Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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An Inner Frame Blank
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an inner frame blank for a pack for tobacco industry
products
such as a bundle of smoking articles. The invention also relates to an inner
frame folded
from the blank, a pack for tobacco industry products comprising the inner
frame and to
a method of folding the blank to form the inner frame.
Background
io Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, are sold in packs. Known packs
often comprise an
outer carton made from cardboard which has a base and a hinged lid and which
is
folded from a single blank. The base receives a bundle of smoking articles
which are
accessible from an open upper end of the base when the lid is pivoted into an
open
position. An inner frame is received in the base which surrounds the smoking
articles
and protrudes from the open upper end of the base so that, when the lid is
closed, it
extends over the part of the inner frame that protrudes from the base.
Summary
According to the invention, there is provided a blank for an inner frame for a
pack of
smoking articles, comprising a front panel, end panels extending from opposite
edges
of said front panel and a rear panel section extending from an edge of each
end panel to
a free edge, the end panels and each rear panel section being foldable
relative to the
front panel such that each rear panel section is parallel to, and spaced from,
the front
panel by each end panel, the front panel being foldable to form dividing wall
panels that
extend towards the rear panel sections to form separate side-by-side
compartments
between the dividing wall panels and each end panel, wherein the dividing wall
panels
extend beyond said free edge of each of said rear panel sections with said
rear panel
sections parallel to said front wall.
Preferably, a tab extends from a free edge of each rear panel section, each
tab being
attachable to a corresponding dividing wall panel so that each rear panel
section is
parallel to the front wall.
In one embodiment, the tab is a locking tab and a slot is formed in each
dividing wall
panel. The locking tab may be configured to locate in a slot in a dividing
wall panel to
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fix each rear panel section to a dividing wall panel in a position parallel to
the front
panel.
Each rear panel section is preferably foldable relative to its associated end
panel from
which it extends along a fold line. A cut line may extend into each rear panel
section
from the fold line to form a tab from part of each of said rear panel
sections. The tabs
can remain in the plane of end panel from which they extend when the rear
panel
section and end panel are folded relative to each other about the fold line so
that said
tabs extend beyond their respective rear panel section in a direction away
from the
io front panel.
In some embodiments, the tab is located between the ends of the fold line.
Edge tabs
may also be located at each end of the fold line.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is also provided an inner
frame
folded from the blank according to the invention.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tobacco
industry pack
comprising a base having front and rear walls parallel and spaced from each
other and,
an inner frame folded from the blank according to the invention received in
the base so
that the front panel of the inner frame lies against an inner surface of the
front wall of
the base, and the rear panel sections of the inner frame are spaced from the
rear wall of
the base by the dividing wall panels.
If the end panels have tabs extending therefrom beyond the rear panel
sections, then
the rear panel sections may also be spaced from the rear wall of the base by
said tabs.
The tobacco industry pack according to the invention may also have a first
bundle of
smoking articles received in the base between an end panel and a dividing wall
panel,
and a second bundle of smoking articles received in the base between the other
end
panel and the other dividing wall panel, each of said first and second bundles
being
spaced from the rear wall of the base.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of
folding a
blank for an inner frame according to the invention, comprising the steps of
folding
each end panel and each rear panel section relative to the front panel so that
each rear
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panel section is parallel to, and spaced from, the front panel by each end
panel, folding
the front panel to form dividing wall panels that extend toward the rear panel
sections
to form separate side-by-side compartments between the dividing wall panels
and each
end panel, and so that the dividing wall panels extend beyond a free edge of
each of said
rear panel sections with said rear panel sections parallel to said front
panel.
In a preferred embodiment, a tab extends from a free edge of each rear panel
section
and the method includes the step of attaching each tab to a corresponding
dividing wall
panel so that each rear panel section is parallel to the front wall.
In one embodiment, the tab may be a locking tab. If so, a slot is formed in
each dividing
wall panel andthe method includes the step of inserting the locking tab into
an
associated slot to attach each rear panel section to an associated dividing
wall panel
parallel to the front wall.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only,
with
reference the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows an unfolded blank for an inner frame of a tobacco industry
pack;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the inner frame shown in Figure 1 after
folding;
Figure 3 shows a plan view of a tobacco industry pack with the inner frame
received
within it and the lid in a fully open position; and
Figure 4 shows a front perspective view of the pack shown in Figure 3 with the
lid in a
partially open position.
Detailed Description
A tobacco industry product refers to any item made in, or sold by the tobacco
industry,
typically including a) cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, tobacco for pipes or
for roll-your-own
cigarettes, (whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco,
reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes); b) non-smoking products
incorporating
tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco, reconstituted tobacco or
tobacco
substitutes such as snuff, snus, hard tobacco, and heat-not-burn products; and
c) other
nicotine-delivery systems such as inhalers, lozenges and gum. This list is not
intended
to be exclusive, but merely illustrates a range of products which are made and
sold in
the tobacco industry.
