US3860385A

US3860385A - Cigarette lighter

Info

Publication number: US3860385A
Application number: US319171A
Authority: US
Inventors: Yoshitaka Nakanishi
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-12-29
Filing date: 1972-12-29
Publication date: 1975-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-14
Also published as: CH567693A5; FR2166182B1; GB1397329A; DE2264055B2; CA964880A; MY7600119A; FR2166182A1; NL154590B; DE2264055C3; NL7217812A; DE2264055A1

Abstract

A gas lighter comprises a gas tank, a valve casing accommodated within the gas tank, a cylindrical packing inserted sealingly into the valve casing, and a valve cap being connected threadly within the valve casing and having one end thereof hermetically in contact with one end of the cylindrical packing, thus forming a valve chamber of the structure having an improved gas-tight property. The valve chamber is provided with a port of a nozzle therewithin, a first valve means for closing the gas passage intercommunicating with the nozzle, and a second valve means for blocking the gas flow in the gas passage. The second valve means is provided with at least two layers of porous reducing disks having gas permeability as well as elasticity, and a barrier disk having gas impermeability as well as rigidity and being inerted between the porous reducing disks. The barrier disk has a rugged surface on at least one side thereof. The gas tank has at the bottom part thereof an opening which is subjected to be closed by welding a bottom lid thereto at the periphery thereof before feeding a liquidized gas into the gas tank. After welding operation, the liquidized gas is adapted to be fed into the gas tank through a fine slot provided on the gas tank. After gas feeding operation, the fine slot is closed by inserting there into a blocking pin which is welded to the peripheries surface of the slot, thus, liquidized gas stays sealingly within the tank.

Description

Q Unlted States Patent [191 [111 3,860,385

Nakanishi Jan. 14, 1975 1 CIGARETTE LIGHTER [57] ABSTRACT [76] Inventor: Yoshitaka Nakanishi, 12-9, 5-chome A gas lighter comprises a gas tank a valve casing Ichlkawa Japan commodated within the gas tank, a cylindrical packing- [22] Filed; Dec. 29, 1972 inserted sealingly into the valve casing, and a valve cap being connected threadly within the valve casing [21] Appl' 31917l and having one end thereof hermetically in contact with one end of the cylindrical packing, thus forming [30] Foreign Application Priority Data a valve chamber of the structure having an improved Dec 29 1971 Japan 47 2954 gas-tight property. The valve chamber is provided with 1971 jx: N 474244 a port of a nozzle therewithin, a first valve means for Sept 1972 Japan v U 471) [00 closing the gas passage intcrcommunicating with the Nov. 2 i972 Japan.................... 47427149 "02218, and secmd Valve means for blocking the gas Nov. ii 1972 Japan 47-114702 flow the gas Passagc- The Second Valve means is provided with at least two layers of porous reducing [52] Cl I 4 431/344 431/146 431/254 disks having gas permeability as well as elasticity, and

431/276 251/121 a barrier disk having gas impermeability as well as ri- [51] 1nt.Cl F2 3d 13/04 gidhy and being inched between PomS reducing [58] Field of Search 431/344 276 277 130 disks. The barrier disk has a rugged surface on at least 431/131 6. 1 one side thereof. The gas tank has at the bottom part thereof an opening which is subjected to be closed by [56] References Cited welding a bottom lid thereto at the periphery thereof before feeding a liquidized gas into the gas tank. After UNITED STATES PATENTS welding operation, the liquidized gas is adapted to be godtehhofer fed into the gas tank through a fine slot provided on ewman the gas tank. After gas feeding operation, the fine slot 3,118,295 1/1964 Van Poppel 251/121 is Closed y inserting there into a blocking p which is welded to the peripheries surface of the slot, thus, 522 33;, 2235 gr gf gfkgbg?g i fi liquidized gas stays sealingly within the tank. Emmanuel J. Lobato; Bruce L. Adams 3 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures 495157 51 42 3 28 36 23 l 34 29 7 Q V i 2s 27 3215* 31 25 PATENTED JAN I 41975 sum 10? A PATENTEDJANWQYB 3.860.385

SHEET 2 OF 4 FIGZ 8 5 31. 5a 6 FIG.3

PATENTED 1 M915 3.860385 sum w 4 FIGJO FIG.8

CIGARETTE LIGHTER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved gas lighter, more particular to a disposable gas lighter employing liquidized gaseous fuel such as butane.

