Lighter device

Abstract

 A lighter device is described featuring a new burning system which is of a rugged structure and comprises rela­tively few parts which are easy to manufacture and to assemble. The novel burning system provides for reliable operation of the device over an extended period of operable life.
The novel burning system comprises a combined vaporizer-­and-burner unit in the form of a short metal tube arrange­ment comprising two sections of metal tube axially aligned with one another. The upper section may have a larger diameter than the lower section. The combined vaporizer-­and-burner unit is arranged as a separate member separately from and above the nozzle in a predetermined vertical distance therefrom. A perforated metal sheet partitions the two tube sections of the vaporizer-and-burner unit thus providing for additional intensive mixing and vapori­zing the gas stream entering at the lower end of the unit and ambient air drawn into the unit by the gas jet. In the upper section of the vaporizer-and-burner unit there is a catalyzer wire which will provide for re-ignition of the gas/air mixture in case the lighter flame would become extinguished by ambient wind flow.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to lighter devices of the well-known type wherein on actuation thereof a jet of a suitable fuel such as pressurized liquid butane gas will burst out from a nozzle-valve aggregate and will be met by ignition sparks simultaneously generated by an associated ignition system whereby to provide a burning flame, e.g. for lighting tobacco products such as cigarettes or cigars.

[0002] Presently, there are essentially two main types of such butane gas lighters, namely low standard disposable butane lighters (one way gas lighters), and high quality wind-proof butane lighters.

[0003] Of these, the former type (low standard disposable butane lighters) substantially have the following two main defi­ciencies: In the actuated condition the flame is burning directly on top of the nozzle from which the fuel bursts out, thereby directly heating the nozzle parts and tending to impair and ultimately destroy the rubber O-ring and rubber nail inside the nozzle-valve aggregate for controlling the butane gas flow. While this impairment of the nozzle parts may be tolerable to a certain degree in a disposable (one way) cheap lighter, it would obviously unduly limit the useful life of a better quality lighter device. Even in the low cost disposable devices this direct heating of the nozzle by the flame unduly limits the admissible strength of the flame to a very weak flame. This in turn causes the second deficiency of this type of lighter, namely its inherent lack of wind-proof characteristics inasmuch the weak flame is undesirably subject to ex­tinction by even light ambient wind impact.

[0004] As regards the other main type, namely high quality wind-proof butane lighters, they suffer substantially from three deficiencies. While in this type a special burning chamber in the form of a short metal tube is provided distant from the nozzle, this short metal tube is directly connected with the nozzle through a long pipe to guide the butane from the nozzle to the short metal tube serving as the burning space. Inside said long connecting tube there is a rubber layer for providing flexibility to the arrangement whereby to maintain the connection between the burning space and the nozzle. Further connection parts are required for providing connec­tion between the burning space (short metal tube), the long connection pipe and the nozzle and valve aggregate. On actuation of the lighter the flame will burn right on top of the long connection pipe. Thus, the long pipe will be directly heated by the flame burning on top of it which tends to impair and hurt the rubber cladding on the inside of the connector pipe and other assembled parts. The long connector pipe also provides direct heat transfer between the flame and the nozzle, with a tendency of the latter also becoming (indirectly) heated by the lighter flame, with concomitant damage to the nozzle parts. These effects of undesired direct and indirect heating of the long pipe and the nozzle combine to unduly limit the useful operative life of the device. Further, the constituent parts of this burning system: short metal tube, long pipe, connection parts, nozzle and its controlling valve, had to be precision-assembled; precision assembly may be impaired by shock impact in use of the device, whereby the device might become inoperative, such as if the movable long pipe would loose its contact with the nozzle. Finally the larger number of constituent parts of this known burning system and the criticality of precisely assembling these parts obviously tend to undesirably increase the production cost of these devices.

[0005] The invention thus relates to a lighter device of the general type comprising
- a lower housing portion housing a fuel tank containing fuel under pressure, preferably pressurized butane liquid gas fuel,
- a nozzle-and-valve aggregate connected with said fuel tank and arranged to project from said lower housing portion towards a burning space provided in the upper portion of the lighter,
- a burning system comprising a tube-like burner member associated with and arranged above said nozzle-and-­valve aggregate,
- an ignition system preferably mounted on the upper portion of the lighter and arranged to provide, on actuation thereof, ignition sparks to said burning space,
- actuating means for said valve of said nozzle-and-­valve aggregate, for switching said valve from its normally closed condition into its open condition, in dependence on and coordination wit actuation of said ignition system, whereby to permit a jet of said pressurized fuel to burst out from said nozzle towards said burning space.

