US3548150A - Cigarette lighter assembly - Google Patents

Description

D United States Patent 13,s4s,150

[72] Inventor Thomas P. Briggs 2,554,743 5/1951 Jones 219/267X 927 Woodlawn, Royal Oak, Mich. 48073 2,612,588 9/ 1952 Schilling 219/262 [21] Appl. No. 820,789 2,630,539 3/1953 Sinko et a1. 219/267X [22] Filed May 1,1969 3,433,928 3/1969 l-lorwitt 219/267 [45] Patented Dec. 15, 1970 3,471,679 10/1969 Ohnborn 219/267X Primary Examiner-Velodymyr Y. Mayewsky 54] CIGARETTE LIGHTER ASSEMBLY Attorney-Harness, Dickey & Pierce 1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figs. [52] use Cl. 219/267, 219/265, 219/479 [51] Int. Cl F23g 7/22 [50] Field of Search 219/267, ABSTRACT: A cigarette lighter assembly mounted on an ac- 2 2 cessible wall of a household stove and including, a hand 476-480 removable and insertable cigarette lighter in a lighter socket and an electrically insulated mounting plate for mounting the [561 lighter assembly to the accessible wall. The lighter being UNITED STATES PATENTS removable from the socket through the concentric openings in 2,5] 1,331 6/1950 De La Mater 219/261 the accessible all and the mounting plate.

1 CIGARETTE LIGHTER ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION often often This invention broadly relates to a cigarette lighter assembly for use in combination with the control panel of a household stove. In the past, common household stoves of the gas or electric variety have normally been provided with, for example, four burners mounted on the top portion of the stove. As is known, people in the household having such a stove often use it for lighting cigarettes, cigars or the'like, when common matches or other cigarettelighters are either not available or inconvenient to reach at the precise moment it is desired to indulge in the smoking habit. In such a situation smokers have often been prone to use one of the burners of the stove for lighting the cigarette, and such a use of the stove burner is, of course, extremely dangerous in that in order to light the cigarette, cigar, etc. with the stove burner, it is necessary to bend over and place the face very close to the burner during the cigarette lighting. As a result, singed eyebrows, burnt hair and the like often result from using the conventional stove burner to light a cigarette. In the invention disclosed hereinbelow this problem is overcome in that the development has been made to the effect that a cigarette lighter of the type extremely popular in automobiles has been uniquely adapted for use on the control panel of a stove to make use of the normal electric current which is provided to-the chassis of the stove such that the cigarette lighter mounted on the stove control panel can be used to light a cigarette at anytime, without the need to make use of the dangerous habit of bending over to light the cigarette from a stove burner when other lighting techniques such as matches, pocket lighters, etc. are not available.

Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide in combination with a household stove a cigarette lighter assembly mounted on the control panel of said stove.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional household stove modified in accordance with this invention; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along the line of 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the particulars of the'cigarette lighter assembly as mounted on the panel of the stove of FIG. 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, this invention involves in combination with a household stove apparatus comprised of a base, a front panel, side panels, a plurality of stove burners, and generally topmounted control panel means for utilizing one or more of the burners in a cooking operation, the improvement comprising a cigarette lighter assembly mounted generally proximate said control panel means and including a hand removable and insertable cigarette lighter, a spring which normally biases said lighter out of contact with a thermal Contact heating means for heating the lighter to an approximate predetermined temperature at which the lighter disengages and is ready for operative use, insulated electrical connector means for resistance heating said thermal contact means, said connector means being operatively associated with an electrical power source wire means mounted within the stove for appropriately providing electric current to the thermal contact means when the lighter is pressed into engagement therewith.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings show a household stove which has incorporated therein a cigarette lighter assembly as indicated by the cross-sectional or cutaway v-iew in FIG. 2. The stove is generally designated and is comprised of side panels 12, front panel 14, and a top deck or table portion 16 in which there are mounted several burners designated 18. The stove also includes a control panel 19 which has mounted or constructed into the right end portion thereof a cigarette lighter assembly designated 20.

The cigarette lighter assembly 20 is comprised of a lighter 22 which is removable or insertable into the lighter socket 24. The lighter 22 has concentrically, and axially arranged thereabout a spring 26 which normally biases the lighter such that it remains out of contact with a thermal contact heating means 28. The thermal contact heating means 28 is electrically connected with a terminal post 30 which has at one end thereof a threaded nut 32 which may satisfactorily be used to connect a lead wire 34 to the terminal post 30. The post 30 is insulated by the insulation material designated 36. The insulation 36 acts to insulate the electrical post 30 from the socket housing 24. A second terminal means designated 40 is mounted on the exterior of the socket housing 24 and shown attached thereto is another electrical wire 42.

The electrical conductors 34 and 42 are suitably connected through a transformer means (not shown) to a l lOvolt power supply, which is comprised of two wires (not shown) introduced through the electrical conduit 50. The electrical conduit 50, as shown, is mounted generally adjacent to the lighter assembly through the use of the housing means 52, but it should be understood that the housing means 52 is not necessary to the practice of the invention.

The housing 52 in turn is mounted to the front control panel 19 through means of screws 54 and nuts 56. The front plate 60 for mounting the lighter assembly to the control panel 19 is held in position by the screws 62 and nuts 64.

To operate the cigarette lighter 22 it is pushed in until the spring 26 is completely depressed, and this in turn brings the sleeve portion 27 into firm electrical contact with the metal socket housing 24. This contact between the metal sleeve 27 and the socket housing 24 completesthe electrical circuit for heating the lighter. The lighter itself is comprised of a wound resistance heater element positioned within the holder member 29. The holder member 29 when the lighter 22 is pressed into engagement is positioned within the elastically engageable receiver 31 and thus elastically engageable receiver 31 and this elastically engageable receiver 31 in turn holds the lighter in depressed position while the thermal contact heating means 28 heats the wound resistance heater within the member 29 to an essentially red hot temperature. Once the hot temperature is reached, then the thermal expansion causes the elastically engageable receiver to expand and release the member 29 whereby the biased spring 26 pops the lighter out a relatively small amount and this popping out action is observed by the user and then the lighter 22 is grasped by the hand and removed from the socket housing 24 for use in lighting a cigarette, cigar, etc.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed are well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change without departure from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

lclaim:

l. A cigarette lighter assembly mounted on an accessible wall of a households stove and including, a hand removable and insertable cigarette lighter in a lighter socket a concentrically axially arranged spring which normally biases said lighter out of contact with a thermal contact-heating means for heating the lighter to an approximate predetermined temperature at which the lighter disengages from heating contact with an elastically engageable receiver on the heating means, and is ready for operative use, insulated electrical connector means comprised of two conductor wires for resistance heating said thermal contact means, said connector means being operatively connected to an electrical power source for appropriately providing electric current to the thermal contact means when the lighter is pressed into engagement therewith, an electrical conduit means for holding said conductor wires,

housing means generally surrounding said lighter assembly, second connector means for connecting the housing means to the accessible wall of the stove, electrically insulated front mounting plate means for mounting the lighter assembly to the

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