Gas lighters of this kind have already been well known to the public. Conventional gas lighters of this kind have such defects that liquidized gas is apt to be leaked out and the flame is very unstable to keep a constant height.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a gas lighter without blow-bye.

Another object is to provide a gas lighter having such function as to segulate gas flame constantly in an uniform height.

A gas lighter according to the present invention comprises a gas tank, a valve casing accommodated within the gas tank, a cylindrical packing inserted sealingly into the valve casing, and a valve cap being connected threadly within the valve casing and having one end thereof hermetically in contact with one end of the cylindrical packing, thus forming a valve chamber hermetically by an assembly of the valve casing, the cylindrical packing and the valve cap.

The valve chamber is provided with a part of a nozzle therewithin, a first valve means for closing the gas passage intercommunicating with the nozzle and a second valve means for blocking the gas flow in the gas passage.

The second valve means is provided with at least two layers of porous reducing disks having permeability as well as elasticity and a barrier disk having impermeability as well as rigidity and at least one side thereof forming a rugged surface and being inserted between the porous reducing disks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of a gas lighter relating to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the gas lighter in an enlarged scale.

FIG. 3 is a plan similar to FIG. 2, with a wind proof member and a nozzle cap removed.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view in an enlarged scale taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view in an enlarged scale of a metal plate provided within the gas lighter.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view similar to FIG. 4 showing another gas lighter relating to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing showing the process for welding a blocking pin to a gas injecting slot provided on a fuel tank of the gas lighter.

FIG. 8 is a schematic drawing showing the process for injecting a fuel into the tank of the gas lighter.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view in an enlarged scale showing a nozzle of the gas lighter.

FIG. 10 is a partial front elevation showing the gas lighter in packaged condition.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of an example of the invention, and the novel features will be particularly point out in the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1-4.

A gas lighter according to the present invention comprises a gas tank 1 containing liquidized gas, a nozzle 2 for jetting out gas staying in the gas tank, a valve means 3 for opening and closing the gas flowing passage, a reducing means 4 for lowering down the gas pressure, a manually operable ignition means 5 composed of a spark wheel 5a for igniting gas spouting through an opening of the nozzle, a flint 5b and a lever 6 functionally related to the operation of the ignition means for opening the valve means by lifting up the nozzle.

The valve means 3 and the reducing means 4 are accommodated within a valve casing 7 which is formed in a cylindrical shape, and at the lower part thereofis integrated with the bottom wall 9 having a slot 8, and at the upper part thereof is integrally connected with the top wall 10 of the fuel tank.

A cylindrical packing 14, made of elastic and corrosion-proof material such as rubber, synthetic resin or the like, is provided with a cylindrical member 11, a barrier wall 12 having an aperture '13 thereon and extending integrally to a radial direction from the inner peripheral surface ov the valve casing, and is hermetically engaged, or at least closely sealed, within the valve casing 7 at the inner peripheral surface of the lower part thereof, while the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical packing is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the valve casing 7 due to gas pressure within the fuel tank so as to interfere with gas flowing on the contact surface of the cylindrical packing with the valve casing. Since the valve casing is threadly connected with a cylindrical valve cap 15 at the inner surface of the upper part thereof and the lower end of the valve cap 15 is in close contact with the upper end of the cylindrical packing 14, these parts interfer with gas flow on the contact surface of the cylindrical packing 14 with the valve cap 15 as well as interfering the gas flow through with the interspace of the threadly connected portion between the valve casing and the valve cap.

