Disposable Cigaret Lighter With Snuffing Cover

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a cigaret lighter, and more particularly to a disposable cigaret gas fueled lighter with a snuffing cover.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Disposable cigaret lighters having a lighter assembly on a reservoir containing a liquefied inflammable gas are well known and widely used. The disposable lighter carries on the reservoir a flint, a flint holding means, a sparking wheel rotatable by the thumb, a gas outlet nozzle and a nozzle opening lever depressible with the thumb. By depressing the lever with the thumb, the nozzle is opened and the gasified fuel ejects out of the nozzle. Simultaneously, the sparking wheel is rotated to spark the flint to ignite the fuel. Thus, the lighter is ignited by only one action to depress the lever and rotate the sparking wheel.

The above feature of the disposable lighter is very convenient in lighting cigarets. On the other hand, however, since the operation of the disposable lighter is very simple and the disposable lighter is usually carried in the user's pocket, accidents sometimes occur. Such accidents are often caused by the incomplete shut-off of the fuel gas. After the nozzle opening lever is returned to its closed position, the nozzle is sometimes not completely closed. In such case, a small flame remains on the top of the nozzle. The small flame will burn the pocket.

On the other hand, it is well known to provide a closure cap or a cover on the top of the lighter assembly in order to ensure extinguishment of the flame. In conventional lighters with a cap or cover, the cap or cover is connected with the sparking wheel and/or the nozzle opening lever to simplify the lighting operation. Therefore, it may easily happen that the cap or cover is opened and the nozzle is opened, or the cap or cover is opened and the sparking wheel is rotated. It may possibly happen that the cap or cover is opened sparking the flit and the nozzle is opened as well. Occurences of this type result from the structure of the lighter wherein the cap or cover is interconnected with the nozzle opening lever and/or the sparking wheel.

From the viewpoint of safety, however, it is undesirable that the cover be connected with other operating means to simplify the lighting action. Further, from the viewpoint of economy which is of great concern in the disposable cigaret lighter, the structure of the lighter is desired to be as simple as possible.

It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a disposable cigaret lighter with a snuffing cover which is of simple structure and does not have means for interconnecting the cover with other operating means.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a disposable cigaret lighter with a snuffing cover in which the snuffing cover is provided independently of either the nozzle opening lever or the sparking wheel.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a disposable cigaret lighter with a snuffing cover in which the snuffing cover is made to be easily opened with the thumb.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a disposable cigaret lighter with a snuffing cover in which the snuffing cover is so shaped as to prevent the nozzle opening lever from being depressed when the cover is closed.

The above objects of the invention are accomplished by providing on the top of the disposable cigaret lighter a snuffing cover which is movable between a closed position and an opened position independently of the nozzle opening lever or the sparking wheel. The snuffing cover completely extinguishes the flame when closed. Therefore, it is assured that the lighter flame is completely put out. Further, since the cover is independent of the other operating means, inadvertent lighting is prevented. Thus, an economical and highly safe disposable lighter can be obtained.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a partial side view of the embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 wherein the snuffing cover is closed,

FIG. 3 is a partial side view of the embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 wherein the snuffing cover is opened,

FIG. 4 is a partial exploded perspective view of the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3,

FIGS. 5 to 8 are views similar to FIGS. 1 to 4 respectively of another embodiment of the invention wherein the snuffing cover is made obliquely slidable up and down,

FIGS. 9 to 12 show still another embodiment of the invention in which the snuffing cover is pivotally mounted on the top of the lighter to rotate in a horizontal plane,

FIGS. 13 and 14 are side views showing still another embodiment of the invention in which the snuffing cover is hinged to the top of the lighter,

FIGS. 15 to 17 show still another embodiment of the invention in which the snuffing cover has a nozzle cap and a lever depression preventing portion, and

FIGS. 18 to 20 show still another embodiment of the invention in which the snuffing cover has a lever depression preventing portion.

A first embodiment of the invention will be described in detail hereinbelow with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. A sparking wheel 1 is rotatably supported in a windbreak wall 2. On the windbreak wall 2 is slidably mounted a slidable snuffing cover 3. The cover 3 has a pair of slots 3a, one on either side thereof, which are slidably engaged with a pair of guide pins 2a fixed to the windbreak wall 2. The snuffing cover 3 is made of a heat resistive plastic material or metal of sufficient resiliency to maintain it in open position by the contact between the edges of the slots 3a and the pins 2a. The slidable snuffing cover 3 has a thumb portion 3b to facilitate the sliding of the cover 3. When the cover 3 is to be opened the thumb (or one of the fingers) is engaged with the thumb portion 3b and the cover 3 is slid open. Then, the sparking wheel 1 is rotated and a nozzle opening lever 4 is depressed with the thumb.