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighter device of the forementioned general type which will avoid the deficiencies of the known devices of the prior art; particularly, the device should be of a more rugged construction and hence easy to manufacture at relatively low cost, should have increased reliability of operation over an extended period of useful life, and should provide a strong flame and have particular wind-proof capabilities.

[0007] To this purpose, in a lighter device of the forementioned type provision is made in accordance with the present invention that
- said burning system comprises a combined tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit axially aligned with the nozzle-and-valve aggregate,
- said tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit is vertically positioned with its lower end at a predetermined free distance above said nozzle-and-valve aggregate and cleared therefrom by said free distance,
- the lower end of said tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit has a diameter larger than the diameter of said nozzle.

[0008] Thus, in accordance with one basic feature of the present invention, the short tube vaporizer and burner unit is provided as a separate member mounted separately and in­dependent from the nozzle valve; thus there is no direct mechanical connection and correspondingly no direct heat conduction or heat transfer between the burner unit and the nozzle and valve aggregate, whereby impairment of the latter by heat from the burner unit is effectively avoided or diminished. At the same time, there will be no undue limitation on the size and temperature admissible for the flame which therefore can be a strong, hot, blue-colour flame which in itself has a substantial wind-proof capa­bility. The strong flame is also enabled by the feature that the lower end of the vaporizer-and-burner unit arranged in a predetermined distance above the nozzle has a larger diameter than the nozzle whereby the jet stream bursting out from the nozzle will be substantially completely received in the lower end of the vaporizer unit and simultaneously will draw ambient air into the vaporizer-­and-burning unit whereby to intensely mixing and vapo­rizing the butane gas/air mixture.

[0009] In accordance with a further important feature of the present invention, said combined tube-like vaporizer-­and-burner unit is partitioned into two axially aligned compartments by a horizontally extending perforated partition wall, preferably a piece of perforated metal sheet. This perforated metal sheet effectively contributes to further intensely mix and vaporize the butane/air mixture, thus providing for a particularly efficient type of "turbo"-burning.

[0010] In accordance with a further important feature of the present invention, a catalyzer wire is provided within said tube-like combined vaporizer-and-burner unit in the upper section thereof. Thereby, in case the lighter flame previously ignited would become extinguished by a strong wind-blow or some other cause, the heated catalyzer wire will automatically re-ignite fresh vaporized butane/air-­mixture which continues to be fed into the vaporizer-and-­burner unit as long as the actuating member of the nozzle valve is kept pressed in its actuated state.

[0011] Generally thus the invention provides for a simple to manufacture lighter which will provide reliable operation over an extended long useful life, and has improved wind-proof characteristics by an automatic re-igniting capability.

[0012] The invention as embodied in preferred embodiments will now be described, with reference to the drawings, wherein

Fig. 1 through 3 are side elevational views of a first embodiment of a lighter in accordance with the invention, with Fig. 2 and 3 being partially sectioned to show details of the inner structure of the device,

Fig. 4 shows a top end view of the lighter device of Fig. 1 through 3, partially sectioned,

Fig. 5 shows the same lighter device in a partially sectioned top end view similar to Fig. 4, with the ignition wheel and parts of the burning system being omitted to show the parts beneath,

Fig. 6 is a sectional top view of the wind shield showing the mounting or holding member for the burning system,

Fig. 7 is a partially sectioned top end view similar to Fig. 4, with the catalyzer wire in the upper section of the burning unit being omitted whereby to show the perforated partition wall with holes therein,

Fig. 8 shows the same embodiment of the lighter in a partially sectioned elevational side view similar to Fig. 3, with the actuator for the valve being in its actuated or depressed position and with the flame burning on top of the vaporizer-and-burner unit,

Fig. 9 is a partially sectioned ele­vational side-view of another embodiment of the invention using a piezo electric ignition unit instead of the flint stone ignition unit in the embodiment of Fig. 1 through 8.

[0013] In the preferred embodiments described the lighter of the present invention comprises, in a manner general known, a lower portion generally designated at 1 and an upper portion generally designated at 2. Lower portion 1 in conventional manner forms, or contains, the tank for the fuel used, preferably liquid butane gas under pressure, or some other conventional lighter fuel. The lighter upper portion 2 comprises upper seat member 3 mounting the (conventional) ignition and actuation mechanisms and the nozzle and valve mechanism to be described further below, and wind shield 4 mounting and enclosing the specific vaporizer and burner members of the present invention to be described hereinafter.

