CIGARETTE PACK WITH INTEGRAL INNERFRAME

Abstract

The invention may include a cigarette package for containing a plurality of cigarettes, the cigarette package comprising a main body portion and a lid portion. The body portion may include a front panel, a first side panel adjacent the front panel of the main body portion, a second side panel adjacent to the front panel of the main body portion and spaced from the first side panel of the main body portion, a back panel adjacent to the first and second side panels of the main body portion and spaced from the front panel of the main body portion, and a bottom panel adjacent the front panel of the main body portion, the side panels of the main body portion and the back panel of the main body portion. The main body portion may have a first portion and a second portion, with the second portion being compressed to a thickness that is less than the first portion. The lid portion may include a front panel, a first side panel adjacent the front panel of the lid portion, a second side panel adjacent to the front panel of the lid portion and spaced from the first side panel of the lid portion, a back panel adjacent to the first and second side panels of the lid portion and spaced from the front panel of the lid portion, the back panel of lid portion being integral with the back panel of the main body portion; and a top panel adjacent the front panel of the lid portion, first and second side panels of the lid portion and back panel of the lid portion. The compressed portion may be provided with “I”-shaped of V-shaped cuts to alleviate damage to the pack material.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/842,774, filed Sep. 7, 2006, for all useful purposes, and the specification and drawings thereof are included herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to cigarette packs and more particularly to a cigarette pack with an integral innerframe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hinged lid boxes are known in the art of cigarette packaging. Hinged lid boxes have two components: a pack blank and an innerframe. The pack blank provides a rigid support that protects the cigarettes from being crushed or broken. A top portion of the pack blank is designed to rotate backwards for access to the cigarettes. The innerframe is provided in the top portion of the pack to engage with the top portion. The innerframe secures the lid so that it does not open inadvertently.

Currently, the pack blank and innerframe are constructed separately and then glued or otherwise engaged to form a finished product. One disadvantage of forming the two components separately is that the increased number of processing steps and materials increases costs. Another disadvantage is that the separate production and attachment steps of the two components introduces more opportunity for imperfections in the finished product, including imperfections resulting from inexact machine cuts, imperfect component positioning, and insufficient amounts of glue between the components. These imperfections can decrease the quality and consistency of the hinged lid box closure.

It is desired within the art to reduce pack imperfections and improve the consistency of a hinged lid closure.

It is also desireable to reduce inventory of expensive machine parts, innerframe material, and glue associated with multiple component processing and gluing.

It is still further desirable to save costs by reducing the amount of paperboard or cardboard, and glue used, as well as to substantially reduce machine down time by eliminating the separate innerframe set-up and associated jams.

The art also seeks an efficient way to insert a coupon inside the cigarette hinged lid box on cigarette packers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an improved cigarette pack with an integral innerframe. By incorporating the innerframe with the pack blank, the amount of paper board used is reduced by approximately 50%. Additionally, no glue is required between the innerframe and pack blank because these components are constructed from the same piece of material.

The invention will reduce machine down time for creating a finished product because the machine downtime caused by the production of a separate innerframe component is eliminated.

The invention may include a cigarette package for containing a plurality of cigarettes, the cigarette package comprising a main body portion and a lid portion. The body portion may include a front panel, a first side panel adjacent the front panel of the main body portion, a second side panel adjacent to the front panel of the main body portion and spaced from the first side panel of the main body portion, a back panel adjacent to the first and second side panels of the main body portion and spaced from the front panel of the main body portion, and a bottom panel adjacent the front panel of the main body portion, the side panels of the main body portion and the back panel of the main body portion. The main body portion may have a first portion and a second portion, with the second portion being compressed to a thickness that is less than the first portion. The lid portion may include a front panel, a first side panel adjacent the front panel of the lid portion, a second side panel adjacent to the front panel of the lid portion and spaced from the first side panel of the lid portion, a back panel adjacent to the first and second side panels of the lid portion and spaced from the front panel of the lid portion, the back panel of lid portion being integral with the back panel of the main body portion, and a top panel adjacent the front panel of the lid portion, first and second side panels of the lid portion and back panel of the lid portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Novel features and advantages of the present invention in addition to those mentioned above will be readily apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a hinged lid cigarette box having an integral compressed innerframe of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a pattern layout of the hinged lid cigarette box of FIG. 1 and