A second embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. In this invention also, a slidable snuffing cover 13 having a pair of slots 13a is slidably mounted on a windbreak wall 12 having a pair of guide pins 12a on the opposite sides thereof. The windbreak wall 12 has oblique guide faces 12b on the opposite sides thereof. The sparking wheel and the nozzle opening lever are designated by the reference numerals 11 and 14, respectively.

In the above described two embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and 5 to 8, the slidable snuffing cover 3 or 13 has a pair of slots and the windbreak wall 2 or 12 has a pair of pins. The slots and pins may be, however, be provided the other way around.

A third embodiment will be described referring to FIGS. 9 to 12. On a windbreak wall 22 is pivotally mounted a snuffing cover 23. The snuffing cover 23 is pivotally mounted on the upper end of the windbreak wall 22 by a pivot pin 23a and has a thumb edge 23b on the side thereof so as to be easily rotated by the thumb or a finger. The windbreak wall 22 has a stopper 22a on a part thereof to limit rotation of the cover 23 by abutting against an end 23c of the cover 23 as shown in FIG. 10. The sparking wheel and the nozzle opening lever are designated by the reference numerals 21 and 24, respectively, in this embodiment. The lever 24 has a forked end 24a and is horizontally pivoted at an intermediate portion thereof with respect to windbreak wall 22. Nozzle 24b includes a neck or groove which engages the forked end of lever 24 so that the nozzle may be raised or lowered to open an interior valve and permit the passage of gas through the nozzle.

A fourth embodiment of the invention will be described referring to FIGS. 13 and 14. A hinged snuffing cover 33 is provided on a windbreak wall 32. The windbreak wall 32 has an obliquely cut away portion where the hinged cover 33 engages. The hinged cover 33 is hinged at a hinge 33a located on the right side (in FIGS. 13 and 14) of the windbreak wall 32. The cover 33 further has a thumb portion 33b at an end thereof as shown. The sparking wheel and the nozzle opening lever are designated by the reference numerals 31 and 34, respectively. In this embodiment, the thumb opens the hinged cover 33 by engaging the thumb portion 33b. The windbreak wall 32 is provided with a catch 32a to engage one end of the hinged cover 33 to click hold the hinged cover 33 in its closed position.

A fifth embodiment of the invention will be described referring to FIGS. 15 to 17. A hinged snuffing cover 43 is mounted on a windbreak wall 42 by means of a hinge 43a. The snuffing cover 43 has a portion 43e for preventing depression of a nozzle opening lever 44. The snuffing cover 43 further has, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, a spring 43b integrally molded with the cover body to spring-urge the cover 43 into its open position. The spring 43b is fixed integrally to the cover 43 near the hinge 43a. The cover 43 further has a snuffing projection 43c extending inward from the interior thereof to directly close the gas outlet of the nozzle of the lighter (not shown). The cover 43 also has an engaging projection 43d extending inward from the interior thereof to engage the serrated periphery of the sparking wheel to snap holding the cover 43 on the sparking wheel. When the hinged cover 43 is pushed down onto the top of the lighter, the engaging projection 43d engages the sparking wheel and the cover 43 is held in its closed position as shown in FIG. 15. In this position the portion 43e for preventing depression of the nozzle opening lever 44 covers the lever 44 to prevent the lever 44 from being depressed manually or inadvertently. Reference should be made to the description of the embodiment of FIGS. 9 to 12 for an explanation of the operation of the nozzle under the control of nozzle opening lever 44.

Since the above described fifth embodiment has a cover 43 which has a snuffing projection 43c which comes in direct contact with the gas outlet of the nozzle, the small flame remaining on the gas outlet is completely put out by closing the cover 43. When the cover 43 is to be opened, a part thereof is pushed upward with the thumb or a finger. Once the cover 43 is opened, it is spring-urged by spring 43b to stay in its open position.

A sixth embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 18 to 20. A hinged cover 53 is mounted on a windbreak wall 52 by means of a hinge 53a. The hinged cover 53 has a spring 53b, an engaging projection 53d and a lever depression preventing portion 53e similarly to the aforesaid embodiment shown in FIGS. 15 to 17. In this embodiment, the cover 53 does not have a snuffing projection but has a snuffing rib 53c which is fixed to the inside face of the cover 53. The rib 53c effectively closes off the space within the windbreak wall 52 from above to put out the flame.