Container for consumer goods with sliding inner frame

Abstract

A container (10) for consumer goods, the container comprising: an outer housing comprising a box portion (12), a lid portion (14) moveable between a closed position and an open position, and a hinged connector (16) connecting the box portion (12) and the lid portion (14); a plurality of consumer goods (20) received within the box portion (12); and an inner frame (18) slidably received within the outer housing and positioned between the plurality of consumer goods (20) and the box portion (12). The inner frame (18) is slidable between a lowered position and a raised position and comprises an inner frame front wall (36), an inner frame back wall (38), opposed inner frame side walls and a lifting element (48), depending from the bottom edge of a wall of the inner frame (18) and extending into the opening at the bottom end of the inner frame. At least part of the lifting element (18) is positioned between a box portion bottom wall and the consumer goods. The lid portion (14) depends along a first hinge line (30) from the hinged connector and along a second hinge line (44) from the inner frame (18) so that the inner frame (18) slides between the lowered position and the raised position as the lid portion (14) moves between the closed position and the open position.

Claims

1. A container for consumer goods, the container comprising: an outer housing comprising a box portion, a lid portion moveable between a closed position and an open position, and a hinged connector connecting the box portion and the lid portion; a plurality of consumer goods received within the box portion; and an inner frame slidably received within the outer housing and positioned between the plurality of consumer goods and the box portion, wherein the inner frame is slidable between a lowered position and a raised position, wherein the inner frame comprises an inner frame front wall, an inner frame back wall, opposed inner frame side walls and an opening at the bottom end, and wherein the inner frame further comprises a lifting element depending from the bottom edge of a wall of the inner frame and extending into the opening at the bottom end of the inner frame, at least part of the lifting element being positioned between a box portion bottom wall and the consumer goods such that sliding the inner frame from the lowered position towards the raised position engages the lifting element with a selection of the plurality of consumer goods and lifts the selection of consumer goods away from the box portion bottom wall, wherein the lid portion depends along a first hinge line from the hinged connector and along a second hinge line from the inner frame so that the inner frame slides between the lowered position and the raised position as the lid portion moves between the closed position and the open position.

2. The container according to claim 1 wherein the hinged connector depends along a third hinge line from the box portion.

3. The container according to claim 1 wherein the hinged connector forms at least a part of a lid portion back wall.

4. The container according to claim 3 wherein the lid portion comprises a lid portion top wall and a lid portion back wall and wherein the hinged connector is formed of an intermediate panel of the lid portion back wall, the intermediate panel depending along the first hinge line from the lid portion top wall and along the third hinge line from the box portion.

5. The container according to claim 1 wherein the lid portion comprises a first lid portion back panel depending along the second hinge line from the inner frame back wall and a second lid portion back panel depending along the second hinge line from the inner frame back wall and wherein the hinged connector extends between the first and second lid portion back panels.

6. The container according to claim 5 wherein the lid portion comprises a lid portion back wall and wherein the first lid portion back panel, the second lid portion back panel and the hinged connector are formed from a part of the lid portion back wall.

7. The container according to claim 5 wherein the inner frame further comprises an inner frame connector panel depending along the second hinge line from the inner frame back wall and wherein the inner frame connector panel is affixed to the inner surface of the first and second lid portion back panels.

8. The container according to claim 1 wherein the lifting element depends from a bottom edge of the inner frame front wall.

9. The container according to claim 8 wherein the lifting element comprises a bottom lift panel positioned between the box portion bottom wall and the consumer goods and at least one side lift panel extending from the bottom lift panel between consumer goods.

10. The container according to claim 1 wherein the lid portion has both a pivotal movement and a translational movement relative to the box portion as the lid portion moves between the closed position and the open position.

11. The container according to claim 1 further comprising an inner wrapper wrapped around the plurality of consumer goods, the inner wrapper comprising an aperture in a position corresponding to the lifting element of the inner frame such that the lifting element can contact the selection of consumer goods through the aperture.

12. The container according to claim 11 wherein the inner wrapper is affixed to the inner surface of the box portion bottom wall.

13. The container according to claim 1 wherein the outer housing is formed of a single laminar blank.

14. The container according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of consumer goods comprises a plurality of aerosol-generating articles.

