US20070287112A1

US20070287112A1 - Safety lock of fire lighter

Info

Publication number: US20070287112A1
Application number: US11/450,305
Authority: US
Inventors: I-Hsuan Lai
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-06-12
Filing date: 2006-06-12
Publication date: 2007-12-13

Abstract

A fire lighter includes a casing accommodating an ignition mechanism and defining an open chamber in which an ignition button is movably received. The ignition button is depressible by a user to actuate the ignition mechanism. A safety lock includes a movable button positioned on the ignition button. The movable button has a bottom face on which first and second projections are formed. The projections are movably received in slots defined in the ignition button and biased by springs arranged between the ignition button and the movable button to ensure smooth and stable movement of the movable button and to eliminate potential problem of jamming of the movable button.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fire lighter, and in particular to a safety lock mounted in a lighter to enhance stability of operation and effective return of the lock.
2. The Related Art
A conventional fire lighter is often provided with a safety lock to prevent undesired and unexpected actuation of the lighter. The safety lock must be released first in order to operate the fire lighter. This is to improve operation safety of the lighter and to avoid accident caused by unexpected actuation of the lighter.
The conventional safety lock comprises a movable button that is acted upon by a single return spring that functions to elastically return the button back to a lock position after actuation operation of the lighter is done. The single return spring is often encased inside the movable button, which often suffers from insufficiency of elastic biasing force acting upon the button, which cannot effectively prevent the movable button from being accidentally moved away by for example a child. Thus, operation safety of the lighter is sometimes not secured by the conventional safety lock.
Further, the return spring undergoes aging and fatigue due to frequent operation of the lighter. Since the conventional safety lock is composed of only a single spring, once the spring suffers fatigue, the safety lock no longer secures the lighter.
An additional drawback of the conventional safety lock is that the operation of the safety lock is instable due to the fact that only one single spring acts upon the movable button. In other words, unbalance of force often occurs when the movable button is moved to a release position, as wall as when the button is returned by the spring force back to the lock position. The button may get jammed during the movement between the lock position and the release position. This deteriorates the quality of the fire lighter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, the present invention is aimed to provide a lighter comprising a safety lock that addresses the above-mentioned drawbacks of the known safety lock of lighter.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a safety lock to be mounted on a lighter, wherein the safety lock comprises a movable button that must be moved to a release position in order to release the safety lock before the lighter can be ignited and wherein the movable button is biased by a pair of springs, which ensures smooth operation and stable returning of the button.
To achieve the above objective, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a lighter comprising a casing accommodating an ignition mechanism, an ignition button and a safety lock comprising a movable button positioned on the ignition button. The casing forms an open chamber in which the ignition button is movably received for manual depression to actuate the ignition mechanism. The movable button of the safety lock, which is arranged on the ignition button, is normally in a locked condition and must be moved aside to release the lock condition in order to proceed with depression of the ignition button. The movable button has a bottom on which first and second projecting stops are formed. The stops are movably received in slots defined in ignition button and are biased by springs arranged between the ignition button and the movable button. Thus, two spring acting on opposite sides of the movable button are arranged between the movable button and the ignition button, which ensures efficient returning of the movable button from a released condition to the locked condition, eliminating potential problems of jamming or sideway shift of the movable button, thereby enhancing smooth and stable operation of the safety lock and improving quality and operation of the fire lighter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a lighter comprising a safety lock constructed in accordance with the present invention, which is at a locked position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 but with the safety lock released and an operation button actuated; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the lighter, particularly showing the detailed structure of the safety lock in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, which shows a perspective view of a lighter comprising a safety lock constructed in accordance with the present invention, the lighter, which is generally designated with reference numeral 10, comprises a casing 11 accommodating parts of the lighter, such as electronic ignition means, and an electronic ignition button 20 mounted to the casing 11 and a safety lock comprising a movable button 30 arranged on the ignition button 20 to protect the ignition button 20 from being accidentally actuated/depressed.
