US2213203A

US2213203A - Candle holder

Info

Publication number: US2213203A
Application number: US262950A
Authority: US
Inventors: Buchman Emil
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1939-03-20
Filing date: 1939-03-20
Publication date: 1940-09-03
Anticipated expiration: 1957-09-03

Description

E. BUCHMAN CANDLE HOLDER Sept. 3, 1940.

Filed March 20, 1939 Patented Sept. 3, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CANDLE HOLDER Emil Buchman, Springfield, Mass.

Application March 20, 1939, Serial No. 262,950

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in candle holders and is directed more particularly to the provision of a novel candle holder having means whereby the candle is snuffed or put out -5 at the proper time.

It is one of the principal objects of the invention to provide a candle holder which is particularly adapted-for use in connection with religious ceremonies, as in a Jewish or Catholic home, where it is customary to burn one or more candles at certain times and to leave them burning for a long period with the attendant danger of both fire and objectionable fumes. By means of my candle holder I overcome these objections but at the same time I do not in any way interfere with the proper and desired use of the candles but, in fact, facilitate it.

It is the practice with those of the Jewish faith, for example, to burn several candles in the home on a certain night of the week and it is a doctrine of that faith that the candle must not be blown out or snuffed out by any manual means but that its flame be allowed to die out of its own accord. 1

The device of this invention includes mechanical 25 means adapted to accomplish this purpose in such a way that the religious doctrine stated is adhered to yet the danger of fire or noxious odors from a smouldering mass of wax is eliminated. In general, the device of the invention is adapted to be removably associated with a candle-stick of ordinary form into the socket of which, as is well known, it is now common to insert the lower end of a candle so that the same is supported while it burns. Not only will my device support a candle in the desired manner but it is so constructed that when the candle has been burned to a predetermined length it is automatically snuffed out without any manual touching or without any act on the part of a human.

I thus overcome both the hazard of fire and the objection of smouldering fumes, both of which are now very great. That is to say, I make it impossible for the candle to tip over or to burn to a dangerous length and at the same time I 45 prevent the candles smouldering and thereby emitting unpleasant odors as is now the situation.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a device adapted to be associated with or dis posed in a candle holder or stock of usual construction and which device yieldingly and releasably engages the said candle holder or stick in such a way that the appearance of the holder or stock is not undesirably affected. As will appear, the construction of the invention is simple and contains but few parts so as to be inexpensive to manufacture while at the same time it is capable of being manipulated with facility and is operation is positive and safe.

Various other novel features and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter more fully referred to in connection with the accompanying description of the invention, in the present preferred form thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the device of the invention with dot-dash lines to indicate a lighted candle and a conventional candle holder;

Fig. 2 is a similar view but showing the device of the invention how it looks after it has accomplished its intended snuifing function;

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the device of the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view thereof.

Referring now to the drawing more in detail, the invention will be fully described.

What I call a body or support member is indicated at 2 and this may consist of a horizontal tray-like part as shown. Associated with the body 2 are a pair of spaced upwardly-extending parts 4.

The upper portions, at least, of these members 4 are preferably more or less triangular shaped'as shown in Fig. 1. According to the preferred form of the construction, the spaced parts 4 are connected at their lower ends by a transverse part 6 and are formed from a strip of sheet metal bent into the form of a U as shown in Fig. 3, said transverse portion 6 being secured in some suitable way to base 2.

Extending between said upright parts 4 is a shaft 8 which preferably has its opposite end portions extending through and beyond the outsides of the members 4. Pivoted to said shaft are a pair ofrelatively movable members which are preferably formed of strip metal bent to have main body parts l and side parts l2. y

The movable members are so formed and arranged that the said. projecting parts of the shaft 8 extend through the parts l2 and the body parts are movable towards and away from the side marginal edges of the uprights. That is to say, the movable members are adapted to swing between the open position shown in Fig. 1 and the closed position shown in Fig. 2.

In an open position of the movable members, the lower end of a candle C may be received between the uprights 4 and between the parts l0. Preferably the parts 10 have cut-out portions, as

shown, and their upper end parts are bent inwardly towards one another as indicated at I4.

Spring means is provided to urge the pivoted members towards closed position. Preferably this takes the form of a coil spring i6 disposed around shaft 8 and having opposite end portions l8 bearing yieldingly against the inside faces of the lower portions of members 18.

Such means, then, causes the pivoted members to be urged towards one another so that the candle C is tightly gripped. It will be noted in Fig. 1 that the candle has not yet burned to a length which permits the lips M to come into contact.

In Fig. 2, however, the candle has burned down to such a length that the lips M are no longer held apart but have been allowed, and even urged by the spring, to come into engagement and thereby snuff the upwardly-extending wick. It will thus be seen that as long as the candle is long enough so that there is no danger of fire or objectionable fumes, it is safely supported by my device but as soon as it has burned to a dangerously short length, it is promptly and positively snuffed out.