FIG. 2 wherein the stippled area is the integral compressed innerframe;

FIG. 4 is a fragmental cross-sectional view in elevation taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmental pattern view showing an “I” cut on the fold line to prevent damage to the innerframe during folding; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmental pattern view of a “V” cut on and around the fold lines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

According to one aspect of the preferred embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1-4, a cigarette pack blank and innerframe are formed of a single component to be used for cigarette packaging.

A cigarette pack blank 10 according to the invention, as shown by way of example in FIGS. 1 and 2, may comprise a main body portion 12 with an integral compressed portion 13 that serves the function of an innerframe, and a lid portion 14, which may be attached to, or integral with, main body portion 12 along hinge line 15. Main body portion 12, including the compressed portion 13, and lid portion 14 may be formed of paperboard, paper, cardboard or other suitable material for use in housing and protecting a plurality of cigarettes.

Main body portion 12 may include a front panel 16, a first side panel 18 adjacent the front panel, a second side panel 20 adjacent to the front panel and spaced from the first side panel 18, a back panel 22 adjacent to the two side panels 18, 20 and spaced from front panel, and a bottom panel 24. Bottom panel 24 may be adjacent to the front panel 16, side panels 18, 20 and back panel 22 to collectively form an interior opening for accepting a plurality of cigarettes. Lid portion 14 may comprise a front panel 26, a first side panel 28 adjacent front panel 26, a second side panel 30 adjacent to front panel 26 and spaced from the first side panel 28, a back panel 32 adjacent to side panels 28, 30 and spaced from front panel 26, and a top panel 34 adjacent the front panel 26, side panels 28, 30 and back panel 32. Back panel 32 of lid portion 14 may be integral with the back panel 22 of the main body 12. Lid retention tabs 35 may be used to secure lid portion 14 in place when the lid portion 14 is in the closed position. Such retention tabs are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,898, where they are denoted by reference character 130 in FIG. 7 therein.

FIG. 3 more particularly shows the layout of cigarette pack 10 prior to the folding and gluing process that is used to create the final product. Main body portion 12 may have a compressed portion 13. As shown in FIG. 4, the compressed portion 13 may be thinner in cross-section than the rest of main body portion 12, which may be uncompressed or less compressed relative to compressed portion 13. Compressed portion 13 may serve as the innerframe for the cigarette pack and may have three distinct sections: a first section 36 on front panel 16, a second section 38 on side panel 18, and a third section 40 on side panel 20. The second compressed section 38 and third compressed section 40 may have thicknesses smaller than the first compressed section 36. The thickness of each of the three sections is selected to give a flat and flush finished pack along and sides of the pack after closing the lid. For example, an appropriate thickness range for the compressed and non-compressed sections is 0.011-0.014 inches.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, main body portion 12 and compressed portion 13 may be formed from the same piece of material. Compressed portion 13 and/or main body portion 12 may be embossed, debossed, or formed by any other suitable technique for creating a region of reduced thickness.

In FIG. 3, the compressed portion 13 is designated using stippling. Also in FIG. 3, folded regions are illustrated by broken lines. Solid lines, other than the solid lines at the boundary of the compressed region 13, denote cuts that are made in the cigarette pack material. The creation and use of such cuts and fold lines to form a pack blank is generally conventional in the art as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,024.

