IMPROVED ROUND CORNER CONTAINER

Abstract

A container for consumer articles is at least partially formed from a blank defining a portion of the container, which comprises a first and a second planar walls connected to one another by a curved edge portion. An inner surface of the curved edge portion defines an ablation area (A) having a length (L) in the longitudinal direction of the curved edge portion and a width (W) that extends along the curve of the curved edge portion. The ablation area comprises a plurality of pairs of ablation lines, all of which extend in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the curved edge portion. The distance (X) between two ablated zones in each pair as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area is less than the distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablated zones as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area.

Claims

1. A container for consumer articles, the container being at least partially formed from a laminar blank having a thickness (T), the laminar blank defining a portion of the container, which comprises at least a first planar wall and a second planar wall that are connected to one another by a curved edge portion; wherein the curved edge portion has an inner surface and an outer surface, and the inner surface of the curved edge portion defines an ablation area (A), the ablation area having a length (L) in the longitudinal direction of the curved edge portion and a width (W) that extends along the curve of the curved edge portion; and wherein the ablation area comprises a plurality of pairs of ablation lines, all the ablation lines extending in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the curved edge portion, wherein the distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area is less than the distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area.

2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair is less than about 1 millimetre.

3. A container according to claim 1, wherein the distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair is at least about 0.4 millimetres.

4. A container according to claim 1, wherein the distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines is less than about 1.2 millimetres.

5. A container according to claim 1, wherein the distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines is at least about 0.6 millimetres.

6. A container according to claim 1, wherein the distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair is between about 70 percent and about 85 percent of the distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines.

7. A container according to claim 1, wherein the ablated width (WA) of each ablated line is from about 0.01 millimetres to about 0.4 millimetres.

8. A container according to claim 1, wherein the ablated width (WA) of each ablated line is from about 0.05 millimetres to about 0.2 millimetres.

9. A container according to claim 1, wherein each of the ablation lines has a residual thickness of less than about 50 percent of the thickness (T) of the laminar blank.

10. A container according to claim 1, wherein each of the one or more ablation lines has a residual thickness of at least about 5 percent of the thickness (T) of the laminar blank.

11. A container according to claim 1, wherein the width (W) of the ablation area is between about 3 millimetres and about 10 millimetres.

12. A container according to claim 1, wherein the ablation area comprises at least a first pair of ablation lines proximate to the first planar wall and a second pair of ablation lines proximate to the second planar wall.

13. A container according to claim 1, wherein the ablation area comprises a first single ablation line and a second single ablation line proximate to the first planar wall and the second planar wall, respectively; the ablation area further comprising at least a first pair of ablation lines and a second pair of ablation lines extending between the first and the second single ablation line, wherein the distance (Z1) between the first pair of ablation lines and the first single ablation line or the distance (Z2) between the second pair of ablation lines and the second single ablation line or both is greater than the distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area.

14. A container according to claim 13, wherein the distance (Z1) between the first pair of ablation lines and the first single ablation line is at least about 0.6 millimetres.

15. A container according to claim 1, wherein the container has a spring-back force of less than about 10 milliNewton metres between the two planar walls that are connected by the curved edge portion.

16. A container according to claim 1, wherein the laminar blank forms at least a part of the container comprising a box portion having a box front wall, a box rear wall and box side walls extending between the box front wall and the box rear wall, and wherein the curved edge portion connects one of the box side walls to the box front wall or the box rear wall.

17. A container according to claim 1, wherein the laminar blank forms at least a part of the container comprising a lid portion having a lid front wall, a lid rear wall and lid side walls extending between the lid front wall and the lid rear wall, and wherein the curved edge portion connects one of the lid side walls to the lid front wall or the lid rear wall.

