JPS6210597Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an electronic gas lighter, and particularly to a popular electronic lighter with a built-in piezoelectric ignition element.

Unlike simple lighters that use files and flint (especially popular as disposable lighters), electronic lighters are relatively expensive gas lighters with a built-in piezoelectric ignition element, and are widely used as medium and high-end lighters. It is widespread. The built-in piezoelectric ignition element used to account for a large portion of the cost of this electronic lighter, but over the years, compact piezoelectric ignition elements for pocket lighters have been mass-produced, resulting in significant cost reductions. As a result, it is becoming possible to create ultra-low-cost electronic lighters (so low that they can even be disposable) if off-the-shelf piezoelectric igniters can be used.

However, for popular type lighters such as disposable lighters, cost reduction is one of the most important measures. The greatest effort is being made to simplify the work as much as possible, advance automation, and keep the defective rate as low as possible during and after assembly.

Therefore, although it is not impossible to realize a popular electronic lighter by incorporating a piezoelectric ignition element into a popular lighter, the reality is that it cannot be easily realized unless this cost problem is solved. .

In addition, in order to realize an inexpensive electronic lighter, it is of course advantageous to use a standard type piezoelectric ignition element that has been mass-produced.
Manufacturing a new element other than this would not be feasible in terms of cost, but this standard type element has one discharge electrode at the bottom,
The lead wire is pulled out to the side from this area of the main body and extends upward, and the tip of this lead wire is designed to be fixed near the nozzle. This reduces the volume of the piezoelectric ignition element, which is particularly disadvantageous for disposable type lighters that cannot be refilled with gas, and there is a problem in that it is practically disadvantageous to use this existing standard type piezoelectric ignition element as is. .

Furthermore, this standard type piezoelectric ignition element has a built-in hammer to create sudden stress in the piezoelectric material, and this hammer moves from top to bottom and collides with the piezoelectric material. If this element is incorporated into a popular plastic lighter, the hammer's shot will impact the wall of the lighter's gas tank, necessitating an increase in the wall thickness on the tank side, which causes high costs. There is also the problem.

In addition, during assembly, the lead wire that becomes the discharge electrode must be positioned and supported near the nozzle of the lighter, which makes assembly work complicated and increases the number of defects after assembly, which is disadvantageous for mass production and automation. This also poses a cost problem.

The present invention takes these problems into account and aims to provide a popular electronic lighter that is inexpensive and can have a large tank capacity.

The present invention solves all of the above-mentioned problems by attaching a standard type piezoelectric ignition element upside down on top of the gas lighter, and moving the two discharge electrodes up and down. It is characterized by this.

In other words, the discharge electrode at one end is placed upward, the lead wire pulled out from this vicinity to the side moves up and down integrally with the main body, and the operating part that is manually pushed into the main body is fixed to the gas tank side. This makes it possible to increase the volume of the gas tank by preventing the lead wire from entering the gas tank, and eliminates the need to increase the wall thickness of the gas tank by allowing the hammer to collide from the bottom to the top. Furthermore, the lead wire is formed integrally with the main body so that it can move up and down, so there is no need to support the gas lighter main body, which simplifies assembly work and reduces the defective rate after assembly. It doesn't get bigger either.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

At the top of the gas tank 1 is a vertical hole 1A that holds a standard type piezoelectric ignition element 2 upside down (with the discharge electrode 2A facing up and the push-in operation part 2C facing down).
, into which the lower part of the piezoelectric ignition element 2 is inserted upside down, only the push-in operation part 2C is locked or held on the gas tank 1 side, and the main body 2B and the discharge electrode 2A are both movable up and down. be placed. One pole is generated in the discharge electrode 2A during polarization, and a conductor 3 for electrically drawing out this pole is connected to the discharge electrode 2A. This conductor 3 has a circular hole 3A that engages with a circular groove 2D between the discharge electrode 2A and the main body 2B, and projects so as to be located above the pressing portion 4A of the nozzle opening lever 4. An insulating cover 2E is placed over the discharge electrode 2A.

A gas burner 5 is further mounted on the gas tank 1 in parallel with the piezoelectric ignition element 2, and a well-known gas ejection nozzle 6 is provided at the upper end of the gas burner 5. The nozzle 6 has a neck portion 6A that is engaged with one end of the nozzle release lever 4, and is lifted by rotating the nozzle release lever 4 clockwise around the fulcrum 7 in the figure, and as is well known, the nozzle 6 is gush out. In the figure, 8 is a lever that engages with the knurl 5A of the valve 5 and rotates the valve 5 to adjust the flame length.

The other discharge electrode of the piezoelectric ignition element 2 is drawn out laterally from the main body 2B as a lead wire 9, as is well known. In standard type piezoelectric ignition elements, this lead wire is flexible and long, and depending on the product, a resistor is connected to a part of it, but in this case, it is cut short and the position is fixed. It is supported by a rigid cover 10 so that the That is, the lead wire 9 may be, for example, a single conducting wire, and its surface may be hardened with a cover 10 made of plastic molding, or the lead wire 9 may be made of a rigid metal and its surface may be covered with a flexible plastic film cover 1.
It may be covered with 0.

The tip (discharge end) of this lead wire 9 is located diagonally above the nozzle 6, so that this tip comes close to the tip of the nozzle 6 when the discharge electrode 2A and main body 2B are moved downward.

