Spacing support for packets for smoking articles, spacing kit, package containing said spacing kit and method to assemble a spacing kit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11427398-B2
Application number	US-201917055205-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2019
Priority date	May 30, 2018
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

A spacing support (11) and a spacing kit (10) for packets (100) of smoking articles configured to support in an orderly manner a plurality of packets arranged on two adjacent rows. The spacing support (11) comprises two containing drawers (12) arranged adjacent to each other and each defining a respective housing (13) for a corresponding row of packets, which extends in a longitudinal direction (X), and an access aperture (17) through which the packets (100) can be introduced and extracted from the housing (13). Each containing drawer (12) comprises a bottom wall (14) from which a pair of side walls (15) extends, each of these walls (14, 15) being configured to come into contact with a respective wall (101, 102) of the packet (100), wherein at least one of the side walls (15) comprises a plurality of positioning elements (18) projecting toward the inside of said housing (13), made as pre-cut fins (19) integrated into the side wall (15), and configured to delimit positioning compartments (26), in which each of said packets (100) is stably arranged and held in a static manner, in said longitudinal direction (X), with respect to said housing (13).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A spacing support for packets ( 100 ) for smoking articles configured to support in an orderly manner a plurality of packets arranged on two adjacent rows, and comprising two containing drawers ( 12 ) adjacent to each other and each defining a respective housing ( 13 ) for a corresponding row of packets, which extends in a longitudinal direction (X), wherein each containing drawer ( 12 ) comprises a bottom wall ( 14 ) from which a pair of side walls ( 15 ) extends, each side wall ( 15 ) adapted to come into contact with a respective wall ( 101 , 102 ) of the packet ( 100 ), said containing drawer ( 12 ) also comprising an access aperture ( 17 ) through which the packets ( 100 ) are introduced and extracted with respect to housing ( 13 ),
wherein at least one of said side walls ( 15 ) comprises a plurality of positioning elements ( 18 ) projecting towards the inside of said housing ( 13 ) and made as pre-cut fins ( 19 ) integrated into said side wall ( 15 ), said positioning elements ( 18 ) being configured to delimit positioning compartments ( 26 ), in which each of said packets ( 100 ) is stably arranged and held in a static manner, in said longitudinal direction (X), with respect to said housing ( 13 ), said positioning elements ( 18 ) being provided one after the other at a distance (D), measured in said longitudinal direction (X), equal to a predetermined and constant value, so as to arrange and hold the packets ( 100 ) in their respective positioning compartments ( 26 ), at a constant pitch with respect to each other, which is coordinated with said distance (D),
wherein each of said positioning elements ( 18 ) consists of a pair of fins ( 19 ), each fin ( 19 ) being joined to said side wall ( 15 ) by a respective joining line ( 20 ), and the fins ( 19 ) of the same pair are separated from each other by a cutting line ( 21 ); wherein said joining lines ( 20 ) and said cutting line ( 21 ) are reciprocally parallel to each other and are also parallel to the longitudinal direction (X).

2. The spacing support according to claim 1 , characterised in that one side wall ( 15 ) of one containing drawer ( 12 ) overlaps and comes into contact with a corresponding side wall ( 15 ) of the other containing drawer ( 12 ), the inner surfaces of said side walls ( 15 ) facing toward the inside of said housing ( 13 ) being arranged one with respect to the other according to a configuration of symmetry with reference to a centreline axis (A) of said bottom wall ( 14 ) that extends parallel to the longitudinal direction (X).

3. The spacing support according to claim 2 , characterised in that between said centrelines (A) of the bottom walls ( 14 ) of said two containing drawers ( 12 ) a centre distance (I) is defined, measured in a transverse direction (Y), which is substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal direction (X), having a predetermined and constant value.

4. The spacing support according to claim 1 , characterised in that said side walls ( 15 ) and said bottom wall ( 14 ) of said housing ( 13 ) are integrated into a single body, separated from each other by respective folding lines ( 16 ), wherein said side walls ( 15 ) and said bottom wall ( 14 ) are arranged one with respect to the others so that each containing drawer ( 12 ) is “U”-shaped, where the open end of the “U” defines said access aperture ( 17 ).