A valve seat 16 is inserted into the upper chamber of the cylindrical pacing 14. Into the lower chamber thereof are inserted a reducing disk 17 made of filter paper, another reducing disks l8, 19 having gas permeability and elasticity like those of foaming material, and a barrier disk 20 having impermeability as well as rigidity like those of metallic material interposed between the reducing disks and a packing 21 respectively. The reducing disks l8, 19 are able to control the gas flow by changing the condensation thereof due to the process hereinafter described. Moreover, the reducing disks l8, 19, the barrier disk 20, the valve seat 16 and rubber packing 21 respectively are so small in size as to be picked by a pincette. These parts are firstly inserted into the upper and the lower chambers of the cylindrical packing l4, subsequently the cylindrical packing is inserted within the valve casing 7, whereby the reducing disks, the barrier disk and rubber packing can easily and rapidly be assembled together.

It is required to provide an annular interspace for the gas flow between the outer peripheral surface of the barrier disk 20 and the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical packing 14, therefore, the diameter of the barrier disk is smaller than that of the cylindrical packmg.

FIG. 5 shows an example of an improved barrier disk which is provided with a groove 22 formed on one surface thereof, and the groove is adapted to be in contact with the reducing disk 19. Now, by compressing the reducing disk 19 through the barrier disk 20, there occurs portions of higher and lower compressibility on the reducing disk due to the groove so as to be able to make the gas flow smoothly. The construction serves to prevent the flame becoming larger at an instant of igniting the gas, then gradually the flame becoming smaller as the time elapses. Thus the flame is kept to a constant height as well as the gas flow is controlled smoothly, the grooves 22 may be formed on both surfaces of the barrier disk 20, moreover the grooves may be formed in intersected positions to each other, or in a shape having rugged surface.

The upper end of the valve cap 15 is projected out of the opening formed on the upper end of the valve casing 7 and the projected portion is formed to be integral with an adjusting wheel 23. A cylindrical member 24 formed integrally with the valve seat 16 is inserted within the valve cap, and the upper end surface of the cylindrical member 24 is engaged with the shoulder of the valve cap. In this way, when the adjusting wheel 23 of the valve cap is turned in any optional direction for displacing the valve cap upward or downward, the direct holding-down force against the cylindrical member 11 of the cylindrical packing l4 and the holding down force against the barrier wall 12 through the valve seat 16 effected respectively by the lower end of the valve cap are changed respectively, thus resulting in variation for condinsation of the reducing disks 18 and 19 so as to control the exhausting capacity of gas as mentioned above. In order to define the maximum and minimum limits of the control, a pin 26 projecting on the adjusting wheel 23 is adapted to be inserted into the groove 22 of an arc shape provided on the top wall 10 of the fuel tank 1 for adjusting an angle to be allowable of turning a knob.

A valve seal 27 attached to the valve seat 16 is made of elastic material such as rubber or synthetic resin and is forcedly inserted into the slot 28 of the nozzle 2 through the lower end thereof, thus the nozzle is adapted to be idly engaged within the valve cap so that the upper part of the nozzle passes through a packing 29 to be extended upwardly from the upper end of the valve cap. An annular interspace 31 for the gas flow is provided between the nozzle and the valve cap by means of a boss which is formed to be integral with the outer peripheral surface of the nozzle, and the annular interspace is intercom municated with a longitudinal slot 28 of the nozzle through a transversal slot 32 of the nozzle.

Coil spring 33 is provided within the annular interspace 31 and one end thereof is anchored to the boss while the other end thereof is anchored to the packing 29 so as to press the nozzle 2 downward for closing the valve and keeping the same in the closed condition.

The operative lever 6 for displacing the nozzle upward and downward is formed at one end thereof a forked member 34 which engages an annular groove 35 of the nozzle, and at the other end of the lever 6 is provided with a holding part 36 to be pushed by a thumb, an appropriate portion between the holding part and the forked member is supported by a fulcrum 37 for lever 6 formed integrally with the top wall 10 of the fuel tank 1.

The pressurizing part of the lever is displaced by the coil spring 33 and furthermore lifted up by a leafspring 38 bent in V-shape, the valve is more securely closed with the aid of the coil spring 33.

