Hinged Lid Cigarette Packet with Filler for Ergonomic Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional 'Swinger' packets of cigarettes with a hinged lid provide high mechanical protection but are not ergonomic when containing a small group of cigarettes, making it difficult to grip and extract due to a reduced extraction opening size.
Innovation Solution
A packet design featuring a parallelepiped-shaped container with a cup-shaped lid and an inner package wrapped in metallized paper, including a filler to occupy space and enhance ergonomics, allowing for easy grip and extraction of cigarettes through a larger extraction opening.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a traditional Swinger packet with a hinged lid is used to contain a small group of cigarettes, then mechanical protection is high, but ergonomics deteriorates making it difficult to grip and extract cigarettes
Solution Approach 1:
The packet is divided into two separate box-shaped members (container and lid) that can be independently manipulated. The container houses the cigarettes while the lid provides protection, allowing the user to hold the container steady while accessing cigarettes through the extraction opening, thus resolving the ergonomic issue while maintaining mechanical protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge connection acts as an intermediary element between the container and lid, allowing relative movement while maintaining structural integrity. This enables the lid to be opened for access while the container remains stable in the user's hand, solving the contradiction between protection and ease of operation.
2Volume of moving object
If the group of cigarettes is reduced in size (fewer cigarettes or slim cigarettes), then the packet size is reduced, but the extraction opening size is reduced making it difficult to insert fingers
Solution Approach 1:
The extraction opening is designed with specific local characteristics - it is formed in part through the top wall and in part through the front wall, creating an optimized geometry that maintains adequate finger access even when the overall packet size is reduced. This localized design adjustment resolves the contradiction between compact size and accessibility.
3Volume of moving object
If a smaller container is used to house a small group of cigarettes, then the packet becomes more compact, but mechanical strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The container and lid are designed as nested box-shaped members of similar size that can be contained one inside the other when closed. This nesting arrangement provides a double protective shell effect, maintaining high mechanical strength even when the container itself is smaller to accommodate fewer cigarettes.
Data Source
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AI summary
Rigid packet (1) of smoking articles having: a container (2), which has a front wall (6), a rear wall (7), a top wall (8), a bottom wall (9) and two lateral walls (10), and is provided with an extraction opening (11); an inner package (4) enclosing a group (5) of smoking articles, is housed inside the container (2) and is transversely smaller than the container (2); a parallelepiped-shaped lid (3) which is hinged to the container (2) along a hinge (16) arranged at one longitudinal edge defined between the rear wall (7) and a lateral wall (10) of the container (2), and has a front wall (12), a top wall (13), a bottom wall (14), and two lateral walls (15); and a parallelepiped-shaped filler (17), which is located inside the container (2) alongside the inner package (4).