US3443877A - Gas fueled lighter - Google Patents

Description

May 13, 1969 Filed Feb. 10, 1967 SHIROKICHI INAGAKI GAS FUELED LIGHTER W171 v.75. T \ll 4'0 56 '2 y 1969 SHIROKICHI INAGAKI 3,443,877-

GAS FUELED LIGHTER Filed Feb. 10, 1967 Sheet 2 of 2 FIG.4

I 60 sumomcm INAGAKT INVENTOR.

Mhmq 5 ilnited rates 3,443,877 GAS FUELED LIGHTER Shirokichi Inagaki, Tokyo, Japan, assignor to Korona Kogyo Co., Ltd., Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan Filed Feb. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 615,131 Claims priority, application Japan, Feb. 11, 1966, ll/11,213; June 23, 1966, ll/59,341 Int. Cl. F23q 2/16, 2/40, 2/48 US. Cl. 431-134 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a liquefied gas lighter, and more particularly relates to an improvement of an automatic liquefied gas lighter of the pocket type including a cap and a sparking wheel structure including a manually engageable cylindrical member mounted to move bodily as well as rotatably in response to manual pressure, said cap member being normally held in closed position and automatically opened when the lighter is manually operated to effect an ignition of the gas.

In known gas lighter mechanisms of such kind, it has been found that the cap engaging means for holding the cap in closed position are so complicated or incomplete that the parts of the means are difficult to be assembled or the cap cannot be closed snugly and/ or engagement of the cap with a latch is apt to come loose in a short time. At the same time, the process of assembling the parts of the lighter is considerably complicated.

The present invention has been devised to enable these disadvantages to be eliminated and to provide an improved gas lighter of the kind described.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide an improved gas fueled lighter wherein new cap engaging means for holding the cap in closed position are provided, said cap engaging means being capable of closing the cap snugly and with a click and being capable of preventing the engagement of the cap with a latch from coming loose even if the lighter is frequently used for long time.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved gas fueled lighter of the kind described which can be easily, quickly and systematically assembled from the parts thereof, which have been mass-produced separately, with simplification and reduction in the shape and number of the parts, such as cap engaging means and pressure means for the pyrophoric flint.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved gas fueled lighter of the character stated, characterized by the provision of a die-cast block member to be fitted with various parts for superstructure of the lighter and to be mounted above the fuel container.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an improved gas fueled lighter of the character described which can be produced and sold at a reasonable cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of a gas fueled lighter 'atent 0 Patented May 13, 1969 embodying the present invention, showing the cap fully opened;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the lighter shown in FIG- URE 1 from which the cap has been removed;

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the lighter, taken along the line IIIIII of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partly cut away longitudinal crosssectional view of the lighter, taken along the line IVIV of FIGURE 2 and FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view of disassembled parts of the lighter according to the present invention, showing the parts systematically.

In FIGURES 1 to 5, like portions or parts are designated with like numerals.

The invention is illustrated as applied to a gas fueled lighter which is of relatively elongate and slender shape, as shown in the drawings. In the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows the gas fueled lighter having an outer casing 10 provided with a cap 12 which swings on a hinge 11, said casing removably receiving a reservoir 13, as shown in FIGURE 4, which holds gaseous fuel under pressure. The reservoir 13 is provided in a corner portion thereof with a recess 14 of longitudinally elongated form in which a roughened cylinder 15, intended to be rotated by thumb pressure, is mounted, the periphery of said cylinder being partially exposed through an opening 16 which is formed in a corner portion of said casing 10. The reservoir 13 is provided on its upper surface with a valve 18 having a burner nozzle 17 and with a stem 19 having an axially tapped hole 22 for receiving a screw 21.

The reference numeral 20 shows a die-cast block member which is fitted with various parts forming the superstructure of the lighter and which is considered as new and one of the most important parts of the lighter. This die-cast block comprises an upwardly protruded portion 34, a tongue-like front end portion 22 with flat upper surface and a rear end portion 23, said block being of rec tangular form in plan view and adapted to be mounted in the upper opening of the casing 10. The block 20 is arranged in a position such that the fiat upper surface of said front end portion 23 stands substantially at a level with the horizontal plane of the upper edges 24 of the casing 10.

