Combustion – Correlation of fuel or power supply with component movements...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-24
2001-04-17
Lazarus, Ira S. (Department: 3743)
Combustion
Correlation of fuel or power supply with component movements...
C431S255000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217313
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a barbecue lighter, and more particularly to a childproof barbecue lighter for preventing under age children from the usage of the barbecue lighter.
2. Description of Related Arts
Most accidental fires were started by the ignorant usage of the lighter, especially by the young children. So, nowadays, both U.S. government and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission demand a safety device in every lighter including the barbecue lighter to prevent unwanted ignition accidentally or by a child.
Conventional barbecue lighter comprises a lock switch for locking up the ignition trigger so as to prevent the ignition trigger of the lighter from accidentally being depressed thereby causing an unintended ejection. To ignite the lighter, user must turn the lock switch aside to unlock the safety switch. User may repeat the step of unlocking the lock switch many times until he or she ignites a fire in certain condition. However, if the user forgets to re-lock the safety switch after ignition, the lock switch will not be functioned.
Moreover, such barbecue lighter with the lock switch employed cannot stop children from igniting it. Usually, the lock switch is simply placed at the side of the lighter. In most cases, children can easily figure out how to ignite theses barbecue lighters by switching the lock switch to its unlock position. The adults may frequently forget to re-lock the lock switch after each ignition. So, the existing barbecue lighters are not really safe enough to prevent under age children from using the barbecue lighters.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
A main object of the present invention is to provide a childproof barbecue lighter for preventing under age children from using the barbecue lighter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a childproof barbecue lighter wherein the barbecue lighter is normally maintained in a locking position, so as to prevent any unwanted ignition of the lighter.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a childproof barbecue lighter wherein the ignition of the barbecue lighter of the present invention requires a simple single-action operation by an adult's finger instead of or in addition to the conventional double-action operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a childproof barbecue lighter wherein the locker device does not require to change the original structural design of the barbecue lighter, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of incorporating the locker device with every conventional barbecue lighter having a pusher button.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a barbecue lighter, comprising:
a casing having a liquefied gas cavity and a pusher cavity provided therein;
a liquefied gas container being received in the liquefied gas cavity to provide liquefied gas through a gas emitting nozzle mounted on top of the liquefied gas container;
an elongated nozzle tube extended from the casing and contains a gas tube therein, wherein the gas tube is extended from the gas emitting nozzle to a distal end of the elongated nozzle tube to form an ignition tip;
a piezoelectric unit, which is disposed in the pusher cavity of the casing for generating piezoelectricity, comprising a movable operating part extended therefrom and a spark generating tip which is extended to the distal end of the elongated nozzle tube to produce sparks towards the ignition tip to ignite the gas emitted from the ignition tip;
a pusher button which is disposed in the pusher cavity of the casing in a vertically movable manner and attached on the movable operating part of the piezoelectric unit so as to operatively connect to the piezoelectric unit, wherein the pusher button is also operatively connected to the gas emitting nozzle via a gas lever; and
a locker device being installed inside the pusher cavity of the casing for blocking up the pusher button in a downward movable manner so as to lock up the pusher button for ignition, wherein the locker device comprises
a lock button being movably supported on the pusher button which has a through slot provided thereon, the lock button being slidably fitted in the through slot in such a manner that the lock button is movable with respect to the pusher button, the lock button further comprising a locking arm integrally and downwardly extended into the pusher cavity through the through slot in such a manner that the lock button is arranged to drive the locking arm to move from a normally locking position to an unlocked position,
a stopper which is provided in the pusher cavity and positioned right under the locking arm of the locker device while the locker device is in the locking position so that the locker device is blocked by the stopper for any downward movement so as to stop the pusher button from any downward movement by blocking up the locking arm of the locker device, and
a resilient element, which is disposed in the pusher cavity, for applying an urging pressure against the locking arm, so as to normally retain the locker device at the locking position, wherein at the locking position, the locking arm is downwardly extended and stopped by the stopper for blocking up the pusher button from being pushed downwardly so as to lock up the pusher button from ignition, and that at the unlocked position, the locking arm is moved offset from the stopper such that the pusher button is capable of being pushed downwardly to ignite the childproof barbecue lighter.
Whereby, in order to ignite the childproof barbecue lighter, an adult user's must move the locker device from the normal locking position to the unlocked position by sliding the lock button to drive the locking arm to move away from the stopper, i.e. the side wall of the piezoelectric unit. The user has to apply holding force to the lock button so as to retain the locker device in such unlocked position and then, at the same time, the user must further apply a downward pushing force to push down the pusher button to compress the piezoelectric unit for striking sparks and ignite the barbecue lighter. When the pushing force applied on the pusher button is released, the compressed piezoelectric unit will rebound to its original condition which pushes the pusher button back to its original position. Automatically, the compressed resilient element will also rebound and push the locking arm back to its original locking position.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5145358 (1992-09-01), Shike et al.
patent: 5326256 (1994-07-01), Shike et al.
patent: 5462432 (1995-10-01), Kim
Chan Raymond Y.
Clarke Sara
David and Raymond Patent Group
Lazarus Ira S.
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