoking articles - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: packaging industry.SUBSTANCE: machine contains a group-forming unit that has a grouping socket to accommodate a group of smoking articles and a gasket, a group-forming conveyor, feeding the socket to the first station for inserting a gasket into it and to the second station for inserting a group of smoking articles into the socket, and a packaging unit receiving the group of smoking articles together with the gasket from the group-forming unit and wrapping a sheet of packaging material around the group of smoking articles and the gasket to form an inner package. Also, the invention is a method for manufacturing a pack of smoking articles.EFFECT: group of inventions provides simplification and quality improvement.12 cl, 22 dwg

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to a packaging machine and packaging method for manufacturing a pack of smoking articles provided with at least one gasket located within a group of cigarettes.

In the following description, for brevity, reference is made to a rigid pack of hinged-lid cigarettes without loss of wide applicability.

State of the art

Typically, a rigid hinged-lid cigarette pack comprises an inner pack containing a group of cigarettes, and a rigid outer shell accommodating the inner pack. the inner packaging is initially completely closed and has a top that can be removed by tearing off (labeled “pull”), which is removed the first time a cigarette pack is opened to remove cigarettes placed in the inner packaging.

In some cases, the cigarette group has a reduced size, or the cigarette group is significantly smaller than the volume of the outer casing; in such situations, at least one filling element (i.e., filler) having such a size that it occupies a part of the volume of the outer casing free from the group of cigarettes is used. The function of the filling element is to prevent the entry of gas into the cigarette pack and, thus, to prevent the “shaking” of the group of cigarettes in the cigarette pack; in fact, if a group of cigarettes could “shake” freely in a cigarette pack, moving the cigarette group during handling of the cigarette pack (both at the production stage and during distribution and sale) exposes the cigarettes to mechanical pressure, which can easily cause emptying of the tips ( that is, the loss of tobacco particles from the free ends of cigarettes).

In a possible embodiment, such as described in US Pat. No. 4,771,882 A1, the filling element is arranged outside the inner package, near the innermost package. In an alternative embodiment, as described, for example, in WO 2014/170829 A1, the filling element is located inside the inner packaging in direct contact with cigarettes forming a group of cigarettes. In the latter case, that is, when the filling element is located in the inner packaging, the formation of a group of cigarettes provided with a filling element is quite difficult, especially because of the need to keep both the cigarettes and the filling element in the correct position until the corresponding sheet of wrapping material is wrapped around a group of cigarettes. In addition, when the filling element is located in the inner packaging, the extraction of cigarettes can be complicated due to the filling element between the cigarettes, preventing the capture of the cigarettes themselves. Finally, when the filling element is located in the inner packaging, the open cigarette pack usually looks unpleasant (due to the presence of the filling element between the cigarettes) and therefore smokers do not really like it.

Patent application EP 1052192 A1 discloses a packaging machine for manufacturing a cigarette packet comprising a rigid container and a soft inner packaging located in a rigid container and containing a group of cigarettes; however, in the inner package near the cigarette group is an elastically deformable press element pushing the cigarette group towards the side wall of the inner package. the packaging machine contains a conveyor belt for the manufacture of groups, supporting several grouping nests, each of which is made to contain a group of cigarettes and is connected to an auxiliary socket located near the grouping nests, and is also made to hold the press element and is formed by an L-shaped plate. In particular, each press member is inserted into a corresponding auxiliary socket prior to inserting a group of cigarettes into a corresponding grouping socket; subsequently, the press member and the group of cigarettes are removed together for feeding into the nest of the packaging wheel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a packaging machine and a packaging method for manufacturing a pack of smoking articles provided with at least one gasket located in a group of smoking products, the packaging method and the packaging machine making it possible to produce a group of smoking products in an efficient manner and, at the same time, time are simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

According to the present invention, there is provided a packaging machine and a packaging method for manufacturing a pack of packaging products provided with at least one gasket in a group of smoking articles, as indicated in the attached formula.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The present invention is further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which non-limiting embodiments are shown, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a rigid pack of cigarettes in the closed configuration obtained by the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the cigarette pack of FIG. 1 in an open configuration;