Also referring to FIG. 2, which shows a perspective view of the lighter 10 with the safety lock released and the ignition button 20 actuated, and FIG. 3, which shows an exploded view of the lighter 10, the casing 11 defines an open chamber 12. Also defined in the casing 11 is a fire outlet opening 13 through which fire that is set by the actuation of the ignition button 20 is released. The chamber 12 is delimited by opposite sidewalls, one of which defines a sideway notch 14, which functions to prevent the ignition button 20 from being depressed or actuated.
The ignition button 20 is movably received in the chamber 12 and partially extends beyond the chamber 12 for access and depression or actuation by a user to set a fire in the fire outlet opening 13.
The movable button 30 of the safety lock is positioned on the ignition button 20 when the ignition button 20 is not actuated. Underside or bottom of the button 30, that opposes the ignition button 20, forms a first projecting stop 31 and a second projecting stop 32, which support first and second springs 33, 34, respectively. The first and second springs 33, 34 are respectively arranged between the projecting stops 31, 32 and the ignition button 20. An inner side surface of the button 30 that faces the casing 11 forms a sideway extending block 35, which corresponds in position and size to the notch 14 of the casing 11.
The ignition button 20 has a top face in which a slide slot 21 is defined to receivingly and movably engage the first projecting stop 31 and also to retain the first spring 33. A recess 22 is formed in an inner side surface of the ignition button 20 and is delimited by opposite sidewalls. The second projecting stop 32 and the second spring 34 are accommodated in the recess 22.
The button 30 is mounted on the top face of the ignition button 20 whereby the first stop 31 is received in the slide slot 21 and opposite ends of the first spring 33 are fixed on the first stop 31 and an inside face of the ignition button 20. The second stop 22 is positioned in the recess 22 and opposite ends of second spring 34 are respectively fixed to the second stop 22 and the sidewall of the recess 22. The block 35 of the button 30 is in engagement with the notch 14 of the casing 11 of the lighter, which locks or secures the movable button 30 and thus preventing the ignition button 20 from being depressed and actuated.
To actuate the ignition button 20, the movable button 30 of the safety lock must be moved aside first, as shown in FIG. 2, to disengage the block 35 from the notch 14 and the lock is released. The sideway movement of the movable button 30 cause the first and second stops 31, 32 to compress and/or extend the first and second spring 33, 34 respectively. By releasing the movable button 30, the ignition button 20 is now depressible for actuation of ignition mechanism inside the casing 11 and fire can be set in the fire outlet opening 13. The presence of the movable button 30 of the safety lock ensures operation safety of the ignition button 20 by preventing undesired actuation of the ignition button 20.
Once the ignition operation is completed, the depression force of the ignition button 20 is removed. The ignition mechanism returns the ignition button 20 back to the un-depressed original position. The first and second springs 33, 34 the bias the movable button 30 back to the lock position by re-engaging the block 35 with the notch 14 of the casing 11, as the state shown in FIG. 1. The ignition button 20 is again locked and prevented from being depressed.
To summarize, the safety lock in accordance with the present invention make full use of the excessive and unused space above the ignition button 20 for the installation of the safety lock, especially the movable button 30 of the safety lock, which comprises a second spring 34 arranged between the movable button 30 and the ignition button 20. Thus, the safety lock in accordance with the present invention comprises two springs, rather than one, which act upon opposite sides of the movable button 30, respectively, to ensure successful and stable returning operation of the movable button 30 and effectively eliminate sideway shift and jamming of the button 30. The operation and movement of the safety lock can get smooth and thus, quality and operation efficiency of the lighter is enhanced.
Further, with such a simple construction, the present invention is applicable to the safety lock of all kinds of lighter to provide smooth and stable operation of the safety lock.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A lighter comprising a casing accommodating ignition mechanism, an ignition button, and a safety lock, wherein:

the casing forms an open chamber delimited by at least one side wall in which a sideway notch is defined;

the ignition button is movably received in the open chamber to be depressible to actuate the ignition mechanism to set a fire on a fire outlet opening defined in the casing, the ignition button having a top face in which a slide slot is defined and an inner side face defining a recess; and

the safety lock comprising a movable button arranged on the ignition button, the movable button having an underside forming first and second projecting stops, which are movably received in the slide slot and the recess, respectively, and are biased by first and second springs that are retained between the first stop and an inside face of the ignition button and between the second stop and a side wall of the recess, the movable button having an inner side face forming a block removably engageable with the sideway notch of the casing to prevent the movable button and the ignition button from being depressed.