In addition, in order to increase the ignition efficiency, the nozzle 6 is equipped with
A spring 11 may be installed. Regarding the action and effect of such a spring, for example,
Examples of various springs are described in 24602, Utility Model Publication No. 47-36291, and Utility Model Publication No. 16260-1988.

In addition, in order to further increase the ignition efficiency, the lead wire 9
A part or all of it may have electrical resistance.
Alternatively, the nozzle release lever 4 or the conductor 3
may be provided with a resistance for this purpose.

FIG. 2 shows another example of a lead wire, in which a lead wire 9a made of twisted wires is covered with a soft plastic 9b.
The covered conductor wire is supported by a rigid plastic cover 10.

The conductor 3 and the pressed end 4 of the nozzle release lever 4
A represents the main body 2B of the piezoelectric ignition element 2 and the discharge electrode 2A
When the main body 2B and the discharge electrode 2A are pressed down, a piezoelectric voltage is generated by the hammer, and a voltage is generated between the nozzle 6 and the tip of the lead wire 9. When discharge occurs, the nozzle opening lever 4 is rotated so that gas is ejected from the nozzle 6. That is, if you press the main body 2B of the piezoelectric ignition element 2 and the discharge electrode 2A with your finger from above the cover 2E,
At the same time, the lead wire 9 also moves downward, and when the lead wire 9 comes close to the nozzle 6, the conductor 3 pushes the pressing part 4A of the lever 4 to open the nozzle 6, and the conductor 3 and the nozzle opening lever 4 are Discharge electrode 2A through
The gas ejected from the nozzle 6 is ignited by the discharge that occurs between the nozzle 6, which is in electrical contact with the lead wire 9, and the tip of the lead wire 9.

Although shown in broken lines in FIG. 1, the push-down end 4A of the nozzle release lever 4 extends into two branches across the lead wire 9, and the part that engages with the neck portion 6A of the nozzle 6 has a thin slit shape. ing. The projecting portion of the conductor 3 is also bifurcated so as to come into contact with the two-pronged push-down end 4A, and the conductor 3 and the push-down end 4A of the lever 4 are connected to each other on both sides of the lead wire 9 and its cover 10. It is designed to move up and down.

Note that the push-in portion 2C of the piezoelectric ignition element 2 may have, for example, a wide portion at the lower end press-fitted into a holding portion at the bottom of the vertical hole 1A of the gas tank 1, but projections may be formed on both sides of the body 2B of the element 2, The upper lid 1B, which is press-fitted onto the upper part of the gas tank, may be provided with a protrusion positioned above the protrusion so that the main body 2B is prevented from slipping out upward by the engagement of the protrusion.

As is clear from the above explanation, the present invention is equipped with a piezoelectric ignition element with the discharge electrode and lead wire facing upward, contrary to the conventional method, so that the lead wire drawn out from the side of the element body is There is no reduction in the tank capacity, and a sufficiently large tank volume can be secured. In addition, since the hammer of the element collides from the bottom to the top, there is no need to increase the wall thickness of the gas tank for shock resistance.Furthermore, the lead wire is rigidly fixed to the main body and moves up and down with the main body. Therefore, there is no need to position the tip of the lead wire during assembly, and manufacturing costs can be kept low.

In addition, because the standard type piezoelectric ignition element, which has been reduced in cost through conventional mass production, can be used as is (however, the lead wires are shortened), there is no need to manufacture a special element, which is extremely advantageous in practice. This makes it possible to realize an inexpensive and popular electronic writer.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the overall structure of the electronic lighter of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another example of the lead wire portion thereof. 1... Gas tank, 2... Piezoelectric ignition element, 2A
...Discharge electrode, 2B...Piezoelectric ignition element body, 2C
... Pushing part, 2E ... Insulating cover, 3 ... Conductor, 4 ... Nozzle opening lever, 4A ... Pushing end,
5... Valve, 6... Nozzle, 7... Fulcrum, 9...
...Lead wire, 10...Lead wire cover.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] One end has one discharge electrode 2A, and the other discharge electrode is pulled out to the side with a lead wire 9 from the side of the main body 2B near this discharge electrode, and manually connected to the other end. A piezoelectric ignition element 2 having an operating portion 2C that is pushed into the main body 2B and having a cylindrical shape as a whole.
The end of the lead wire is disposed near the nozzle 6, is electrically connected to the nozzle and mechanically locked, and is rotated about a point to lift the nozzle and open the nozzle. A conductor 3 electrically connected to the one discharge electrode 2A is provided near one end of the nozzle release lever 4, and the operating portion 2C is pushed into the main body 2B. At this time, the conductor 3 is brought into electrical and mechanical contact with one end of the nozzle opening lever 4, and the nozzle opening lever 4 is rotated by the conductor 3 to eject gas from the nozzle 6, and the nozzle is 6 and the lead wire 9 by the piezoelectric ignition element 2 to ignite the ejected gas, the piezoelectric ignition element 2 is connected to the one discharge electrode 2.
A is attached to the lighter body with the operating part 2C facing down and the operating part 2C is located inside the gas tank 1 of the lighter, and the lead wire 9 and the one discharge electrode 2A are connected to the main body. 2
An electronic lighter characterized in that it moves downward together with B.