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the cigarette pack of FIG. 1 in a closed configuration;

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the inner packaging of the cigarette packet of FIG. one;

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the inner packaging of FIG. 4 after removing the tear-off section;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a group of cigarettes and two filling elements located in the inner packaging of FIG. four;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the cigarette group of FIG. 6 and alternatives to the filling elements of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the inner packaging of FIG. four;

FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of another embodiment of the inner packaging of the cigarette packet of FIG. one;

FIG. 10 is a front perspective view of the inner packaging of FIG. 9 after removing the tear-off section;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a group of cigarettes and a filling member contained in the inner packaging of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the cigarette group of FIG. 11 and alternative filler elements of FIG. eleven;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the inner packaging of FIG. 9;

FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view of a packaging machine for manufacturing a cigarette pack of FIG. one;

FIG. 15 is a schematic perspective view of an assembly for manufacturing a group of the packaging machine of FIG. fourteen;

FIG. 16 and 17 are two front views of a receptacle for executing a group of an assembly for manufacturing a group of FIG. 15 milks after serving a group of cigarettes;

FIG. 18 and 19 are front views of an alternative embodiment of a receptacle for executing the group of FIG. 16 and 17 before and after serving a group of cigarettes; and

FIG. 20, 21, and 22 are respective cross-sectional views of three additional alternatives to the inner packaging of the cigarette package of FIG. one.

Preferred Embodiments

In FIG. 1, 2, and 3, 1 denotes a generally rigid cigarette pack. the cigarette pack 1 contains a cup-shaped outer container 2 made of cardboard or hard cardboard, a hinged lid and accommodates the inner packaging 3 (partially visible in Fig. 2).

As shown in FIG. 4, 5 and 6, the inner packaging 3 contains a parallelepiped-shaped cigarette group 4 and a pair of gaskets 5 (that is, the gaskets 5 are located in the inner packaging 3 near the cigarette group 4). According to the preferred, but non-limiting embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, each gasket 5 is filled (i.e., not hollow) from a low density plastic material (and thus has a small total weight), for example, from expanded polystyrene or sponge material; alternatively, each gasket 5 can also be made in the form of a box-shaped body (i.e., hollow inside) by bending and stabilizing a flat cardboard blank with glue.

As shown in FIG. 4 and 5, the inner package 3 has a parallelepiped shape and has an upper wall 6 and a lower wall 7, opposite and parallel to each other, a front wall 8 and a rear wall 9, opposite and parallel to each other, and two side walls 10, opposite and parallel to each other to a friend. In addition, the inner pack 3 has a tear-off portion 11 separated from the remaining part of the inner pack 3 by a pre-weakened line 12 and made to be removed by tearing for the first time when opening the cigarette pack 1 to form an extraction opening allowing access to the group 4 of cigarettes contained in inner packaging 3.

In the preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, the tear-off portion 11 of the inner packaging 3 touches a limited portion of the upper wall 6 (that is, only a portion of the upper wall 6) and a limited portion of the front wall 8 (that is, only a portion of the front wall 8). In particular, as shown in FIG. 6, the cigarette group 4 has an upper wall 13 located in contact with the inner surface of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3 and completely uncovered (i.e., completely open) when the tear-off portion 11 of the inner packaging 3 is removed (as shown in FIG. 5); in addition, each gasket 5 has an upper wall 14 located in contact with the inner surface of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3 and is not open (that is, completely hidden) when removing the tear-off portion 11 of the inner packaging 3 (as shown in Fig. 5). In other words, the tear-off portion 11 of the inner packaging 3 touches a limited part of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3, respectively, only the upper wall 13 of the cigarette group 4 is located, and not respectively the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, when removing the tear-off portion 11 of the inner packaging 3, the corresponding extraction opening continues only on the upper wall 13 of the cigarette group 4 (opening all and only the upper wall 13 of the cigarette group 4) and does not act in any way on the upper walls 14 of the pads 5.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5 is glued to the inner surface of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3. In other words, glue is sandwiched between the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5 and the inner surface of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3, thereby causing permanent and strong adhesion . Thus, the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3 is firmly adhered to the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5 by “covering” the uppermost wall 14 (that is, covering the upper wall 14 completely and permanently).

