FR2680562A1 - ADJUSTABLE LIGHTER HOLDER. - Google Patents

Abstract

Lighter holder clamp comprising a gripping device and two gripping tongues (1, 2); the clamping device is made mountable-removable by an elastic snap-fastening system of the upper parts of each tab; the support tongue comprises a base (3) removable in height between at least two positions (28, 29) predetermined to adapt to lighters of different lengths; each tab has at least one breakable line (14, 24) to adapt its length by breaking, either to the size of the pack of cigarettes, or to the size of the lighter.

Description

ADJUSTABLE LIGHTER HOLDER.

  The present invention relates to pliers

lighter holder.

  Various cigarette lighter holders are already on the market today, some of which include a clip to be fixed to the wall of a pack of cigarettes in order to secure the pack of cigarettes and the lighter, thereby facilitating the user search for these two objects that he generally uses simultaneously This joining together also makes it possible to ensure that one of the two objects

  is never transported without the other.

  Such a lighter clip is described in French patent application N O 2 414 688 In

  this request, the lighter is however little maintained.

  Also known, sold under the trade name "Lighter Loc", a lighter holder having a support tab provided with a base for determining the longitudinal position of the lighter In both cases, nothing is provided on the clip holder lighter to fit different size lighters, and there is no provision for the lighter clip to fit cigarette packs of

different dimensions.

  The present invention provides a lighter clip in which various adjustable elements are provided to adapt both to cigarette packs and to lighters of different dimensions. The present invention therefore relates to a lighter clip comprising two pinch tongues of longitudinal lamellar shape and a pinch device connecting elastically the

  upper ends of the two tongs

  ment, a pinching tongue being said to be hooking, the other pinching tongue being called a support and comprising, on the one hand, in its upper part an unclosed strapping ring constituted by two elastic arms arranged to hold in longitudinal support against itself the upper part of an elongated lighter, on the other hand, in its part

  low tie, a square base to block longitu-

  linearly the base of the lighter, characterized in that the said base is detachably fixed in height between at least two positions

  predetermined on said support tab.

  Thus, depending on the length of the lighter and choosing between at least two predetermined positions for the base, the lighter will always be supported on the base so that even when pressing

  firmly on its wheel when lighting the bri-

  quet, it will not be necessary to hold it for

prevent it from sliding down.

  Advantageously, the fixing of the base on the support tongue is a snap-fastening which comprises at least two snap-on studs snapping into housings of corresponding shape. A lighter-holder clamp is an inexpensive object, generally made of plastic, which lends itself well to a snap fastening. Preferably, the nipples are three in number and fitted on the base and two sets of

  three housings are fitted in the upper tab

  port, at a distance of approximately 20 mm from each other; indeed it is preferable that the support tongue does not itself include the nipples so that there are no unnecessary roughness on the lighter clip, moreover the number of three for the nipples, and obviously for the housings, allows a good positioning even assuming that one of the three nipples is broken, as for the distance of 20 mm, it corresponds substantially to the difference in length that one

  notes on lighters sold commercially.

  Preferably, the base includes a peripheral outer surface which is substantially flat and slightly set back so as to present a decorative, advertising or other element therein; thus the base which could have had only the shape of a simple square, can become an advertising medium; the surface is slightly recessed to avoid premature wear. In a preferred form of the invention, the lighter clip is characterized in that the support tongue has in its lower part at least one transverse breakable pre-cut groove to remove by breakage any excess length Effectively when the 'removable base is snapped into a predetermined intermediate position on the support tab, the lower end of the support tab becomes unnecessary or even annoying; it is therefore advantageous to be able to

rid by breaking it.

  Similarly the hooking tab, the one that slides into the cigarette pack can

  have an excessive length compared to the height

  the packet of cigarettes, so it is also advant

  tagging to be able to get rid of excess length by breaking it; we can consider several pre-cut grooves but in practice only one is sufficient. Provision may be made for each elastic arm of the unclosed strapping pliers to have a ball-shaped protuberance at its end to facilitate its handling when introducing a lighter of different dimensions; indeed the elastic arms must hold the small lighters and therefore they must be wide enough to slide the large lighters, the ball-shaped outgrowth

facilitates this maneuver.

  Advantageously, each tongue is provided, internally and in its upper part, with grooves and longitudinal projections facing each other; thus the wall of a cigarette packet, which has just been slid between the tongues, follows the shapes of these grooves and projections which interpenetrate, so that the packet is well held in place for good attachment of

all.

  Advantageously, the two tabs are

  separable from each other and the clamp device

  ment is an elastic snap-in system for elastically assembling, by their upper part, the

  two tabs; elastic snap-in systems

  tick between plastic parts are well known today, they allow to assemble elements which

  are also molded separately without problem.

  To better understand the subject of the present invention, an embodiment and modes of use will be described below, by way of purely illustrative and nonlimiting example.

  shown in the accompanying drawing.

