Container with improved reclosable cover member

Abstract

A container (10) for consumer goods comprising: an outer housing (12) comprising a box (14) and a lid (16), the lid (16) being hinged to the box (14) along a hinge line extending across a back wall of the outer housing (12); and a package (18) of consumer goods within the box (14). A reclosable sealing cover member(100) occludes an access opening (20) in the package. The reclosable sealing cover member (100) comprises: a base layer (102) comprising a fibrous cellulosic material; a metal-containing layer (104) provided on an outer side of the base layer (102); and a first polymeric layer (106) provided on an inner side of the base layer (102).

Claims

1. A container for consumer goods comprising: an outer housing comprising a box and a lid, the lid being hinged to the box along a hinge line extending across a back wall of the outer housing; a package of consumer goods within the box, the package formed from a sheet blank folded around the consumer goods and having an access opening through which consumer goods can be removed; and a reclosable sealing cover member adapted to occlude the access opening, the reclosable sealing cover member being separate and distinct from the sheet blank from which the package is formed, wherein an underside of the reclosable sealing cover member is provided with an adhesive arrangement to at least partially affix at least part of the reclosable sealing cover member to an outer surface of the package such that the cover member is movable from a closed position, wherein the reclosable sealing cover member overlies at least the access opening, and an open position, wherein the reclosable sealing cover member is at least partially lifted away from the outer surface of the package; and wherein the reclosable cover member is permanently affixed to an inner surface of the lid, such that upon opening the lid the reclosable cover member is moved from the closed position towards the open position to at least partly reveal the access opening; wherein the reclosable sealing cover member comprises: a base layer comprising a fibrous cellulosic material; a metal-containing layer provided on an outer side of the base layer; and a first polymeric layer provided on an inner side of the base layer.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein the reclosable sealing cover member further comprises a second polymeric layer provided between the metal-containing layer and the base layer.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein the metal-containing layer comprises a metallic ink.

4. The container of claim 1, wherein the metal-containing layer extends over only a first portion of the reclosable sealing cover member.

5. The container of claim 4, wherein a second portion of the reclosable sealing cover member is permanently affixed to an inner surface of the lid, and wherein the second portion of the reclosable sealing cover member does not overlap with the first portion.

6. The container of claim 5, wherein a first primer layer is provided on the outer side of the base layer and extends over only the second portion of the reclosable sealing cover member.

7. The container of claim 1, wherein the underside of the reclosable sealing cover member comprises an adhesive free area.

8. The container of claim 1, wherein the reclosable sealing cover member further comprises a varnish layer provided on an outer side of the metal-containing layer.

9. The container of claim 1, wherein a basis weight of the base layer is at least about 20 grams per square metre.

10. The container of claim 1, wherein the base layer comprises at least 30 percent by weight of the fibrous cellulosic material.

11. The container of claim 1, wherein the reclosable sealing cover member extends beyond the periphery of the access opening; and is at least partly permanently affixed to the package by a permanent adhesive provided on a back hinge area of the inner surface of the reclosable sealing cover member, and at least partly releasably affixed to the package by a resealable adhesive provided on a second area of the inner surface of the reclosable sealing cover member extending at least about a front edge of the access opening.

12. The container of claim 1, wherein the reclosable sealing cover member comprises a top part and a bottom part; the bottom part being affixed to the package by a permanent adhesive provided on a first area of the inner surface of the bottom part extending about the periphery of the access opening, the bottom part comprising a cut-out portion at least partly aligned with the access opening of the package; the top part being at least partly permanently affixed to the bottom part by a permanent adhesive provided on a back hinge area of the inner surface of the top part, and at least partly releasably affixed to the bottom part by a second adhesive provided on a peeling area of the inner surface of the top layer extending distal from the hinge area, such that the top part is movable from a closed position, wherein the top part overlies at least the access opening, and an open position, wherein the top part is lifted off the bottom part to reveal the cut-out portion.

13. The container of claim 12, wherein the top part comprises the base layer, the metal-containing layer, and the first polymeric layer, and the bottom part comprises at least one further layer of material.

14. The container of claim 1, wherein the package is formed from a sheet blank, which when folded forms a sealed enclosure for containing the consumer goods.

15. The container of claim 14, wherein the package is formed by folding the blank such that ends of the blank are brought together so as to overlie to form a wrapping about a group of consumer goods; wherein the seal area extends at least partly over the overlying ends of the blank and the overlying ends of the blank are sealed together.

Description

(1) The invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of a container in accordance with the present invention; and

(3) FIG. 2 shows a top view and a bottom view of the reclosable sealable cover member of the container of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a first cross sectional view of the reclosable sealable cover member of FIG. 2; and

(5) FIG. 4 shows a second cross sectional view of the reclosable sealable cover member of FIG. 2.