Indicated by the reference numeral 25 is a member for catch engagement with an internal ledge 47 in the cap 12 to hold said cap closed. This member 25 comprises a horizontal floor portion 26, an upstanding ear 27 perpendicular thereto, a sleeve 28 extending horizontally and outwardly of the middle portion of said ear, and an upwardly projecting hook 46 provided at a front end of said floor portion, said upstanding ear 29 having at its middle portion a circular aperture communicating with a tubular seating 29 of the sleeve 28, which aperture or seating 29 is adapted to receive a pyrophoric flint 30.

The die-cast block 20 is provided at its front end portion 22 with a relatively large aperture 31 and a relatively small aperture 32. A relatively large aperture 31 has a cross sectional area larger than that of top pin 33 projecting axially from roughened cylinder 15, and thus loosely receives pin 33. The relatively small aperture 32 provides for nozzle 17 of the valve 18 to project upwardly therethrough.

As shown in detail in FIGURE 3, the block 20 is also provided with a horizontal tubular bore 35 with its rear end portion contracted in diameter With respect to the remaining portion. The sleeve 28 of the member 25 is slidably received in the larger diameter front end portion of said tubular bore 35, and is always urged in the forward direction by a relatively large coiled expansion spring 36. The top pin 33 previously described projects axially from the roughened cylinder 15 through an aperture 37 provided at mid-portion of the floor portion 26 of the member 25. A sparking wheel 39 is fixedly mounted upon the top pin 33 by means of a screw 38 and has peripheral engagement with the outer end of the flint 30 contained in said tubular seating 29. The flint 30 is urged forward against the sparking wheel 39 by a relatively long coiled expansion spring 40 which is smaller in diameter than said spring 36 and passes axially through the inside of the larger spring 36. The spring action of the flint pushing spring 40 is controlled by a cap screw 41 which is screwed into the rear end of the tubular bore 35.

In this connection, it is to be noted that the large coiled expansion spring 36 cooperates with the flint pushing spring 40 in urging forward the sparking wheel 39 and roughened cylinder 15. While the sparking wheel 39 mounted upon the top pin 33 is urged forward by the flint pushing spring 40 through the medium of the flint 30, the top pin 33, which closely passes through the aperture 37 of the member 25, is also urged in the same direction by the large spring 36, which bears against the inner end of the flint holding sleeve 28, through the medium of said member 25.

The die-cast block 20 is also provided in its upwardly protruded portion 34 with a vertical bore 42 and a tapped bore 43 and is adjustably supported by a setscrew 21 and an adjust screw 44. Set screw extends through the vertical bore 42 and has threaded engagement with the stem 19 at 22. Adjust screw 44 is screwed into the tapped bore 43 and brought into contact at its lower end 45 with the upper surface of the fuel reservoir 13. Thus, the block 20 can be held in position by controlling these two screws 21, 44. This is one of the most important features of the present invention, because, as may be seen from the detailed illustration in FIGURES 3 and 4, in order that catch engagement between the cap 12 and the hook 46 of the member 25 may be snugly and tightly effected, it is necessary for the hook 46 to be located at exactly the same level as the ledge 47 of the cap 12 when the cap is in closed position. With the provision of such means, the block 20 may be held in the right position for exactly engaging said ledge.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the cylinder 15 is provided at its lower end with a pivot pin 48, which is loosely inserted into the bearing 50 provided on the wall 49 of a recess 14 which is formed in the left front corner portion of the reservoir 13, and is permitted to have rocking movements, with the lower end of the pivot pin 48 as a fulcrum, within the limits of the clearance 52 formed between the periphery of the cylinder 15 and the side wall 52 of the reservoir 13 and within the limits of the aperture 31. Accordingly, when the user applies manual pressure to the cylinder 15, it is moved inwardly against the action of both springs 40 and 36. Upon release of the engagement between hook 46 and ledge 47, a coil spring 53 secured to hinge 11 effects upward swinging of cover 12 to the opened position.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 5, the fuel reservoir 13 is provided at its bottom 60 with flange-like outer side walls 61, 61 the edges of which correspond with that of the lower opening of the casing 10, and reservoir 13 is snugly inserted into the casing through the lower opening thereof. The fuel is fed into the reservoir 13 through a filing valve 63 provided at the bottom thereof.

The burner nozzle 17 is provided on its neck portion with an adjusting wheel 54 which is rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the valve 18 and nozzle 17 and which is partially exposed through an opening 55, formed in an upper portion of the casing 10, so that it may be manually rotated from the outside of said casing for adjusting the height of flame.