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, each pad 5 has the same height (i.e., the same longitudinal extent) of the cigarette group 4; therefore, the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5 is located in contact with the inner surface of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3. In this embodiment, the upper part (that is, located near the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3) of each gasket 5 tapers from the side of the upper wall 14 ( that is, up) to obtain a minimum transverse dimension of its upper wall 14; in particular, the upper part of each gasket 5 has two inclined surfaces 15 opposite each other, gradually reducing the cross section of the gasket 5. Thus, the upper part of each gasket 5 is separated from the cigarette group 4, leaving free space between it and the cigarette group 4, thus simplifying the capture of cigarettes (especially when the group of 4 cigarettes is completed or nearly completed, that is, when the pack of 1 cigarettes is full or almost full).

In the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 7, each gasket has a height (i.e., a longitudinal dimension) below a group of 4 cigarettes; therefore, the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5 is located at a certain distance from the inner surface of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3 (obviously, in this embodiment, the upper wall 14 of each gasket 5 cannot be glued to the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3). In this embodiment, the upper part (i.e., located near the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3) of each gasket 5 does not taper off from the side of the upper wall 14 (i.e., up), since the lower height of the gaskets 5 is already sufficient for easy grip of cigarettes.

In the embodiments shown in FIG. 6, 7 and 8, each gasket 5 has a rectangular cross-sectional shape and is provided with two grooves 16 extending longitudinally (i.e., vertically parallel to the cigarettes of group 4 cigarettes) and arranged symmetrically, opposite to each other; however, the grooves 16 may have a rectangular shape in cross section (as shown in Fig.6, 7 and 8) or any other shape. The function of the grooves 16 is both to facilitate the pads 5, and to simplify the retention of the pads 5 during the execution of group 4 of cigarettes (as best described below). To further facilitate the pads 5, the pads 5 may have additional troughs 16 (also located on two other lateral surfaces of the pads 5 themselves) and / or also through holes located inside and extending longitudinally (i.e., vertically parallel to the cigarettes of group 4 cigarettes).

It should be noted that the gaskets 5 can simplify the manufacture of rigid cigarette packs 1 with rounded corners and rounded edges (commonly known as packs with rounded corners and a beveled edge, respectively) in the case when at least one pair of adjacent longitudinal edges of the gasket 5 has a rounded or a beveled portion, wherein the gasket 5 is located in the inner packaging 3 with a pair of edges located on the longitudinal edges of the outer container 2. As a result, the longitudinal edges of the packs 1 of cigarettes have a more regular shape, under erzhivaemuyu spacers 5 with much greater mechanical rigidity than the support that may be offered a cigarette.

In the embodiments shown in FIG. 4-8, the inner pack 3 contains a single group of 4 cigarettes located in the center, and two double pads 5 located on the side on the opposite side of the group 4 of cigarettes to accommodate between them a group of 4 cigarettes. Therefore, the inner pack 3 has a single tear-off portion 11 located in the center (i.e., respectively, of a single group of 4 cigarettes).

In the alternative embodiments shown in FIG. 9-13, the inner package 3 contains a single gasket 5 located in the center and two double groups of 4 cigarettes located on the side on opposite sides of the gasket 5 to accommodate the gasket 5 itself. Preferably, in the embodiments shown in FIG. 9-13, the gasket 5 has a circular or elliptical cross-sectional shape. In a possible embodiment, indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 13, the side surface of the gasket 5 may have longitudinal cavities 17, each of which has an arcuate cross section of a circle that mirrors the shape of the side wall of the cigarette and located respectively a cigarette of group 4 cigarettes; the function of the longitudinal cavity 17 is to increase the space available for cigarettes of groups 4 of cigarettes, to reduce the compression of group 4 of cigarettes and, thus, simplifying how to connect groups of 4 cigarettes with gasket 5 during the manufacture of cigarette pack 1, and removing cigarettes from cigarette groups 4 during use of cigarette pack 1. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 9-13, the inner packaging 3 has two tear-off sections 11, each of which is located on the side on the corresponding group 4 of cigarettes and forms a corresponding opening for removal. two tear-off sections 11 can be completely separated and independent, and, thus, can be separately and independently removed from each other; alternatively, two tear sections 11 may be connected to each other for simultaneous removal. With the exception of these differences, the alternative embodiments shown in FIG. 9-13 are completely similar to the embodiments shown in FIG. 4-8.