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The term "smoking article" includes smokeable products such as cigarettes,
cigars and
cigarillos whether based on tobacco, tobacco derivatives, expanded tobacco,
reconstituted tobacco or tobacco substitutes and also heat-not-burn products.
The
smoking article may be provided with a filter for the gaseous flow drawn by
the smoker.
As used herein, the term "tobacco industry pack" includes any pack that can
receive and
contain a tobacco industry product.
The tobacco industry pack to which embodiments of the present invention
primarily
io relates, and in which is received the folded inner frame according to
embodiments of
the invention, is primarily intended for holding two side-by-side bundles of
cigarettes
each of which have a narrower diameter than a standard cigarette. This type of
cigarette
is often referred to as a 'slim' cigarette.
An unfolded inner frame blank 1 to form a folded inner frame 2 (see Figure 2)
for
insertion into a tobacco industry pack 3 (see Figure 3) is shown in Figure 1.
The blank 1
and inner frame 2 has a front panel 4 formed from two front panel sections 4a,
4h,
separated by a central fold line 5 and two secondary fold lines 6, 7, parallel
to and
spaced from the central fold line 5 to form a pair of dividing wall panels 8,
9 between
the two front panel sections 4a, 4h. When the blank 1 is folded, as explained
below, the
central fold line 5 forms an apex. The secondary fold line 6 joins one of the
dividing wall
panels 8 to front panel section 4a, whereas the other secondary fold line 7
joins the
other dividing wall panel 9 to front panel section 4h.
A pair of elongate slots 10,11 are formed in each dividing wall panel 8,9
parallel to, and
spaced from, the central fold line 5, for reasons that will be explained
below.
Each front panel section 4a, 4h has a cut-out region 12 formed in an upper
edge 20 of
the inner frame blank 1 to facilitate the removal of smoking articles from a
pack 3 in
which the folded inner frame 2 is located.
An end panel 13,14 extends from an edge of each front panel section 4a, 4h,
each end
panel 13,14 being foldable relative to its associated front panel section 4a,
4h from
which it extends about a fold line 15.
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The rear wall of the inner frame blank 1 is formed from two rear panel
sections 16a, 16b.
One rear panel section 16a extends from an edge of end panel 13, whilst the
other rear
panel section 1613, extends from an edge of end panel 14. Each rear panel
section 16a,
16b is foldable relative to its associated end panel 13, 14 about a fold line
17, shown in
dashed lines in Figure 1. A cut line 18 is also formed in each rear panel
section 16a, 16131
that extends from and interupts the fold line 17 to form a central tab 19 out
of a part of
the rear panel section 16a, 16b, which is enclosed by the cut line 18 and
extends from an
end panel 13, 14.
io The fold line 17 does not extend all the way to the upper and lower
edges 20, 21 of the
inner frame blank 1. Instead, the fold line 17 stops short of the edges 20, 21
and a cut
line 22 extends from each end of the fold line 17 into the rear panel section
16a, 16b and
terminates at each of the upper and lower edges 20, 21. The cut lines 22
define edge
tabs 23, 24 formed out of a part of the rear panel sections 16a, 1613, at the
upper and
lower edges 20, 21 of the inner frame blank 1.
Each rear panel section 16a, 1613, has a free edge 25 with tabs 26 that extend
away from
the free edge 25 in the plane of the rear panel section 16a, 16b.
The inner frame blank 1 shown in Figure 1 is folded into the configuration
shown in
Figure 2, prior to insertion into a pack 3. This is achieved by first folding
the blank 1
about the central fold line 5, and also about the secondary fold lines 6, 7 so
that the
dividing wall panels 8, 9 face each other and extend outwardly from the plane
of the
drawing in Figure 1. Next, each end panel 1344 is folded upwardly, also in a
direction
out of the plane of Figure 1, so that they each extend perpendicular to the
front panel
sections 4a,4b. Then, each rear panel section 16a, 1613, is folded relative to
the end wall
1344 from which it extends about fold line 17, and so that each rear panel
section 16a,
16131 extends perpendicular to each end panel 13, 14 and is parallel to, and
spaced from,
the front panel sections 4a, 4h. It will be appreciated that, when a rear
panel section
16a, 1613, is folded relative to its associated end panel 13, 14 about fold
lines 17, the
central tab 19 and the edge tabs 23, 24, which lie in the plane of the rear
panel sections
16a, 1613, prior to folding, separate from the rear panel sections 16a, 1613,
along the cut
lines 18,22 so that they remain in the plane of the end panel 13, 1.4 from
which they
extend, and so that they protrude beyond the plane occupied by each rear panel
section
16a, 1613, that extends perpendicular to each end panel 13, 14.
