Rigid Pack With Bottom Pull-Out Drawer For HeatStick Cigarettes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Rigid packs for new-generation smoke-free cigarettes, known as HeatStick, are difficult to handle due to their reduced height, which differs from traditional cigarette packs, making it hard to extract cigarettes from the pack.
Innovation Solution
A rigid pack design with a pull-out container at the bottom, allowing the pack to maintain a similar size to traditional packs while providing easy access to cigarettes, featuring a hinged lid and a sliding drawer for convenient extraction and storage of used cigarettes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the pack height is reduced to accommodate shorter HeatStick cigarettes, then the pack can house the new-generation cigarettes, but the pack becomes difficult to handle and the lid becomes too small to provide proper accessibility
Solution Approach 1:
The pack is segmented into two functional zones: an upper chamber for storing new cigarettes and a lower pull-out drawer for storing exhausted cigarettes. This segmentation allows the pack to maintain a reduced height suitable for HeatStick cigarettes while the pull-out drawer provides an extended accessible area, effectively resolving the contradiction between compact size and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention adds a horizontal dimension to the storage space by incorporating a pull-out drawer that extends outward from the front of the pack. This dimensional change allows the pack to provide adequate accessibility and handling surface area without increasing the overall height, thus resolving the contradiction between reduced height and ease of operation.
2Shape
If the lid size is reduced to maintain proper proportion with the cup-shaped body, then the pack proportions are balanced, but the lid becomes too small for proper accessibility to cigarettes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the cigarette storage function from the access function. The lid maintains its reduced size to preserve proper pack proportions, while the pull-out drawer provides the necessary accessible surface area. This segmentation allows both the proportional balance and the accessibility requirements to be satisfied simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The pull-out drawer acts as an intermediary element between the user and the cigarette storage chamber. It provides the necessary surface area for handling and accessing cigarettes without requiring the lid to be enlarged, thus resolving the contradiction between pack proportion and lid accessibility.
3Device complexity
If the pack uses a traditional hinged lid design, then the structure is simple, but the unused space at the bottom cannot be utilized for storage
Solution Approach 1:
The lower portion of the pack, which would traditionally be empty space, is transformed into a functional storage drawer with multi-purpose use: storing exhausted cigarettes, holding accessories, or serving as ashtray. This multi-functionality eliminates wasted space while maintaining relatively simple structural complexity through the addition of a slide mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a dedicated space for discarding and storing exhausted cigarettes that would otherwise be discarded separately. The pull-out drawer provides a designated area to collect and organize used cigarettes, transforming what would be waste space into a useful storage function.
Data Source
AI summary
A rigid pack for tobacco articles having: at least one wrap of parallelepiped shape, which encloses a group of tobacco articles; a rigid container whose inner volume is divided into a top chamber, which houses the wrap and a bottom chamber which is available; a rigid lid hinged to the container; a rigid collar, which is folded in a “U”-shape, and is arranged inside the container; a drawer, which is arranged in the area of the bottom chamber, is cup-shaped and has a sliding opening by means of linear movement between a closed position in which the drawer is completely arranged inside the container and an open position in which the drawer is partially pulled out of the container and projects outwards from the container; and a limit stop device, which fulfils the function of stopping the outward movement of the drawer from the container in a maximum open position, namely of preventing the drawer from being completely pulled out of the container by setting a maximum limit for the pull-out movement of the drawer from the container.