US3105591A - Packages - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 1, 1963 V. A. AHLBOR PACKAGES Filed Jan 18, 1961 INVENTOR BY M ATT EYE ot said panels. E

United States Patent 3,105,591 PACKAGES Valter A. Ahihor, Brornma, Sweden, assignor to Arenco Airtiebolag, Vallingby, Sweden, a Swedish joint-stock company Fiied .Iau. 18, 1%1, Ser. No. 83,499

Claims priority, application Sweden Jan. 29, 196i) 1 Claim. (Ci. 206-41) Conventional soft cigarette packages are affected with the drawback consisting in that one of the ends of the package is likely to be mutilated when the consumer removes the first cigarette from the package through said end, or said end can hardly be reclosed satisfactorily after such removal of a cigarette.

It is an object of the present invention to improve such soft packages so that they will in important respects be equivalent to boxes and not be affected with the abovementioned drawbacks. Accordingly, the invention relates to a package for cigarettes or similar articles comprising a thin wrapper of a flexible material having a rectangular top end and, according to the invention, said package has a cap of a more rigid material secured to the top end of the wrapper and having a hinged lid and covering part of the wrapper. This involves that it is also an object of the invention to provide something between a conventional soft package and a rigid box presenting the advantages of both said performances but avoiding their imperfectnesses.

A specific embodiment of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which FIGURE 1 shows the expanded upper end of a wrapper forming the soft package;

FIGURE 2 shows the pasted inside of a blank for producing the cap of the package;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of said folded partially;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 and showing the cap folded almost completely;

FIGURE 5 shows on an enlarged scale with exaggerated wall thicknesses a section of the front portion of the cap taken on the line VV of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view similar to FIGURES 3 and 4 and showing the top end of a cigarette package made of the blank shown in FIGURE 1 and provided with the cap;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 and showing the lid of the cap in open position.

The relatively thin wrapper or envelope blank 4 shown in FIGURE 1 is folded in conventional manner on lines 5, 6, 7 and 8 which divide said blank into two wide panels 9 and 10, one narrow panel 11 and two marginal panels 12. A transversal fold line 21 defines the upper portions When folding this blank the marginal panels 12 are applied to one another and interconnected adhesively to form a rectangularly tubular blank having the two oppositely disposed wide side walls consisting of the panels 9 and and two oppositely disposed narrower side walls consisting of the panels 11 and 12. Above the fold line 21 this tubular blank has the wide panel ends 13 and 14, the narrow panel end 15 and a narrow end consisting of the two panel ends 16 applied to each other. These panel ends are in known manner tucked in and folded down upon each other so that the top end of the soft package 1 obtains the conventional appearance shown in FIGURE 6. The wrapper blank 4 is for a purpose indicated hereinafter provided with tearing lines 17, 18 and 19 consisting, e.g., of perforations. The line 17 extends transversely between the fold lines 6 and 7 and from the ends of line 17 the two divergent lines 18 extend obliquely on to the fold line 21 where cap blank 3,i5,591 Patented Get. 1, 1963 ice they are continued by both the lines 19 which extend transversely to line 21 up to the top edge 29' of the wrapper blank 4.

To that half of the rectangular top end of the package 1 which is juxtaposed one of the narrow edges of said top end (corresponding to that portion of the fold line 21 which is located between the lines 6 and 7) is secured adhesively a cap 2 which has a lid 3 and is formed by folding the blank 2:: shown in FIGURE 2 and consists of a material which is more rigid than the wrapper 4, e.g. cardboard or plastic material.

The cap blank 2a is provided with fold lines 23 which merge into incisions 24 which define a tongue 25 disposed between a pair of side flaps 27a and 27b. A fold line 26', extending transversely to the lines 23, separates the tongue 25 and the flaps 27a and 27b from the middle section 28 and the side sections 29a and 2%. A fold line 311 extends across the middle section 28. The side flaps 27a and 27b are by incisions 32 divided into inner sections 35a and 35b and narrower side sections 33a and 33b. The length of the tongue 25 is somewhat greater than the width of the side flap sections 35a and 35b. The incisions 32 have discontinuities in the form of breakable portions 34 between the flap sections 35a and 33a and between the flap sections 35b and 33b. From the incisions 32 to the fold line 30 extend convergent incisions 36 obliquely on the panels 29a and 29b. Said oblique incisions 36 define triangular panels 37 adapted to form side walls of the lid. The side flap section 33a has on its inside a rim 44 formed by an impression in the outer face of said panel. The tongue 25 has an exterior rim 41 formed by an impression in the inner face of the tongue and the distance of which from the fold line 26 is slightly greater than the distance of the rim 441 from the juxtaposed incision 24.

The cap blank 2a is provided with adhesive zones A, B, C, D D E and F all of which, except the zones D and D are arrangel by pairs symmetrically. The zone D extends across the panels 29b and 33b Whereas the zone D extends across the panel 29a only.