The cap 12 is provided at its internal upper wall with a cylindrical member 56 which accommodates therein a coil spring 57, a plug 58 and a rubber pad 59 as shown in FIGURE 4. The rubber pad 59 resiliently engages the burner nozzle 17, when the cap 12 is closed, to shut off the flow of gaseous fuel. When a turning pressure is manually applied to the cylinder 15, the cap 12 is opened and the gas is discharged out of the burner nozzle 17, and the flint 30 in engagement with the sparking wheel 39 causes emission of sparks therefrom to ignite the gas flowing out of said nozzle.

Thus, the various objects of the present invention as aforementioned may be effectively attained by the features and advantages of the lighter as hereinbefore described.

In addition, it is noted that the provision of the two coiled expansion springs 40 and 36 enables the sparking wheel 39 and cylinder 15 to be constantly urged forward, since a StlfilClCl'lt pressure can be constantly obtained by the large spring 36 even after the spring action of the flint pushing spring 40 has been weakened by the shortening of the flint 30.

It will be apparent that this helps the cap 12 to be snugly and tightly locked on the casing 10.

What I claim is:

1. In a gas-fueled cigarette lighter of the type including an outer casing having a top member, a cap pivotally mounted on the casing for opening and closing movements relative to the casing, means biasing the cap to the opened position for automatic opening of the cap when the lighter is operated to effect an ignition, a fuel reservoir positioned in said casing and having an upper wall provided with a burner-valve assembly, and a sparking wheel structure cooperable with said burner-valve assembly and including a manually operable roughened cylinder mounted for bodily displacement as well as rotation, responsive to manual pressure, and a sparking wheel fixedly carried by a pin projecting axially from the upper end of said cylinder: the improvement comprising, in combination, a casing top member in the form of a die-cast mem- 'ber including a substantially flat base and an upwardly extending protuberance on said base having a front wall terminating a substantially flat upper surface of said base, said protuberance having a tubular horizontal bore extending longitudinally thereof and opening through said front wall; a tubular flint holder slidably mounted in said bore and having a substantially flat base extension slidably engaging said substantially flat upper surface and having, at its front end, at latch member, cooperable with latch means on said cover, to releasably latch said cover in the closed positions; spring means in said tubular bore biasing said flint holder forwardly of said casing top member to urge a flint in said flint holder into engagement with said sparking wheel and to engage said latch member with said latch means; said tubular flint holder being displaceable rearwardly of said casing top member, by bodily displacement of said cylinder, to disengage said latch member from said latch means to provide for automatic opening of said cap; said fuel reservoir having a threaded tubular stem on its upper wall; and means adjustably supporting said casing top member at the upper opening of said casing, said means comprising two screws extending downwardly through vertical bores through said casing top member; one of said screws extending freely through its vertical bore and being threaded into said stem, and the other of said screws being threaded through its vertical bore and having a lower end engageable with the upper surface of said reservoir.

2. In a gas-fueled cigarette lighter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the portion of said substantially flat base having said substantially flat upper surface is formed with a relatively large aperture and a relatively small aperture therethrough; said relatively large aperture loosely receiving said axial upwardly projecting pin of said roughened cylinder, and said relatively small aperture having theburner of said burner-valve assembly extending therethrough; said substantially flat base extension of said tubular flint holder being formed with an aperture through which said axially upwardly projecting pin of said cylinder extends substantially conformingly.

3. In a gas-fueled cigarette lighter, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which said tubular bore is formed with a forwardly facing internal annular shoulder adjacent its rear end and dividing said tubular bore into the relatively small diameter rear portion and a relatively large diameter forward portion; said spring means comprising a relatively large diameter coiled expansion spring having one end seated against said shoulder and its other end seated against the rear end of said tubular flint holder; said expansion spring biasing said tubular flint holder forwardly of said casing top member.

4. In a gas-fueled cigarette lighter, the improvement claimed in claim 3, in which said spring means further includes a smaller diameter coiled expansion spring extending through said larger diameter coiled expansion spring and having a length greater than that of said larger diameter coiled expansion spring; said smaller diameter coiled expansion spring having one end operatively associated with a flint in said flint holder and its opposite end engaged with a spring adjusting member in the smaller diameter portion of said horizontal tubular bore; said smaller diameter expansion spring biasing the flint in said flint holder into engagement with said sparking References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,834,007 12/ 1931 Segal.

2,461,890 2/ 1949 Fox.

2,692,490 10/ 1954 Florman.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,024,854 1/1953 France.

EDWARD I MICHAEL, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 43 l--276

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