WO2005108868A1

WO2005108868A1 - Pocket lighter

Info

Publication number: WO2005108868A1
Application number: PCT/ES2004/000474
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rafael Mira Almendros
Original assignee: Flamagas S.A.
Priority date: 2004-05-05
Filing date: 2004-10-29
Publication date: 2005-11-17
Also published as: ES2243130B1; EP1746346A1; ES2243130A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a pocket lighter consisting of a main body (1) which is equipped with a fuel container (24), a valve (4) which is actuated by a push button (9), a flint (5), an ignition wheel (6) which is disposed on top the push button (9) and a protective screen (11) which defines a combustion chamber (3) and which comprises two lateral arms (12a, 12b), said arms covering the sides of the ignition wheel (6) such as to define a projecting segment (16). According to the invention, the lighter is difficult for children to light owing to the fact that: a non-deformable protective element (13) extends transversely in relation to the lateral arms (12a, 12b) of the protective screen (11) above the circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6), and the actuation angle (27) of the ignition wheel (6) is greater than 10° and less than 90°.

Description

POCKET LIGHTER DESCRIPTION

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a lighter comprising a main body provided with a fuel tank, said main body having an upper base on which they are arranged:

- a combustion chamber;

- a valve that connects said fuel tank with said combustion chamber;

- an ignition device capable of producing and sending sparks towards said combustion chamber, said ignition device comprising a pyrophoric stone and an ignition wheel mounted rotatably on its axis and operable by a user's finger, presenting said wheel of ignition a circumferential surface comprising an abrasive band in contact with said pyrophoric stone; - a push button for the actuation of said valve which is located next to said ignition wheel and which has an actuation surface on which a finger of a user acts at the end of the actuation movement of said ignition wheel;

- and a protective screen delimiting said combustion chamber and comprising two lateral arms that extend to the flanks of said ignition wheel, so that, considering a side view of the lighter according to a direction parallel to said axis, said circumferential surface of the ignition wheel protrudes from said protective screen along at least one protrusion sector, said ignition wheel being directly actuated by a user's finger on at least a part of said protrusion sector; More specifically, the invention relates to a lighter of the type mentioned above that is specially designed to hinder its ignition by a young child, especially a child under 51 months.

State of the art

The gesture necessary to light a conventional lighter of the type indicated above is especially simple and easy to execute for a young child. To prevent the risk involved, and in many cases following the specific regulations that have been developed in different countries, lighter manufacturers have designed and placed on the market various models that incorporate a special design that makes ignition difficult. The design of these lighters should be such that it makes it very difficult to ignite them by a young child, but without making it too difficult to ignite them by a fully trained person. Various lighters of the type considered are known to meet these requirements with greater or lesser efficiency, although all of them have drawbacks, as will be seen below.

In a first group of known lighters, the simple operation principle of conventional lighters is essentially preserved and a more difficult ignition is achieved by hindering the ignition wheel drive. Basically, this difficulty of driving the wheel is achieved by increasing the radial force that a user must exert with the finger to be able to apply on the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel the tangential force necessary to drive said wheel in rotation, overcoming the frictional resistance of pyrophoric stone. In some cases, this effect is achieved by providing the circumferential surface of the wheel with a geometry such that, given a radial force exerted by a user's finger, the coefficient of tangential friction in the area of application of the finger is less than in a conventional lighter; in other cases, this same effect is achieved by arranging elements that hinder, but do not prevent, the radial access of the finger to said circumferential surface. In the solution proposed by document EP0829686, smooth circumferential surface rings are arranged on the ignition wheel itself, or flanking said wheel, so that to support the finger with contact on the ignition wheel and be able to operate it in rotation, The finger should also rest on the smooth surface of the rings.

Similarly, WO9701734 describes a lighter in which the ignition wheel is provided with the two circular pushers similar to those of most conventional lighters, but with the particularity that they have a smooth circumferential surface.

Similarly, document US5096414 adopts the solution of having circular discs with a smooth surface flanking the ignition wheel. In an alternative solution, this document also proposes that the ignition wheel be slightly sunk between the lateral arms of the protective screen, so that the finger, when trying to reach the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel, must necessarily rest on said arms and it only reaches said surface by its yolk, requiring a high radial force.

