GB2239801A

GB2239801A - Tablet heating apparatus as a volatile substance dispenser

Info

Publication number: GB2239801A
Application number: GB9100757A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Henry Hans Kalman
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-01-13
Filing date: 1991-01-14
Publication date: 1991-07-17
Anticipated expiration: 2011-01-14
Also published as: GB9100757D0; GB2239801B

Abstract

A heating means 1 comprises a housing 2, a heater 21 within the housing, electrically conductive pin means 8 on the housing 2 and connected to the heater 21 (said pin means 8 being able to directly engage conventional socket means of an electrical supply), support means 22 within the housing 2 to locate a tablet or block 16 of a suitable material (especially air freshening material) in closely spaced relationship to the heater 21, and an access opening 11 in the housing 2 for the placement in the housing 2 of a tablet or block 16 on the support means 22. <IMAGE>

Description

HEATING MEANS This invention relates to heating means, and is particularly concerned with a means of heating a tablet or block to release an air freshening odour.

Air fresheners are currently predominantly of two types, solid blocks of a perfumed material, and sprays. Both are disadvantageous. With sprays, there is a rapid dispersal of the sprayed material and the air freshening effect is very short-lived, with the added disadvantage that many such sprays employ c.f.c.'s as the propellant gas and which are environmentally hostile and unacceptable. With blocks, the release of an air freshening odour is very slow and localised.

The object of the invention is to provide improved air freshening means that avoids those disadvantages mentioned above.

According to the present invention, a heating means comprises a housing, a heater within the housing, electrically conductive pin means on the housing and connected to the heater, said pin means being able to directly engage conventional socket means of an electrical supply, support means within the housing to locate a tablet or block of a suitable material in closely spaced relationship to the heater, and an access opening in the housing for the placement in the housing of a tablet or block on the support means.

Thus, with a tablet or block placed in the housing and on the support, and with the pin means, which may be of conventional 3-pin form, engaging an electrical socket e.g. at the skirting board level of a domestic dwelling, the heater supplies heat to the tablet or block to drive off an air freshening odour. By having the tablet or block spaced from the heater air can circulate around the tablet or block to the considerable benefit of driving off the required odour, and as the airborne odour emerging from the housing is warmer than the ambient air, there is a considerable improvement in the circulation of the odour in and around the room in which the housing is placed.

The air freshening odour can escape from the housing through the access opening for the tablet or block, but if required, at least one additional escape hole can be provided and strategically positioned on the housing.

To enable correct positioning of the tablet or block, a chute can be provided within the housing to direct the tablet or block from the access hole on to the support means.

Preferably, the heater is a resistor of a power to o provide heat up to 80 C, and control means may be provided on the housing to vary the power to the heater, and hence the heat generated, and which in turn can provide control over the rate of release of air freshening odour. If the support means is of electrically conducting material e.g. metal, then a pad of electrically insulating material is interposed between the support means and the heater.

The support means may simply take the form of a tray, adapted in use to be located horizontally, with a chute contiguous with, and extending from, each lateral side of the tray to an adjacent, elongate aperture. For electrical safety, it is preferred to mount the support means and the heater to the same side of a non-electrically conductive dividing plate located in the housing, and which dividing plate forms a first cavity to one side and where the tablet is placed, and a second cavity to the opposite side and where all the electrical connections of the heater to the pins are located. The non-conductive dividing plate can serve as a printed circuit board and a fuse board.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which; Figure 1 is a side elevation of the heater in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a section on the line X-X of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a top plan view of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is an underneath plan view of Figure 1.

In the drawings, a heating means 1 comprises an enclosed housing 2 e.g. of synthetic plastics material, the housing 2 comprises an inner wall 3, an outer wall 4, side walls 5, a top wall 6 and a bottom wall 7. From the inner wall project electrically conductive pins 8, a British Standard 3-pin configuration being illustrated, with the pins adapted to be plugged into a corresponding socket not only to receive an electrical supply from that socket, but also for the heating means 1 to be supported from the socket. The housing 2 is formed in two parts, being a part 9 on which the pins 8 are mounted and a part 10, in each side wall of which is provided an elongate aperture 11.The two parts 9, 10 are secured together by two screws each passing through a recessed hole 12 in tubular extensions 13 (one only shown in Figure 1) which are integrally moulded with, and extend inwardly from, the inner wall 3, into a co-axial hole 14 in tubular extensions 15 (again one only shown in Figure 1) and again which are integrally moulded with and extend inwardly from, the outer wall 4, the ends of the extensions 13 and 15 mutually engaging, as a spigot and socket joint. Through a selected aperture 11 is inserted a tablet or block 16 of an odour emitting material into the interior of the housing 2, which interior is divided by an electrically insulating plate 17 into a first, odourising cavity 18, and a second, electrical cavity 19.

The electrical cavity 19 houses all electrical connections from the pins 8 and from which cavity insulated leads 20 pass through the plate 17 to a heater 21 within the odourising cavity 18. Above the heater 21 is provided a support means 22 for the tablet 16, with a chute 23 extending from opposite sides of the support means 22 to one adjacent elongate aperture 11. The support means 22 is generally Ushaped in side elevation, so as to be capable of encapsulating a tablet 16, and comprises two parallel limbs 24, one of which terminates in a downwardly directed tab 25, while the base of the U, interconnecting the limbs 24, is not visible in Figure 2. Between the underside of the support means 22, and specifically the outer face of the lower limb 24, and the heater 21 is located an electrical insulating pad 26, as the support means 22 is conveniently formed from sheet metal, and may be attached to the insulating plate 17 by adhesive. Also carried by the plate 17 are conventional snap clips 27 for a conventional fuse 28 e.g. of 1 amp.

In use, with the heating means 1 plugged into a socket, heat generated by the heater 21 causes, by convection, a current of heated air to flow out of the apertures 11, with replacement air entering the housing 2 also via the apertures 11. The heated air flows at least in part over the tablet 16 and picks up the odour of the tablet, for dispersal into the room.

Claims

1. A heating means comprises a housing, a heater within the housing, . electrically conductive pin means on the housing and connected to the heater, said pin means being able to directly engage conventional socket means of an electrical supply, support means within the housing to locate a tablet or block of a suitable material in closely spaced relationship to the heater, and an access opening in the housing for the placement in the housing of a tablet or block on the support means.

2. A heating means as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the access opening additionally provides for escape of the air freshening odour.

3. A heating means as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the housing is provided with at least one additional air escape hole.

4. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein a chute is provided within the housing to direct the tablet or block from the access hole on to the support means.

5. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the heater is a resistor.

6. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, o wherein the heater provides heat up to 80 C.

7. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, comprising control means on the housing to vary the power to the heater.

8. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the support means is in the form of two or more (preferably three) prongs located in close spaced relationship and above the heater.

9. A heater means as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the support means and the heater are mounted to the same side of a non-electrically conductive dividing plate located in the housing, which dividing plate forms a first cavity to one side and where the tablet is placed, and a second cavity to the opposite side and where all the electrical connections of the heater to the pins are located.

10. A heating means as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the non-conductive dividing plate serves as a printed circuit board and a fuse board.

11. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the support means takes the form of a tray, adapted in use to be located horizontally, with a chute contiguous with, and extending from, each lateral side of the tray to an adjacent, elongate aperture.

12. A heating means as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein a pad of electrically insulating material is interposed between the support means and the heater.

13. A heating means substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying-drawings.