US2300764A - Automatic ash tray - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 3, 1942.

w. A. AYRES AUTOMATIC ASH TRAY Filed Jun e 29, 19 38 2 S heets-Sheet l Nov. 3, 1942. w A, AYREs 2,300,764

AUTOMATIC ASH TRAY Filed Jun e 29, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MVQ VW Patented Nov. 3, 1942 Waldemar Alexander Ayres, New York, N. Y.

Application June 29, 1938, Serial No. 216,524 In Canada June 29, 1937 6 Claims. (or. 131-238) This invention relates to automatic devices and to devices for supporting smoking articles such as cigars, cigarettes and the like, particularly devices of the type commonly known as ash trays.

Ash trays are and have been for many years past a common article of commerce and in wide use. These have been made in many designs and widely varying constructions, but in these prior constructions the cigarette or other smoking article has been supported upon a stationary support; and this fact has resulted always in certain inherent disadvantages which have caused great annoyance and even property damage. In particular it frequently happens that a cigarette laid on the support is forgotten while thesmoker is engaged in some other activity and, before he returns to pick up the cigarette or to put it out, it may have burned back for an inch or more with a consequent shifting of its center of gravity toward the unburned end. If the cigarette has been left with an end projecting this shift in its center of gravity may, and frequently does, result in the cigarette toppling off from the support and a burning of the table or rug or other furniture. The property damage inadvertently caused in this way is estimated at several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Frequently cigarettes are extinguished by the heat absorption of the support. Often such cigarettes are only partly burned up and the remainder is wasted in consequence.

Even if the cigarette continues to burn and does not burn so far as to fall off from the support, the fumes from the burning end passing back through the unburned portion of the cigarette tend to condense upon the part of the cigarette which is in contact with the relatively cold support, and as a consequence when the cigarette is picked up, it is found that the part which has been in contact with the support is soaked and stained with the condensate. The cigarette in this condition is unsightly and distasteful to many persons, so that frequently it is thrown away and the greater part of the cigarette thus wasted. Or, if it is not thrown away, the burning zone creeps ahead along the top side of the cigarette and. when smoked often burns across behind that portion in which condensation has occurred. The unburned portion, of course, has not dropped off from the cigarette when the smoker tapped away the ash, and as a consequence when the cigarette burns across behind the unburned zone the latter part is left still burning without support and frequently drops onto the smokers clothes causing a burn or at best the soiling of clothes with ashes.

Because of these recognized unsatisfactory features of the ordinary ash tray many attempts have been made to designash trays so as to extinguish the cigarette or other smoking article after it has burned for a limited time on the tray. This, however, has not been accepted as a solution, and is found generally unsatisfactory because the smoker wants to find his cigarette lighted-and ready for smoking when he picks it up from the tray. It is'a' source of continual annoyance to find that the cigarette has been automatically extinguished and ash trays which cause this annoyance cannot be generally acceptable.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide an ash tray which while allowing the smoking article to burn freely, will always keep the burning portion of the smoking article over the. receptacle intended for the ashesand will prevent the burning stub from falling off of the support in any direction except into said receptacle.

Another object of my invention is to prevent the unsightly'and undesirable condensation of vapors and consequent staining of the smoking article.

Another object of my invention is to prevent the extinguishing of the burning in the smoking article until it has burned almost to the end thereof.

With these and other objects in view, my invention contemplates an ash tray having a movable support for feeding the smoking article toward the ash receptacle part-of the tray, at a rate approximating its rateof burning.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown several preferred embodiments ofmy invention and certain modificationsthereof. I have chosen these with a view to explaining the invention and the principles thereof and the best manner of embodying the same. These and the following specification and descriptions are not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting, but on the contrary it is my intention to enable others skilled in the art to adapt and modify-the invention and to construct it in such various forms as may be best adapted for the requirements of any particu.. lar conditions.

In the drawings: I

Figure 1 is a plan view of a combined clock and movable support for smokers articles;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view to an enlarged scale taken on lines 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan View of the device of Figure 1 taken along the level of the lines 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view in vertical section of a mechanical spring operated movable support for smokers articles;

Figure 5 is a similar view in vertical section of another type of mechanicallyoperated sup- P r a Figure 6 is a top plan view, with the operating rod shown in section, of the device shown in Figure 5; and i Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view similar to Figures 4 and 5, but showing another type of mechanically operated device.

The several devices shown in these drawings comprise a movable support for a smoking article and a motor device for driving the movable support at a rate approximately equal to that at which the smoking article is consumed while resting on the support so that its burning end is always over an ash receptacle. Such motor means may, as shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, be a continuously operating motor; or, as shown in Figures 4 to 7, inclusive, be a motor which is energized each time a smoking article is laid upon the support.

in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, I have shown several embodiments of my invention in which the drive is bymeans of a spring or other motor means in which energy is stored up by manual operation,and a dash pot or other means for speed control regulates the operation of the drive rolls so thatthe cigarette is moved forward at a rate approximating that at which it would normally burn.