The solution proposed in documents US5520197, US5735294 and US5769098 consists in providing a flexible element that extends above the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel, so that to reach said surface with the finger, it is necessary to deform said flexible element previously with the finger, exerting a radial force for it.

Document US5897307 describes a lighter in which two characteristics are combined to achieve the aforementioned effect of increasing the radial force required to drive the ignition wheel. On the one hand, the circular thrusters of the ignition wheel have a reduced diameter with respect to a conventional lighter and also have a smooth circumferential surface. On the other hand, the ignition wheel is arranged flush or slightly sunk with respect to the protective screen. Thus, to access the surface radially circumferential of the ignition wheel, the finger must rest on the edges of the protective screen and deform to reach said surface only with its yolk.

Lighters of this first type, that is, those based on increasing the radial force required to drive the ignition wheel, have the disadvantage that said force tends to decrease with the use of the lighter, so that the safety of the lighter is degrades over time. Indeed, to initiate the rotational movement of the ignition wheel, the static frictional force of the wheel on the pyrophoric stone must be overcome. Although this frictional force is normally ensured by the action of a spring that pushes the pyrophoric stone against the wheel, said frictional force weakens over time due to the wear of the pyrophoric stone itself and, sometimes, also to the aging of the spring. On the other hand, in lighters that provide a flexible element to hinder radial access to the ignition wheel, as is the case in documents US5520197, US5735294 and US5769098 discussed above, the properties of said flexible element are degraded with the time and with the use, due to the mechanical fatigue of this flexible element that is requested every time the lighter is used.

A second type of known lighters is based on the introduction of additional mechanical elements that, under certain conditions, prevent the rotation of the ignition wheel. The lighters of this group have as their main drawback the fact that a mechanical complication is introduced that makes the lighter's manufacturing more expensive and that often affects its robustness negatively. In this group the lighters of the documents US5520197, US5735294 and US5769098 mentioned above can be classified, since in addition to the aforementioned features, they also have blocking means that prevent the rotation of the ignition wheel when the button is pressed. This prevents a child from operating the button with one hand and turning the wheel with the other, obtaining a spark. Also, it is worth mentioning document US4717335, which describes a lighter provided with stop means for the rotation movement of the ignition wheel, so that once the wheel has been driven in the proper direction to produce the spark, it can only driving said wheel again in the same direction if the wheel is previously pushed back in the opposite direction. This solution, in addition to introducing the aforementioned mechanical complication, has the disadvantage that it does not really hinder the conventional operation of the lighter, if not that it modifies its operating principle, which can be easily deduced by a child.

Summary of the invention

The invention aims to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, by providing a lighter that essentially retains the principle of operation of conventional lighters and whose special design hinders the effective operation of the ignition wheel, making it practically impossible for a child to cut age, in particular a child under 51 months, but without introducing into the lighter any element that complicates its mechanical structure, and so on, so that the safety of the lighter cannot be degraded over time or with use.

This purpose is achieved by means of a lighter of the type indicated at the beginning, characterized in that it comprises a non-deformable protective element that extends transversely to said lateral arms of the protective screen above said circumferential surface of the ignition wheel, so that said protective element at least partially covers a sector of said circumferential surface according to a vertical projection, thus making said circumferential surface in said covered sector totally inaccessible to a user's finger; and because said projecting sector is located next to said push-button, said actuation sector defining the actuation angle of said ignition wheel as the angle at which said circumferential surface of the ignition wheel is radially accessible with respect to said axis, being said operating angle greater than 10 ° and less than 90 °, and preferably greater than or equal to 30 ° and less than or equal to 70 °.

It should be noted that the vertical direction should be understood as the direction that normally corresponds to the vertical direction in the normal position of use of the around. In lighters of the type considered, this vertical direction can be assimilated to the axial direction of the lighter valve, which normally coincides with the longitudinal direction of the main body of the lighter.

It should also be clarified that when defining the angle of actuation of the ignition wheel as the angle at which the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel is radially accessible with respect to its axis, it should be understood that within this angle of operation any radial line plotted from said axis does not cut any element of the lighter.

