US2268821A

US2268821A - Ash tray

Info

Publication number: US2268821A
Application number: US308619A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harper Ewing
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1939-12-11
Filing date: 1939-12-11
Publication date: 1942-01-06
Anticipated expiration: 1959-01-06

Description

Jan. 6, E P R 2,268,821

ASH TRAY Filed Dec. 11, 1939 INVENTOR E WINE HARPER ATTORNEYj Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES 2,268,821 V AsHHrRAY Ewing Harper," San Francisco, Calif. Application December 11, 1-93'9,-'Serial No. 308,619

6 Claims. germ- 235) This invention relates to improvements in an ash tray for cigarettes, and has for one of its objects, the provision of a simple, sanitary, effective structurein a tray for ashes for easily and quickly extinguishing the burning end of a 1- cigarette butt and for supporting such butt until the same isfully extinguished. Another object is arranged and adapted to exclude sufficient air from the burning ends of the butts to quickly cause extinguishment of said ends whereby the cigarettes ejected from the means 7 are extinguished, and a still further object is improved means of the above character. in. which the ends of the butts opposite their burning ends are exposed for grasping-by the fingers of the operator, during movement of the butts through said means. Other objects and advantages will appear in thespecification and drawing annexed hereto. In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a tray showing myinvention. I I

Fig. 2 is an enlargedsectional view taken along line 2--2 of Fig. 1 with cigarette buttsindicated in position.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a tray showing another form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section'taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view of another form of the invention.

Fig. 6 isan enlargedsectional view taken alon line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

- Fig. 7 is a plan view of a still further form of the invention suitable for use in automobiles.

Fig. 8 .is an enlargedsectional view taken along line 88 of Fig. 7. 1

In detail, referring to Figs. 1, 2, at least one of the sides l of the tray is formed with a generally vertically extending slot 2 opening "inwardly into the area within the tray; The opposite sides of the slot maybe spaced apart a greater distance adjacent the bottom thereof than alongthe edges of the slot at the open side thereof, as indicated in Fig. 1, and-the distance between said edges is .such that in isliding 'a lighted cigarette buttinto-the slot from its'upper open end, the cigarette will be frictionally'held between said edges with suflicient'force to prevent thebutt from freely dropping downwardly in the slot; Also, the-depth of theslot is such that the burning end ofa cigarette butt will be fully disposed therein against or at least relatively close to the bottom of the "slot when the edges of the sides of the latter frictionally engage the butt adjacent the juncture betweenthe burnihglend thereof and the'remainder of said butt. The sides of the slot adjacent the upper open end thereof taper outwardly, as at 3, to facilitate guiding the cigarettes into'the slot. The side walls of the slot 2 along its open side extend vertically downwardly, but the bottom of the slot curves inwardly into the tray as at 4. Thus thelowermost cigarette 5, in said slot, is gradually forced out of the slot and into the tray as successive cigarettes-are forced into the upper open end. I However, the cigarette butt need be held in-the slot only several seconds before it is extinguished,-hence, in normal use, the cigarette that is ejected from the slot is fully extinguished before such ejection. Where the side walls of the slot 2 extend to the bottom of the tray, the bottom of the latter may be formed with an upward projection 5 having a downwardly inclined side 1 extending from one side of the lower end of the slot for causing the ejected cigarette buttto roll away from the lower end ofthe slot to position 5 (Fig.1) thus positively insuring against any chance of the ejected cigarette buttobstructing ejection of the following butt. r

In the bottom of the tray may also be formed an elongated slot 2', opening upwardly along its longitudinal side and opening at its ends into a portion of the bottom disposed o'iitwardly of said ends, as shown in Fig. l. I It is, of course, obvious that several slots 2 may be provided, as is shown in Fig; l, and in the device of Fig. l the slots 2, 2 are formed in the walls and bottom of the tray.

