EP0632971A1

EP0632971A1 - A device for attachment to an ashtray to facilitate stubbing out a cigarette

Info

Publication number: EP0632971A1
Application number: EP94304424A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kureyama Tadayasu; Yoshimura Shigenori
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-07-09
Filing date: 1994-06-17
Publication date: 1995-01-11
Also published as: JPH077494U; CN1103273A; KR950002711U

Abstract

A device for facilitating stubbing a cigarette in an ashtray includes a cigarette inserting cylinder (6) having a bottom (6a) and an ash-fall opening (7) therein whereby cigarettes can be stubbed against the bottom (6a) and the ashes of the cigarettes can fall down through the ash-fall opening (7) into the associated ashtray (1).

Description

The present invention relates to a device for facilitating stubbing a cigarette suitable for ashtrays of vehicles such as automobiles, airplanes, boats and on desks.
As shown in Fig. 8, a conventional ashtray for vehicles, especially for automobiles, includes, for example, an ashtray 1 with an ash-receiving portion 1a, a recess 10 for receiving a cigarette and a portion 11 against which a cigarette is stubbed out. A conventional desk ashtray has, as shown in Fig. 7, a cigarette rest portion 10 and an ash-receiving portion 1a. The cigarette rest portion 10 is formed on a shoulder portion which stretches out from the top end of the ash-receiving portion 1a.
These conventional types of ashtrays, however, have shortcomings to be exemplified below. When a cigarette is being putting out in such ashtrays, ashes are liable to scatter around and make a mess around that area. And, if a cigarette is not completely put out and is still smoldering, it hurts a person's eyes and, what is worse, it may cause a fire.
Especially when a person is driving an automobile, he or she often has to crush out a cigarette in a hurry using an ashtray provided in the automobile. Therefore ashes usually easily scatter thereabout and the cigarette is prone to keep smoldering, not being put out completely.
In order to overcome the foregoing shortcomings existing in conventional ashtrays, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a device for facilitating putting out a cigarette adaptable to these conventional ashtrays.
A device for facilitating putting out a cigarette in an ashtray of the present invention comprises a cigarette inserting cylinder which is provided on the ashtray and has a bottom and an ash-fall opening . The cigarette is crushed out against the bottom and the ashes fall down through the ash-fall opening provided on the bottom.
If the bottom of the ashtray is horizontal, providing an uplifted portion thereon is preferable. The uplifted portion may be positioned below and close to the bottom of the cigarette inserting cylinder .
The device for facilitating stubbing cigarettes in an ashtray of the present invention being constituted as stated above, inserting a lit cigarette into the cigarette inserting cylinder and pressing it down against the bottom allows complete extinction of the cigarette. At the same time the ashes thereof fall down through the ash-fall opening so that they do not scatter around. When the ashtray has a horizontal ash-receiving portion and an uplifted portion thereon, fallen ashes do not heap up higher than the distance between the bottom of the cylinder and the uplifted portion, and shaking the ashtray allows the heaping ashes to fall and disperse from the uplifted portion down to the ash-receiving portion of the ashtray.
The invention will be described by way of examples only with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment wherein a device for facilitating stubbing a cigarette of the present invention is applied to a desk ashtray;
Fig. 2 is a section view of the ashtray of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a cigarette inserting cylinder of the present invention;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment wherein a device for facilitating stubbing a cigarette of the present invention is applied to an ashtray on an armrest such as of an airplane seat;
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment wherein a device for facilitating stubbing a cigarette of the present invention is applied to an ashtray of an automobile;
Fig. 6 is a section view of the ashtray of Fig. 5;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional ashtray of a desk ashtray;
Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional ashtray of an automobile

Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment where a device for facilitating cigarette-stubbing of the present invention is applied to a desk ashtray. The device for easy cigarette-stubbing of an ashtray 1 in this embodiment comprises a cigarette inserting cylinder 6, an uplifted portion 2 in the center of an ash-receiving portion 1a of the ashtray 1, and a dish-like cigarette rest member 3. The dish-like cigarette rest member 3 is provided with plural openings 4 through which cigarettes are dumped into the ash-receiving portion 1a and plural openings 5 for ashes to fall down thereto, and the cigarette inserting cylinder 6 is provided detachably in the center of the dish-like cigarette rest member 3.
As shown in Fig. 3, the cigarette inserting cylinder 6 has an upper portion, a lower portion and a bottom 6a with ash-fall openings 7. The upper portion is formed bigger in diameter than the lower portion. In particular, the diameter of the lower portion is slightly bigger than that of a cigarette T so that the cigarette T is just received and therein by itself, while the diameter of the upper portion is about twice as big as that of the lower portion so that the cigarette T is easily inserted into it. Here the bottom 6a has four fan-shaped ash-fall openings 7 and four of them make a circle with a cross-shaped frame. The shape of the ash-fall openings 7 is not limitative thereto. Any kind of shapes of the openings 7 may be alternatively selected as long as the cigarette inserting cylinder 6 has a bottom portion 6a against which a cigarette is crushed to die out and an opening 7 through which ashes of the cigarette fall down.
The bottom 6a is positioned near and above the uplifted portion 2 of the ash-receiving portion 1a. In this case the distance between the bottom 6a and the uplifted portion measures 4 to 5 mm so that ashes of a cigarette may not heap up too high and stay there. The shape of uplifted portion 2 shown in Fig. 2 is a truncated cone, but not limited thereto. A cone shaped uplifted portion 2 may prevent ashes heaping up under the bottom 6a and allows them to fall and disperse on the ash-receiving portion 1a.
The ashtray 1 shown in this embodiment includes a dish-like cigarette rest member 3 having the cigarette-dumping openings 4 and the ash-falling openings 5, and the cigarette inserting cylinder 6 is provided on the dish-like cigarette rest member 3. However, the ashtray 1 may be provided directly (only with an attaching member) with the cigarette inserting cylinder 6 with no dish-like cigarette rest member 3 . The cigarette inserting cylinder 6 may be provided detachably for easy cleaning, or it may be fixed to the dish-like cigarette rest member 3 or the ashtray 1.
The present invention may also be applied to an ashtray of an armrest of an airplane seat or the like, and such an embodiment is illustrated in Fig. 4.
The ashtray of this embodiment includes a cigarette rest member 3 having cigarette-dumping openings 4 and ash-fall openings 5, and a cigarette inserting cylinder 6 is provided in the middle of the cigarette rest member 3. The cigarette inserting cylinder 6 may be attached directly to the ashtray of the armrest of a seat. Since ashtrays provided on armrests of vehicles are usually small in volume, an uplifted portion 2 is not necessarily required, and, if an uplifted portion is provided therein, a bigger distance between the bottom 6a of the cigarette inserting cylinder 6 and the uplifted portion is preferable.
Another embodiment wherein the present invention is applied to an ashtray of a car is shown in Figs. 5 and 6.
In this embodiment, a cigarette inserting cylinder 6 is disposed in a hole provided on an area 11a where a conventional ashtray of a car has a butt-stubbing member 11, as shown in Fig. 8. Ashes pass through the ash-fall opening of the bottom 6a of the inserting cylinder 6, then through the hole and fall into an ash-receiving portion 1a and heap there. Cigarettes are completely put out by being crushed against the bottom 6a. The cigarette inserting cylinder 6 has an upper part and a lower part. The upper part is formed big enough to easily receive butts and the lower part is made of a smaller diameter just sufficient to receive cigarettes inserted therein whereby they are stably held thereby after being released by the user.
In Fig. 5, a cigarette inserting cylinder 6 is fixed in a hole penetrating the area 11a where a conventional ashtray has a butt-crushing member 11 to the ash-receiving portion 1a. Not limitative to the above, a cigarette inserting cylinder 6 may be provided in a hole of a simple plate-like member which can hold such a cigarette inserting cylinder 6. The cigarette inserting cylinder 6 may also be detachable from the area 11a. Fig. 5 shows two cigarette inserting cylinders 6, but the number of cylinders 6 is not limitative.
An ashtray of car is usually designed to have a slant portion 2a so that ashes of cigarettes by themselves move toward the bottom of the ash-receiving portion 1a. An uplifted portion 2 which is required for a desk ashtray is, therefore, not necessarily required.
Being constituted as above, the device for facilitating putting out cigarettes in ashtrays of the present invention has the following advantages.
A lit cigarette is easily and completely put out by being inserted into a cigarette inserting cylinder 6 and then pressed down against the bottom 6a of the cylinder 6. The ashes of the cigarette fall into the ash-receiving portion 1a through the ash-fall opening 7 in the bottom 6a and do not scatter thereabout, so that the area around it does not become messy.
An uplifted portion 2 provided as above prevents ashes of cigarettes heaping higher than the distance between the uplifted portion 2 and the bottom 6a of the cigarette inserting cylinder 6. And simply shaking the ashtray 1 allows the heaping ashes to easily fall to and disperse on the bottom of the ash-receiving portion 1a of the ashtray 1. As the ashes fall and disperse embers thereof die out completely, and there is no possibility that the embers leap to a butt to cause it to smolder and hurt a person's eyes or induce a fire.
In an ashtray on an armrest of a vehicle or in a car which has a device for facilitating stubbing a cigarette of the present invention, cigarettes are also completely put out and ashes do not scatter thereabout.

Claims

A device for attachment to an ashtray (1) to facilitate stubbing out a cigarette (T), characterised by a cylinder (6) one end of which is open whereby the lit end of the cigarette (T) can be inserted therein, the other end of the cylinder (6) comprising a bottom (6a) against which the lit end of the cigarette (T) is crushed, and one or more ash-fall openings (7) in said bottom (6a) through which ash from the lit end of the cigarette (T) falls into the ashtray (1).
A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the cylinder (6) comprises a lower portion and an upper portion, the lower portion having a diameter slightly greater than that of the cigarette (T) to be inserted therein, and the upper portion having a diameter substantially twice that of the lower portion.
A device as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 and further comprising a cigarette rest (3) for location over the ashtray (1), the cylinder (6) being supported in the rest (3) and the rest (3) having at least one first opening (4) therein through which cigarettes (T) can be dumped into the ashtray (1), and at least one further opening through which ashes can fall into the ashtray (1).
A device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 and further comprising an uplifted portion (2) for location in the ashtray (1) below the cylinder (6) to guide ash passing through the ash-fall opening (7) into the lower regions (1a) of the ashtray (1).