On the other hand, by non-deformable protective element it should be understood that said protective element cannot be deformed or displaced by the action of a user's finger in normal use of the lighter.

It will be noted that the lighter according to the invention advantageously combines two characteristics. The first characteristic consists in the presence of the protective element that extends over the ignition wheel, making a sector of the latter totally inaccessible to a user's finger. It should be understood therefore that thanks to the presence of said protective element it is not possible, in any way, for the user's finger to contact the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel in the sector covered vertically by said protective element. In other words, in this covered sector it is impossible to act on the ignition wheel with your finger. The second feature is that the angle of actuation of the ignition wheel, which is defined in the protruding sector of the latter located between said protective element and said button, must be maintained within the range of values indicated above.

It is important to highlight that these two characteristics are inseparable; indeed, they must exist simultaneously for the lighter to have the desired properties, that is, it is difficult enough to ignite on the part of a child but sufficiently easy to ignite on the part of an adult. - one -

It has been found that the gesture to operate the ignition wheel naturally performed by a user, including young children, is always initiated by placing the thumb on the top of the ignition wheel. The first feature of the lighter according to the invention, that is the provision of a protective element in the indicated manner, is intended for this natural gesture to be necessarily initiated by placing the finger on said protective element, so that the gesture begins without contact with the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel. Next, the finger slides on the protective element until it falls on the protruding sector of the ignition wheel, at which time contact is made with the circumferential surface thereof and its actuation is effectively initiated. It is thus possible to maintain the natural ignition gesture, but the ignition wheel is prevented from being activated in the initial phase, while the finger slides on the protective element and it is also achieved that said finger is in motion when it comes into contact with the ignition wheel The latter means that when the ignition wheel comes into contact with the finger, it exerts a force whose radial component is smaller than when the drive starts with the finger stopped, as is the case with conventional and prior art lighters. Thanks to this, when executing the mentioned natural gesture, a young child does not get the ignition, while an adult easily gets it.

However, it has also been found that this protective element is not enough. Indeed, if the projecting sector of the ignition wheel is sufficiently wide, a young child can adopt a first alternative ignition gesture that consists of placing the finger in said projecting sector of the ignition wheel, below said protective element, and initiate at that point the drive movement. The second feature of the invention, which is to reduce the angle of actuation of the ignition wheel to a value in the range mentioned above, is intended that this first alternative gesture is not effective when executed by a young child. . In fact, in order for the ignition wheel drive to cause a spark, it is not only necessary to be able to start the rotation by initially overcoming the friction of the pyrophoric stone (for which it is necessary to exert a sufficient radial force that allows to obtain the endurance of the finger in the tangential direction, as seen above- mind), but it is also required that the rotational movement of the ignition wheel acquires a minimum speed. A reduced driving angle makes it impossible for a young child to obtain such a minimum speed.

It has also been found that if only the operating angle is reduced and said protective element is dispensed with, the operation of the lighter is not satisfactory. Indeed, although the lighter is designed so that the side arms of the protective screen hide the upper part of the ignition wheel, it is possible to execute a second alternative ignition gesture similar to the natural gesture described above, but in which it is exercised greater radial force, sufficient for the fingertip to enter between said lateral arms and reach the ignition wheel. This possibility is eliminated by arranging said protective element according to the invention. On the other hand, although said protective element hinders the effective actuation of the ignition wheel by a young child, it also facilitates said actuation by an adult, because the initial speed acquired by the finger when sliding on said protective element it helps to reach the minimum rotation speed of the ignition wheel when the driving angle is reduced. This effect only intervenes in the case of adults, since the gesture is required to be both fast and with sufficient radial force.

The actuation angle of the ignition wheel can be delimited by the limits of said projection sector itself, but also inferiorly by the push button and / or superiorly by the protective element itself. Therefore, there are four possible configurations that remain within the scope of the present invention.

In a first advantageous configuration, the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said actuator surface of the push button in the angular position closest to said protective element cuts said protruding sector, so that said radius constitutes the lower boundary of said actuation angle , and the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said protective element in the angular position closest to said button does not cut said protruding sector, so that the border upper of said actuation angle coincides with the upper boundary of said outgoing sector.