[0014] The vaporizer and burner unit of the present invention is in the form of a short metal tube member generally designa­ted at 5. Vaporizer and burner unit 5 in the preferred embodi­ment as shown and described consists of two relatively short tube sections 6,7 arranged coaxially with one another one above the other along the common axis. Preferably, the two sections 6,7 form a unitary structure.

[0015] The forementioned unitary vaporizer and burner structure 5 is mounted on wind-shield 4, by means of a horse-shoe-shaped mounting or holding member 8 which as is best seen from Fig. 6 horizontally extends inwardly from the inner wall of wind-shield 4, and accommodates, with its horse-shoe-­shaped portion, the vaporizer and burning unit 5 at a prede­termined vertical height within wind-shield housing 4, as hereinafter described. In the preferred embodiment shown the two tube sections 6,7 of the short metal tube aggregate 5 have different diameters, the upper tube section 7 having a larger diameter than the lower tube section 6, whereby a step 9 is formed at the junction of the two tube sections. Horizontal step 9 thus formed provides a convenient moun­ting face which rests upon, and is affixed to, the horse-­shoe-shaped portion of mounting and holding member 8.

[0016] The (substantially conventional) nozzle and valve aggregate 10 is arranged in the upper portion of the left part (as shown in the drawing) of upper seat member 3, with nozzle 10 projecting from and above the upper end of said left portion of upper seat member 3. A conventional flow regu­lator 11 for controlling the flow volume of liquid butane gas passing through nozzle 10 in its open condition and thus regulating the size of the flame, is associated with the nozzle and valve aggregate 10 and projects horizontally from the side wall of the lighter casing, for actuation by the user to control the flow volume and thereby the size of the flame.

[0017] The (substantially conventional) ignition and actuation mechanisms are mounted on the right hand portion (as shown in the drawings) of upper seat member 3. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 through 8, the ignition mechanism is of the well-known mechanical type comprising a hand-actuated igni­tion wheel or drum 11 and a flint 12 arranged for coopera­tion therewith. As can be seen more clearly from the top view shown in Fig. 4 ignition wheel or drum 11 comprises two knurled end sections 12,13 of slightly larger diameter for actuation by the user, and a main section 14 of slightly smaller diameter and having a suitably roughened surface whereby to struck ignition sparks from a flint stone 15 arranged to cooperate with the ignition wheel, on actuation thereof. Ignition wheel or drum 11 slightly pro­jects from the upper end of wind-shield 4, for actuation by the user, and flint stone 15 is preferably arranged below the horizontally mounted ignition wheel or drum 11 in a manner that ignition sparks when generated on actuation of wheel or drum 11 will be directed towards the upper end of vaporizer and burner unit 5 within wind-shield 4.

[0018] The (substantially conventional) actuating mechanism for nozzle and valve aggregate 10, in the embodiment described comprises an actuating lever 16 swivably mounted below ignition wheel/flint stone aggregat 11,15 and substantially extending horizontally. At its right end (as shown in the figures) actuating lever 16 is provided with a larger actuating portion 17 suitably associated with ignition wheel or drum 11 in a manner that if the user actuates, with the thumb of the hand holding the lighter, ignition wheel 11, the thumb will come to press upon actuating portion 17 of lever 16 whereby to press lever 7 to swivel from the sub­stantially horizontal normal or rest position shown in Fig. 1,2 and 3, into the actuated position shown in Fig. 8 where actuating lever 16 is shown swivelled in the clock-wise direction about its pivot 18. At its end opposite actuation portion 17, actuation lever 16 pivotably engages with the upper end 19a on the vertical arm of a substantially L-shaped bracket 19, the lower substantially horizontal arm 20 of which engages with the nozzle and valve aggregate 10 for actuation thereof between a closed valve condition as shown in Fig. 1 through 3 and an open valve condition as shown in Fig. 8.

[0019] In accordance with one basic feature of the present invention, the short-tube vaporizer and burner unit 5, with its vertical longitudinal axis aligned with nozzle and valve aggregate 10, is arranged vertically such that the lower end of unit 5 (i.e. the lower end of the lower tube section 6 of unit 5) will be in a predetermined free height above nozzle 10. Thus there will be no direct mechanical connection between the nozzle and valve aggregate 10 and (the lower end of) vaporizer and burning unit 5, and correspondingly no direct heat conduction or heat transfer between burner unit 5 and nozzle and valve aggregate 10.

[0020] In accordance with another important feature of the present invention, the diameter of the lower end 6 of vaporizer and burner unit 5 will be larger than the diameter of nozzle 10 of the butane gas tank whereby the (liquid) butane gas jet ejected from nozzle 10 (in the actuated open valve condition thereof) on its way upward into vaporizing and burner unit 5 will draw a stream of ambient air into unit 5, for intensive mixing with, and vaporizing of, the butane gas stream in the lower part of unit 5.