It may be desirable in operation of the device to allow the lower extremity of the candle to rest on the spring-surrounded shaft 8.

As stated above, it is a further feature of the device of this invention that it is adapted to be associated with a candlestick S of any conventional form having a socket in its upper side. To this end, I provide on the lower side of base 2 a split tubular member of bendable metal adapted to extend into the candle holders socket.

The tubular member may be variously formed but a satisfactory construction is one consisting of a single strip of material cut and bent to have a central horizontal portion 20, a pair of curved parts 22 extending downwardly from opposite ends of part Ell, and another pair of parts 24 extending downwardly from part 20 within the parts 22 which are curved towards one another, as shown.

The material of which the tubular member is made being spring-like and the parts 22 being so arranged that their marginal edges are normally spaced from one another, said parts 22 may be yieldingly urged towards on another in order to facilitate insertion of the device. Once inserted, the parts 24 cause the parts 22 to spring outwardly so as to yieldingly engage the sides of the sticks socket.

It will be appreciated that the device is simple in form and its parts may be made easily of pieces of strip metal. In the form shown, a rivet or screw, indicated by 26, extends through part 28 of the tubular member, base 2, and the transverse portion 6 so as to secure the parts together but obviously they could be otherwise secured, as by welding.

While I have described the invention in great detail and with respect to the present preferred form thereof, it is not desired to be limited thereto since changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a candleholding device comprising in combination, a horizontal tray-like support, a pair of plate members extending upwardly therefrom in spaced parallelism, the side edges of the upper end portion of each of said plate members converging upwardly towards one another, a shaft extending between said plate members, a pair of U-shaped members each including a central body portion and integral side portions, said body portions being disposed in planes which are at right angles to the planes of said plate members one adjacent the forward edges of said plate members and the other adjacent the rear edges thereof, said side portions being pivoted on said shaft whereby the U-shaped members may swing relative to the plate members between open and closed positions, and spring means urging said U-shaped members towards closed position, said body portions being arranged to be insubstantial vertical parallelism when the U-shaped members are in open position and to incline towards one another in planes substantially parallel to said converging side edges of the plate members with their upper ends in engagement when the U-shaped members are in closed position.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a candleholding device comprising in combination, a horizontal tray-like support, a pair of plate members extending upwardly therefrom in spaced parallelism, the side edges of the upper end portion of each of said plate members converging upwardly towards one another, a shaft extending between said plate members, a pair of U-shaped members each including a central body portion and integral side portions, said body portions being disposed in planes which are at right angles to the planes of said plate members one adjacent the forward edges of said plate members and the other adjacent the rear edges thereof, said side portions being pivoted on said shaft whereby the U-shaped members may swing relative to the plate members between open and closed positions, and spring means urging said U-shaped members towards closed position, said U-shaped members being formed of metal and said body portions thereof having inwardly-extending lips on their upper sides, said body portions being arranged to be in substantial vertical parallelism when the U-shaped members are in open position and to incline towards one another in planes substantially parallel with said converging side edges of the plate members with said lips in engagement when the U-shaped members are in closed position.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a candle holding device comprising in combination, a horizontal tray-like support, a pair of plate members extending upwardly therefrom in spaced parallelism, the side edges of the upper end portion of each of said plate members converging upwardly towards one another, a shaft extending between said plate members, a pair of movable members, each of said movable members including a central body portion and integral side portions which extend in the same direction and at right angles to said body portion from opposite sides thereof, said body portions of the movable members being disposed in planes which are at right angles to the planes of said plate members one adjacent the forward edges of said plate members and the other adjacent the rear edges thereof, said side portions of the movable members being pivoted on said shaft whereby the movable members may swing relative to the plate members between open position and closed positions, and a coil spring around said shaft having opposite free end portions bearing against the inner sides of the lower parts of said movable members urging the same towards closed position, said body portions being arranged to be in substantial vertical parallelism when the U- shaped members are in open position and to incline towards one another in planes substantially parallel to said converging side edges of the plate members with their upper ends in engagement when the U-shaped members are in closed position. I

4. As a new article of manufacture, a candleholding device comprising in combination, a horizontal tray-like support, a pair of plate members extending upwardly therefrom in spaced parallelism, the side edges of the upper end portion of each of said plate members converging upwardly towards one another, a shaft extending between said plate members, a pair of U-shaped members each including a central body portion and integral side portions, said body portions being disposed in planes which are at right angles to the planes of said plate members one adjacent the forward edges of said plate members and the other adjacent the rear edges thereof, said side portions being pivoted on said shaft whereby the U-shaped members may swing relative to the plate members between open and closed positions, and spring means urging said U-shaped members towards closed position, said body portions being arranged to be in substantial vertical parallelism when the U-shaped members are in open position and to incline towards one another in planes substantially parallel to said converging side edges of the plate members with their upper ends in engagement when the U-shaped members are in closed position, and a split tubular member of bendable metal extending downwardly from the lower side of said support for insertion in the socket of a candlestick holder.

EMIL BUCHMAN.