Patent Publication Number: US-7717260-B2

Title: Hinged lid box for cigarettes

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates a hinge-lid box with box part, lid and collar, in particular for a cigarette group as its contents, with the collar, which is affixed in the box part, having a collar front wall and collar side tabs that face a box front wall and box side walls, respectively. 
   Hinge-lid boxes are the most widely distributed kind of cigarette packs worldwide. The design layout of this type of pack is defined by a (lower) box part, a lid and a collar, the latter usually being made from a separate blank. The lid is connected to the box part by means of a transverse hinge line in the region of the box rear wall and lid rear wall. The collar is affixed in the box part such that the collar front wall lies against the box front wall and the collar side tabs lie against the box side walls. The pack contents is a cigarette block, i.e. an arranged group of cigarettes, which fills out the inner space of the hinge-lid box and which is surrounded by an inner liner of paper or tin foil. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The object of the invention is to propose a new shape for the hinge-lid box for in particular cigarettes which ensures an improved fit between the pack and the pack contents, in particular a shape that conforms to varying dimensions of the pack contents. 
   To achieve this object, the hinge-lid box according to the invention is characterized by the following features:
     a) the collar side tabs are disposed at a distance from the box side walls,   b) the collar side tabs are supported at the inner side of the box side wall by means of supporting tabs disposed at the edges of said collar side tabs.   