In a second advantageous configuration, the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said actuator surface of the push button in the angular position closest to said protective element cuts said protrusion sector, so that said radius constitutes the lower boundary of said actuation angle , and the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said protective element at the point closest to said push button cuts said protruding sector, so that said radius constitutes the upper boundary of said actuation angle.

In a third advantageous configuration, the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said actuator surface of the push button in the angular position closest to said protective element does not cut said protrusion sector, so that the lower front of said actuation angle coincides with the lower boundary of said protruding sector, and the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said protective element in the angular position closest to said push-button does not cut said protruding sector, so that the upper boundary of said actuation angle coincides with the upper border of said outgoing sector.

In a fourth advantageous configuration, the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said actuator surface of the push button in the angular position closest to said protective element does not cut said protruding sector, so that the lower boundary of said actuation angle coincides with the lower border of said protruding sector, and the radius centered on said axis and tangent to said protective element in the angular position closest to said push button cuts said protruding sector, so that said radius constitutes the upper border of said actuation angle.

Preferably, said sector of the circumferential surface covered by said protective element according to a vertical projection has its closest limit to said push button in an angular position between 20 ° negative and 30 ° positive, and more preferably between 5 ^or negative and 5 ^or positive , taking as the vertical origin that passes through said axis and taking as positive angular direction the one that goes most directly from said vertical towards said pushbutton.

Preferably, in the angular position with respect to said axis located on the vertical which passes through said axis, said circumferential surface of the ignition wheel does not protrude from said protective screen.

More preferably, said circumferential surface of the ignition wheel does not protrude from said protective screen in any of the angular positions between 0 ° and 20 ° positive, taking as origin the vertical that passes through said axis and taking as positive angular direction the one it goes more directly from said vertical towards said push button.

The applicant has verified that these preferred positions of the protective element and of the ignition wheel with respect to the protective screen are those that provide a greater positive effect when the natural actuation gesture described above is executed, ie those that provide a maximum difficulty of operation by a young child while maintaining adequate ease of use for an adult.

Advantageously, said protective element forms a single piece with said protective screen and is constituted by two facing pins that extend from the upper edges of said lateral arms of the protective screen. Furthermore, preferably, said protective element delimits together with the upper edges of the protective screen an outlet of said combustion chamber. This solution is efficient and inexpensive to manufacture, since different functionalities are integrated into the protective screen. Furthermore, preferably, said protective element has a flat planar upper surface with the upper edges of said lateral arms of the protective screen, so that an optimum sliding of the finger on said surface is achieved when the natural actuation gesture described above begins. In an alternative solution, said protective element is an independent part of said protective screen, said piece presenting a bridge form laid on said ignition wheel. This piece can be fixed, for example, to the side arms of the protective screen or to the axle of the ignition wheel, and can pass inside or outside of said side arms.

Preferably, for any of the solutions described, the position of the ignition wheel is such that, considering any radial direction centered on said axis, the minimum distance between said protective element and said circumferential surface of the ignition wheel is less or equal to 0.5 mm, and more preferably less than or equal to 0.3 mm. By reducing this separation distance, a larger diameter ignition wheel can be mounted, so that the tangential force necessary to obtain a given turning moment is advantageously reduced. On the other hand, since the protective element is practically touching the circumferential surface of the ignition wheel, it cannot be deformed by the action of an excessive radial force since it immediately comes into abutment against said surface.

Preferably, within said actuation angle, in the angular position in which said circumferential surface protrudes from said protective screen by a maximum distance according to the radial direction centered on said axis, said maximum distance is greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less or equal to 2 mm. This arrangement is optimal for obtaining an effective actuation of said ignition wheel without it being too easy for a young child.

