Packing machine and packing method for producing an inner container of a slide-open package of tobacco articles and with a hinged lid

Abstract

Packing machine and packing method for producing an inner container of a slide-open package of tobacco articles and with hinged lid by folding an inner blank about a wrapped group of tobacco articles; by way of a packing conveyor the inner blank is fed along a packing path and through a first work station, wherein portions of the inner blank are folded by way of a folding device provided with a body which is movable in a work direction perpendicular to the packing path; the folding body has a center member, two top side members, and two bottom side members which are arranged in different positions in the first work direction to perform in succession respective folds of the inner blank while the folding body moves with a continuous movement along the first work direction.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a packing machine and a packing method for producing an inner container of a slide-open package of tobacco articles and with a hinged lid.PRIOR ART[0002]The rigid packages of cigarettes with a hinged lid are currently the most widespread cigarette packages in the market as they are of simple construction, easy and practical to use and offer good mechanical protection to the cigarettes contained within.[0003]Besides the aforementioned rigid packages of cigarettes with a hinged lid, packages of cigarettes have been proposed with rigid slide-open (or sliding) covers comprising two containers inserted one inside the other in a separable way. In other words, a package of cigarettes with rigid slide-opening comprises an inner container, which is adapted to accommodate a wrapped group of cigarettes in a wrapping sheet of metalized paper and is housed within an outer container so as to be able to slide with respect to the outer container...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention relates to a machine and method for packing tobacco articles into a slide-open package with a hinged lid. The purpose is to provide a simpler and more cost-effective way of producing these packages, without the drawbacks of previous methods.

Problems solved by technology

It was observed that the known current mode used for producing the packages of cigarettes of the slide-opening type and with a hinged lid does not allow to achieve high productivity (i.e. a high number of packages of cigarettes produced per unit of time), especially if it is necessary to maintain a high quality standard.

Consequently, the known packing machines used for producing packages of cigarette of the slide-open type and with a hinged lid are excessively slow and suitable to produce only limited batches for special series.

Additionally, but not less important, the known packing machines used for producing packages of cigarettes of the slide-opening type and with a hinged lid are not “flexible”, i.e. it is very complicated to modify a packing machine which produces a certain type of slide-opening cigarette package (with or without a hinged lid) to produce another type of slide-opening cigarette package (with or without a hinged lid).

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