[0021] In this connection, in accordance with a further important feature of the present invention, a piece of perforated metal sheet is provided horizontally at the junction between the upper and lower sections 7,6 of unit 5. This perforated metal sheet 21 is best shown in Fig. 3, and the perfora­tions 22 are best shown in the enlarged scale top view of Fig. 7. This perforated metal sheet effectively contri­butes to further intensely mix and vaporize the butane-­air mixture, thus providing for a particularly efficient type of "turbo"-burning.

[0022] Further, in connection with an additional basic feature of the present invention, a catalyzer wire 23 is provided centrally in the upper section 7 of burner unit 5. The catalyzer wire 23 may be in the form of a wire spring as shown at 23 in Fig. 3, or as a wire net or in some other similar equivalent form admitting of substantially ad­mitting of substantially uninhibited flow of the vaporized gas/air mixture while providing for a distributed contact with such stream. Thereby, in case the lighter flame previously ignited would become extinguished by wind or some other cause, the flame would automatically be re-ignited by the contact between the (hot) wire or net 23 getting in­to contact with the fresh vaporized gas/air mixture con­tinuing to stream upwards, as long as actuating member 17 is maintained in its depressed position corresponding to the open-valve-condition of nozzle aggregate 10.

[0023] As mentioned, in accordance with a basic feature of the present invention vaporizer and burner unit 5 is arranged vertically in a predetermined vertical distance above nozzle 10. On the other hand, vaporizer and burning unit 5 is vertically positioned such that its upper end is in the vicinity of the ignition sparks travelling in a substan­tially horizontal tangential direction from the point of contact between flint stone 15 and ignition wheel or drum 11,14.

[0024] Thus, in the lighter of the present invention, the burning space substantially will be between the upper end 7 of unit 5, and thus will be as far removed as possible from the delicate nozzle and valve aggregate 10. Additionally, as there is no direct heat conducting mechanical connec­tion between vaporizer and burner unit 5 and the nozzle valve aggregate 10, the latter will be effectively pro­tected against heat from the burner or the flame.

[0025] The operation of the lighter device of the present inven­tion will be obvious from the description above and can be summarized as follows:

[0026] Actuation of ignition wheel or drum 11 will cause the generation of ignition sparks form flint stone 15 coope­rating with wheel or drum 11, said ignition sparks being directed towards the (upper end of) vaporizer and burner unit 5. The simultaneous actuation, by the user, of actua­ting lever 17 will cause nozzle valve 10 to open whereby a jet of liquid butane will burst out from nozzle 10, and on its further high velocity stream upward will draw sur­rounding ambient air (oxygen) into the lower part 6 of vaporizer and burner unit 5. Vaporization of the butane liquid gas and mixing thereof with the air sucked into the lower end 6 of unit 5 will continue within the lower part 6 of unit 5 and will be further intensified and continued during the passage of the mixture through the holes 22 of perforated metal sheet 21 and during further passage of the mixture through the upper part 7 of unit 5. On reaching the upper end 7 of unit 5, the fully and intensely mixed vaporized butane/air (oxygen) mixture will be ignited by the ignition sparks from flint 15 and will burn in a strong, stable, hot blue-color flame 24, as indicated in Fig. 8.

[0027] If flame 24 should happen to be extinguished by a strong wind blow or some similar exterior cause, the heated wire catalyzer 23 provided in the upper part 7 of unit 5 will automatically re-ignite fresh vaporized butane/air-mixture which continues to be fed from the nozzle at the lower part of unit 5, as long as actuating member 7 is kept in its pressed actuated state.

[0028] The invention thus provides for a simple to manufacture lighter which will provide reliable operation over an exten­ded long useful life, and with improved wind-proof charac­teristics by an automatic re-igniting capability.

[0029] The embodiment described thus far in connection with Fig. 1 through 8 utilizes a conventional ignition drum/flint stone-ignition system. However, the present invention lends itself equally for utilization in connection with lighter devices employing other ignition systems, such as a piezo unit ignition system known per se. An embodiment of this type is shown in Fig. 9, wherein the same or simi­lar parts are designated with the same reference numerals as in Fig. 1 through 8. The Fig. 9 embodiment differs from the Fig. 1 through 8 embodiment by the utilization of a piezo type ignition system instead of the flint stone igni­tion system. As shown in Fig. 9, a suitable piezo unit 25 is mounted in the right-hand part (as shown in Fig. 9) of the upper seat member 3, below and suitably aligned with actuating lever 16,17. An actuating member 26 for the piezo unit 25 is associated with actuating lever 16,17 whereby piezo unit 25 will be actuated if actuating lever 16,17 is pressed down for actuation of the lighter.

