Hinge-lid container for consumer articles and a method to form a hinge-lid container

Abstract

A hinge-lid container for consumer articles is provided, the hinge-lid container defining an inner surface and an outer surface and including: a box configured to house the consumer articles; a lid hinged to the box along a hinge and being moveable between a closed position and an active position about the hinge, the hinge including a weakening line realized on the outer surface, the weakening line having a width between 0.1 millimetre and 1 millimetre; and an electric conductive trace provided on the outer surface, the weakening line passing through and interrupting the electric conductive trace, the electric conductive trace forming a closed circuit when the lid is in the active position and forming an open circuit when the lid is in the closed position. A method of forming a hinge-lid container for consumer articles is also provided.

Claims

1. A hinge-lid container for consumer articles, the hinge-lid container defining an inner surface and an outer surface and comprising: a box configured to house the consumer articles; a lid hinged to the box along a hinge and being moveable between a closed position and an active position about the hinge, the hinge comprising a weakening line realized on the outer surface, the weakening line having a width between 0.1 millimetre and 1 millimetre; and an electric conductive trace provided on the outer surface, the weakening line passing through and interrupting the electric conductive trace, wherein the electric conductive trace forms a closed circuit when the lid is in the active position and the electric conductive trace forms an open circuit when the lid is in the closed position.

2. The hinge-lid container according to claim 1, wherein the hinge-lid container is at least partly formed by folding a blank.

3. The hinge-lid container according to claim 2, wherein the lid and the box are formed by folding one piece of blank.

4. The hinge-lid container according to claim 2, wherein the blank has a thickness comprised between 200 micrometres and 400 micrometres.

5. The hinge-lid container according to claim 2, wherein the blank comprises a cellulose-fibre-based blank.

6. The hinge-lid container according to claim 1, further comprising a back wall having a thickness, the weakening line being formed in the back wall, wherein the weakening line has a minimal residual thickness of less than 40 percent of the thickness of the back wall of the hinge-lid container.

7. The hinge-lid container according to claim 1, further comprising an energy source and one or more of the following electric loads: a light source, a sensor, an antenna, a heating element, and an acoustic emitter, wherein the electric conductive trace, when forming a closed circuit, connects the energy source to the one or more electric loads.

8. The hinge-lid container according to claim 1, wherein the electric conductive trace has a grammage comprised between 1 gram per square metre and 50 grams per square metre.

9. The hinge-lid container according to claim 1, wherein the electric conductive trace has a width comprised between 0.1 millimetre and 25 millimetres.

10. The hinge-lid container according to claim 1, wherein the electric conductive trace interrupted by the weakening line defines a gap by a leading edge of the electric conductive trace and a tailing edge of the electric conductive trace, a width of the gap being smaller than a width of the weakening line.

11. A method of forming a hinge-lid container for consumer articles, the method comprising the steps of: providing a container blank defining an outer surface and an inner surface, the container blank comprising a box portion for forming a box and a lid portion for forming a lid; forming a weakening line on the outer surface having a width of between 0.1 millimetre and 1 millimetre, the weakening line forming a hinge for the lid portion so that the lid portion is movable from a closed position to an active position on the box; providing an electric conductive trace on the outer surface, including providing the electric conductive trace across the weakening line; and folding the container blank to form the hinge-lid container, wherein the electric conductive trace forms a closed circuit when the lid portion is in the active position and the electric conductive trace forms an open circuit when the lid portion is in the closed position.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of forming the weakening line on the outer surface includes ablating the outer surface.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of ablating the outer surface includes ablating the outer surface by a laser.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of energizing a load when forming the closed circuit.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of providing the hinge-lid container with an energy source.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the lid portion comprises a lid rear wall and the box comprises a box rear wall, and wherein the step of forming the closed circuit from the electric conductive trace when the lid is in the active position includes forming an angle smaller than 165 degrees between the lid rear wall and the box rear wall.

Description

(1) Examples will now be further described with reference to the Figures in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective view of a container according to the invention with some element removed and in a closed position;

(3) FIG. 2 is a simplified perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 with some element removed and in an active position;

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the container of FIG. 1 or 2 with more details in a closed position;

(5) FIGS. 4 and 5 depict a first and a second cross-sectional view of a portion of the container in the positions of FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively;

(6) FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are lateral views of the container of FIGS. 1 to 3 in different positions;

(7) FIGS. 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are perspective views of steps of the method for the realization of the container of FIGS. 1 to 3.

(8) FIGS. 1 to 3 shows a container 10 in accordance with the present invention.

(9) The container 10 has the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped and includes a box 14 and a lid 16. The box further comprises an hinge 17, allowing the lid to rotate about it. The container 10 defines a back wall 21, a front wall, a left side wall, a right side wall, a bottom wall 25 and a top wall 26.

(10) The box 14 comprises a box front wall 31, a box rear wall 32, a box base wall (corresponding to the bottom wall 25 of the container), a box left side wall 33 and a box right side wall 34. The lid 16 comprises a lid front wall 41, a lid rear wall 42, a lid top wall (corresponding to the top wall 26 of the container), a lid left side wall 43 and a lid left side wall 44. Lid rear wall 42 and box back wall 32 form the back wall 21 of the container 10. In the position of FIGS. 1 and 3, the lid 16 cover an access opening of the container 10 and the walls of the lid 16 form extensions of the corresponding walls of the box 14.

(11) Further, the container 10 defines an inner volume (not shown) containing for example a group of aerosol generating articles (not shown in the drawings). When the package 10 is closed, the lid 16 and the box 18 defines an opening line 19 which is the separation line between the lid portion and box portion. The opening line 19 is the geometrical continuation of the hinge line 17. The opening line 19 is formed on the left side wall, right side wall and the front wall.