   The pack contents—cigarette block—is surrounded by a collar having a U-shaped cross section. According to the invention, a special design and positioning of the collar creates a an interior space available to the pack contents that is reduced with respect to the outer dimensions of the hinge-lid box. The side tabs of the collar are disposed at a distance from the box side walls and supported on them at the front and rear sides of the box. 
   Particularly advantageous is an embodiment in which a front supporting tab is formed by means of, in particular, a U-shaped punched cut as a subregion of the collar side tab and which extends in the plane of the collar front wall. Rear supporting tabs are formed by bending an edge strip of the collar side tab, in particular in an oblique position in which a free edge of the supporting tab enters a centered position at an upright rear corner of the pack. 
   In the hinge-lid box according to the invention the cigarette block has a smaller width than the hinge-lid box. In particular, an upright hollow space is created at either side of the cigarette block which can also be employed to accommodate pack inserts, such as printed matter. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Further special features of the invention will be discussed in more detail below with the help of an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the corresponding drawing which shows: 
       FIG. 1  the front side of a closed hinge-lid box in perspective view, 
       FIG. 2  the hinge-lid box from  FIG. 1  with open lid, also in perspective view, 
       FIG. 3  a spread-out blank for a hinge-lid box pursuant to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 , 
       FIG. 4  a likewise spread-out blank of a collar for a hinge-lid box pursuant to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 , 
       FIG. 5  horizontal section of the hinge-lid box of  FIG. 1  along section plane V-V, on an enlarged scale, 
       FIG. 6  view analogous to  FIG. 5  in the region of section plane VI-VI of  FIG. 1 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings relates to a hinge-lid box for cigarettes  10 . A cigarette group  11  is surrounded by an inner liner, thus forming an approximately cuboid cigarette block  12  as the pack contents. 
   The hinge-lid box comprises a (lower) box part  13 , a lid  14  and a collar  15 . Box part  13  and lid  14  comprise a common, one-piece blank pursuant to  FIG. 3 . This forms, by means of appropriately pre-embossed folding lines, a box front wall  16 , a base wall  17 , a box rear wall  18 , a lid rear wall  19 , an end wall  20  and a lid front wall  21 . Attached to the aforementioned pack walls and regions of the blank are box side tabs  22 ,  23  and lid side tabs  24 ,  25 . These partially overlap one another to form box side walls  26  and lid side walls  27 . 
   The collar  15  comprises collar front wall  28  and collar side tabs  29 ,  30 . At its top side the collar front wall forms a generally common recess  31 . Formed at the opposite side is a tongue  32  of the same shape and size. 
   Collar front wall  28 , on one hand, and collar side tabs  29 ,  30 , on the other hand, are delimited from each other by upright folding lines  33 . These are formed by modifying the material of the collar, in particular by embossing or, as shown, by a series of punched cuts. After the collar is folded in a U shape, such measures result in sharp, upright collar edges in the region of these folding lines  33 . 
   The folded collar  15  surrounds the cigarette block  12  such that the collar front wall abuts a front side and the collar side tabs  29 ,  30  each abut the narrow side faces of the cigarette block  12  ( FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6 ). The collar is affixed to the box part  13 , in particular by adhesive bonding such that an upper limit of the collar  15  is essentially flush with the cigarette block  12 . 
   The pack contents, namely the cigarette block  12 , is configured to have a smaller width than the (outer) dimensions of the hinge-lid box. For conforming to the dimensions of the cigarette block  12  the collar side tabs  29 ,  30  are positioned at a distance from the inner side of the side walls and parallel thereto. When the collar is symmetrically arranged and configured with respect to both sides, this results in an upright hollow space  34  between the side walls  26 ,  27 , on one hand, and the collar side tabs  29 ,  30 , on the other. The hollow space can be used to accommodate pack inserts, in particular to hold (folded) printed information, advertisements, etc. 
   The collar  15  is aligned and supported within the hinge-lid box. On its front side, namely adjacent to the box front wall  16 , the collar  15  has laterally directed supporting tabs  35 ,  36 . These are formed by the collar  15  itself, specifically by a U- or C-shaped punched cut  37 . This is disposed at a specific position relative to the folding line  33 , namely such that supporting tabs  35 ,  36  are formed to extend essentially in the region of the collar side tabs  29 ,  30 . Curved legs of the punched cut  37  end at the extension of the folding line  33 . The result of this is that, when the collar side tabs  29 ,  30  are folded around in a U-shape manner, the supporting tabs  35 ,  36  remain in their original position, namely aligned in the plane of the collar front wall  28 , and thus automatically assume the supporting position as shown in  FIG. 5 . The dimension of the punched cut  37  and thus that of the supporting tabs  35 ,  36  is selected so that the supporting edges  38  reinforce at the box side wall  26 , specifically in an upright gap between the inner box side tab  23  and the box front wall  16 . Here, the hinge-lid box or the box part  13  forms an upright front corner  39 . 
   One special feature is that the punch cut  37  is arranged in a lower region of the collar  15  such that the supporting tab  35 ,  36  is preferably completely covered by the box front wall  16 , i.e. that it ends below an upper edge of said front wall  16  ( FIG. 1 ). 
   The collar  15  is also aligned within the hinge-lid box at its back side. Here, too, collar side tabs  29 ,  30  form supporting tabs, namely edge tabs  40 ,  41 . A supporting edge  43  of the edge tabs  40 ,  41  enters a rear pack corner  42  ( FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6 ). The edge flaps  40 ,  41  serving as supporting means are directed obliquely, in particular at an angle of (approximately)  450 . For this purpose, each of the collar side tabs  29 ,  30  is provided with an additional folding line  44 , created in particular by punching. This line defines the edge tabs  40 ,  41  such that the latter assume their obliquely aligned supporting position when the collar  15  is correspondingly folded. The collar  15  therefore assumes an overall stable position within the hinge-lid box, specifically without the collar side tabs  29 ,  30  abutting the side walls of the box with their full surface. 
   By virtue of its illustrated and described design, the collar  15  can conform to varying dimensions of the pack contents with the prescribed outer dimensions. In the exemplary embodiment shown ( FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6 ), a cigarette group  11  with twelve cigarettes  10  is provided. These are positioned in a special formation, namely with eight cigarettes adjacent to one another in pairs, with two individual cigarettes each centrally positioned in the respective “cradle position”. The latter are supported at either side by two adjacent cigarettes. 
   The design or arrangement of the collar  15  can also be chosen such that the cigarette block  12  is arranged in an off-center and offset position within the hinge-lid box, to the extreme point where a hollow space  34  is formed on only one side. 
   The hinge-lid box is provided with the commonly known opening aid, by means of which a lid inner tab  45 , due to the special contour of its side edges ( FIG. 3 ), latches with the collar front wall  28  in the closed position, specifically in a region adjacent to the recess  31 . The lid inner tab is configured with a reduced width in this region to conform to the smaller width of the collar front wall  28 . 
   LIST OF DESIGNATIONS 
   
       
         10  cigarette 
         11  cigarette group 
         12  cigarette block 
         13  box part 
         14  lid 
         15  collar 
         16  box front wall 
         17  base wall 
         18  box rear wall 
         19  lid rear wall 
         20  end wall 
         21  lid front wall 
         22  box side tab 
         23  box side tab 
         24  lid side tab 
         25  lid side tab 
         26  box side wall 
         27  lid side wall 
         28  collar front wall 
         29  collar side tab 
         30  collar side tab 
         31  recess 
         32  tongue 
         33  folding line 
         34  hollow space 
         35  supporting tab 
         36  supporting tab 
         37  punched cut 
         38  supporting edge 
         39  front corner 
         40  edge tab 
         41  edge tab 
         42  pack corner 
         43  supporting edge 
         44  folding line 
         45  lid inner tab