Title of Invention

"A PACKAGE OF CIGARETTE AND CIGARETTE HOLDER AND A PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME"

Abstract

The present invention relates to a composite and integral cigarette cum cigarette holder packet as well as convenient and a continuous process for packaging cigarette cum cigarette holder. The invention provides for a cost-effective process that avoids the repackaging costs for packaging cigarette holder with cigarettes, besides ensuring that the cigarette holder is available to the consumer in a hygienic and sealed condition and that the same holder can be reused for the same pack of cigarettes.

Full Text

The present invention relates to a cigarette cum cigarette holder packet and a process for preparing the same BACKGROUND Cigarettes are marketed either loose or in the form of cigarette packets. The pack is a composite packing containing cigarettes only. Cigarette holders are also available in the market. These cigarette holders are sold separately and therefore may not be readily available to all consumers. In our co-pending application 1192/Del/2000 filed on 21st December 2000, we have filed an application for a novel cigarette holder. Till date there is no composite packaging available for cigarette and cigarette holder. Further, devices as well as process for packaging normal packet of cigarettes to are well known to the persons skilled in the art. Such devices and process suffer from a drawback that a holder with a pack of cigarettes cannot be packed simultaneously. Accordingly the object to the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks and provide a composite and integral cigarette cum cigarette holder packet as well as convenient and a continuous process for packaging cigarette cum cigarette holder. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cost-effective process such that repackaging cost is avoided. Yet another object of the present invention is to ensure that the cigarette holder is available to the consumer in a hygienic and sealed condition and ensures that the same holder can be reused. To achieve the said object the present invention provides a cigarette cum cigarette holder packet comprising:a predetermined number of cigarettes arranged in a predetermined manner wrapped in a foil,said wrapped cigarettes being placed at one end of the shell slide and said holder being placed at the opposite end of the said shell slide and an outer rectangular shaped shell of predetermined dimensions to accommodate the cigarette and cigarette holder open at top and bottom end, said slide shell having the wrapped cigarettes and holder being positioned into the said outer rectangular shaped shell and the slide. The said cigarette cum cigarette holder is wrapped in a Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene film (hereinafter called as BOPP film for short) with two tear off ribbon (TOR) strips, said strips being positioned close to the proximal and distal end respectively of the cigarette packet to provide easy accessibility to the cigarette from one end and the cigarette holder at the other end. The cigarette holder is present either at proximal or the distal end of the said outer rectangular shaped shell. The cigarette holder is present distal end of the said outer rectangular shaped shell. This invention further relates to a process for packaging cigarette cum cigarette holder comprising: - passing roiled and cut aguieues through a cigarette hopper to obi.. cigarettes packed in a predetermined manner and passing the said cigarette pack on the filler bed (2), - wrapping a foil around said cigarette pack (3) - placing the said foil wrapped cigarettes on the slides from the slide section (4) placed perpendicular to the said filler bed characterized in that a cigarette holder from the cigarette-holder alignment system is placed on one end of the said slide having foil wrapped cigarettes - folding the slide around the foil wrapped cigarette and cigarette holder - sliding the said pack into a shell to get packed cigarette cum cigarette holder. The said cigarette cum cigarette holder packet is fed to a packet hopper and then to turret for wrapping BOPP film with 2 tear off ribbon (TOR) strips. The packed cigarette cum cigarette holder is fed to the turret wherein the two tear off ribbon from the two rollers are passed between guide rollers along with bobbin containing the BOPP film and then to the turret for wrapping the packet of cigarette cum cigarette holder with BOPP film and TOR strips. The packed cigarette cum cigarette holder with the BOPP film has the two tear off ribbon (TOR) strip, one TOR close to the proximal end which is used to open the pack, and the other close to the distal end to access the holder at the rear end. The said cigarette-holder alignment system includes bowl feeder, pneumatic cylinder and chute. The said cigarette-holder alignment system is synchronized to match the feed rate of the cigarette bundle, slide and shell. The said bowl feeder stores cigarette holders The aligned cigarette holders are carried from the bowl feeder of the alignment system to the pneumatic cylinder by chute. The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings: Fig 1 illustrates the cigarette cum cigarette holder packet according to the present invention. Fig 2 shows the continuous process for packaging the cigarette cum cigarette holder packet according to the present invention. The Fig 3 ' illustrates the steps involved in wrapping the cigarette cum cigarette holder packet with the BOPP film and TOR strips. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION Figure 1 shows the cigarette cum cigarette holder packet according to the present invention which comprises an outer rectangular shell (22) and inner shell slide (23) which contains a wrapped pack of cigarettes (4) in a foil On the opposite end of the slide shell is placed a cigarette holder (24). This packet is wrapped in a BOPP film with two tear off ribbon (TOR) strips (21' and 21"), said strips being positioned close to the proximal and distal end respectively of the cigarette packet to provide easy accessibility to the cigarette from one end and the cigarette holder at the other end. Figure 2 is a flow diagram showing are now of activities in the method of packing cigarette holder from the time, the rolled and cut cigarettes are arranged in predetermined number by the cigarette hopper (1) on the filler bed conveyor (2). The rolled and cut cigarettes are wrapped and packed in foil provided by the foil roll holder (3). The said packed cigarettes are then conveyed on to individual slide sections carried by the slide bed conveyer (5) which is arranged perpendicular to the filler bed conveyer. The slide sections are taken from the slide section stack (4), which is positioned at the beginning of the slide bed conveyor. A bowl feeder of the alignment system (6), which aligns the cigarette holder in a particular position, has a chute (7) and a pneumatic cylinder (8). The alignment system is placed perpendicular to the slide bed conveyor (5). The chute (7) delivers the cigarette holder on to the Electro or Pneumatic cylinder (8) which then places one cigarette holder on one end of the said slide having foil wrapped cigarettes.A shell feed (10) then provides an outer shell over the cigarette cum cigarette holder whereupon the said package is moved to the conveyor into the packet hopper (11). Figure 3 shows the flow of activities once the cigarette packet i.e. the cigarette bundle, slide and shell are conveyed to turret (12) where it is wrapped in double TOR strips and a BOPP film. The TOR strips are provided by the two TOR spools (13 & 14) and the BOPP ribbon is provided by the BOPP bobbin (15). The said TOR strips are passed through the guide rollers and stuck on the BOPP 111m. WORKING OF THE INVENTION Tobacco is supplied in nopper of Cigarclie manufacturing machine, witch is opened up by carding drum and sucked on Nylon band by vacuum suction. This gives cylindrical profile to the tobacco, which is then taken to Garniture tape carrying cigarette paper, and the cylindrical profile tobacco is placed above the cigarette paper. This tobacco and Cigarette paper passes below the rod heaters. This is the place where tobacco rod is completely formed. This rod is then cut by cutter knife. The machine produces cut cigarette as per desired length, circumference and diameter at various tobacco densities. This cut and rolled cigarette then enters filter assembler cum tipping machine. The function of filter assembler is to roll the incoming cigarette with filter & cigarette tipping paper. The mechanism involves wrapping of two plain cigarettes with a predetermined width of cigarette tipping paper. The absence of filter rod resulted in modification to filter assembler to feed only the CT paper on plain cigarette. Only CT paper is cut into two after wrapping. Thus the over tipped cigarette is manufactured without filter media or plug in it. The over tipped cigarettes are then transferred to a modified packer which has been designed to incorporate an innovative design of a "Bowl Feeder" The bowl feeder stores the plastic cigarette holder. The Feed Mechanism (6) of the plastic filter is synchronized to match the feed rate of the cigarette bundle, slide & shell. There is flexibility to position the plastic holder either at the bottom of the bundle i.e rear side preference or at the top of the bundle i.e. top side preference.The two spools of the Tear Off Ribbon (TOR) 1 and 2 are fitted on the TOR bobbin holders above the BOPP film. TORs are then passed over the guide rollers and stuck on the BOPP film, 'flic BOPP film with two TOR strips stuck to it are passed into the cutting unit and cut into the required length of the film before it