US3397029A - Burner valve with impinging means - Google Patents

Description

g- 1968 c. K. LOVEJOY 3,397,029

BURNER VALVE WITH IMPINGING MEANS Filed March 1, 1966 FIG. 3 ,3O

FIG; 4'

INVENTOR. CHARLES K. LOVEJOY FIG. 5 BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,397,029 BURNER VALVE WITH IMPINGING MEANS Charles K. Lovejoy, Atlanta, Ga., assignor to Scripto, Inc., a corporation of Georgia Filed Mar. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 530,846 Claims. (Cl. 431-152) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention is directed to a burner valve construction for gas fuel lighters that includes a flame height adjustment wheel having a gas escape orifice and a restricted evaporation orifice formed therein, said orifices being in communication with each other, and an impinging means positioned within the gas escape orifice above the gas evaporation orifice so that when the manually operable, exteriorly positioned closure member is opened the fuel that is being emitted from the reservoir is directed upwardly against the impinging means for defusing any droplets of liquid fuel that may be present, there'- by accomplishing complete evaporation prior to emission from the exterior extremity of the gas escape orifice.

Background of the invention Gas fueled lighters having a reservoir for containing liquid fuel having a low evaporation temperature at atmospheric pressure are well known in the art. For satisfactory performance it has been found that burner valves for such lighters must provide for the evaporation of all of the liquid fuel before it is emitted from the burner outlet for ignition. This is because failure to do so causes erratic ignition and burning of the fuel-air mixture, since any small droplets of liquid fuel remaining within the fuel mixture emitted from the burner outlet will ignite with sudden violent explosions within the major flame of the lighter.

Prior art burner valves have approached the solution of this problem by positioning the evaporation zone at a considerable distance inwardly of the exterior portion of the burner outlet. With the use of the long vaporization zones of prior art gas fueled burner valves, however, a substantial amount of liquid fuel could accumulate within this vaporization zone when the burner outlet was closed and not used for a considerable period of time. On subsequent ignition, this caused a large initial flare-up which produced a hazardous condition.

This invention overcomes the problems associated with such prior art burner valves by providing a structure which can utilize an extremely short vaporization zone in which a stationary impingement surface is provided to insure complete evaporation of the fuel spray being emitted from the wicking means prior to leaving the burner valve. This eliminates the initial flare-up normally encountered with previous gas fueled lighters during ignition.

Summary of the invention The burner valve structure of the present invention includes: (l) a burner stern adapted to be fitted into a lighter casing and having a central passage therein communicating with the reservoir which contains therein liquified gaseous fuel under pressure; (2) a flame height adjustment wheel that is r-otata'bly mounted on the burner stem; (3) a wicking means carried on a supporting anvil positioned between the burner stem and the adjustment wheel so that the flow of fuel may be regulated; (4) an orifice formed in the adjustment wheel that leads from a portion of the wick adjacent the lower end of said orifice to the atmosphere when open; (5) an impingement block positioned in said orifice; and (6) an exteriorly positioned manually operable, valve closure member.

The impingement block is located so that the atomized spray released from the wicking means is directed against the bottom surface of said block to diffuse any droplets of liquid fuel and to allow sufficient time for the vaporization of the diifused droplets of liquid fuel contained in the atomized spray prior to its escape from the burner structure. Therefore, it can be seen that the fuel is atomized, diffused and then completely evaporated to gaseous form before it reaches the exterior extremity of the burner.

These and other features of the present invention are more clearly apparent upon consideration of the followingspecification and accompanying drawings wherein like characters designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a partially sectioned, elevational view of the upper portion of the gas fueled lighter of the present invention showing the burner valve in sealed position by virtue of the releasable exteriorly positioned closure member being seated on the upper extremity of the burner structure;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the burner valve of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial top plan view of the burner valve of FIG. 2 showing the location of the impingement block in the burner valve orifice;

FIG. 4 is a perspective View of the impingement block used in the burner valve of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of the invention incorporating a splined portion on the exterior portion of the adjustment wheel for receiving an outer ring having a stop member formed thereon; and,

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, partial cross-sectional view of the burner orifice of the burner valve showing the flow of gaseous fuel in solid arrows and the flow of atomized fuel in dashed arrows.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose a specific embodiment of the invention; however, the inventive concept disclosed herein is not limited thereto since the invention may be embodied in other equivalent forms.

Description of illustrative embodiment Specifically, the burner valve of the present invention is incorporated into a gas fueled lighter construction having a reservoir 10 and the valve assembly is generally designated by numeral 11. The valve assembly 11 includes a burner stem '12 having a central passage 14 extending therethrough along its longitudinal centerline. A flame height adjustment wheel 19 is rotatably mounted on burner stem 12. Extending diametrically across the upper end of the burner stem 12 exteriorly of passage 14 is an anvil 15 having a substantially square cross-section. The lower end of the burner stem 12 which is opposite the end that supports anvil 15 is reduced in diameter to form an engaging portion 16 which is exteriorly threaded so that it may be received in an appropriate aperture A in the upper wall W of the reservoir 10. Intermediate the ends of the burner stem 12 is an exteriorly threaded portion 18 which receives the adjustment wheel 19 thereon in threaded engagement.

Intermediate the threaded portion 18 and the upper end of the burner stem 12 is an annular recess 20 extending around the periphery of the stem 12 which is designed to receive an O-ring sealing means 21 therein.