  In this drawing: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of the components of a lighter clip according to the invention; Figure 2 is an exploded side view

  components of the same clip

lighter according to the invention;

  Figure 3 is a sectional view along

  back profile, after mounting of the same lighter clip according to the invention;

  Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 are illustrated

  tives of using the lighter clip with a large lighter and a pack of cigarettes;

  Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11 are illustrated

  tives of the use of the lighter clip with

  a small lighter and a pack of cigarettes.

  In FIG. 1 are shown a hooking tongue 1, a support tongue 2, and a removable base 3, which, after assembly, constitute a lighter clip. At least the two tongues 1, 2 are made of plastic material having a some flexibility The latching tongue 1 has in its upper part a stud 11 and two shoulders 16, 17, as well as grooves and projections 15 longitudinal; the strip 12 of the attachment tongue 1 extends downwards with a thinned part 13 delimited by a transverse pre-cut groove 14 The support tongue 2 comprises in its upper part a housing 21 arranged between two shoulders 16 a, 17 a; on its face, in

  vis-à-vis the hooking tab 1, it comprises

  has longitudinal grooves and projections 25, on the other side it has two arms 26, 26 a, the ends of which are provided with a protuberance 27, 27 a in the form of a hemisphere; in its lower part an area 23

  is delimited by a transverse groove 24 of pre-

  cutting; on either side of this groove 24 are arranged two identical sets of base elements, here the three holes 29 and the three holes 28 The base 3 is a small domino of which at least two sides are square one with respect to the other, of which a vertical face, hidden in the figure, comprises three base elements 39, and the other face 32, horizontal and on top, is a support face; the vertical peripheral face 31, which is opposite to that hidden which carries the base elements 39, is shown slightly hollow to be able to

  house a decorative, advertising or other element.

  In Figure 2 we find the same elements shown in profile view; the attachment tab 201 comprises in its part the end piece 211 and the two shoulders 216, 217; we also see the longitudinal grooves and projections 215; the thinned lower part 213 is delimited by the pre-cut groove 214 The support tongue 202 comprises

  in its upper part a housing 221 and two shoulders

  items 216a, 217a; the inner face has longitudinal grooves and projections 225; on the opposite face is shown the arm 226 a, the end of which comprises a hemispherical element 227 a; the lower part 223 of the support tongue 202 is delimited by a pre-cut groove 224; on either side of this groove 224 the support tongue 2 is provided with base elements 229, 228 On the removable base 203 there are the base elements 239 and the peripheral face 231 slightly

set back.

  With Figure 3 the mounting mode of the lighter clip will be explained; in this figure the attachment tab is shown twice, a first time partially dashed 301 a during assembly and a second time in solid line 301 after assembly; for mounting, end piece 11

  of the hooking tab of Figure 1 is intro-

  duit in the housing 21 of the support tab of Figure 1 to find one in the other 311/321 in Figure 3; the respective shoulders of the two tongues 316/316 a and 317/317 a are now respectively supported by the fact that they are dimensioned so that the introduction of the tip 311 in the housing 321 is effected by forcing slightly to cause a ratcheting phenomenon; thus after mounting the hooking tongue 301 is pressed against the support tongue 302; after mounting the grooves and projections 315/325 of each tongue interpenetrate with a slight play The base 303 is here shown assembled with the support tongue 302 on its lower part 323, the assembly is carried out by cooperation of the elements of legs already mentioned; the base elements can

  be small nipples, snap-in boxes

  for this purpose; preferably, the pins are provided on the base, and the housings are provided on the plate so that the assembly does not have unnecessary roughness; in Figure 3 the length of the two latching tabs 301 and support 302 are the same but this is not an obligation; similarly, the precut grooves 314, 324 are shown opposite one another, but this

is not an obligation.

  Before describing Figures 4 and following it can be noted that the lighter clip, object of the invention, is mainly intended for lighters of elongated shape and oval section that are commonly found today in commerce and whose there are two models: a large one with 80 mm of height and an oval inscribed in a rectangle of 25/15 mm and a small having 60 mm in height and an oval inscribed in a rectangle of 20/10 mm; it can also be noted that there are various heights of cigarette packs, the most common of which are 70 and 90 mm; the height difference is therefore 20 mm

in both cases.

  The following figures are roughly at scale 1 to illustrate the use of the

  Lighter holder described in Figures 1, 2 and 3.

  In Figure 4, in front view, we see a large lighter 405 whose foot is supported on the base 403 and whose upper part is clamped in

  the elastic arms 426, 426 a while allowing access

  the device 405 a for lighting the lighter; with this large lighter, the removable base 403 has been

latched in the low position.

  Figure 5 is a side view of the same

  large lighter 505 positioned on the support tab

  carried by the base 503 and the arm 526 a; we also see, partially, a packet of cigarettes 504, the side wall 541 of which is pinched between the two pinching tongues which are found in FIG. 6, which is a view along the cutting plane VI-VI of FIG. 4 In Figure 6 we see the large lighter 605 sandwiched between the arms 626, 626 a and a packet of cigarettes 604 whose side wall is slid between the latching tongue 601 and the support tongue 602; the cut being made at the height of the longitudinal grooves and protrusions (marks 15 and 25 of FIG. 1), these grooves and protrusions of complementary shape improve the pinching effect of the wall of the cigarette packet, however for the clarity of the drawing they were not

represented.