In 4; the rolls [9 may be substantially the same as those shown in Fig, l, and theseare driven by a drive string '22m which passes in a turnaround each of the axles 2| being connected at one end through the bell crank 85 to a piston rod 86 f the dash pot 81 and at its other end to the spring 23 by which it is held taut and in frictional engagement with the axles. A valve 88 on the piston 39 permits the piston to be pushed quickly to the bottom of the cylinder compressing the spring 90.

In the use of this device the rod 86 is pushed downmanually at the same time that the cigarette It is laid upon the roll l9, and as this is done the bell crank 85 is, of course, moved down releasing the drive string 22m and permitting the spring 23 to take up the slack in the string. As-soon, as the rod 86 is released it begins its return movement under the pressure of the spring 98, butrestrained by the liquid in the dash pot 8?. As the piston 89 and the rod 86 progress slowly upward, the bell crank 85 is, of course, moved with it and thereby the drive string 22121 is pulled against the tension of the spring 23 with consequent rotation of the rolls I 9 and a slow forward motion of the cigarette l0 keeping its burning end always over the ash receptacle.

The amplitude of forward movement resulting from one stroke of the rod 86 should be a little more than enough to feed the cigarette from its position when first placed on the roller to a position from which it falls into the ash receptacle when almost entirely burned away. Advantageously either the amplitude is not very much more than this so that it will have to be operated each time a new cigarette is laid down, or the driving motor should have suflicient capacity to operate the roll at the given slow speed for substantially an entire evening so that no attention will be required once the device has been wound up or connected to some suitable source of energy,

'In Figs. and 6, a similar device is shown except that instead of the dash pot 81 a rotary device 81m, is used in which inwardly directed fins 95 on the housing are arranged about the path of the blades 95 on a rotor; and the housspring 91m acting upon the push rod 867]. which is providedwith ratchet teeth for engaging and driving the pinion gear 99.

The roll l9 which is driven by the pinion 99 through the gear i0!) is connected to the other roll l9 by a belt I 60a which serves to support the smoking article and to positively drive the same in the direction of the arrow of Figure 6.

The operation of this device is substantially the same as that of the device shown in Fig. 4. The push rod 861?. is depressed when the cigarette is placed on the rolls l9. As this is done the ratchet on the push rod slides over the pinion 99 and the spring Mn is compressed. When the push rod is released, its ratchet is held in engagement with the pinion 99 by means of the spring NH and it is pushed up, rotating the pinion 99, the gear I60 and the roll [9 at a rate determined by the retarder 8711.

It should be understood, of course, that the motor and speed control devices shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are only exemplary and instead of these many other types of motors and speed controls may be used. Thus, for example, a very simple and desirable arrangement is to drive the rolls l9 from a small synchronous motor such as is commonly used in electric clocks, using any conventional reduction drive, for example that shown in Figure 6 of Patent 2,071,274 to F. A. Ross, to operate the rolls !9 at a rate substantially approximating the normal rate of burning of the cigarette. Such a device has the great advantage that it is continuously operating and requires no attention.

In Figures 1, 2, and 3, I have shown such a device in which an electric clock is combined with the automatic ash tray. The clock mechanism, indicated generally at I08, not only operates the numeral dials I (or any other indicators, such "as hands on an ordinary dial) in the. usual way to show time, but is also connected through a gear train, indicated generally by housing 209, a set of gears H3 and an endless cord and pulley drive IE4 to rollers Hi. In this way, any cigarette laid upon rolls I9 is driven slowly forward toward the annular ash receptacle Hip. Electric cigar lighters, indicated generally at H91, may be located as shown in Fig ure 1.

It is contemplated that the clock designated at I08 be of the synchronous motor electric type and that the rolls I!) be driven therefrom through a reduction gear train in housing I09 and through gears H3. The synchronous motor clock per se and the reduction gearing in housing I09 as well as gears H3 forms no part of the present invention and may be of any conventional type such, for example, as shown in the patent to Ross, No. 2,071,274 at Figure 6 and described in the specification of said patent on page 2, the first column, beginning at line 48.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, shaft I04 extends fromgear box Hi9 and carries thereon a pinion H5 which engages and drives miter gears H5 each of which is mounted on a shaftcarrying a pulley ill. Each of the rolls I9 is mounted on a shaft H8 which carries a pulleyl20. Each pair of pulleys I20 is connected by an endless belt IZI to the aligned pulley I". As shown in Figure 2, guide pulleys I22 may underlie each pulley I20. The gear ratios and pulley ratios of the entire system are chosen so that the rolls I9 drive at a surface speed approximately equivalent to the normal rate of burning of a cigarette resting thereon.