(6) FIG. 1 shows a container 10 in accordance with the present invention. The container 10 comprises an outer housing 12 which is a rectangular parallelepiped and includes a box 14 and a lid 16. The lid 16 is hinged about a hinge line extending across a back wall of the housing 12 and is pivotable between an open position (shown in FIG. 1) and a closed position. Further, the container 10 comprises an inner package 18 containing a group of smoking articles and housed in the box 14.

(7) The package 18 comprises an access opening 20 extending across the top wall and the front wall of the inner package. The smoking articles contained in the inner package 18 can be removed through the access opening when the lid 16 is in the open position. The inner package 18 comprises a reclosable sealable cover member 100 occluding the access opening 20 of the package and extending beyond the periphery of the access opening of the package. The cover member 100 is movable from a closed position, wherein the cover member overlies at least the access opening, and an open position (illustrated in FIG. 1), wherein the cover member 100 is lifted off the outer surface of the package 18. Further, the reclosable cover member 100 is permanently affixed to an inner surface of the lid 16, such that upon opening the lid 16 the reclosable cover member 22 is moved from the closed position towards the open position to at least partly reveal the access opening 20.

(8) In the embodiment of FIG. 1 the reclosable sealing cover member 100 extends beyond the periphery of the access opening 20. The reclosable sealing cover member 100 is at least partly permanently affixed to the package by a permanent adhesive provided on a back hinge area of the inner surface of the reclosable sealing cover member 100. Further the reclosable sealing cover member 100 is at least partly releasably affixed to the package 18 by a resealable adhesive provided on a second area of the inner surface of the reclosable sealing cover member 100 extending at least about a front edge of the access opening 20. The permanent adhesive and resealable adhesive arrangement can be better seen from FIGS. 2 to 4, which are described in more detail below.

(9) FIG. 2 shows a top view 200 and a bottom view 300 of the reclosable sealable cover member 100 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows a first cross sectional view of the reclosable sealable cover member 100 as viewed along cross section 400. FIG. 4 shows a second cross sectional view of the reclosable sealable cover member 100 as viewed along cross section 500.

(10) As can be seen from FIGS. 2 to 4, the reclosable sealing cover member 100 comprises a first portion 150 and a second portion 170.

(11) As can be seen from the cross-sectional view in FIG. 3, in the first portion 150, the reclosable sealing cover member 100 comprises a base layer 102, a metal-containing layer 104 provided on an outer side of the base layer 102, and a first polymeric layer 106 provided on the inner side of the base layer 102. The base layer 102 is a layer of paper, the metal-containing layer 104 is a layer of silver ink, and the first polymeric layer 106 is a layer of polypropylene. A second polymeric layer 108 of polypropylene is provided between the metal-containing layer 104 and the base layer 102. A primer layer 112 is provided in the inner side of the first polymeric layer 106, and a substantially transparent varnish layer 110 is provided is provided on the outer side of the metal-containing layer 104.

(12) The underside of the reclosable sealing cover member 100 is provided with an adhesive arrangement comprising a resealable adhesive 114 and a permanent adhesive 116. The adhesives 114, 116 do not extend across to the second portion 170 of the reclosable sealing cover member 100. Consequently, an adhesive free area 171 can be seen on the underside of the reclosable sealing cover member 100 shown in FIG. 2. Although the adhesive free area 171 in FIG. 2 is shown to only extend across the second portion 170 of the reclosable sealing cover member 100, it will be appreciated that the adhesive free area may extend beyond the second portion 170, for example, by extending into the first portion 150 of the reclosable sealing cover member 100.

(13) As can be seen from FIG. 4, in the second portion 170, the reclosable sealing cover member 100 also comprises the base layer 102, and the first and second polymeric layers 106, 108. The metal-containing layer 104, however, does not extend into the second portion 170, and instead a non-metallic ink layer 118, such as a black ink, is provided on the outer side of the second primer layer 108. A primer layer 120 is additionally provided on the outer side of the non-metallic ink layer 118.

(14) As can be seen from FIG. 2, as a result of the layer arrangements described above, the top view of the reclosable sealing cover member 100 primarily has a glossy metallic appearance in the first portion 150 of the reclosable sealing cover member 100. No metallic appearance is provided in the second portion 170, but this portion is fixed to the lid of the container so will not be easily viewable for a consumer. A spare out portion 190 is also left without a metallic appearance in order to provide a registration mark for manufacturing purposes. However, the metal-containing layer 104 may also extend into this portion 190 if desired. On the underside of the reclosable sealing cover member 100 will also have a substantially paper-like appearance, provided that the first polymeric layer 106, the primer layer 112 and the adhesive layers 114, 116 are substantially transparent.