GB767444A - Improvements in or relating to electric cigarette lighters - Google Patents

Abstract

767,444. Electric cigarette lighters; dashboard lamps. FENN, L. E. Jan. 20, 1955 [May 18, 1954], No. 14570/54. Classes 75(3) and 75(4) In an electric cigarette &c. lighter comprising a housing adapted to be fitted to an automobile, e.g. to the dashboard and having a well or cavity to receive a detachable igniting unit carrying a heater element which, while the unit is in the housing, can be connected to an electric current source, an area adjacent the handle of the igniting unit is illuminated by a lightsource disposed rearwardly of the said opening and the said area is visible even when the unit is inserted in the housing so as to give an indication in the dark of the position of the lighter. In addition the interior of the housing may be illuminated. As shown the housing comprises spaced inner and outer wall members 17, 22 with the space between the walls illuminated from an electric lamp 27 and a translucent bushing 31 e.g. of Perspex (Registered Trade Mark) having an outwardly extending flange 32 or bezel which fits over the inner wall 17 and pipes the light received at the rear from the lamp 27 through a hole 33 in the outer wall 22, to the bezel 32 to illuminate the immediate area around the handle 13 of the heater unit 14 carrying a heater element 15 energized through bimetallic spring clips 16. The lamp 27 is carried in a socket 26 supported' on the lamp housing 25 and its energization may be controlled by a switch, operated when the engine ignition is switched on or when, the vehicle lights are turned on, or by an independent switch. The lower portion of the lamp housing 25 is open and springy fingers 29 on the edge portions of the opening pass through slots 30 in the outer wall 22 and spring outwardly to retain the housing 25 thereon, these slots being wide enough to allow light to pass through to the space between the walls 17, 22 and' through the holes 20 in the interior wall 17 to illuminate the interior of the housing. The wall 22 backs at one end on to the panel 19 and at its other end carries a threaded sleeve which engages with a correspondingly threaded cup 21 on the inner wall provided also on its front end with a flange 18 disposed at the front of the panel 19 so that by screwing the cup 21 into the sleeve the panel is clamped between the end of the outer wall 22 and the flange 18 on the inner wall and the lighter held secure. The flange 18 and the bezel 32 are of such diameters as to leave an annular portion of the bezel uncovered so as to be readily visible to a user. The lamp 27 may be omitted and light from an existing lamp piped to the bushing 31 and, if desired, to the interior of the housing. The bushing 31 may be omitted and an aperture cut in the panel 19 behind the bezel 32 through which light is directed on to the bezel.