Compressed portion 13 may be provided with “I”-shaped radius cuts 42 or “V”-shaped radius cuts 44 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively. With a “V” shaped radius cut the bottom of the “V” is a radius cut as opposed to a sharp angle cut. “I”-shaped radius cuts 42 may be positioned along the fold line and boundary between first compressed section 36 and second compressed section 38 and between first compressed section 36 and third compressed section 40. “V”-shaped radius cuts 44 may have similar vertical cuts 44a and may additionally have cuts 44b along the boundary between second compressed section 38 and the non-, or less, compressed portion of side panel 18 and along the boundary between third compressed section 40 and the non-, or less, compressed portion of side panel 20. Radius cuts 42 and 44 may prevent or alleviate any damage to the package material during pack formation. These cuts may also help to offset the fold line 46 between the first compressed section 36 and second compressed section 38 and the fold line 48 between front panel 36 and side panel 28. Also, retention cuts 50 may be made as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 to form the lid retention tabs 35 of FIG. 1.

This unique integrated innerframe design may be utilized with the existing innerframe section on a conventional cigarette packer for coupon insertion operation.

If the coupon insert is not used, the present innerframe cutting assembly and innerframe forming and positioning wheel can be eliminated. By eliminating these assemblies there is no inventory or restocking of expensive machine parts. Machine efficiency is increased and downtime due to innerframe set-up and jams is reduced. On the other hand, when coupons are inserted, the current innerframe application station of the packing machine may then be utilized for the coupon insertion.

The embodiments described above are further intended to explain the best modes known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such, or other, embodiments and with the various modifications required by the particular applications or uses of the invention. Accordingly, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Also, it is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments.

Claims

1. A cigarette pack comprising:

a main body portion including a front panel, a first side panel adjacent the front panel of the main body portion, a second side panel adjacent to the front panel of the main body portion and spaced from the first side panel of the main body portion, a back panel adjacent to the first and second side panels of the main body portion and spaced from the front panel of the main body portion, and a bottom panel adjacent the front panel of the main body portion, the side panels of the main body portion and the back panel of the main body portion, and wherein the main body portion has a first portion and a second portion, said second portion being compressed; and

a lid portion including a front panel, a first side panel adjacent the front panel of the lid portion, a second side panel adjacent to the front panel of the lid portion and spaced from the first side panel of the lid portion, a back panel adjacent to the first and second side panels of the lid portion and spaced from the front panel of the lid portion, the back panel of lid portion being integral with the back panel of the main body portion and a top panel adjacent the front panel of the lid portion, first and second side panels of the lid portion and back panel of the lid portion.

2. The cigarette pack of claim 1, wherein said second portion of the main body has a thinner cross-section than the first portion of main body portion.

3. The cigarette pack of claim 2, wherein said second portion has three distinct sections:

a first compressed section on the front panel of the main body portion,

a second compressed section on the first side panel of the main body portion, and

a third compressed section on the second side panel.

4. The cigarette pack of claim 3, wherein the second compressed section and third compressed section have thicknesses smaller than the first compressed section.

5. The cigarette pack of claim 4, wherein the first second and third compressed sections have thicknesses in the range of 0.011-0.014 inches.

6. The cigarette pack of claim 3, further comprising a first retention cut between the first and second compressed sections and a second retention cut between the first and third compressed portions, said first and second retention cuts for securing the lid portion of the cigarette pack to the main body portion.

7. The cigarette pack of claim 3, further comprising a first radius cut defined by a first cut between the first and second compressed sections and a second radius cut defined by a first cut between the first and third compressed sections.

8. The cigarette pack of claim 7, wherein the first radius cut has a second cut formed between the second compressed section and the first side panel in the first portion of the main body portion, the first and second cuts of the first radius cut forming a “V”-shaped cut; and

wherein the second radius cut has a second cut between the third compressed section and the second side panel in the first portion of the main body portion, the first and second cuts of the second radius cut forming a “V”-shaped cut.

9. The cigarette pack of claim 1, wherein said second portion of the main body serves as an innerframe.