Patent ID: 7200978

Claim:
Process for producing a pack made of thin cardboard with an outer wrapper made of thermally sealable and shrinkable material having folding tabs, including side tabs, and transverse folding tabs and longitudinal folding tabs assigned to an end wall and a base wall of the pack, the outer wrapper enclosing the pack and the folding tabs thereof being connected to one another in the region of overlaps by thermal sealing, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a blank for forming the outer wrapper and folding said blank around the pack in a tubular shape such that the side tabs of the outer wrapper overlap one another, (b) then connecting the side tabs to one another in the region of the overlap by thermally pre-sealing the side tabs, (c) thereafter folding the transverse and longitudinal folding tabs assigned to the end wall and the base wall such that the transverse folding tabs and the longitudinal folding tabs partially overlap each other, (d) then connecting the transverse and longitudinal folding tabs to one another in the region of their overlap by thermally pre-sealing the overlapping transverse and longitudinal folding tabs, (e) next moving the packs upward into a pack tower, where the side tabs are permanently sealed in the region of their overlap by full-surface sealing, (f) thereafter transporting the pack laterally to a sealing path where the transverse and longitudinal folding tabs are surface sealed, and (g) the packs with the finished and sealed outer wrapper are then conveyed through a shrinking station, in the region of which the large-surface front walls and rear walls of said packs are subjected to a shrinking process for the outer wrapper by means of surface heat transfer.