15. A method for producing a container, the method comprising the steps of: providing a first laminar blank having a box-defining portion, a lid-defining portion and a hinged connector between the box-defining portion and the lid-defining portion, wherein the lid-defining portion depends along a first hinge line from the hinged connector; providing a second laminar blank comprising a frame-defining portion and one or more lift panels for defining a lifting element, wherein the frame-defining portion comprises a frame front wall panel, a frame back wall panel, a first frame side wall panel and a second frame side wall panel, and wherein the one or more lift panels depend from the bottom edge of a wall panel of the frame-defining portion; wrapping the second laminar blank around a plurality of consumer goods such that the lifting element is positioned underneath a selection of the consumer goods; assembling the first laminar blank around the inner frame to form the box portion, lid portion and hinged connector of the outer housing; and connecting the lid portion to the inner frame such that the lid portion depends from the inner frame about a second hinge line.

Description

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

(2) FIG. 1 shows a front perspective view of a container in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, with the lid portion in the closed position;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a back perspective view of the container of FIG. 1, with the lid portion in the closed position;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a front perspective view of the container of FIGS. 1 and 2, with the lid portion in the open position and the inner frame in the raised position;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a back perspective view of the container of FIGS. 1 to 3, with the lid in a slightly open position;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the inner frame of the container of FIGS. 1 to 4;

(7) FIG. 6 shows a plan view of a laminar blank for forming the outer housing of the container of FIGS. 1 to 4; and

(8) FIG. 7 shows a plan view of a laminar blank for forming the inner frame of the container of FIGS. 1 to 4.

(9) FIGS. 1 to 4 show a container 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The container 10 comprises a box portion 12, a lid portion 14 and a hinged connector 16 connecting the box portion 12 to the lid portion 14. An inner frame 18 is slidably received within the box portion 12 and a bundle of elongate smoking articles 20 is received within the inner frame 18. The bundle of smoking articles 20 is wrapped in an inner wrapper 22 positioned between the bundle of smoking articles 20 and the inner frame 18.

(10) The lid portion 14 comprises a lid front wall, opposed lid side walls, a lid top wall 24 and a lid back wall 26. As shown in FIG. 2, the lid back wall 26 is formed of three adjacent panels: an intermediate panel forming the hinged connector 16 and a pair of lid portion back panels 28 on either side of the intermediate panel. The three panels of the lid back wall 26 are defined by a pair of vertical cut lines extending between the top and bottom edges of the lid portion back wall 26. The hinged connector 16 is connected to the lid top wall 24 along a first hinge line 30 extending along the top edge of the lid back wall 26. The lid portion back panels 28 are each affixed to the inner frame 18, as described in more detail below.

(11) The lid portion 14 is pivotable between the closed position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the fully open position shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 4, the lid portion 14 is shown partially open.

(12) The box portion 12 comprises a box front wall, opposed box side walls, a box bottom wall and a box back wall 32. The hinged connector 16 is connected to the box back wall 32 along a third hinge line 34 extending transversely across the back face of the container, in approximately the position of the hinge line of a conventional hinge lid container. The third hinge line 34 extends across the full width of the container 10 such that the lid portion back panels 28 are also connected to the box back wall 32 along the third hinge line 34.

(13) As shown in FIG. 5, the inner frame 18 comprises a frame front wall 36, opposed frame side walls and a frame back wall 38 formed of two frame back wall panels 40. In the assembled container, the inner frame 18 surrounds the wrapped bundle of smoking articles 20 and the walls of the inner frame 18 underlie the corresponding walls of the box portion 12.

(14) As shown in the figures, the top part of the inner frame 18 protrudes above the top edge of the box portion 12 and the frame front wall comprises a cut out 42 at the top, to facilitate removal of the smoking articles 20 from the container.

(15) The inner frame back wall 38 comprises a second hinge line 44 extending transversely across the inner frame back wall 38 at a distance from the top edge. The second hinge line 44 defines an inner frame connector panel 46 at the top of each frame back wall panel 40. In the assembled container 10, the inner frame connector panels 46 are each affixed to the inner surface of a corresponding lid portion back wall panel 28 such that the lid portion 14 is pivotable about the second hinge line 44. The height of the inner frame connector panels 46 substantially corresponds to the height of the lid portion back wall panels 28 such that the inner frame connector panels 46 overlie the lid portion back wall panels 28.

(16) The inner frame 18 is mounted within the box portion but is not affixed to the box portion 12 in any way and is therefore free to slide upwards and downwards within the box portion 12.

(17) In the closed position of the lid portion 14, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the container 10 has a rectangular parallelepipedal shape in which the walls of the lid portion 14 form substantially continuous extensions of the corresponding walls of the box portion 12. The closed container 10 has substantially the same appearance as a conventional hinge lid container without a hinged connector. In this position, the inner frame 18 is in the lowered position with the lifting element 48 at the bottom of the box portion 12, adjacent the box bottom wall.