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Once the rear panel sections 16a, 16b have been folded as described above, the
locking
tabs 26 that extend from the free edge 25 of each rear panel section 16a, 16b,
are
inserted into the corresponding slots io, ii in the dividing wall panels 8,9
to hold the
rear panel sections 16a, 16b in position and so that they lie parallel to the
front wall
sections 4a, 4h. It will be appreciated that, in Figure 2, the locking tabs 26
of one of the
rear panel sections 16b have not yet been engaged with their corresponding
slots io, ii
and that the rear panel section 16b has not been fully folded about fold line
17 into a
position in which it lies parallel to front panel section 4h.
io In another embodiment, the slots lo,ii in the dividing wall panels 8,9
are omitted and
the tabs 26 are attached to a surface of the corresponding dividing wall
panels 8,9, i.e.
by gluing. The tabs 26 may be folded about a fold-line relative to the rear
panel sections
16b to enable them to be glued to the dividing wall panels 8,9.
As can be appreciated more easily from Figure 2, each of the dividing wall
panels 8, 9
have a width (i.e. a dimension extending from the front panel sections 4a, 4h
to the
central fold line 5) which is greater than the width of each of the end panels
13, 14 so
that, when the inner frame blank 1 is folded and the locking tabs 26 are
received in the
slots io,n, the dividing wall panels 8,9 extend beyond each of the rear panel
sections
16a, 16b in a direction away from the front panel sections 4a, 4h.
The width of each of the dividing wall panels 8,9 may be equal to the width of
an end
panel 13, 14 plus the width of the central tab 18 or an edge tab 23, 24 formed
in each
rear panel section 16a, 16b so that, when the inner frame blank 1 is folded,
the apex
between the dividing wall panels 8,9 formed by the central fold line 5 and a
tip or edge
18 of the central tab 19 and a tip or edge 22 of the edge tabs 23, 24 all lie
in the same
plane parallel to and spaced from the rear panel sections 16a, 16b.
When the inner frame 2 has been folded as described above and as almost shown
in
Figure 2, it may be inserted into a hinged-lid pack 3 having a lid 27
pivotally connected
to the rear wall of a base 29 for rotation about a fold line 30, as shown in
the plan view
of Figure 3 which shows a pack 3 with the lid 27 open, and the perspective
view of
Figure 4, which shows the pack 3 with the lid 27 partially open.
As can be seen from Figures 3 and 4, the central tab 18 and the edge tabs 23,
24
extending from the end panels 13, 14, and the part of the dividing wall panels
8, 9 that
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extends beyond the rear panel sections 16a, 16b, space the rear panel portions
16a, 16b
away from the rear wall of the pack 3 and holds the front panel sections 4a,
4h against a
front wall 30 of the base 29 of the pack 3. A void is therefore formed between
the rear
panel portions 16a, 16b and a rear wall of the pack 3. The central tab 18,
edge tabs 23,
24 and the part of the dividing wall panels 8, 9 that extends beyond the rear
panel
sections 16a, 16b may have a length in the order of 3-mm so the depth of the
void will
be substantially the same.
The above arrangement enables a standard size pack to be used to receive two
bundles
io of slim cigarettes. The bundles will be retained snugly within the side-
by-side
compartments formed by the inner frame 2 and will be pushed towards the front
wall
30 of the pack 3, spaced from the rear wall of the pack 3 by the dividing wall
panels 8, 9
and the tabs 18, 22, 23 that protrude beyond the rear panel sections 16a, 16b.
In order to address various issues and advance the art, the entirety of this
disclosure
shows by way of illustration various embodiments in which the claimed
invention(s)
may be practiced and provide for a superior inner frame blank, folded inner
frame and
pack comprising the inner frame. The advantages and features of the disclosure
are of a
representative sample of embodiments only, and are not exhaustive and/or
exclusive.
They are presented only to assist in understanding and teach the claimed
features. It is
to be understood that advantages, embodiments, examples, functions, features,
structures, and/or other aspects of the disclosure are not to be considered
limitations
on the disclosure as defined by the claims or limitations on equivalents to
the claims,
and that other embodiments may be utilised and modifications may be made
without
departing from the scope and/or spirit of the disclosure. Various embodiments
may
suitably comprise, consist of, or consist essentially of, various combinations
of the
disclosed elements, components, features, parts, steps, means, etc. In
addition, the
disclosure includes other inventions not presently claimed, but which may be
claimed
in future.