The cap blank 2a is applied to the finished package 1 in such manner that it covers that half of the top end of the package which is adjacent to the wall 11 whereby it adheres to said top end by its adhesive zones A and B, the fold lines 23 coincide with the top edges of the package walls 9 and 10 and the fold line 26 coincides with the top edge of the package wall 11. Thereby the fold line 30 of the cap blank will be positioned slightly behind the coinciding tearing lines 19 of the wrapper 4. Thereafter the tongue 25 is folded down upon the wrapper side wall 11 so that it will by means of the adhesive Zones B adhere to the rectangular wall portion 22 of the wrapper 4. Thereby the adhesive zones B extend downwardly almost right on to the transversal tearing line 17 of the package Wall 11. Thereafter the side flap 27a is folded on the package edge 7 (FIGURE 6) upon the tongue 25 as shown in FIGURE 4 so that it will cover and adhere to same by its adhesive zone F. Thereafter the side flap 27b is folded on the package edge 6 upon the side flap 27a so that it will adhere to same by its adhesive zones D and F whereby the incisions 32 of both the side flaps will coincide and the breakable portions 34 of said flaps will overlap. Thereby the package 1 has, according to FIGURE 6, been provided with the folded cap '2, in which the bottom edge of the tongue 25, projecting downwardly from the front top edge 26 of the lid 3, is disposed between the incision 32 and the bottom edge of the front wall 38 of the cap. Thus, the overlapping side flaps 27a and 27b of the cap 2 form a wall which by the coinciding incisions 32' is divided into the front lid wall 39 and that front wall portion 38 of the cap which is located below the wall 39 and within which 3 the tongue 25 is located. As shown in FIGURE 5 the locking rim 41 of the inwardly yielding tongue 25 is disposed below the rim 40 on the inside of the front wall portion 38 of the cap so that the lid will be kept closed yieldingly.

In the blank 2a for forming the cap 2 the incisions and fold lines are so positioned that the incisions 32 and 36 in the cap applied to the package will be located slightly below the tearing lines 17 and 18 of the finished package. When the lid 3 has been opened (FIGURE 7) after breaking the seal 34 the portions 15, 22, 42 and 43- of the wrapper 4 adhering to the lid will be torn away from the package end and follow the lid when swinging upwardly. The torn edges formed thereby have in FIGURE 7 the same reference characters as the corresponding tearing lines shown in FIGURE 1. When the lid 3 is folded upwardly the rim 41 on the tongue 25 slides across the wall rim 40 whereby the tongue yields inwardly slightly.

From FIGURE 7 it is evident that even the first cigarette can easily be taken out of the package, viz. through the rigid corner consisting of the cap 3 whereafter the package can easily be reclosed tightly thereby that the tongue 25 is urged rearwardly slightly when the lid 3 is folded down whereby said tongue will be introduced between the edge 17 of the package wall 11 and the top edge of the rigid front wall section 38 of the cap 2. Owing to its resistance to displacement inwardly the tongue 25 retains the lid 3 in its closed position safely and in dependence of the material used for producing the cap. The edges 17 and 18 of the package extend upwardly beyond the adjacent edges 32 and 36 of the cap whereby the sealing of the closed lid 3 will be improved and the introducing of the tongue 25 between the wall section 38 of the cap 2 and the package wall 11 below the edge 17 will be facilitated.

Alternatively the corner portion 15, 22, 42 and 43 of the package 1 is not secured to the lid 3 of the cap 2. In such case it can be torn away manually after the lid 3 has been opened and also in such case the package opening will obtain substantially the appearance shown in FIG- URE 7.

I claim:

A package for cigarettes or similar articles comprising a thin wrapper of a flexible material having a pair of side walls, a front wall, and a rectangular top end wall; a cap of a more rigid material having a top wall secured to said wrapper top end wall, said cap top wall having a flap extending beyond the upper edge of said wrapper front wall, two side walls covering upper portions of the Wrapper side walls, each having an end flap extending beyond the respective wrapper side walls past said wrapper front wall, said top wall flap being folded down, and said cap side wall flaps being folded one upon the other across the upper portion of said wrapper front wall so that they overlap said top wall flap and are secured together, said side wall end flaps each being provided with an incision in register with each other and dividing said side wall flaps into upper portions constituting together with said top wall flap an upper three-ply front wall of said cap and lower portions constituting a lower two-ply front wall of said cap overlapping an end portion of said top wall flap, a portion of said cap top wall carrying said top wall flap, triangular portions of said side walls adjacent said cap side-wall fiaps and said upper three-ply front wall of said cap being hingedly connected with the remaining portion of said cap top wall and consisting of a lid constituting a wrapper opener secured to said wrapper top end for pro viding an access opening in said wrapper top end and also constituting a means for the reclosure of said access opening, said cap side Walls each having an oblique incision extending from said cap top wall to said incisions of said side wall end flaps and defining the lower edges of said triangular side wall portions, said wrapper having tearing lines registering substantially with said incisions of the cap and constituting the lower edges of the top sections of said wrapper walls adhesively connected with said triangular side wall portions and with said three-ply front wall of said lid.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,821,795 Geib Sept. 1, 19st 2,874,524 Ringler Feb. 24, 1959 2,902,201 Engblom Sept. 1, 1959 3,018,031 Ahlbor et al Ian. 23, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 412,711 Great Britain July 5, 1934

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