US2719526A - Tobacco tamping device and lighter combination - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 4, 1955 5 BACHMAN 2,719,526

TOBACCO TAMPING DEVICE AND LIGHTER COMBINATION Filed Dec. 26, 1.951

FIG. 2

//V l/E N TOR 5m, M; BRCHMAN Hi5 H11 5 United States Patent TOBACCO TAlVlPING DEVICE AND LIGHTER COMBINATION Skuli M. Bachman, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Application December 26, 1951, Serial No. 263,368

2 Claims. (Cl. 131-247) My invention relates to new and useful improvements in pipe tampers, more particularly in tampers used by pipe smokers in order to depress the tobacco within the bowl thereof after lighting same and an object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is designed specifically for attachment to and used with a conventional cigarette lighter.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is readily extendable and retractable by the user from the casing of the lighter either after having ignited the tobacco in the pipe with the lighter or for depressing same during the burning of the tobacco within the pipe bowl.

Yet a further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which can either be built in during the construction of the lighter or, alternatively, may be purchased separately and readily attached to the lighter without structural alterations being necessary to the latter.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which, due to the extension and retraction characteristics thereof, prevents same from interfering with the normal operation of the lighter inasmuch as the same is provided with means for maintaining the tapering device in either the extended or retracted position as required.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is relatively economical in manufacture, simple in operation, and otherwise suited for the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a conventional cigarette lighter sectioned in part and showing one embodiment of my device in the retracted position.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of a conventional lighter with my device in situ.

Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the tamping device shown in Figure 1, the view being taken from the inner side thereof.

Figure 4 is an end plan view of Figure 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

It is well known among tobacco pipe smokers that, in order for the tobacco to burn evenly and be ignited correctly, the surface of the tobacco within the bowl of the pipe has to be tamped downwardly within the bowl during the lighting operation thereof as well as during the smoking operation.

2,719,526 Patented Oct. 4, 1955 It is also well known that many tobacco pipe smokers dislike using a conventional cigarette lighter for the ignition of the tobacco within the pipe bowl inasmuch as the lighter itself cannot be used for the tamping process whereas a conventional wooden match can be utilized for this purpose as a temporary tamper during the ignition of the tobacco surface.

I have, therefore, designed the tamping device hereinafter to be described which is adapted to be secured to a conventional cigarette lighter and yet which, due to the extending and retracting characteristics deriving therefrom, does not interfere with the use of the lighter for other purposes.

Proceeding first to describe the'embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that I have shown a conventional lighter collectively designated 1 being of the type having an approximately elliptical configuration when viewed in horizontal section and comprising a hollow lighter casing 2, having a top plate 3 and a base plate 4, and being provided with a wick assembly 5, together with a flint action, collectively designated 6.

At one side 7 of the casing 2, I have provided a pair of vertically extending recesses 8, said recesses extending from the top plate 3 to the base plate 4, thus leaving a centrally exposed shoulder 9, having surfaces or sides 10, which form the inner sides of the aforementioned recesses 8.

A tamping device, collectively designated 11 includes a pair of parallel stems 12, spanned at the ends thereof by a heel piece 13. The opposite ends 14 of the stems 12 are provided with bearing bosses 15, and extending inwardly from these bosses are a pair of pivot pins 16, which in turn, are engageable within apertures 17 formed within the base of the shoulder 9 of the casing 2. These bosses 15 and stems 12 may be cylindrical as shown in Figures 1 and 3 or may be shaped to conform with the configuration of the case 2 when in the closed position shown in Figure 2. By this means it will be observed that the tamping unit 11 is hingedly secured adjacent the base of the casing 2 and is slingable from the position shown in Figure l to a position therefrom in the direction of arrow 18 so that the heel 13 can extend below the base plate 4 of the lighter. In this connection, it will be observed that the heel piece 13 is recessed by the provision of a U-shaped aperture 19.

This aperture 19 serves two purposes, firstly it prevents choking of the tobacco being tamped and secondly, it permits the heel piece to nest around the aforementioned wick assembly 5, so that the tamping unit nests against the side of the lighter when in the retracted position of Figure 1.

Means are provided in order to lock the tamping device either in the retracted position shown in Figure l or in the extended position as hereinbefore described, said means taking the form of cams 20, formed upon the inner surfaces of the bearing bosses 15, and it will be observed that these cams are of elongated configuration and lie substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes of the stems 12. Reference to Figure 2 will show that corresponding grooves or recesses 21 are formed within the inner faces 10 of the recesses 8, said grooves being parallel to the vertical axis of the lighter casing 2, so that, when the tamping device is in the retracted position shown in Figure 1 or in the fully extended position 180 therefrom, the cams 20 engage within the grooves 21, thus locking the tamping device in either of these positions. It is to be appreciated that the stems 12 of the tamping device exert inward bias due to the construction thereof thereby resisting movement from either the retracted or extended position but that if pressure is applied either in the direction of arrow 18 or in the reversed direction thereto,

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the cams 20 are permitted to disengage from the grooves 21, thus permitting the tamping unit to be rotated as desired.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently Widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims Without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A tobacco tamping device comprising a casing having a pair of recessed portions at one side thereof and a projection mounted on said casing between said recessed portions and extending thereabove, a pair of stems, one pivoted in each recessed portion at one end thereof, a tamping heel secured to and spanning the opposite ends of said stems and being swingable with said stems from a retracted position adjacent said casing wherein said stems are nested in said recessed portions, to an extended position remote from said casing wherein said heel is exposed for tamping, said heel having an apertured portion to prevent choking oftobacco being tamped, said apertured portion being adapted to straddle said projection to permit said stems to nest in said recesses against the side of said casing in retracted position, and means on said casing and stems for locking said stems and heel in retracted and extended positions.

2. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said stems are spring biased toward the inner walls of said recessed portions; and said locking means includes a pair of cams formed on the ends of said stems pivoted in said recessed portions, the inner walls of said recessed portions having grooves formed therein, whereby said cams are urged toward said grooves by said spring biased stems, and said cams are lockably engageable in said grooves when said stems are in extended and in retracted position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 544,691 Rupprecht Aug. 20, 1895 865,547 Walker Sept. 10, 1907 1,602,607 Douglass Oct. 12, 1926 2,081,976 Anderson June 1, 1937 2,444,663 Miller July 6, 1948 2,536,852 Middleton Jan. 2, 1951 2,539,249 Holland Jan. 23, 1951 2,585,071 Allen Feb. 12, 1952

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