According to additional options not shown, the shape, number and / or design of the groups of 4 cigarettes and pads 5 may be different. By way of example, in FIG. 20, 21 and 22 show three possible configurations providing a single cigarette group 4 and a single gasket 5: in the embodiment shown in FIG. 20, the cigarette group 4 is located in a central position and surrounded on three sides by a U-shaped gasket 5, while in the embodiment of FIG. 21, the cigarette group 4 is located in a central position and is supported on one “long” side only by the gasket 5, and in the embodiment of FIG. 22, group 4 of cigarettes is located in a lateral position and is supported on one “short” side by only one gasket 5.

The cigarette pack 1 disclosed above has several advantages.

In the first place, the cigarette pack 1 disclosed above always allows easy removal of cigarettes through the opening for removing the inner package 3.

Additionally, the cigarette pack 1 disclosed above also has an exceptionally favorable aspect, which is an open configuration, because the filling elements 5 (which look “rude” and not aesthetically pleasing) are mostly hidden; in particular, the upper walls 14 of the filler elements 5 are completely hidden.

Also, the cigarette pack 1 disclosed above can be easily manufactured in a substantially standard packaging machine (which requires only a few minor modifications, as best described below), and thus does not require the use of an expensive special packaging machine (i.e., specifically designed for this type of cigarette pack 1) for its production.

In FIG. 14 schematically shows a packaging machine 18 manufacturing the above and shown in FIG. 1-8 cigarette pack 1 (with minor modifications, the packaging machine 18 may also produce a cigarette pack 1 of FIGS. 9-13).

As shown in FIG. 14, the packaging machine 18 comprises a grouping unit 19 in which cigarette groups 4 are formed together with corresponding gaskets 5; in which a sheet of packaging material 21 is folded around each cigarette group 4 and corresponding gaskets 5 to form an inner package 3; in which the cuff 23 and the workpiece 24 are bent around each inner packaging 3 to form an outer container 2, and then complete the manufacture of the cigarette pack 1.

As shown in FIG. 15, the group forming unit 19 comprises a group forming belt 25 supporting a plurality of grouping slots 26, each of which is suitable for receiving and supplying a respective cigarette group 4 and two corresponding gaskets. the grouping conveyor 25 moves counter-clockwise in stages to feed each grouping slot 26 in the forward direction of grouping R.

A feed station S1 is formed along the group forming path P, in which two gaskets 5 are simultaneously inserted into each grouping receptacle 26 along the feed direction D, perpendicular to the grouping direction P; also along the grouping path P, downstream from the supply station S1, there is a supply station S2 in which a group of 4 cigarettes are inserted into each grouping slot 26 (between two pads 5 before being inserted into the supply station S1) along the supply direction D perpendicular to the grouping direction R. It is important to note that in each grouping socket 26, two gaskets limit the internal volume of the grouping socket 26 itself, so that the cigarette group 4 finds exactly as much space as is required to accommodate it); thus, each cigarette group 4 can be easily inserted into the corresponding grouping slot 26 and, at the same time, each cigarette group 4 remains stable and fairly limited inside the corresponding grouping slot 26 (that is, the cigarette group 4 does not interfere with formation when inserted into the corresponding grouping socket 26, as is correctly limited laterally by two gaskets 5 previously inserted into the feed station S1).