Description

[0061] The invention will be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0062] FIG. 1 depicts a sample portion of a laminar blank for use in determining the spring-back force of the blank;

[0063] FIG. 2 depicts an apparatus for determining the spring-back force of a blank;

[0064] FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an ablation area in a container or blank in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention; and

[0065] FIG. 4 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of an ablation area in a container or blank in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0066] The skilled person shall appreciate that, starting from a laminar blank, a container can be formed that is rectangular parallelepipedal in shape and comprises a box portion and a hinge lid connected to the box portion along a hinge line extending across the back wall of the container. The overall size and construction of the box and lid of the container shall be substantially the same as those of a standard hinge lid cigarette pack. The box portion shall comprises a box front wall, a box back wall, a box bottom wall, a box left side wall and a box right side wall. The hinge lid shall comprises a lid front wall, a lid back wall, a lid top wall, a lid left side wall and a lid left side wall. The hinge lid shall be pivotable about the hinge line between a closed position and an open position. In the closed position, the hinge lid shall cover an access opening of the container and the walls of the hinge lid shall form extensions of the corresponding walls of the box portion. In the open position, the hinge lid shall pivot about the hinge line to project backwardly from the box portion and the access opening at the top end of the box portion shall be fully uncovered. The box portion and the hinge lid may be formed together from a single laminar blank having a thickness T. The container may be assembled from the laminar blank and filled using standard apparatus.

[0067] In even more detail, the laminar blank shall define the box front wall that is connected to the box left side wall and the box right side wall by respective curved edge portions. The inner surface of each curved edge portion defines an ablation area, the features of which will be described in greater detail with reference to the Examples 1, 1A and 1B below.

Comparative Example 1

[0068] The inner surface of the curved edge portion defines an ablation area having 21 equally spaced ablation lines. Each ablation line had a width of approximately 0.1 mm, and a residual thickness of about 20 percent of the thickness (T) of the laminar blank. Upon folding, a smooth round corner was visible on the outer surface of the blank in the curved edge portion. Therefore, the arrangement of Comparative Example 1 was found to result in the formation of a smooth rounded corner, but has the drawback of a complex and lengthy manufacturing process, because numerous ablation lines are required.

Comparative Example 2

[0069] The inner surface of the curved edge portion defines an ablation area having 6 equally spaced ablation lines. Each ablation line had a width of approximately 0.1 mm, and a residual thickness of about 20 percent of the thickness (T) of the laminar blank. The spacing between adjacent ablation lines was about 1 millimetre. Upon folding, multiple facets became clearly visible on the outer surface of the blank in the curved edge portion, resulting in a non-even curvature.

EXAMPLE 1

[0070] The inner surface of the curved edge portion defines an ablation area (A) having a length (L) in the longitudinal direction of the curved edge portion and a width (W) that extends along the curve of the curved edge portion. The ablation area has 3 pairs of ablation lines, each line having an ablated width of about 0.1 millimetres, all the ablation lines extending in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the curved edge portion. The distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area is less than the distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area. In more detail, the distance (X) between two ablation lines in each pair as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area is about 0.8 millimetres. The distance (Y) between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines as measured along the width (W) of the ablation area is about 1 millimetre.

EXAMPLE 1A

[0071] As illustrated in FIG. 4, the ablation area A comprises a first pair 40 of ablation lines proximate to the box front wall 20 and a second pair 42 of ablation lines proximate to the box right wall 24. The distance X between two ablation lines in each of the pairs 40, 42 as measured along the width W of the ablation area is about 0.8 millimetres. Further, the ablation area comprises another pair 44 of ablation lines. The distance Y between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines, such as for example the distance between pair the 40 and the pair 44, as measured along the width W of the ablation area, is about 1 millimetre. When the blank of Example 1A was folded, a smooth round corner was visible on the outer surface of the blank in the curved edge portion.

EXAMPLE 1B

[0072] As illustrated in FIG. 5, the ablation area A comprises a first single ablation line 50 and a second single ablation line 52 proximate to the box front wall 20 and the box right wall 24, respectively. The ablation area A further comprising a first pair of ablation lines 54 and a second pair of ablation lines 56 extending between the first and the second single ablation lines 50, 52. The distance Z1 between the first pair of ablation lines 54 and the first single ablation line 50 is substantially equal to the distance Z2 between the second pair of ablation lines 56 and the second single ablation line 52.

[0073] In more detail, the distance Z1 between the first pair of ablation lines 54 and the first single ablation line 50 is about 1 millimetre. Further, the distance X between two ablation lines in each of the pairs 54, 56 as measured along the width W of the ablation area is about 0.8 millimetres. On the other hand, the distance between two adjacent pairs of ablation lines, such as for example the distance Y between the pair 54 and the pair 56, as measured along the width W of the ablation area, is about 1 millimetre. When the blank of Example 1B was folded, a smooth round corner was visible on the outer surface of the blank in the curved edge portion.