METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MARKING A PACKAGE OF ARTICLES

Abstract

A method of marking a package of articles, especially consumer articles, such as cigarettes or the like, includes providing a package of one or more article and a first wrapping material. The package is wrapped with the first wrapping material. A marking is provided on a region of the enclosure. The step of providing a marking on the region of the enclosure includes irradiating the wrapped package with a laser beam, and the first wrapping material is substantially transparent to the laser beam, at least in the region to be marked. An apparatus for marking a package of articles, such as a pack of cigarettes, is also described.

Claims

1. A method of marking a package of articles, the method comprising the following method steps: providing a package of one or more articles, the package comprising an enclosure that accommodates the one or more articles; providing a first wrapping material and wrapping the package with the first wrapping material; and providing a marking on a region of the enclosure after wrapping the package with the first wrapping material; wherein the step of providing a marking on the region of the enclosure comprises irradiating the wrapped package with a laser beam, wherein the first wrapping material is substantially transparent to the laser beam, at least in the region to be marked.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the region of the enclosure includes a surface or coating which is sensitive to irradiation with the laser beam, such that the laser beam marks the region.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the packages are provided and wrapped with the first wrapping material, the method further comprising: at least one of collecting and arranging the plurality of wrapped packages into a group; and providing a second wrapping material and wrapping the group of wrapped packages with the second wrapping material before the step of providing a marking on a region of the enclosure of at least one, and preferably each, wrapped package; wherein the second wrapping material is substantially transparent to the laser beam, at least in each region.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first wrapping material and the second wrapping material is substantially unaffected by the laser beam.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the enclosure of the package comprises a material selected from the group of: paper, card, cardboard, and plastic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the laser beam has a wavelength in the range of about 1000 m to 1100 m.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the laser beam has a power in the range of about 1 W to about 100 W.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the laser beam is irradiated onto the wrapped package via one or more wave guides and via one or more optical fibres.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first wrapping material and the second wrapping material is selected from the group consisting of: polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester, polyvinylchloride, and bioplastic such as polylactic acid, cellulose acetate, and cellophane.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the marking provided with the laser beam comprises at least one of a code and data specific to the one or more articles.

11. A wrapped package of one or more articles, wherein the package comprises a laser marking obtained by a method, comprising the method steps: providing a package of one or more articles, the package comprising an enclosure that accommodates the one or more articles; providing a first wrapping material and wrapping the package with the first wrapping material; and providing a marking on a region of the enclosure after wrapping the package with the first wrapping material; wherein the step of providing a marking on the region of the enclosure comprises irradiating the wrapped package with a laser beam, wherein the first wrapping material is substantially transparent to the laser beam, at least in the region to be marked.

12. An apparatus for marking a package of articles, wherein the package comprises an enclosure which accommodates the articles, wherein the package is wrapped with a wrapping material that substantially surrounds the enclosure; the apparatus comprising: a marking unit comprising a laser for irradiating the wrapped package with a laser beam to provide a marking on a region of the enclosure, wherein the wrapping material is substantially transparent to the laser beam, at least in the region to be marked.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the laser generates a laser beam having at least one of a wavelength in the range of about 1000 m to 1100 m, and a power in the range of about 1 W to 100 W.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, comprising a wrapping unit that is configured to wrap the package with the wrapping material, so that the wrapping material substantially covers or surrounds the enclosure.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, comprising a bundling unit comprised in the wrapping unit for at least one of collecting and arranging a plurality of packages into a group and wrapping the group of packages in the wrapping material.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the surface or coating of the region includes an ink layer that is sensitive to the laser beam.

17. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of the packages are provided individually or separately wrapped with the first wrapping material.

18. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the first wrapping material and the second wrapping material is neither burnt nor broken by the laser beam.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the laser is a fiber laser.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the laser beam is irradiated onto the wrapped package as an image via a stencil, diaphragm, or screen.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the bundling unit is comprised in the wrapping unit and is configured to wrap the group of packages in the wrapping material.

Description

[0031] For a more complete understanding of the invention and the advantages thereof, exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which:

[0032] FIG. 1 is a partial schematic side view of part of an apparatus for marking a package of articles according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0033] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus for marking a package of articles according to an embodiment of the invention; and

[0034] FIG. 3 is a flow chart which represents a method of marking a package of articles according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0035] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate particular embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention and many of the attendant advantages of the invention will be readily appreciated as they become better understood with reference to the following detailed description.