  Figure 7 is a sectional view along the plane VII-VII of Figure 4; the large lighter 705 is supported on the base 703, and the wall 741 of the pack of cigarettes 704 is pinched between the tongue

  attachment 701 and the support tab 702.

  As can be seen in particular in FIG. 5, FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7, are an example of the use of the lighter tongs pinching the wall of a large packet of cigarettes and supporting a large lighter ; in this case the base is in position

  low, and the two tabs have their original length

  tiale, that is to say that the possibilities of pre-

  cutout, provided by the grooves (marks 14 and 24 of

  Figure 1), were not used.

  Figure 8 is a front view showing a small lighter 806 resting on the base 803 while the operating members 806 a are released upwards; the removable base 803 is here in the high position and the frangible ends of the tongues, whose position 813, 823 is mentioned in dotted lines, are absent because they have been broken at the height of the precut grooves. This break is better visible in Figure 9 where we see the small lighter 906 resting on the base 903 so that the ignition device 906 a is released upwards; a large cigarette lighter 904, similar in size to that of the

  FIG. 5 is represented and we can clearly see, by com-

  comparison of the two figures, that the tongue

  and the support tab have been hooked

shortened by breakage.

  Figure 10 is a view along section XX of Figure 8, that is to say that it is similar to the view of Figure 6, but, this time, with a small lighter 1006 so that the arms 1026, 1026 a are more closed than in FIG. 6; this

  difference was already visible in figure 8 by com-

parison with Figure 4.

  Figure 11 is a sectional view along the plane XI-XI of Figure 8; we see the small lighter 1106 resting on the base 1103, and we note that, advantageously, the external shape 1124 of the base 1103 is similar to the shape of the small lighter so that the packet of cigarettes, clamp lighter holder and small lighter does not have

element unnecessarily in relief.

Claims (8)

  1 Lighter clip comprising two gripping tongues of lamellar shape and a gripping device connecting elastically the upper ends of the two gripping tongues, a gripping tongue being said to be hooked (1, 201, 301, 601, 701 ), the other pinching tab being said to be of support (2, 202,   302, 602, 702) and comprising, on the one hand, in its part   high tie an unclosed strapping ring made up of two arms (26, 26 a; 226 a; 426, 426 a; 526 a; 626, 626 a; 1026, 1026 a) elastics arranged to hold in longitudinal support against itself the upper part of an elongated lighter, on the other hand, in its lower part, a base (3, 203, 303, 403, 503, 703,   803, 903, 1103) at right angles to block longitudinal-   ment the base of the lighter, characterized in that said base (3, 203, 303, 403, 503, 703, 803, 903, 1103) is detachably fixed in height between at least two positions (28, 29; 228 , 229)   predetermined on said support tab.   2 Lighter clip according to the claim   tion 1, characterized in that the fixing of the base on the support tongue is a snap-fastening, which comprises at least two snap-on studs (39, 239) snapping into housing corresponding shape.   3 Lighter clip according to the claim   tion 2, characterized in that three pins (39, 239) are arranged on the base (3, 203, 303, 403,   503, 703, 803, 903, 1103) and two sets of three boxes   elements (28, 29; 228, 229) are arranged in the   support tab (2, 202, 302, 602, 702), at a distance   substantially 20 mm apart.   4 Lighter clip according to one of the   Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that   the base (3, 203, 303, 403, 503, 703, 803, 903, 1103) has a peripheral surface (31, 231, 331) which is substantially planar and slightly in   removal to present a decorative element, public   citaire or other. Lighter clip according to one of the   Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the   support tab (2, 202, 302, 602, 702) has, in its lower part, at least one transverse groove (24, 224, 324) of pre-cut breakable to remove by breakage any excess (23, 223, 323, 823) in length.   6 Lighter clip according to one of the   Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the   hooking tab comprises, in its lower part, at least one groove (14, 214, 314) transverse to   breakable pre-cut to break off an event   any excess (13, 213, 313, 813) of length.   7 Lighter clip according to one of the   Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that   each arm (26, 26 a; 226 a; 426, 426 a; 526; 626, 626 a; 1026, 1026 a) elastic of the unclosed strapping forceps has at its end a protrusion (27, 27 a; 227 a) in the shape of a ball to facilitate its handling during the introduction of lighters different dimensions.   8 Lighter clip according to one of the   Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that   each tongue is provided, internally and in its upper part, with grooves and protrusions (15, 25; 215, 225; 315, 325) facing each other others.   9 Lighter clip according to one of the   Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the   two tongues are separable from each other and that the clamping device is a snap system (11, 21; 211, 221; 311, 321) elastic for assembling elastically, by their parts high, the two tabs.