A transfer station S3 is made along the group-forming path P, in which each grouping socket 26 of the corresponding cigarette group 4, together with the respective gaskets 5, is axially removed for transmission to the outlet of the packaging unit 20.

the feeding station S1 contains two double hoppers 27, each of which contains a vertical stack of gaskets 5 and has a lower outlet through which one gasket 5 is removed from the hopper 27 and inserted into the corresponding grouping socket 26, which is arrested facing the outlet. Each hopper 27 has a corresponding pusher 28, which moves linearly reciprocating in the supply direction D for cyclic movement through the outlet of the hopper 27 and axially pushes the gasket 5 to the corresponding grouping socket 26, which is arrested facing the outlet.

It should be noted that gaskets 5 of this type, narrowed to the upper part (i.e., according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 6 and disclosed above) are stacked in a hopper 27 with a narrowing directed to the side of the outlet opening facing the grouping socket 26 in the moment of extraction, so that the insertion of the gasket 5 in the grouping socket 26 itself is simplified.

the supply station S2 comprises a hopper 29 containing a plurality of cigarettes and having a lower outlet through which a group of 4 cigarettes is removed at a time from the hopper 29 and inserted into the corresponding grouping slot 26, which is arrested facing the outlet. The corresponding pusher 30, combined with the hopper 29, moving linearly reciprocating in the direction of supply D to move cyclically through the outlet of the hopper and to axially push the group 4 of cigarettes into the corresponding grouping slot 26, arrested facing the outlet.

The transfer station S3 comprises a pusher 31 that moves linearly reciprocatingly to cycle through the corresponding grouping group of the gripped group 26 for axially pushing the corresponding group 4 of cigarettes together with the corresponding gaskets 5 from the grouping section 26 itself.

As shown in FIG. 16 and 17, each grouping socket 26 has guides 32 protruding inwardly of the socket 26 from the respective walls 33 of the grouping socket 26, which are axially (longitudinally, that is, parallel to the feed direction D), and engage the spacers 5 to prevent lateral displacement (relative to the direction D) of the gaskets 5 inside the grouping sockets 26. In other words, each gasket 5 is supported by respective guides 32 in a clear and predetermined position within the grouping sockets 26, thereby preventing the actual movement of the strip 5. the guides 32 are essentially protrusions (ribs, stops, protrusions) protruding freely bearing from the walls 33 of the grouping sockets 26 to protrude inside the grouping socket 26 itself.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 16 and 17, each guide 32 engages a corresponding groove 16 of the gasket 5 (thus, each guide 32 repeats the shape of the corresponding groove 16 of the gasket 5); therefore, each guide 32 "enters" the gasket 5 by entering the corresponding groove 16. Alternatively, the gaskets 5 do not have grooves 16, and each guide 32 is supported by a part of the outer perimeter of the corresponding gasket 5 (as in the case of the embodiment shown in Fig. 18 and 19).

An embodiment of the grouping assembly 19 shown in FIG. 15, 16 and 17, forms the cigarette pack 1 shown in FIG. 1-8; wherein the embodiment of the group forming unit 19 shown in FIG. 18 and 19, forms the cigarette pack 1 of FIG. 9-13. It is important to note that for the manufacture of the cigarette pack 1 of FIG. 1-8, or for the manufacture of the cigarette pack 1 of FIG. 9-13, the remainder of the packaging machine 1 (i.e., two packaging units 20 or 22) is not subject to any modifications (except for format adaptation).

In particular, in an embodiment of the group-forming assembly 19 shown in FIG. 18 and 19, the shape and design of the hoppers 27 and 29 is changed, since two hoppers 29 at the supply station S2, of course, it is necessary to insert two groups of 4 cigarettes at the same time into one grouping group of the captured group 26, and since only one hopper 27 at the supply station S1 is enough for inserting a single spacer 5 into each grouping group of the captured group of the slot 26. In addition, in the embodiment of the grouping unit 19 shown in FIG. 18 and 19, the position and structure of the guides 32 of each grouping socket 26 are changed, in particular, the number (one instead of two), the cross-section (round instead of rectangular) and the position (central instead of side) of the spacers 5 of each grouping socket 26 are different. Also in this embodiment, the function of the guides 32 is always the same, namely, holding the gasket 5 in an exact and predetermined position in the grouping socket 26 until two groups of 4 cigarettes are inserted into the grouping socket 26 itself.