5. The spacing support according to claim 1 , characterised in that said two containing drawers ( 12 ) are configured as separate and distinct elements configured to be brought reciprocally closer to each other so that one of said side walls ( 15 ) of one containing drawer ( 12 ) almost completely overlaps a respective side wall ( 15 ) of the other containing drawer ( 12 ).

6. The spacing support according to claim 1 , characterised in that said two containing drawers ( 12 ) are integrated into a single body, two side walls ( 15 ) of respective containing drawers ( 12 ) being joined together along a creasing line ( 22 ), which extends parallel to the longitudinal direction (X) and defines hinge means around which each containing drawer ( 12 ) can rotate by a certain angle with respect to the other containing drawer ( 12 ).

7. The spacing support according to claim 1 , characterised in that said containing drawers are made starting from sheet material, for example in corrugated cardboard having a homogeneous thickness approximately equal to about 3.5 mm.

8. A spacing kit comprising:
a plurality of packets ( 100 ) for smoking articles, each having the shape of a parallelepiped and comprising two opposite side walls of greater extension ( 101 ), two opposite side walls of smaller extension ( 102 ), a lower wall ( 103 ) and a top wall ( 104 ),
two containing drawers ( 12 ) adjacent to each other, which each define a housing ( 13 ) extending in a longitudinal direction (X) and containing a row consisting of multiple packets ( 100 ), the packets ( 100 ) in the spacing kit thus being arranged on two adjacent rows and supported in an orderly manner,
wherein each containing drawer ( 12 ) comprises a bottom wall ( 14 ), intended to come into contact with one of the side walls of smaller extension ( 102 ) of said packet ( 100 ), and a pair of side walls ( 15 ) each overlapping respective side walls of greater extension ( 101 ) of the packets ( 100 ) arranged in the same row,
wherein said side walls ( 15 ) and said bottom wall ( 14 ) are joined so as to define an access aperture ( 17 ) of said containing drawer ( 12 ) by means of which the packets ( 100 ) can be introduced and extracted from the housing ( 13 ), the packets being accommodated in the latter so that the other side wall of smaller extension ( 102 ) of the packets ( 100 ) is exposed and accessible directly from the outside at the access aperture ( 17 ),
wherein at least one of the two side walls ( 15 ) of each containing drawer ( 12 ) comprises a plurality of positioning elements ( 18 ) projecting toward the inside of said housing ( 13 ) and made as pre-cut fins ( 19 ) integrated into the side wall ( 15 ), said positioning elements ( 18 ) being configured to delimit positioning compartments ( 26 ) in which each of said packets ( 100 ) is stably arranged and held in a static manner, in said longitudinal direction (X) with respect to said housing ( 13 ), said positioning elements ( 18 ) being arranged one after the other at a fixed distance (D), which is at least equal to or greater than a typical size of the packet ( 100 ), measured in said longitudinal direction (X), defined as the height of the side walls of smaller and greater extension ( 101 , 102 ), so as to arrange and hold the packets ( 100 ) in their respective positioning compartments ( 26 ) at a constant pitch with respect to each other, which is coordinated with said distance (D),
wherein each of said positioning elements ( 18 ) consists of a pair of fins ( 19 ), each fin ( 19 ) being joined to said side wall ( 15 ) by a respective joining line ( 20 ), and the fins ( 19 ) of the same pair are separated from each other by a cutting line ( 21 ); wherein said joining lines ( 20 ) and said cutting line ( 21 ) are reciprocally parallel to each other and are also parallel to the longitudinal direction (X).

9. The spacing kit according to claim 8 , characterised in that each row consists of five packets ( 100 ), said packets distanced from each other in said longitudinal direction (X) by an interspace in correspondence with which one of said positioning elements ( 18 ) is made.

10. The spacing kit according to claim 8 , characterised in that said side wall of smaller extension ( 102 ), which is arranged in proximity to said access aperture ( 17 ) projects beyond an end edge ( 15 A) of said side wall

Assignees

• Philip Morris Products Sa

Inventors

• Draghetti Fiorenzo

Classifications

• B65D5/48034

  by folding a single blank · CPC title

• B65B61/26

  for marking or coding completed packages · CPC title

• B65B19/18

  into drawer-and-shell type boxes or cartons · CPC title

• B65D85/1072 Primary

  Bundle of cigarette packs · CPC title

• B65D2577/043

  arranged side by side · CPC title