Moreover, one end of the coil spring is inserted into a groove 39 obliquely provided on the top wall 10 of the fuel tank 1 and the other end of the spring is subjected to support the lever 6, thus the spring is readily fixed to the fuel tank (refer to FIG. 6).

The spark wheel 5a is attached to a forked member 41 by means of a pin 42, and a bottom closed cylinder 43 extending downward from the forked member 41 is supported by a cylindrical holder 44 formed integrally with the top wall 10 of the fuel tank and the cylinder 43 passes through an aperture 45 provided on the lever, thereby the lever is fixed to the tank. The flint 5b is inserted into a slot 46 of the cylinder 43 and the top end of the flint is adapted to be pressed against the spark wheel 5a by the coil spring 47 which is inserted within the slot 46.

A wind shield 48 surrounding the spark wheel 5a and the nozzle 2 is forcedly mounted to be secured within a partial wall 49 projecting on the top wall 10 of the tank 1. The wind shield is provided on the top surface thereof with an opening 50 through which passes the flame. A peripheral margin 51 of the opening is formed to be bent downwardly, thus the flame is slenderized by the peripheral margin, thereby protecting the user from getting burned. Furthermore, on the side wall 52 of the wind shield is provided an aperture 53 for obtaining complete combustion of gas as well as for preventing the wind shield from being heated up. The upper surface 54 of the wind shield has about the same level at both ends thereof and has a downwardly curved surface forming caved-in are so as to facilitate the operation for revolving the spark wheel and for holding down the lever 6 by means of a thumb. A cap 55 is formed of synthetic resin having flexibility as well as self-Supportability to seal the opening of the nozzle 2. For this purpose, the cap 55 comprises a sleeve 56 hermetically engaged with the forward end of the nozzle tube, a head portion 57 extending from the end portion of the sleeve in an axial direction thereof to be convergent longthwise, and a knob portion 58 formed at the forward end of the head portion. The inner circumferential surface of an aperture 59 provided on the sleeve is formed to be engageable elastically and hermetically with the outer circumferential surface of the forward end of the nozzle. The head portion 57 passes through the opening of the nozzle 2, thereby the knob portion 58 can be extended through the opening 50 to be positioned above the wind shield 48 so as to be readily removable from the nozzle.

In spite of the projection of the head portion, since it has flexibility, packing of gas lighter can be carried out advantageously, because of the head portion 57 being readily bent by itself, in case a gas lighter is placed on a mount of a pasteboard 66 and fastened to be packed with film 62 having thermal contraction property therearound, moreover is conveniently carried out because the head portion 57 is easily engageable within or removable from a narrow spaced opening of the nozzle surrounded by the wind shield.

Now the process for producing the fuel tank as well as for sealing the tank after filling up liquidized gas therein will be elucidated in detail hereinafter.

The tank 1 is produced by means of, for example, an injection molding process employing synthetic resin having excellent tensile strength, cold and heat resisting property, chemicals proof such as polyamide system resin, S A resin, polycarbonate resin. The bottom part of the tank 1 has the opening in a similar shape to the one shown in the sectional view of the tank and the opening is closed by a bottom lid 63 made of the material having the identical properties with that of the tank. The bottom lid is formed around the periphery thereof to be integral with each other an outer wall portion 64 extending upwardly and an inner wall portion 65 which is longer than the length of the outer wall portion 64 measuring from the bottom part to the upper end thereof, and the lower part 69 of the tank is adapted to be inserted within a groove provided between the outer wall portion and the inner wall portion. Subsequently, before the fuel tank is filled with liquid ized gas, the contact surface between the bottom part of the tank and the two inner and outer wall portions is welded by means of oscillation at the lower surface of the bottom lid 63 using, as an example, a tool horn employed in a conventional supersonic welding apparatus, thus the contact surface is readily welded. Since the welding area occupying the inner wall portion of the bottom lid against the wall portion of the tank is more extensive than that of the outer wall portion, large deposition strength can be obtained without spoiling the appearance.