In operation, the operator merely slides the butt laterally-of its length into either slot 2, or 2' fromone end of such slot. In the case of slot 2, the butt enters the upper end thereof. As soon as the side walls-ofthe slot-frictionally engages the butt, the butt may be released and it will be held with the burning end enclosed within said slot, until extinguished. The operator may, off'course, slide the butt completely through-the slotsince the end opposite the burning end is exposedfor grasping by the fingers. The next butt is slipped into the slot in the same manner as the first one, in sideby side relation to the first butt, and said 'first butt automatically will beforcedtowardthe opposite end ofthe'slo't for ejection upon the slot being filled with butts.

Since the upper side of the tray is fully open at all times, the ashes may be knocked into the tray in the ordinary manner, and the tray can be readily cleaned since there are no closed passages, such as tubes, or other areas that are difficult to clean.

In Figs. 3, 4, instead of forming the slot for the butts in the body of the tray, I provide a detachable metal clip, preferably of spring metal, having opposed side walls 8 and bottom 9 forming the sides and bottom of a channel corresponding withslots 2, 2' of Fig. 1. The bottom wall 9 may be extended at one end to provide a spring element I (Fig. 4) adapted to clamp the channel to the side wall I l of a conventional ash tray, with the bottom 9 against the inner.

side of said wall II. In this form of device the lower open end of the channel may terminate above the bottom I2 of the tray, whereby the cigarette butts will fall freely from the lower open end of the channel upon the butt or butts therein being forced downwardly by a cigarette butt entering the upper open end of the channel.

Figs. 5, 6, show a modified form of tray in which there is a lip or horizontally disposed projection I3 extending inwardly into the tray from one of the side walls, which projection is spaced above the bottom I4 of the tray to form a horizontally disposed channel I5 at one of the sides of the tray with the open ends of the latter opening laterally into the tray. In this form the cigarette butts move horizontally instead of vertically, and the portion l6 of the bottom I2 immediately below said projection I3 may be elevated slightly above the bottom proper so the ejected cigarette will roll from one or the other of the open ends of the channel I5 onto the bottom proper. It is, of course, manifest that the bottom I4 may continue below the projection I3 without the elevated portion I6, if desired, but the elevated portion permits grasping the exposed ends of a butt during passage through the channel without the finger tips touching the bottom'of the tray, in addition to the advantage already noted. 7

In Figs. 7, 8, the invention is shown as applied to the type of ash trays in automobiles, which trays may slide or pivot in a suitable portion of the automobile, such as the dashboard or sides. In this form, one of the walls II of the tray forms one of the sides of a channel I8, the other side of the channel being a strip I9. The strip I9 extends downwardly into the tray or ash receptacle, and is positioned adjacent one of the corners of the receptacle. Said strip is secured along one of its edges to wall 20, which Wall, together with the wall I'I, forms said corner, thus the portion of wall 20 between said strip and wall I1 forms the bottom of the channel. The upper end 2| of strip I9 is slightly flared away from wall I'I, thus directing 'a butt into the channel, and the distance between the sides I'I, I9 of said channel is such as to frictionally engage the opposite sides of a butt to hold such butt therein until forced downwardly therein by another butt subsequently inserted into the channel above the preceding butt. The lower end of channel I8 opens into the bottom of the receptacle and said bottom curves upwardly to meet wall I I, whereby a butt forced out of the channel will roll on the curved bottom into the bottom of the receptacle.

