Rigid Tobacco Pack with Rotating Inner Container and Lifter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rigid packs for tobacco articles, such as shoulder boxes, face difficulties in cigarette retrieval due to the soft wrap being too close to the container and potential jamming issues when closing the lid, making it hard to pull out cigarettes and close the pack efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A rigid pack design featuring a tray-shaped outer container and a hinged lid with a locking system, an inner container that rotates, and a lifter element connected to the lid and inner container, allowing for smooth opening and closing without jamming, and a tear-off portion in the soft wrap for easy access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a lifter element is used to automatically lift the soft wrap when the lid is opened, then the soft wrap is lifted from the outer container, but the soft wrap remains too close to the outer container for easy cigarette retrieval
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an inner container that can rotate relative to the outer container between a lowered position (when lid is closed) and a raised position (when lid is open). This dynamic positioning allows the soft wrap to be elevated significantly when needed for cigarette retrieval, while returning to a compact position when the lid is closed, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of retrieval and compact storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention adds a vertical dimension to the soft wrap positioning by implementing the rotatable inner container mechanism. Instead of only horizontal movement, the soft wrap can now be positioned at different vertical levels within the outer container, providing an additional degree of freedom to optimize both accessibility and compactness.
2Ease of operation
If a lifter element connected to the lid is used to lift the soft wrap, then the soft wrap can be automatically lifted when the lid is opened, but the lifter element may jam when closing the lid
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a rotatable inner container mechanism that dynamically adjusts its position based on lid state. When the lid is opened, the inner container rotates to a raised position, automatically lifting the soft wrap. When the lid is closed, the inner container rotates back to a lowered position, preventing any jamming of the lifter element. This dynamic adaptation ensures both automatic lifting functionality and smooth closing operation.
3Ease of manufacture
If the soft wrap is kept close to the outer container for compact packaging, then the pack structure is simple, but the pulling-out of cigarettes from the soft wrap becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a rotatable inner container that can dynamically change the vertical position of the soft wrap. In the closed state, the inner container is in a lowered position maintaining a simple compact structure. When the lid is opened, the inner container rotates to a raised position, automatically elevating the soft wrap to facilitate easy cigarette pulling-out. This dynamic mechanism provides both structural simplicity and operational ease.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates easy retrieval of cigarettes by lifting the soft wrap significantly and ensures smooth lid movement, preventing jamming, while being simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
Implementation Method 1
a lid (5), which is hinged to the outer container (2) along a hinge (6) to rotate between a closed position
Implementation Method 2
the lifter element (29) exploits the opening movement of the lid (5) (i.e. the relative movement between the lid (5) and the outer container (2)) to determine an 'automatic' lifting of the soft wrap (3)
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
Pack (1) for tobacco articles having: an outer container (2); a lid (5), which is hinged to the outer container (2); a soft wrap (3) that contains a group (4) of cigarettes and is housed in the outer container (2); and a lifter element (29), which, at one end is connected to the soft wrap (3) and, at the opposite end, is glued to an inner surface of an upper wall (12) of the lid (5) by means of glue (30) so as to cause the soft wrap (3) to be lifted as the lid (5) is opened, thus using the opening movement of the lid (5); when the lid (5) is in a closed position, a part (37) of the lifter element (29) is parallel to and spaced apart from a rear wall (10) of the outer container (2) so that between the lifter element (29) and the rear wall (10) of the outer container (2) there is an empty space (39a).