The fuel tank is provided at the top wall thereof with a small inlet 68 to be engageable with a stop plug 67. When the tank is filled with liquidized gas through the inlet, the stop plug 67 made of the material having the identical properties with that of the tank is inserted into the inlet. After this stage, a tool horn 69 of a conventional supersonic welding apparatus, as an example, is put on the head portion of the stop plug and the oscillatory wave caused by a vibrator 70 is transmitted to the stop plug so as to weld the contact surface of the stop plug and the inlet. As welding means for a stop plug and the bottom lid, there can, of-course, be applied a high frequency heating deposition process or some other appropriate thermal deposition process besides the supersonic deposition process.

At the welding stage for the stop plug, although the tank has already been filled with liquidized gas, welding heat does not cause volatile reaction of liquidized gas staying in the tank, since the deposition area occupying the stop plug 67 is smaller than that on the bottom lid 63, so that welding operation is able to be carried out perfectly and readily so as to minimize the fraction defective in deposition.

If the inlet 68 for injecting liquidized gas is too small, and cooled liquidized gas is injected under pressure into the tank through the inlet, liquidized gas sometimes happens to be vaporized in the air and to be frozen at the opening of the nozzle. This freeze makes the continuous injecting operation very difficult. In order to avoid the cumbersome difficulty, a packing 72 mounted on the forward end of a gas injecting nozzle 71 is forcedly pushed against the inlet 68 of the tank 1, then a rotor 74 of a valve 73 is turned so that a passage 75 of the rotor 74 is able to intercommunicate with a passage 76 of the nozzle 71 and at the same time a passage 77 crossing to the passage 75 in the rotor intercommunicates with a passage 79 connected with a vacuum pump 78, thus, air in the tank 1 is sucked out by actuation of the vacuum pump 78 to make vacuous the inside of the tank to the extent of 5 6 atmospheric pressure. Subsequently, the rotor 74 is rotated up to 90 in the counter clockwise direction for intercommunicating the passage 77 with the passage 76 of the nozzle 71 together with the passage 80 intercommunicating with a passage 82 connected with the liquidized gas tank 81, thus liquidized gas staying in the tank 81 is filled within the fuel tank 1 under the suction pressure due to vacuum. In this way, liquidized gas is filled in the tank without exposure in the air, so that continuous injection is smoothly carried out in safety causing no trouble in evaporation of liquidized gas, or dispersion in the course of injection operation.

What is claimed is:

1. A gas lighter comprising a bottom-closed cylindrical valve casing, a valve cap threadedly connected within said valve casing, and a cylindrical packing accommodated within said valve casing, the outer peripheral surface of said cylindrical packing being in close sealing contact with the inner peripheral surface of said valve casing, similarly the upper end of said packing with the lower end of said valve cap, and the lower end of said packing with the bottom wall of said valve casing respectively so as to provide a valve chamber closely sealed by said valve casing and the valve cap, and in which said cylindrical packing is provided with a barrier wall for separating said packing into upper and lower chambers, said barrier wall having an aperture intercommunicating the upper and the lower chambers with each other, a valve seat mounted within said upper chamber and on said packing, and said lower chamber accommodating therewithin at least two layers of reducing disks for reducing the velocity of gas flow having gas permeability together with elasticity and a barrier disk having gas impermeability together with rigidity inserted between said reducing disks, a nozzle displaceable in upward and downward directions having the lower end thereof inserted into said valve chamber and the other end thereof staying at the outside of the valve chamber, and a valve seal member fixed at the lower end of said nozzle for opening and closing gas passage to the nozzle by contacting with and separating from said valve seat due to the displacement of said nozzle.

2. A gas lighter according to claim 1, in which said barrier disk is formed with a number of grooves for controlling the gas flow at least on one surface thereof.

3. A gas lighter according to claim 1, in which said valve seat is formed in a cylinder having a peripheral wall thereof extending upwardly from a bottom part inserted within said valve cap, said valve cap being disposed on said cylinder, a shoulder part engaging the upper end of said cylinder for lowering down said cylinder.