Rigid, hinged-lid packets of cigarettes are currently the most marketed, by being easy to produce, easy and practical to use, and by effectively protecting the cigarettes inside.
A rigid, hinged-lid packet of cigarettes comprises a group of cigarettes wrapped in a sheet of foil packing material; and a rigid outer package housing the group of cigarettes. The outer package comprises a cup-shaped container housing the group of cigarettes and having an open top end; and a cup-shaped lid hinged to the container along a hinge to rotate, with respect to the container, between an open position and a closed position opening and closing the open end respectively. A collar is normally folded and connected to the inside of the container, so as to project partly outwards of the open end and engage a corresponding inner surface of the lid when the lid is in the closed position.
The lid of most known rigid packets of cigarettes has at least one reinforcing flap, which is folded 180° onto the inner surface of a front wall of the lid. On existing packing machines, the 180° fold of the lid reinforcing flap is the first fold made of the outer package blank, and is performed on a blank feed unit by means of fixed folding rails (helical folding devices).
A new type of rigid packet of cigarettes has recently been proposed, in which the lid both translates and rotates from the closed position to the open position and vice versa, and which has two lid reinforcing flaps which must be folded about two oblique, oppositely-inclined fold lines. The oblique fold lines being oppositely inclined lengthwise of the blank, however, at least one of the two reinforcing flaps cannot be folded 180° by a fixed folding rail (which cannot fold against the travelling direction of the blank).
Adapting an existing packing machine to produce a rigid packet of cigarettes of the above type is therefore complicated, particularly on account of the numerous structural and dimensional factors involved, and the need, obviously, to still ensure adequate access to all the component parts of the packing machine for maintenance and cleaning.