(12) The container 10 is formed from a sheet blank 100 depicted in FIG. 9. The sheet blank 100 comprises a cellulose based layer comprising a cellulosic material. The blank 100 has a thickness 101 (shown in FIGS. 4 and 5), which preferably corresponds to the thickness of the back wall 21 of the container 10.

(13) The container 10 formed by suitably folding the sheet blank 100. The resulting container 10 may then also be wrapped using an outer wrapper in order to form a finished product (not shown) to contain consumer goods (not shown) as aerosol generating articles.

(14) With reference to FIGS. 1 to 8, the hinge line 17 comprises a weakening line 27 realized in the back wall 21. The weakening line 27 is part of the hinge line. The weakening line 27 is preferably an ablated line. Preferably, the weakening line 27 is a straight line. The back wall 21, where the weakening line 27 is formed, is designed to have a minimum residual thickness 102 (visible in FIG. 4) of from 15 percent to about 40 percent of the thickness 101 of the blank 100, and a width 103 of the weakening line equal to between 0.1 millimetres and 1 millimetre. The width 103 of the weakening line 27 is measured when the container 10 is closed, that is, the lid is in a closed position, as in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 6.

(15) As shown in FIG. 4, the weakening line 27 defines a groove 28.

(16) The lid 16 is hinged about the hinge line 17 extending across the back wall 21 of the container 10 and is pivotable between a closed position (shown for example in FIGS. 1 and 3) and an active position (shown for example in FIG. 2). The lid 16 in its movement from the closed position of FIGS. 1 and 3 to the active position of FIG. 2 rotates about the hinge line 17 and thus about the weakening line 27.

(17) In the closed configuration, as shown in FIG. 6, the lid rear wall 42 and the box rear wall 32 are coplanar. As shown in the side view of FIG. 6, this means that an angle 61 equal to 180 degrees is formed between the lid rear wall 42 and the box rear wall 32.

(18) When the container 10 is in the active position, as in FIGS. 2 and 5, the width of the weakening line 27 becomes substantially equal to zero.

(19) In addition to the weakening line 27, an electric conductive trace 50 is formed on the back wall 21 of the container 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the electric conductive trace 50 forms a circuit comprising an energy source 51, such as a battery, and an electric load 52. As shown in FIG. 3, the electric circuit formed by the electric conductive trace 50 is interrupted by the weakening line 27. The weakening line separates the electric circuit in a part 55 realized on the lid 16 and a part 56 on the box 14. The weakening line 27 cuts the circuit in two points.

(20) Therefore, when the lid 16 is in the closed position of FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 6, the weakening line 27 is interrupting any possible flow of current in the circuit 50. This is clearly visible in the enlarged view of FIG. 4, where the two parts 55, 56 of the circuit are shown separated from each other by the weakening line 27.

(21) If now the lid 16 is rotated, as shown in FIG. 7, a different angle 62 than a 180 degrees angle between the lid rear wall 42 and the box rear wall 32 is formed. When this angle becomes equal to the first active angle, the lid 16 is said to be in the active position as in FIGS. 2, 5 and 7, and the two parts 55, 56 of the electric conductive trace 50 forming the circuit are in contact (see in particular FIG. 5), the circuit 50 is closed and the load 52 may be energized by the energy source 51.

(22) Part 55 defines a leading edge 57 of the electric conductive trace 50, and the part 56 defines a tailing edge 58 of the electric conductive trace. The tailing edge and the leading edge 57, 58 are portions of the electric conductive trace 50 that tipped over the groove 28, entering partially in the same.

(23) In the closed position of FIG. 4, the two parts 55, 56 of the circuit 50, and in particular leading edge and tailing edge 57, 58, form a gap 104 having a width 105 smaller than the width 103 of the weakening line.

(24) When the lid 16 is rotated, then the weakening line 27 is compressed and the dimension of the width 103 decreases. Furthermore, the distance 105 between the two parts 55, 56 of the electric conductive trace 50 is narrower than the width 103, as depicted in FIG. 5, where the lid 16 is in the active position. The leading edge 57 and the tailing edge 58 come into contact with each other closing the gap 104. The contact between the first and second part 55, 56 of the circuit is increased due to the presence of the leading and tailing edge 57, 58.

(25) As shown in FIG. 8, the lid 16 can be further rotated about the weakening line to reach the open position, where the articles contained in the container 10 can be accessed by a user. In this open position, an angle 63 is formed between the lid rear wall 42 and the box rear wall 32. Preferably, the angle 63 is smaller than the first active angle 62.

(26) In the following, with reference to FIGS. 9 to 13, a method to form container 10 is detailed. The blank 100 is provided. The blank 100 is known in the field and it is for example made of cardboard (see FIG. 9). A laser 65 is also provided. The laser 65 emits a laser beam 66 on the blank 100. The laser beam 66 is moved above the blank 100 in order to form the ablated line 27 having the suitable dimensions and depth (see FIG. 10). A printing head 67 is then provided. The printing head 67 prints the electric conductive trace 50 on the blank. The shape of the electric conductive trace 50 is such that a circuit is formed (see FIGS. 11 and 12). The electric conductive trace 50 is also printed above the ablated line 27. The ink forming the electric conductive trace 50 may tip over into the groove 28 partly (see FIG. 4). However, the groove 28 when the blank is planar and not folded is interrupting the circuit 50.

(27) After the circuit has been printed, and an energy source 51 and a load 52 are also preferably provided (see again FIG. 12), the blank 100 is suitably folded as known in the art (see the partial folding of FIG. 13) in order to form the container of FIG. 3.