In the above embodiments, the hopper 29 forms each group 4 of cigarettes in one go (that is, all layers of each group 4 of cigarettes are removed simultaneously from the hopper 29); in alternative and equivalent embodiments, the hopper 29 forms each group of 4 cigarettes in layers (that is, each layer of the group 4 of cigarettes is removed individually from the corresponding outlet of the hopper 29).

According to a possible embodiment, each hopper 27 receives sequentially gaskets 5 from its feed line, independent and separated from the feed line of another hopper 27 and containing a horizontal vibrating plate (bowl), on which the incorrect design of gaskets 5 located in a bale is cyclically located; while the vibrating plate directs (orientates) the gasket 5 to the vertical directions, with the completion in the upper section of the hopper 27.

In a possible embodiment, each hopper 27 comprises more than one outlet (typically two or more outlets) used cyclically alternating; in other words, if two outlets of the same hopper 27 are provided, the gaskets 5 are alternately removed from the two outlets themselves. Thus, the pads 5 are given more time to lower under the action of gravity to the corresponding outlet (in this regard, remember that the pads 5 have a low density and, therefore, low mass and, therefore, do not reach high speed when descending under the influence of gravity )

As shown in FIG. 14, the packaging unit 20 comprises a gluing device 34, applying adhesive to the inner surface of each sheet of packaging material 21 on the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3 to determine subsequent gluing of the upper wall 6 of the inner packaging 3 to the upper wall 14 of each strip 5.

the grouping assembly 19 described above has several advantages.

Firstly, the group-forming unit 19 described above allows the contents of each inner package 3 to be manufactured in a simple and accurate way or allows the cigarette group / groups 4 to be connected together with the gasket / gaskets 5. This gives increased accuracy due to the guides 32 in each grouping slot 26; in particular, the guides 32 hold the pads 5 in an exact and predetermined position in the grouping socket 26 until the group 4 of cigarettes is inserted into the grouping socket 26 itself. Thus, it is possible to feed the gaskets 5 and group 4 of the cigarette into two separate and well-separated feeding stations S1 and S2 for ease of implementation of the two feed stations S1 and S2 themselves (in particular with regard to transporting pads 5 and groups of 4 cigarettes to hoppers 27 and 29).

In addition, the above-described group-forming unit 19 is produced in a simple and inexpensive manner, in comparison with a similar known group-forming unit, it requires easily performed modifications.

Finally, the group-forming unit 19 is technologically very flexible, as in the case of a quick and inexpensive replacement of the grouping sockets 26, it is easy to adapt for processing the pads 5, and, thus, to receive groups 4 of cigarettes with different shape / position / quantity.

Claims (30)