Previous ash trays and receptacles have been provided with pockets or the like for receiving the lighted ends of butts for extinguishing the same, and also provision has been made for extinguishing the butts by moving the same axially thereof through passageways, the burning end of one butt being forced into the passageway against the end of a preceding butt, but in these forms, the pockets or passageways are inclined to become clogged by deposits from the products of combustion, or where the butts are unusually long they tend to buckle upon application of force on their ends and also the passageways and.

pockets are difficult to clean. With the forms illustrated the cigarettes are moved through the channel or slot in side by side relation with the burning ends in the channel or slot, and any and all butts retained in the slots may be readily removed therefrom by merely grasping the exposed end and withdrawing the butt. It is also apparent that substantially the entire area of the bottom of the tray is exposed from above for dropping ashes into the tray, and there are no movable parts or other complicated structures involved in making the trays.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an ash tray having bottom and side walls and an open top, one of the walls of said tray being formed to provide a channel integral therewith positioned with its open side opening inwardly into the area within said tray,'the depth of said channel being sufficient to fully enclose the burning end of a cigarette when the burning end is in substantial engagement with the bottom of the channel, the edges of the sides of said channel along the open side being spaced apart substantially the thickness of a cigarette to frictionally engage opposite sides of a cigarette butt adjacent the burning end thereof for frictionally holding a butt with the burning end in said channel, one end of said channel being open and positioned for slidably receiving a cigarette butt between the sides thereof and the opposite end of the channelopening into said receptacle for discharge of cigarettebutts thereinto when butts in said channel are successively advanced to said opposite end by butts successively slipped into the channel from said one end, the opposed side walls and the bottom wall of said'channel being integrally united along their adjoining edges for the full length of the channel thereof preventing access of air to within the channel along said edges.

2. An ash tray having a bottom wall and a side wall, a channel within said receptacle extending downwardly along said side wall with the open side of the channel opening into the area within said receptacle and opening outwardly of the receptacle at its upper end, said channel being adapted to receive the burning ends of cigarette butts from said upper open end 'for downward sliding of the butts with their opposite ends extending outwardly of the open sideof the channel, and the bottom of'said channel being curved longitudinally of said channel inwardly toward the center of the tray at the lower end of said channel to engage the butts upon the latter being moved downwardly in said channel for guiding said butts out of said channel and inwardlyinto said receptacle. I

3. An ash tray having an open upper side, lateral sides and a bottom, one of the sides of said tray being formed to provide an open-ended channel of substantially U-shape in cross-section, the opposed sides of which channel are spaced apart in fixed relation 'a sufficient distance to receive the burning end of'a cigarette butt therein for sliding of such end longitudinally of the channel with the opposite end of the butt projecting from the open side of the channel, the open side of said channel facing into the area enclosed by said lateral sides and said opposed sides of said channel being arranged to support such butts within said channel, the bottom of said channel being curved longitudinally at one end toward the outer edges of the sides of said channel whereby cigarette butts moved longitudinally therein to said one end will automatically be forced out of said channel by engagement with the curved end of said bottom.

4. In an ash tray having bottom and lateral sidewalls and a fully open upper side; a substantially U-shaped channel within said tray disposed along one of said walls; the sides of said channel being substantially parallel and spaced apart a sufiicient distance to receive and fully enclose the burning end of a cigarette butt therein with the remainder of the butt projecting from the open side of the channel; one of the ends of said channel opening into the area enclosed by the lateral side walls of said tray at a point within said area adjacent said bottom wall for discharge of butts from said channel directly onto the bottom of said tray from said one end; and the open side of said channel extending from said end being also disposed within the said area and accessible for manual sliding of butts supported between the sides of said channel longitudinally thereof.

5. In a construction as defined in claim 4, the opposedly facing inner sides of said channel being substantially uniformly spaced apart in directiontransversely of their lengths and substantially free from convergence in the direction of their widths toward the bottom of the channel whereby any deposits from said burning ends maybe readily cleaned from the bottom of said channel.

6. In an ash tray having bottom and lateral side walls and a fully openupper side; a substantially U-shaped channel disposed within the confines of the upper side of said tray and carried by one of said walls; the sides of said channel being rigid relative to each other and to the bottom wall and the opposite ends of said channel being open; said channel being of a depth and cross-sectional contour to support and enclose the burning end of a cigarette butt therein whereby such butt will be extinguished when so EWING HARPER.