Advantageously, said ignition wheel comprises, flanking said abrasive band, two pusher discs of greater diameter than said abrasive band, said pusher discs having a toothed surface constituting the part of said circumferential surface that protrudes from said protective screen along At least one outgoing sector. This ignition wheel configuration is the usual in conventional lighters. Of course, the invention can be carried out with any other type of ignition wheel. Brief description of the drawings

Other advantages and features of the invention can be seen from the following description, in which, without any limitation, preferred embodiments of the invention are mentioned, mentioning the accompanying drawings. The figures show:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, a side elevation view, a plan view and a partial sectional view of a first embodiment of the lighter according to the invention;

Fig. 4, a top view of a second embodiment of the lighter according to the invention;

Fig. 5, a perspective view of the protective lighter screen of Fig. 4; Figs. 6 and 7, respectively, a partial side elevation view and a top view of a third embodiment of the lighter according to the invention; Figs. 8 and 9, respectively, a partial side elevation view and a top view of a fourth embodiment of the lighter according to the invention; Figs. 10 and 11, respectively, a partial side elevation view and a top view of a fifth embodiment of the lighter according to the invention.

Detailed description of embodiments of the invention

In the first embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, the lighter is formed by an oblong plastic main body 1 containing a liquid gas tank 24 and having an upper base 2 on which a push-button 9 having an upper operating surface 10, a valve, is mounted 4 operated by said button 9, an ignition device consisting of an ignition wheel 6 rotatably mounted on its own axis 28 on vertical supports (not visible in the figures) and a pyrophoric stone 5 that is kept in contact on the circumferential surface 7 of the ignition wheel 6 by the action of a pusher spring 25, and finally a protective screen 11 which delimits a combustion chamber 3 on said valve 4 and which has two lateral arms 12a, 12b that cover the flanks of the ignition wheel 6.

The ignition wheel 6 is provided with an abrasive central band 8, which is the one in contact with the pyrophoric stone 5, and two pusher discs 19a, 19b provided with toothed surfaces 20a, 20b on which the finger of a finger acts. user when driving the wheel 6. The circumferential surface 7 of the wheel 6 is thus formed by said toothed surfaces 20a, 20b and by said central abrasive band 8. Considering a side view parallel to said axis 28 (Figs. 1 and 3), the pusher discs 19a, 19b have a larger diameter than said central abrasive band 8 and protrude from said protective screen 11 along a projecting sector 16 located next to the push button 9.

The protective screen 11 is a U-shaped metal part fixed to pressure in the main body 1 by means of nails 26 that are crimped in corresponding housings. The upper edges of the lateral arms 12a, 12b of the protective screen 11 have a flat extension 13 that is coplanar with said upper edges and with these define an outlet 22 of the combustion chamber 3. This flat extension 13 constitutes an element protector that vertically covers a sector 14 of the circumferential surface 7 of the ignition wheel 6, so that in said sector 14 said circumferential surface 7 is totally inaccessible to a user's finger. In Figs. 2 and 3 it is observed that the right edge of this flat extension or protective element 13 is located on the vertical 29 that passes through the axis 28, so that said covered sector 14 has its limit 17 closest to said push button 9 in a position 0 ° angle if the vertical 29 is taken as the origin 29. The minimum distance between the protective element 13 and the circumferential surface 7 of the ignition wheel 6 has a value of 0.2 mm. In this case, this minimum distance lies on the vertical 29 and is the distance between the underside of the protective element 13 and the serrated surfaces 20a, 20b of the pusher discs 19a, 19b.

The operating angle 27 of the ignition wheel 6, defined as the angle at which said circumferential surface 7 of the ignition wheel 6 is accessible radially with respect to said axis 28, it is delimited inferiorly by the radius 15 centered on the axis 28 and tangent to the actuation surface 10 of the push button 9 in the angular position closest to the protective element 13, and superiorly by the upper border of the outgoing sector 16. This operating angle 27 has a value of 62 °. Within this actuation angle 27, the circumferential surface 7 protrudes radially from said protective screen 11 by a maximum distance of 1 mm.

The upper boundary of the outgoing sector 16 is located in an angular position of 33 ° positive, taking as origin the vertical 29 that passes through said axis 28 and taking as a positive angular direction the one that goes most directly from said vertical 29 towards said push button 9. As seen in the side view of Figs. 2 and 3, for all angular positions to the left of this border, that is to say those with a value less than 33 ° positive, the circumferential surface 7 of the ignition wheel 6 does not protrude from said protective screen 11.

In the second embodiment shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the protective screen 11 has a shape that allows easier and less expensive manufacturing thereof. In this case, the protective element 13 is constituted by two opposing patches 18a, 18b extending from the upper edges of the lateral arms 12a, 12b of said protective shield 11. Moreover, the lighter configuration is similar to that of the first embodiment described above.

