Patent ID: 9714104
Date: 2017-07-25
CPC Classifications: B65B

Claim:
1. A packing method for applying a heat-seal overwrap to a package of tobacco articles; the package comprising: an inner container, which houses a group of tobacco articles, comprising a front wall, an oppositely disposed rear wall extending parallel to the front wall, and an open top end; an outer container housing the inner container so as to allow the inner container to slide with respect to the outer container between a closed configuration, in which the inner container is inserted inside the outer container, and an open configuration, in which the inner container is extracted partly from the outer container; and a hinged lid, which closes the open top end of the inner container, is hinged along a hinge, and comprises a top wall; wherein the outer container comprises a front wall facing the front wall of the inner container and an oppositely disposed rear wall facing the rear wall of the inner container and extending parallel to the front wall of the outer container; wherein the front wall of the outer container is, in the closed configuration, perpendicular to the top wall of the lid and is arranged opposite to the hinge of the lid; wherein the rear wall of the outer container is, in the closed configuration, perpendicular to the top wall of the lid and is arranged in correspondence of the hinge of the lid; and wherein the front wall of the outer container comprises a top edge, which, in the closed configuration, is arranged close to the top wall of the lid; the packing method comprising the steps of: folding a sheet of heat-seal wrapping material into a tube about the package to form a tubular wrapping having two open ends at the top wall of the lid and at an oppositely disposed bottom wall of the package; stabilizing the tubular wrapping by making a first heat seal on a lateral wall of the outer container, which is perpendicular to the front wall of the outer container and to the rear wall of the outer container; folding, after the stabilization by the first heat seal, the two ends of the tubular wrapping onto the top wall of the lid and onto the bottom wall of the package to complete the overwrap; stabilizing the overwrap by making a second heat seal on superimposed portions of the sheet of wrapping material on the top wall of the lid, and a third heat seal on superimposed portions of the sheet of wrapping material on the bottom wall of the package; and compressing, at least when making the second heat seal, the front wall of the outer container towards the hinge of the lid, so as to move at least part of the top edge of the front wall of the outer container beneath the top wall of the lid so that the top wall of the lid can lean against the top edge of the front wall of the outer container.