(18) As the lid portion 14 moves towards the open position shown in FIG. 3, the lid portion 14 pivots backwards relative to the hinged connector 16 about the first hinge line 30 and additionally pivots backwards relative to the inner frame 18 and the bundle of smoking articles 20 about the second hinge line 44. The hinged connector 16 pivots backwards relative to the box portion 12 about the third hinge line 34 such that the entire lid portion 14 moves backwards and away from the box portion 12. The connection between the lid portion 14 and the inner frame 18 means that as the lid portion 14 is moved towards the open position, the inner frame 18 is pulled upwards, away from the box bottom wall. FIG. 3 shows the container 10 with the lid portion 14 in an open position and the inner frame 18 in the raised position. In this position, the inner frame 18 is raised to the maximum extent out of the box portion 12. The inner frame 18 is prevented from further movement in an upwards direction since further movement of the lid portion 14 is restricted as a result of the connection of the lid portion 14 to the box portion 12.

(19) As shown in FIG. 5, the inner frame 18 comprises a lifting element 48 which depends from the bottom edge of the frame front wall 36 and is formed as an integral part of the inner frame 18. The lifting element 48 comprises a triangular bottom lift panel 50 extending substantially horizontally from the bottom edge of the frame front wall 36 and a triangular side lift panel 52 extending substantially vertically upwards from the bottom lift panel 50. In the assembled container 10, the bottom lift panel 50 underlies a single smoking article 54 within the bundle and the side lift panel 52 extends upwards, alongside that single smoking article 54.

(20) The inner wrapper 22 surrounding the smoking articles 20 includes an aperture (not shown) to allow the bottom lift panel 50 and the side lift panel 52 to directly contact the smoking article. As the inner frame 18 moves upwards towards the raised position shown in FIG. 3, the lifting element 48 pushes the smoking article 54 supported on the bottom lift panel 50 in an upwards direction such that it is raised upwards relative to the remaining smoking articles 20 in the bundle.

(21) The bottom of the inner wrapper 22 is affixed to the inner surface of the box bottom wall, away from the position of the aperture, to ensure that the remainder of the bundle of smoking articles 20 remains at the bottom of the box portion 12 as the single smoking article 54 is raised.

(22) FIG. 6 shows a single laminar blank 110 for forming the box portion 12, lid portion 14 and hinged connector 16 of the container 10. The laminar blank 110 comprises a box-defining portion 112 for forming the box portion 12, a lid-defining portion for forming the lid portion 14. The dashed lines are used to indicate fold lines whilst the solid lines indicate cut lines. As shown in FIG. 6, the lid back wall panel 126 comprises a pair of substantially vertical cut lines 127 extending between the first hinge line 30 and the third hinge line 34. These cut lines 127 define the hinged connector 16 in the centre of the lid back wall panel 126 and the lid portion back panels 28 on either side of the hinged connector 16.

(23) FIG. 7 shows a single laminar blank 118 for forming the inner frame 18 of the container 10 including the lifting element 48. The laminar blank 118 comprises a frame front wall panel 136, opposed frame side wall panels and two frame back wall panels 140 at each side of the blank 118. A second hinge line 44 extends across each of the frame back wall panels 140 to define the inner frame connector panels 46 as described above. An area of adhesive 47 is provided on each inner frame connector panel 46 to affix it to the inner surface of the corresponding lid portion back panel 28 when the container 10 is assembled.

(24) As shown in FIG. 7, the bottom 50 and side 52 lift panels for defining the lifting element 48 extend from the bottom edge of the frame front wall panel 136 and are connected to each other along a fold line 51. A tab 53 depending from the side lift panel 52 along the bottom edge of the frame front wall panel 136 is cut away from the remainder of the frame front wall panel 136. In order to form the three-dimensional lifting element 48, the tab 53 is separated from the remainder of the frame front wall panel 136, rotated anticlockwise by 90 degrees and adhered to the inner or outer surface of the frame front wall panel 136, in a position adjacent to the position in which the tab 53 was originally defined. This causes the side lift panel 52 to be folded upwards at 90 degrees to the bottom lift panel 50 about the fold line 51, as shown in FIG. 5.

(25) In order to form the assembled container 10, the inner frame 18 is folded around the wrapped bundle of smoking articles 20 in the inner wrapper 22 with the lifting element 48 assembled as described above such that the bottom lift panel 50 lies beneath one of the smoking articles within the bundle. The laminar blank 110 is then folded around the inner frame 18 and the bundle of smoking articles 20 to form the box portion 12 and the lid portion 14. This may be done using conventional assembly techniques with the only required modification being to apply adhesive to the inner frame connector panels such that they are affixed to the inner surface of the corresponding lid portion back panels 28 upon assembly of the lid portion 14.