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate a third embodiment in which the ignition wheel 6 protrudes very little with respect to the protective screen 11. The largest diameter part of the circumferential surface 7 of the ignition wheel 6, constituted in this case by the serrated surfaces 20a, 20b of the pusher discs 19a, 19b, protrude from said protective screen 11 at a maximum radial distance of only 0.2 mm. On the other hand, as can be seen in Fig. 7, the pins 18a, 18b that make up the protective element 13 have a different design from the previous embodiment which also facilitates the manufacture of the protective screen 11. The fourth embodiment shown in Figs. 8 and 9 differs from the previous ones in that the protective screen 11 has a shape that laterally covers the lower part of the ignition wheel 6, just above the push button 9, so that in this case the lower limit of the angle of drive 27 is not defined by the tangent 15 to the pushbutton 9 as above, but it coincides with the lower limit of the outgoing sector 16. The upper limit of the drive angle 27 also coincides with the upper limit of the outgoing sector 16.

Finally, Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate a fifth embodiment in which the protective element 13 and the protective screen 11 do not form a single piece as in the previous cases, but in this case said protective element 13 is a separate bridge-shaped part lying on the ignition wheel 6. The ends of this bridge-shaped part 13 pass in the reserved space between the lateral arms 12a, 12b of the protective screen 11 and the flanks of the ignition wheel 6, and are fixed to the axle 28. In this case, as can be seen in Fig. 10, the upper limit of the drive angle 27 does not coincide with the upper limit of the projecting sector 16, which in this case is on the vertical 29, but is constituted by the radius 23 that passes through the axis 28 and is tangent to the protective element 13 at its edge closest to the push button 9.

Claims

1. Pocket lighter comprising a main body (1) provided with a fuel tank, said main body (1) having an upper base (2) on which they are arranged:

- a combustion chamber (3); - a valve (4) connecting said fuel tank with said combustion chamber (3);

- an ignition device capable of producing and sending sparks towards said combustion chamber (3), said ignition device comprising a pyrophoric stone (5) and an ignition wheel (6) rotatably mounted on its axis (28) and operable by the finger of a user, said ignition wheel (6) having a circumferential surface (7) comprising an abrasive band (8) in contact with said pyrophoric stone (5);

- a button (9) for actuating said valve (4) which is located next to said ignition wheel (6) and which has an actuation surface (10) on which a finger of a user acts at the end the driving movement of said ignition wheel (6);

- and a protective screen (11) delimiting said combustion chamber (3) and comprising two lateral arms (12a, 12b) extending to the flanks of said ignition wheel (6), so that, considering a view side of the lighter along a direction parallel to said axis (28), said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6) protrudes from said protective screen (11) along at least one projecting sector (16 ), said ignition wheel (6) being directly operable by a user's finger in at least a part of said outgoing sector (16); characterized in that:

- comprises a non-deformable protective element (13) that extends transversely to said lateral arms (12a, 12b) of the protective shield (11) above said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6), of such that said protective element (13) at least partially covers a sector (14) of said circumferential surface (7) according to a vertical projection, thus making said circumferential surface (7) in said covered sector (14) totally inaccessible to a finger of an user; and - said projecting sector (16) is located next to said push button (9), said actuation sector (16) defining the actuation angle (27) of said ignition wheel (6) as the angle at which said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6) is radially accessible with respect to said axis (O), said driving angle (27) being greater than 10 ° and less than 90 °.

2. Lighter according to claim 1, characterized in that said actuation angle (27) is greater than or equal to 30 ° and less than or equal to 70 °.

3. Lighter according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the radius (15) centered on said axis (28) and tangent to said actuation surface (10) of the button (9) in the angular position closest to said protective element (13) cuts said protruding sector (16), so that said radius (15) constitutes the lower boundary of said driving angle (27), and the radius (23) centered on said axis (28) and tangent to said protective element (13) in the angular position closest to said push button (9) does not cut said protruding sector (16), so that the upper border of said actuating angle (27) coincides with the upper border of said protruding sector (16).