[0030] The electrical output lines 27 of the piezo unit 25 are suitably connected with parts in the vaporizer-and-­burner unit 5, whereby a spark will be generated within unit 5 on actuation of piezo unit 25, and the gas/air mixture passing through unit 5 will be ignited to form a strong flame burning on top of section 7 of unit 5.

Claims

1. Lighter device of the type comprising
- a lower housing portion housing a fuel tank containing fuel under pressure, preferably pressurized butane liquid gas fuel,
- a nozzle-and-valve aggregate connected with said fuel tank and arranged to project from said lower housing portion towards a burning space provided in the upper portion of the lighter,
- a burning system comprising a tube-like burner member associated with and arranged above said nozzle-and-­valve aggregate,
- an ignition system preferably mounted on the upper portion of the lighter and arranged to provide, on actuation thereof, ignition sparks to said burning space,
- actuating means for said valve of said nozzle-and-­valve aggregate, for switching said valve from its normally closed condition into its open condi­tion, in dependence on and coordination with actua­tion of said ignition system, whereby to permit a jet of said pressurized fuel to burst out from said nozzle towards said burning space,
characterized in that
- said burning system comprises a combined tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) axially aligned with the nozzle-and-valve aggregate (10),
- said tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) is verti­cally positioned with its lower end (6) at a pre­determined free distance above said nozzle-and-­valve aggregate (10) and cleared therefrom by said free distance,
- the lower end of said tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) has a diameter larger than the diameter of said nozzle (10).

2. Lighter device in accordance with claim 1,
characterized in that
said combined tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) comprises two short-tube sections (6,7) of different diameter, axially aligned with one another and forming a unitary structure.

3. Lighter device in accordance with claim 2,
characterized in that
the upper tube section (7) of said combined vaporizer-­and-burner unit (5) has a larger diameter than said lower tube section (6).

4. Lighter device in accordance with any of the preceding claims, and preferably as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3
characterized in that
said combined tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) is partitioned into two axially aligned compartments (6,7) by a horizontally extending perforated partition wall (21), preferably a piece of perforated metal sheet.

5. Lighter device in accordance with any of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
a catalyzer wire (23) is provided within said tube-like combined vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) in the upper section (7) thereof.

6. Lighter device in accordance with any of the preceding claims,
characterized by
comprising a wind-shield (4) forming a part of the upper portion (2) of the lighter and enclosing said burning space.

7. Lighter device in accordance with claim 6,
characterized in that
said tube-like combined vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) is mounted on that wind shield (4) by means of a mounting or holding member (8) extending inwardly from said wind shield (4).

8. Lighter device as claimed in claim 7 in connection with claims 3 or 4,
characterized in that
said mounting member (8) is a horse-shoe-shaped member accommodating the smaller diameter lower tube section (6) of said combined vaporizer-and-burner unit (5).

9. Lighter device in accordance with any of the preceding claims,
characterized in that
said actuating means for said nozzle-and-valve aggregate (10) comprise an actuation lever (16,17) pivotally mounted on the upper part of the lighter, and movable linkage (19,20) operatively connecting said actuation lever (16,17) with said valve of said nozzle-and-valve aggregate (10) for actuation thereof from its normally closed-valve condition into its open-valve condition.

10. Lighter device in accordance with any of the preceding claims, wherein said ignition system comprises an ignition wheel or drum (11) / flint (15) aggregate arranged to direct, on actuation thereof, ignition sparks towards the upper end (7) of said combined vaporizer-and-burner unit (5), said ignition wheel or drum (11) being suitably associated with said valve actuation means (16,17) for substantially common, simultaneous actuation of the ignition system and opening of the nozzle valve.

11. Lighter device in accordance with any of claims 1 through 9, wherein said ignition system comprises a piezo-electric unit (25, Fig. 9) and an actuating member (26) therefor suitably associated with the actuating means (16,17) of the valve nozzle (10) for common simultaneous actuation of the piezo-­electric ignition unit and opening of the nozzle valve,
characterized in that
the output lines ( ) of said piezo-electric ignition unit are suitably connected with portions of said combined tube-like vaporizer-and-burner unit (5) for generating ignition sparks within said unit (5) on actuation of the piezo-electric ignition member (25).

Drawing