CONTAINER WITH WRAPPER WITH REMOVABLE PORTION

Abstract

A container of consumer goods (18) comprises a housing (10) comprising a box (12) and a lid (14) closing the box. The consumer goods are wrapped in a wrapper (20) and contained within the housing (10), the wrapper (20) being partially exposed when the lid (14) is open and having a removable portion (22) that can be removed when the lid (14) is open to expose the consumer goods (18). The removable portion (22) of the wrapper (20) has a first part that is visible when the lid (14) is open and a second part that underlies one or more walls of the box (12) and is not visible when the lid (14) is open and the second part of the removable portion (22) of the wrapper (20) carries one or more indicia that are visually distinct from the part of the wrapper (20) that is exposed when the lid (14) is open.

Claims

1. A container of consumer goods comprising: a housing comprising a box and a lid closing the box; and one or more consumer goods wrapped in a wrapper and contained within the housing, the wrapper being partially exposed when the lid is open and having a removable portion that can be removed when the lid is open to expose the consumer goods, the removable portion of the wrapper having a first part that is visible when the lid is open and a second part that underlies one or more walls of the box and is not visible when the lid is open, wherein the second part of the removable portion of the wrapper carries one or more indicia that are visually distinct from the part of the wrapper that is exposed when the lid is open.

2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the first part of the wrapper carries one or more indicia, and wherein the one or more indicia on the second part of the wrapper are visually distinct from the one or more indicia on the first part of the wrapper.

3. A container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein one or more parts of the wrapper that are visible upon opening the housing lid carry a portion of an overall indicia, and wherein another portion of the overall indicia is carried by the second part of the removable portion of the wrapper.

4. A container according to any preceding claim in which the lid extends from the box along a hinge line across a back wall of the housing, in which the lid is moveable between an open position and a closed position in which a front wall of the lid and a front wall of the box together define a front wall of the housing opposite the back wall of the housing.

5. A container according to any preceding claim, wherein the second part of the removable portion of the wrapper underlies a front wall of the box.

6. A container according to any preceding claim in which the area of the second part of the removable portion of the wrapper is at least 10 percent of the area of the removable portion of the wrapper.

7. A container according to any preceding claim in which the removable portion of the wrapper comprises a front panel and at least 20 percent of the area of the front panel of the removable portion of the wrapper underlies a front wall of the box.

8. A container according to any preceding claim wherein the removable portion of the wrapper comprises a front panel and the height of the front panel of the removable tab portion corresponds to at least 30 percent of the height of the housing.

9. A container according to any preceding claim wherein the one or more consumer goods is a plurality of smoking articles.

10. A container according to any preceding claim in which the second part of the removable portion of the wrapper has a surface area of at least 800 square millimetres.

11. A container according to any preceding claim in which the length of the second part of the removable portion of the wrapper is at least 15 percent of the length of the housing.

12. A container according to any preceding claim in which the wrapper includes a line of weakness along which the removable portion of the wrapper can be detached from the rest of the wrapper.

13. A container according to any preceding claim in which the box portion comprises a box front wall having a top edge that defines an edge of an opening through which consumer goods can be removed from the container when the lid is in the open position, and wherein the distance between the top edge of the box front wall and the line of weakness defining the removable portion of the wrapper is at least 10 millimetres.

14. A container according to claim 12 or 13 in which the line of weakness comprises a line of perforations.

15. A container according to any preceding claim wherein the one or more consumer goods is a plurality of smoking articles.

Description

[0035] The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to the following drawings, in which:

[0036] FIGS. 1a and 1b show a container according to a first embodiment of the first aspect of the invention.

[0037] FIGS. 1a and 1b show an embodiment of the invention in the form of a hinge lid cigarette pack 10 comprising a pack body 12 to which a lid 14 is hinged along the back wall and an inner frame 16 disposed inside the pack body 12. A bundle of cigarettes 18 wrapped in an inner liner or wrapper 20 is inside the pack. The inner liner is of a laminar material such as metal foil or a laminate of metal foil and paper. The hinge lid pack 10 may be formed from a card blank. The blank is folded around a bundle of cigarettes 18 wrapped in an inner liner 20. The inner liner is folded around the bundle of cigarettes, typically ten or twenty in number, and closed at the top (as viewed in the drawings) with an envelope fold. The inner liner 20 extends partly over the sides of the bundle.

[0038] The inner liner 20 includes a removable portion 22 disposed at the front (as viewed in the drawings) of the pack so that when the pack is open, the removable portion 20 of the inner liner is visible, as shown in FIG. 1a.

[0039] FIG. 1a shows the pack 10 immediately after it has been first opened, after the outer overwrap (not shown) has been removed. The entire inner liner 20 is in place in the pack. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the part of the inner liner that is visible when the pack is first opened does not carry any indicia. In other embodiments, this part of the inner liner can carry indicia, such as trade mark material, including logos, or purely decorative material. The removable portion 22 of the liner is defined from the rest of the inner liner 20 by a line of perforations or other line of weakness (not shown). When the pack 10 is first opened, the free top edge portion 24 of the removable portion 22 of the inner liner 20, at the top end of the bundle of cigarettes, can be grasped and pulled and so detached from the rest of the inner liner and removed from the pack.

[0040] FIG. 1b shows the pack 10 open with the removable portion 22 of the inner liner removed. The part of the removable portion 22 that was not visible before removal carries indicia 26, in this embodiment a picture; the indicia may be of any kind, such as trade mark material, a picture or any other visual indicia, that are visually different from any indicia carried on the part of the inner wrapper 20 that is visible when pack is first opened.

[0041] As can be seen in FIG. 1b, in this embodiment about 50 percent of the removable portion 22 of the inner liner 20 underlies the inner frame 16 and the front wall 28 of the pack 10. This allows the removable portion 22 of the inner liner 20 to carry more information or other indicia than is the case for conventional containers. As is also seen in FIG. 1b, the height of the front panel of the removable portion (that is, the portion extending below the free top edge portion 24) corresponds to about 50 percent of the height of the pack.