Any number of these roller supports I9 may,

of course, be provided; and innumerable designs and types of clocks and trays. Except for the electric lighter the automatic ash tray may be combined as well with a spring clock or any other type of clock mechanism as with the synchronous electric clock.

In Fig. 7, I have shown another type of manual device which is designed to avoid the possibility of a cigarette remaining on the rolls after they have ceased to operate. As shown in this figure, the rear roller is made with a projection III] of sufiicient height so that when it comes to its uppermost position the cigarette will be tilted beyond its angle of repose and will slide into the ash receptacle.

In the construction shown, the rear roll I91 is driven by a coil spring 90 acting on the roll through the sector gear I II and pinion I601. One end of the axle ZIr of the roll I91" is geared to the rotor of a retarder 8'In substantially the same as that described in Fig. 4 through the gear 991* and pinion 981. Connected to and preferably integral with the sector gear I I I mounted on the axle 2| of the other roll I9 is the thumb piece 861* extended therefrom.

In the operation of this device the thumb piece 861' is depressed at the time a cigarette is laid upon the roll. This rotates the drive roll I91- backward until its projection I II] is substantially against the bottom of the other roll I9, and at the same time stretches its drive spring 902. This operation occurs free of the retarder Sin by virtue of a ratchet connection II2. As the thumb piece 861 is released the retarder 8'In is engaged through the pinion 981- and ratchet H2 and retards the return movement of the roller I97.

In the normal course of operation the roll I91 will move the cigarette forward almost its entire length, the projection III! engaging under the extreme rear end of the cigarette and lifting it so that the cigarette drops into the tray at the end of the operation of the device. The forward face of the projection IIU, however, is shaped so that if the rear end of the cigarette should be ahead of the projection III) the latter as it approaches its final movement will push the end of the cigarette along over the forward roll I9 until the butt drops into the receptacle.

I have shown and described above the several widely varied designs in order to illustrate the principle of my invention and to bring out the fact that it can be'embodied in very many difierent forms. Obviously, those which have been shown and described are only a few of the innumerable forms which might be given to illustrate the invention.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the accompanying drawings are made with a view to most clearly illustrating the parts in order that their operation and mechanical relationships may be understood without attempting to preserve accuracy of the proportions.

What I claim is:

1. A device for holding smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars and the like which comprises an ash receptacle, means for supporting a smoking article with its burning portion over said ash receptacle, and means for propelling the article on the support toward the ash receptacle at a rate approximating the normal rate of burning thereof, in which the propelling means comprises a manually energized motor and means for retarding it to a speed approximately equivalent to the rate of burning of the smoking article.

2'. A device for holding smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars and the like with the burning end thereof over an ash receptacle, which comprises means for supporting such smoking article with its burning portion over said ash receptacle, means for propelling the article on the support toward the ash receptacle, an electric motor, driving means connecting said motor to said propelling means, and means for regulating the motor speed to approximately the same ratio to the linear rate of burning of the smoking articie, as the driving ratio between said motor and propelling means.

3. A device for holding smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars and the like with the burning end thereof over an ash receptacle, which comprises means for supporting such smoking article with its burning portion over said ash receptacle, means for propelling the article on the support toward the ash receptacle, a synchronous electric motor and speed reducing driving means, the

speed of the synchronous motor and the drive ratio of the driving means being such that the propelling means is driven at a speed approximately equivalent to the rate of burning of the smoking article.

4. A combined clock and smokers device which comprises a clock, an ash receptacle attached to the clock, conveyor means adjacent the receptacle adapted to hold a smoking article with its burning portion over the receptacle and means for driving said conveyor from the clock at a speed approximately equivalent to the normal rate of burning of a smoking article. 7

5. A device for holding smoking articlessuch as cigarettes, cigars and the like which comprises an ash receptacle, means for supporting a smoking article with its burning portion over said ash receptacle, and means for propelling the article on the support toward the ash receptacle at a rate approximating the normal rate of burning thereof, in which the propelling means comprises a manually energized motor, means for retarding it to a speed approximately equivalent to the rate of burning of the smoking article, and the combination further comprises means for ejecting the smoking article from the supporting means before the propelling means runs down.

6. A device for holding smoking articles such as cigarettes, cigars and the like with the burning end thereof over an ash receptacle, which comprises means for supporting such smoking article with its burning portion extended therebeyond, and means forpropelling the article on the support toward the ash receptacle, an ap-' proximately constant speed motor and driving means connected between said motor and said propelling means with a drive ratio adapted to propel the article at a rate approximating the normal rate of burning thereof.

WALDEMAR ALEXANDER AYRES.

Images