Cigarette Packet Filling Element with Locking Tabs
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cigarette packets with filling elements are unstable, leading to issues such as the filling element rising, becoming compressed, and losing its spacing function due to mechanical stresses, which affects the appearance and perceived solidity of the packet.
Innovation Solution
A cigarette packet design featuring a filling element made from a flat blank with specific cut lines and fold lines that create corner tabs, spacer tabs, and locking tabs to maintain the spacing function and prevent the filling element from compressing or rising, ensuring the packet looks and feels solid.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a filling element is used to occupy the free space in the cigarette packet, then the cigarettes are protected from mechanical stresses and tobacco fibres falling out, but the filling element becomes unstable and rises upwards, spoiling the appearance and making space accessible
Solution Approach 1:
The filling element is divided into multiple functional parts: an abutment wall for supporting cigarettes, flanks for lateral support, a top for closing the packet, corner tabs for securing the top, and spacer tabs for maintaining distance from the rear wall. This segmentation allows each part to perform its specific function while collectively providing stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The filling element is pre-assembled with all components (corner tabs, spacer tabs, locking tabs) attached to the abutment wall and flanks before insertion into the packet. This preliminary assembly ensures proper positioning and prevents instability during use.
2Ease of manufacture
If the filling element is made with simple structure, then it is easy to manufacture, but it becomes compressed with use, giving the consumer the impression that the packet is less solid
Solution Approach 1:
The filling element incorporates spacer tabs that are perpendicular to the flanks and connected to the abutment wall, creating a segmented structure that resists compression while maintaining simplicity in manufacturing. The spacer tabs act as structural supports without requiring complex assembly.
3Ease of manufacture
If the spacer tabs are made with inherent elasticity to allow folding, then they can be easily manufactured, but they spring back to the co-planar position, losing the spacing function
Solution Approach 1:
The locking tabs are designed to engage with the spacer tabs in advance, preventing the springback motion before it can occur. The locking mechanism applies a counteracting force that maintains the spacer tabs in their perpendicular position, ensuring the spacing function is preserved.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking tabs provide a pre-established mechanical constraint that cushions against the elastic recovery of the spacer tabs. This beforehand cushioning prevents the loss of spacing function by counteracting the springback effect.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
Packet (1) of cigarettes and to a method for making it. The packet comprises an outer case (2), an inner case (3) disposed inside the outer case and wrapped round a group of cigarettes; the inner case (3) has a transverse dimension which is smaller than the transverse dimension of the outer case (2) so as to form a cavity inside the outer case to accommodate a filling element (14) having an abutment wall (16), a top (15) connected to an upper end of the abutment wall (16), two flanks (18), a rear wall (17) connected to the top (15) and folded back to touch the edges of the flanks (18); two corner tabs (19), perpendicular to the abutment wall (16), are provided at opposite ends of the top (15) and in contact with the inside surface thereof.