1. A packaging machine (18) for the manufacture of a pack (1) of smoking articles comprising an inner packaging (3) containing at least one group (4) of smoking articles and at least one gasket (5); wherein the packaging machine (18) contains: group-forming unit (19) containing a grouping nest (26) for receiving a group (4) of smoking articles and gaskets (5) in direct contact with a group (4) of smoking products, group-forming conveyor (25) supplying the grouping nest ( 26) along the grouping path (P), the first feeding station (S1) located along the grouping path (P), while the first feeding station (S1) is located along the grouping path (P) to insert the gasket (5 ) to the grouping socket (26) in the feed direction (D), and the second feed station (S2), located along the group-forming path (P) for inserting the group (4) of smoking products into the grouping socket (26) in direct contact with the gasket (5) and in the direction (D) of the supply; and a packaging unit (20) receiving a group (4) of smoking articles together with a gasket (5) from a grouping slot (19) and a wrapping sheet (21) of packaging material around a group (4) of smoking articles and a gasket (5) to form an inner package ( 3); characterized in that the grouping socket (26) contains at least one guide (32), which protrudes inward from the wall (33) of the grouping socket (26), so as to be located in the space for receiving smoking products, oriented parallel to the direction (D) of the supply and engages the gasket (5) to prevent lateral movement of the gasket (5) in the grouping socket (26). 2. A packaging machine (18) according to claim 1, in which the guide (32) holds the gasket (5) in an exact predetermined position in the grouping slot (26) to prevent lateral movement of the gasket (5). 3. The packaging machine (18) according to claim 1, in which the guide (32) is made to engage the cavity (16) in the gasket (5). 4. The packaging machine (18) according to claim 1, in which the guide (32) mirrors the outer shape of the gasket (5). 5. The packaging machine (18) according to one of paragraphs. 1-4, in which the first feed station (S1) is located downstream of the second feed station (S2) along a grouping path (P). 6. The packaging machine (18) according to claim 5, in which: the first station (S1) immediately inserts two gaskets (5) into the grouping socket (26), so that the two gaskets (5) are located on opposite sides of the grouping socket (26); and the second supply station (S2) inserts a group (4) of smoking articles into a grouping socket (26) between two previously inserted gaskets (5). 7. The packaging machine (18) according to claim 5, in which: the first feeding station (S1) inserts one gasket (5) into the grouping socket (26), so that the gasket (5) is located centrally inside the grouping socket (26); and the second supply station (S2) immediately inserts two groups (4) of smoking articles into a grouping socket (26) on opposite sides of the gasket (5). 8. The packaging machine (18) according to one of paragraphs. 1-4, in which the first station (S1) contains: the first hopper (27) containing a vertical stack of gaskets (5) and having a lower outlet through which the gasket (5) is pushed from the first hopper (27) into a grouping socket (26), which is arrested facing the outlet; and the first pusher (28), which moves linearly reciprocating in the direction (D) of the feed for cyclic movement through the outlet of the first hopper (27) and pushing the gasket (5) axially into the grouping socket (26), which is arrested facing the outlet. 9. The packaging machine (18) according to one of paragraphs. 1-4, in which the second feeding station (S2) comprises: a second hopper (29) containing a plurality of smoking articles and having a lower outlet through which a group (4) of smoking articles is removed from the second hopper (29) into a grouping socket (26), which is arrested facing the outlet; and the second pusher (30), which moves linearly reciprocating in the direction (D) of the supply for cyclic movement through the outlet of the second hopper (29) and pushing the group (4) of smoking products axially into the grouping socket (26), which are arrested facing the outlet . 10. The packaging machine (18) according to one of paragraphs. 1-4, in which the grouping socket (26) has the shape of a parallelepiped, contains four walls (33), oriented parallel to the direction (D) of the supply and limiting a single chamber, designed to accommodate both the group (4) of smoking products and gaskets (5 ) in direct contact with the group (4) of smoking articles. 11. The packaging machine (18) according to one of paragraphs. 1-4, in which the gasket (5) touches the smoking articles of the group (4) of smoking articles inside the grouping receptacle (26). 12. A packaging method for manufacturing a pack (1) of smoking articles containing an inner package (3) containing at least one group (4) of smoking articles and at least one gasket (5), comprising the steps of: feeding the grouping nests (26) to accommodate the group (4) of smoking articles and gaskets (5) in direct contact with the group (4) of smoking articles by means of a grouping conveyor (25) and along a grouping path (P); inserting the gasket (5) into the grouping socket (26) in the feed direction (D); to the first feeding station (S1) located along the group forming path (P), inserting a group (4) of smoking articles into a grouping socket (26) in direct contact with the gasket (5) and in the supply direction (D), into a second supply station (S2) located along the grouping path (P); transferring the group (4) of smoking articles together with the gasket (5) from the grouping nests (26) to the packaging unit (20); and wrapping the sheet (21) of the packaging material around a group (4) of smoking articles and gaskets (5) on the packaging unit (20) to form an inner package (3); characterized in that the grouping socket (26) contains at least one guide (32), which protrudes inward from the wall (33) of the grouping socket (26), so as to be located in the space for receiving smoking articles, oriented parallel to the direction (D ) feed and engages the gasket (5) to prevent lateral movement of the gasket (5) in the grouping socket (26).

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