4. Lighter according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the radius (15) centered on said axis (28) and tangent to said actuation surface (10) of the button (9) in the angular position closest to said protective element (13) cuts said protruding sector (16), so that said radius (15) constitutes the lower boundary of said driving angle (27), and the radius (23) centered on said axis (28) and tangent to said protective element (13) at the point closest to said push button (9) cuts said protruding sector (16), so that said radius (23) constitutes the upper boundary of said actuation angle (27).

5. Lighter according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the radius (15) centered on said axis (28) and tangent to said actuation surface (10) of the push button (9) in the angular position closest to said protective element (13) does not cut said protruding sector (16), so that the lower boundary of said drive angle (27) coincides with the lower boundary of said protruding sector (16), and the radius (23) centered on said axis ( 28) and tangent to said protective element (13) in the angular position closest to said push button (9) does not cut said protruding sector (16), so that the upper boundary of said driving angle (27) coincides with the boundary superior of said outgoing sector (16).

6. Lighter according to claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the radius (15) centered on said axis (28) and tangent to said actuation surface (10) of the push button (9) in the angular position closest to said protective element (13) does not cut said protruding sector (16), so that the lower boundary of said drive angle (27) coincides with the lower boundary of said protruding sector (16), and the radius (23) centered on said axis ( 28) and tangent to said protective element (13) in the angular position closest to said push button (9) cuts said protruding sector (16), so that said radius (23) constitutes the upper boundary of said actuation angle (27 ).

7. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said sector (14) of the circumferential surface (7) covered by said protective element (13) according to a vertical projection has its limit (17) closest to said push button (9) in an angular position between 20 ° negative and 30 ° positive, taking as origin the vertical (29) that passes through said axis (28) and taking as a positive angular direction the one that goes most directly from said vertical ( 29) towards said button (9).

8. Lighter according to claim 7, characterized in that said sector (14) of the circumferential surface (7) covered by said protective element (13) according to a vertical projection has its limit (17) closest to said push button

(9) in an angular position between 5 ° negative and 5 ° positive, taking as origin the vertical (29) that passes through said axis (28) and taking as direction positive angle which goes more directly from said vertical (29) to said push button (9).

9. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that in the angular position located on the vertical (29) passing through said axis (28), said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6 ) does not protrude from said protective screen (11).

10. Lighter according to claim 9, characterized in that said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6) does not protrude from said protective screen (11) in any of the angular positions comprised between 0 ° and 20 ° positive , taking as origin the vertical (29) that passes through said axis (28) and taking as positive angular direction the one that goes most directly from said vertical (29) towards said push button (9).

11. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that said protective element (13) forms a single piece with said protective screen (11) and is constituted by two facing pins (18a, 18b) that extend from the upper edges of said lateral arms (12a, 12b) of the protective screen (11).

12. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that said protective element (13) defines, together with the upper edges of the protective screen (11), an outlet (22) of said combustion chamber (3).

13. Lighter according to claims 11 or 12, characterized in that said protective element (13) has a flat planar upper surface with the upper edges of said lateral arms (12a, 12b) of the protective screen (11).

14. Lighter according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that said protective element (13) is a separate piece of said protective screen (11), said piece presenting a bridge form lying on said ignition wheel (6).

15. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, considering any radial direction centered on said axis (28), the minimum distance between said protective element (13) and said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6) is less than or equal to 0.5 mm.

16. Lighter according to claim 15, characterized in that, considering any radial direction centered on said axis (28), the minimum distance between said protective element (13) and said circumferential surface (7) of the ignition wheel (6) is less than or equal to 0.3 mm.

17. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 16, characterized in that, within said actuation angle (27), in the angular position in which said circumferential surface (7) protrudes from said protective screen (11) at a maximum distance according to the radial direction centered on said axis (28), said maximum distance is greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less than or equal to 2 mm.

18. Lighter according to any of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that said ignition wheel (6) comprises, flanking said abrasive strip (8), two pusher discs (19a, 19b) of greater diameter than said abrasive band ( 8), said pusher discs (19a, 19b) having a toothed surface (20a, 20b) constituting the part of said circumferential surface (7) that protrudes from said protective screen (11) along at least one projecting sector (16).