[0036] It will be appreciated that common and well understood elements that may be useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are not necessarily depicted in order to facilitate a more abstracted view of the embodiments. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily illustrated to scale relative to each other. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps in an embodiment of a method may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrences while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used in the present specification have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study, except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

[0037] With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of the drawings, an apparatus 1 for marking a package of articles, such as a pack P of cigarettes (not shown), according to an embodiment of the invention is illustrated. The pack P comprises an enclosure 2, especially a box-like container, typically comprised of paper, cardboard, or card, that accommodates the cigarettes. The apparatus 1 comprises a wrapping unit 3 which is configured to wrap the pack P of cigarettes with a first wrapping material 4 such that the first wrapping material 4 substantially fully covers or encompasses the box-like container or enclosure 2. Further, the apparatus 1 includes a marking unit 5 comprising a laser L for irradiating the wrapped pack P with a laser beam B to provide a marking M on a region R of the enclosure 2 to be marked. In this embodiment, the marking M may, for example, include a batch code and/or expiry data specific to the packaged cigarettes. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the first wrapping material 4 comprises a polymer film, such as a polypropylene film, and is substantially transparent to the laser beam B, such that the film 4 remains largely unaffected by the laser beam B.

[0038] As can be seen in FIG. 1, the laser beam B generated by the laser L is irradiated onto the wrapped package P via a wave guide, and especially via an optical fibre F such that the laser L may be a fibre laser. The laser beam B generated by the laser L typically has a discrete or specific wavelength, which may be in the range of about 1000 m to 1100 m, and is preferably about 1062 m. Furthermore, the laser L preferably has a power in the range of about 20 to 50 W, e.g. about 30 W. Because the outer surface of the pack P of cigarettes, at least in the region R to be marked, includes a coating C, such as an ink layer, which is sensitive to irradiation with the laser beam B, the laser L of the marking unit 5 is configured to mark or inscribe that region R of the box-like container 2 of the cigarette pack P when it is projected or irradiated on that region R through the film of polypropylene wrapping material 4. The marking may, for example, occur by the removal of the coating C by the laser beam B, which in turn generates contrast by exposing the substrate below the coating C.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the apparatus 1 further includes a bundling unit 6 for collecting and arranging a plurality of separately or individually wrapped packs P from the wrapping unit 3 into a group and wrapping that group of packs P in a second wrapping material 7. In this regard, the bundling unit 6 optionally comprises a part of the wrapping unit 3, such that the plurality of packs P are only ready to be marked with the laser L of the marking unit 5 after those packs P have been wrapped as a group. Accordingly, the second wrapping material 7 is typically also substantially transparent to the laser beam B and comprises a polypropylene film substantially the same as the first wrapping material 4. The thickness of the first material and the second material is preferably in the range of about 5 m to about 75 m, and more preferably in the range of about 18 m to about 25 m. In one embodiment, the group of packs P wrapped with the second material 7 may need to be transferred or transported to the marking unit 5.

[0040] Finally, with reference now to FIG. 3 of the drawings, a flow diagram is shown that schematically illustrates steps in a method of marking a pack P of smoking articles according to a preferred embodiment of the invention as described above with respect to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. In this regard, the first box i of FIG. 3 represents the step of providing a pack P of smoking articles, such as cigarettes, with the pack P comprising an enclosure 2, and especially a container, that accommodates the cigarettes. The second box ii represents a step of providing a first wrapping film 4 and wrapping the pack P with the first wrapping film 4 such that it covers at least a region R of the pack to be marked, and preferably substantially entirely covers the pack P. The third box iii then represents the step of collecting and/or arranging a plurality of the wrapped packs P into a group and wrapping that group of pre-wrapped packs P with a second wrapping material 7, so that the second wrapping material 7 substantially entirely covers or encompasses the whole group of the packs P. The final box iv in FIG. 3 represents the step of providing a marking M on the region R of the enclosure 2 of each pack P after wrapping the group of packs P with the second wrapping film 7. This step of marking the region R of the enclosure 2 of each pack P includes irradiating each wrapped pack P with a laser beam B to create the marking M, whereby both of the first and second wrapping materials 4, 7 are substantially transparent to and/or unaffected by the laser beam. After this, the method may further include the step of transferring or transporting the group of marked packs P to a dispatch station for final packing in a shipping carton for dispatch to customers.

[0041] Although specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations exist. It should be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration in any way. Rather, the foregoing summary and detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing at least one exemplary embodiment, it being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described in an exemplary embodiment without departing from the scope as set forth in the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Generally, this application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific embodiments discussed herein.

[0042] In this document, the terms comprise, comprising, include, including, contain, containing, have, having, and any variations thereof, are intended to be understood in an inclusive (i.e. non-exclusive) sense, such that the process, method, device, apparatus or system described herein is not limited to those features or parts or elements or steps recited but may include other elements, features, parts or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the terms a and an used herein are intended to be understood as meaning one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise. Moreover, the terms first, second, third, etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on or to establish a certain ranking of importance of their objects.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0043] 1 apparatus [0044] 2 enclosure or container [0045] 3 wrapping unit [0046] 4 first wrapping material [0047] 5 marking unit [0048] 6 bundling unit [0049] 7 second wrapping material [0050] P package or pack [0051] L laser [0052] B laser beam [0053] R region to be marked [0054] M marking [0055] C coating