The adjustment wheel 19 has a cavity 22 formed in its lower side to receive the upper end of the burner stem 12. The lower inner portion of the central cavity 22 is threaded as at 24 to engage the threaded portion 18 of the burner stem 12. The relative position of the adjustment wheel 19 with respect to the anvil 15 may be easily regulated simply by turning the adjustment wheel in a selected rotational direction. The'O-ring sealing means 21 fitted within the annular recess engages the inner wall of the cavity 22 so that a leakproof seal is formed between the upper end of'the burner stem 12 and the adjustment wheel 19,

A wick 32 extends between the terminal upper end of the central cavity 22 and the upper surface 34 of the anvil, and its ends hang over either side of the anvil 15 and through the passage 14 to terminate a substantial distance below the engaging portion 16 of the burner stem 12. As is well known in the art, the wick 32 absorbs liquid fuel under pressure and transports this fuel to all parts of the wick 32 including that portion 35 extending between the terminal end 25 of the cavity 22 and the upper surface 34 of the anvil 15.

On the upper exterior surface of the adjustment wheel 19 is an integral raised boss 26 having a gas escape orifice 28 formed therein, and communicating with the. cavity 22 through a restricted evaporation orifice 29 which has a diameter substantially smaller than the gas escape orifice 28. Carried within the gas escape orifice 28 is an impingement block 30 which is press fitted therein so as to be stationary. The impingement block 30, is shaped so as not to block the flow of completely vaporized fuel through the gas escape orifice 28. In the embodiment that is shown, the impingement block 30 is of triangular crosssectional shape but it is understood that other cross-sectional shaped impingement blocks 30 may be selected.

The restricted evaporation orifice 29 is of such diameter that the atomized spray emitting from the wick 32 is directed toward and impinges upon the btoto-m surface 31 of the impingement block 30. Therefore, any droplets of liquid fuel in the atomized spray are thus diffused and contained in the vaporization zone V of the burner orifice 28 defined between the bottom surface 31 of the impingement block 30 and the restricted evaporation orifice 29 sufficiently long to accomplish complete evaporation. The atomized spray of fuel moving through the restrictive evaporation orifice 29 is sufficiently forceful to accomplish complete vaporization prior to movement past the sides of the impingement block 30 where it leaves the gas escape orifice in gaseous form, This is best shown in FIG. 6 wherein the solid arrows designate the flow of completely vaporized fuel out of the gas escape orifice 28 and the dashed arrows designate the flow of the atomized fuel spray against the bottom surface 31 of the block 30.

The amount of vaporized fuel supplied to the restricted evaporation orifice 29 is regulated by selected turning of the adjustment wheel 19 with respect to the burner stem 12 so that the portion of the wick 32 extending between the terminal end 25 of the cavity 22 and the upper surface 34 of the anvil 15 is selectively compressed thereby regulating the compression of fibrous materials of the wick 32 so that the desired flow of fuel therethrough is achieved. As is shown in FIG. 5, the flame height adjustment wheel 19 may be of two piece construction having an inner portion 19a and an outer wheel or ring 19b, the inner portion 19a being splined as at S to receive complementary grooves of the Wheel or ring 19b so that the outer w'heel 19b engages the inner portion 19a for joint rotary movement.

A stop 40 extends from one peripheral edgeof the wheel 19b so that its movement with respect to a complementary stop 41 (shown in dotted line) attached to the upper wall W may be limited. In this Way, the desired mean flame height setting for the inner portion 19a may be first established and then the wheel 19b positioned to move the stop 40 with respect to the stop 41 to achieve maximum and minimum limits.

The fiow of gaseous fuel from the gas escape orifice 28 is selectively sealed by gasket G carried in the manu- 4 ally operable cap C that is exteriorly positioned to overlie the boss 26.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made for the purpose of illustrating the invention without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed as invention is:

1. In a gas fueled lighter having a reservoir containing a supply of liquified gaseous fuel, a burner valve assembly including a flame height adjustment wheel having a gas escape orifice and a restricted evaporation orifice communicating with said gas escape orifice, supply means for supplying liquified fuel in said reservoir to said restricted evaporation orifice, a manually operable, exteriorly positioned closure member normally sealing the exterior extremity of said gas escape orifice, and impingement means positioned within said gas escape orifice and above said gas evaporation orifice so that when said externally positioned valve closure member is opened, the fuel that is emitted from said supply means is directed upwardly against said impingement means to diffuse any droplets of liquid fuel thus accomplishing complete evaporation of the fuel prior to emission from the exterior extremity of said gas escape orifice.

2. In a gas fueled lighter having a reservoir containing a supply of liquified gaseous fuel, a burner valve assembly comprising wick supporting means having a central aperture therein, a wicking means disposed over the upper surface of said wick supporting means and having a terminal end extending through said central aperture into communication with the fuel contained in said reservoir, a flame height adjustment wheel rotatably mounted on said supporting means and having a cavity formed in its underside to receive the upper end of said supporting means therein so that the portion of the wicking means disposed on the upper surface of said wick supporting means is held in compressed relation therebetween, said adjustment wheel including a boss formed on its upper surface with a gas escape orifice formed therein that communicates with a gas evaporation orifice of reduced diameter which in turn communicates with said compressed wick portion in said cavity, a manually operable, exteriorly positioned closure member normally sealing the exterior extremity of said raised boss, an impingement block positioned within said gas escape orifice and above the gas evaporation orifice so that when said externally positioned valve closure member is opened, the fuel that is emitted fromthe compressed wick portion is directed upwardly against said impingement block to diffuse any droplets of liquid fuel thus accomplishing complete evaporation of fuel prior to emission from the exterior extrem ity of said burner valve.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said impingement block is stationarily located in said gas escape orifice.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the cross-sectional area of said impingement block is less than the crosssectional area of said gas escape orifice.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said impingement block has a triangular cross-sectional shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,141,317 7/1964 Segawa 677.1

3,277,674 10/1966 Klein 67-7.1

3,327,504 6/1967 Smith 677.l

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,084,136 6/1954 France.

EDWARD 1. MICHAEL, Primary Examiner.

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