is wrapped over the packet. The finished packets are then fed to a unique designed wrapper which has the two TOR strips. One TOR is used to open the pack, whereas the bottom TOR helps to remove the plastic holder at the rear end of the foil bundle containing cigarettes. The machine designed has flexibility to insert the plastic cigarette holder to pack plain or filter cigarettes. The advantages of the present invention are: on line packaging of the Cigarette holder in a pack of Cigarette without disturbing the existing Production Process. ensuring the availability of Cigarette Holder with each pack of Cigarette. Thus both the Cigarette as well as holder are available in one go. easy & smooth distribution & retailing of the pack and the holder. cost effective process are two-fold First it is streamlined with existing the manufacturing process secondly repackaging cost is avoided. ensure 100 % availability to the end user. fresh holder available in hygienic factory sealed condition with every pack, thus, eliminating human intervention \ recycling \ resale etc. the two OK advantage, in the sense that the cigutLuc holder can be used, kept back and again used for the remaining cigarettes i.e. it provides storage \ pocket for the holder to ensure its usability again and again for the same pack. the two TOR advantage also increases the accessibility of the cigarette holder in every pack. The two TOR strip has another advantage. Cigarette can be pulled out from one end of the pack while holder can be removed and placed back from another side of the pack. It allows for double-sided accessibility, such that the removing of one commodity does not disturb the placement of the other. The present invention has been described and illustrated with reference to the drawings but such drawings do not limit the invention. Any modification made thereto by any person skilled in the art is within the scope of the instant invention. We claim: 1. A package of cigarette and cigarette holder comprising: an outer rectangular shell (22) and inner shell slide (23), at least one of cigarette (4) arranged in a foil, wherein said wrapped cigarettes (4) being placed at one end of the shell slide (23) and said holder (24) being placed at the opposite end of the said shell slide (23) and an outer rectangular shaped shell (22) to accommodate the cigarette and cigarette holder open at top and bottom end, said shell slide having the wrapped cigarettes and holder being positioned into the said outer rectangular shaped shell. 2. A package as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cigarette holder is present either at proximal or the distal end of the said outer rectangular shaped shell. 3. A package as claimed in claim 2 wherein the said cigarette holder is present at distal end of the said outer rectangular shaped shell. 4. A process of manufacturing a package as claimed in claim 1 comprising: passing rolled and cut cigarettes through a cigarette hopper to obtain packed cigarettes and passing the said cigarette pack on the filler bed (2),wrapping a foil around said cigarette pack (3)placing the said foil wrapped cigarettes on the slides from the slide section (4) placed perpendicular to the said filler bed wherein a cigarette holder from the cigarette-holder alignment system is placed on one end of the said slide having foil wrapped cigarettes folding the slide around the foil wrapped cigarette and cigarette holder sliding the said pack into a shell to get a package of cigarette and cigarette holder. 5. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein said package is fed to a packet hopper and then to turret for wrapping bi-axially oriented polypropylene film with 2 tear off ribbon (TOR) strips. 6. A process as claimed in claim 5 wherein said package is fed to the turret wherein the two tear off ribbon from the two rollers are passed between guide rollers along with bobbin containing the bi-axially oriented polypropylene film and then to the turret for wrapping the packet of cigarette cum cigarette holder with bi-axially oriented polypropylene film and TOR strips. 7. A process as claimed in claim 4 wherein said package with the bi-axially oriented polypropylene film has the two tear off ribbon (TOR) strip, one TOR close to the proximal end which is used to open the pack, and the other close to the distal end to access the holder at the rear end of the foil bundle containing cigarettes. 8. A package of cigarette and cigarette holder substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

782-del-2001-abstract.pdf

782-del-2001-claims.pdf

782-del-2001-correspondence-others.pdf

782-del-2001-correspondence-po.pdf

782-del-2001-description (complete).pdf

782-del-2001-drawings.pdf

782-del-2001-form-1.pdf

782-del-2001-form-18.pdf

782-del-2001-form-2.pdf

782-del-2001-form-3.pdf

782-del-2001-form-5.pdf

782-del-2001-gpa.pdf

782-del-2001-pa.pdf