Combustion – Correlation of fuel or power supply with component movements...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-04
2003-01-14
Yeung, James C. (Department: 3743)
Combustion
Correlation of fuel or power supply with component movements...
C431S255000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06506046
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric lighter, and more particularly to a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement which normally locks up the ignition button of the piezoelectric lighter so as to prevent the piezoelectric lighter from ignited accidentally or by children.
2. Description of Related Arts
Commercially available piezoelectric lighters are dangerous if they are handled. careless, especially by young children. The inadvertent ignition of such piezoelectric lighters may result in fires causing property damage and injury to people. Therefore, there is a need for a safety device that prevents inadvertent ignition of the disposable lighter, or makes the lighters difficult for children to operate.
In response to the demands for the piezoelectric lighter which is improved in safety in such a manner that inadvertent and unintentional ignition by those who are unfamiliar with the proper use of the lighter can surely be prevented. An improved piezoelectric lighter having different types of safety devices have already been known. The piezoelectric lighter generally comprises a cap which covers on top of the lighter. In order to ignite the lighter, a user must open the cap and downwardly depress an ignition button. The cap can prevent the lighter from being ignited accidentally. However, it cannot stop children from the usage of the piezoelectric lighter.
The piezoelectric lighter with another type of safety device have lock mechanism which prevents depression of the depressible operation button and must be released to allow the operation button to be depressed. However, the original structural design of piezoelectric lighter must be altered to incorporate with the lock mechanism.
Therefore, in manufacturing lighters with such a safety device, it is required to rationalize the assembling steps, to improve assembling accuracy, thereby further enhancing the handling of the safety device, and to reduce the manufacturing cost.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
A main object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement which can prevent the lighter from being ignited accidentally or by children.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement that normally locks up the downward movement of the ignition button of the piezoelectric lighter so as to prevent any unwanted ignition of the lighter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement, wherein in order to depress the ignition button so as to ignite the lighter, a locking member of the safety arrangement must be manipulated and remained in an unlocked position. Therefore, children under five years old are unable to complete the ignition operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement, which not only normally retains in a locked condition but also automatically return to the locked condition after each ignition operation so as to prevent any unintentional ignition of the lighter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement, wherein the ignition of the ignition of the lighter of the present invention requires a simple single-action operation by an adult's thumb instead of the conventional double-action operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement, which is adapted to be installed to all kinds of the lighter having the piezoelectric unit.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a piezoelectric lighter with safety arrangement, which does not require to alter the original structural design of the piezoelectric lighter, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of incorporating the safety device with every conventional piezoelectric lighter having a conventional piezoelectric unit.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a piezoelectric lighter, comprising:
a casing receiving a liquefied gas storage and an ignition cavity provided therein;
a gas emitting nozzle disposed in the casing and communicating with the liquefied gas storage for controlling a flow of gas;
a piezoelectric unit for generating piezoelectricity comprising a piezoelectric body having a ceiling disposed in the casing, a movable operating part upwardly extended from the piezoelectric body, and an ignition tip extended to a position close to the gas emitting nozzle, wherein when the movable operating part is depressed downwardly with respect to the piezoelectric body, the ignition tip generates sparks to ignite the gas emitted from the gas emitting nozzle; and
a safety arrangement, comprising:
an ignition button movably mounted on the casing in a vertical movable mariner wherein the ignition button is attached to a top end of the piezoelectric unit and arranged in such a manner that when the ignition button is pushed downwardly, the movable operating part of the piezoelectric unit is depressed to ignite the piezoelectric lighter, wherein the ignition button has a guiding slot provided on a top portion thereof to communicate with outside;
a locking member comprising a locking arm disposed in the ignition cavity of the casing and arranged to bias against the ceiling of the piezoelectric body for blocking up the ignition button from being depressed downwardly so as to lock up the ignition button from ignition and an operation button slidably mounted on the ignition button and arranged to operate the locking arm to move from a normally locking position to an unlocking position; and
a resilient element which is disposed in the ignition cavity for applying an urging pressure against the locking member so as to normally retain the locking member in the locking position, wherein at the locking position, the ignition button is locked for downward movement by the locking member so as to prevent ignition, and that in the unlocking position, the locking member is moved to release the blocking up of the ignition button with respect to the piezoelectric unit, so that the ignition button is capable of being depressed downwardly to ignite the piezoelectric lighter.
In order to ignite the piezoelectric lighter, a pulling force must be intentionally applied to pull the operation button of the locking member rearwardly so as to move the bottom end of the locking arm away from the ceiling of the piezoelectric body of the piezoelectric unit to unlock the safety arrangement. At this unlocked position, a downward depression force can be applied on the ignition button to compress the piezoelectric unit for generating piezoelectricity and ignite the piezoelectric lighter.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5145358 (1992-09-01), Shike et al.
patent: 5662466 (1997-09-01), Cheng
patent: 5829963 (1998-11-01), Ichikawa
patent: 6287109 (2001-09-01), Hirota
Chan Raymond Y.
David & Raymond Patent Group
Yeung James C.
Zhuoye Lighter (USA) Ltd.
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