US20080138752A1

US20080138752A1 - Tightly covered lighter

Info

Publication number: US20080138752A1
Application number: US11/703,748
Authority: US
Inventors: Tatsuhiro Maruyama
Original assignee: WINDMILL Co Ltd
Current assignee: WINDMILL Co Ltd
Priority date: 2006-12-11
Filing date: 2007-02-08
Publication date: 2008-06-12
Also published as: JP3129501U

Abstract

To provide a tightly covered lighter protected from entering of sand, dust or the like into an internal combustion mechanism or the like in a lighter body, and can be used even in river, sea, rain, or highland, a windshield formed on a top of the lighter body, an ignition operator formed adjacently to the windshield, and a dome-shaped cap covering tops of the ignition operator and the windshield in an openable and closable manner are provided. A cover covers a top and/or a bottom of the lighter body in a watertight or airtight manner, and a clip is protrusively arranged on the cover or the lighter body.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an internal-combustion gas lighter having wind-proof, in which ignition and combustion of mixed gas are performed in a lighter body, and more particularly relates to a tightly covered lighter further having waterproof, weatherproof and pressure-proof.
2. Related Art
Hitherto, as a piezoelectric ignition gas lighter (so-called piezoelectric lighter) in which a combustion cylinder and the like are incorporated in a lighter body so that ignition and combustion of gas mixed with air are performed in the lighter body, various types of wind-proof gas lighters, so-called internal-combustion gas lighters have been devised.
For example, such an internal-combustion gas lighter is configured to have an intake port for drawing air by negative pressure caused by ejecting fuel gas from a gas tank with increased flow velocity; a mixing tube accelerating mixing of the fuel gas with air; a diffuser connected to the mixing tube to reduce flow velocity of such mixed gas and diffuse the gas; a combustion cylinder connected to the diffuser for making the gas mixed with air (mixed gas) to be further reduced in velocity and diffused by the diffuser to have a sufficient flow velocity for ignition and combustion; and an ignition unit for igniting a combustible gas in the combustion cylinder, so that ignition and combustion are performed in a lighter body (see JP-A-63-91431 and JP-A-5-106837).
However, in the internal-combustion gas lighter disclosed in the JP-A63-91431, since a mixed gas created by a jet flow is combusted and ignited as burner, while there is an advantage that it can be used without any difficulty even in a strong wind, there is a difficulty that sand, dust or the like enters into an internal combustion mechanism or a piezoelectric mechanism in the lighter body since a burner port of a windshield is opened comparatively large. In addition, when an ignition operator is pressed down, a side face of the windshield (a side opposed to the ignition operator) is opened large (see JP-A-5-106837).
Furthermore, an internal-combustion gas lighter is recently requested, which can be used in river, sea, rain, or highland without worrying, that is, suitable for the outdoors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention was made in the light of such previous difficulty and request, and an object of the invention is to provide a tightly covered lighter which is protected from entering of sand, dust or the like, and has excellent water-proof, weather-proof and pressure-proof despite the internal-combustion gas lighter having excellent wind-proof.
To solve the previous difficulty and achieve an expected object, a tightly covered lighter of an embodiment of the invention includes a cylindrical lighter body; a gas tank for storing fuel formed in the lighter body; an internal combustion mechanism having a gas ejection nozzle; a valve mechanism for transferring fuel gas from the gas tank to the internal combustion mechanism; an ignition mechanism having an ignition operator for emitting a spark for ignition; a windshield having the internal combustion mechanism assembled therein; and a cover covering a top and/or a bottom of the lighter body in a watertight or airtight manner, wherein a dip is protrusively arranged on the cover or the lighter body.
Preferably, the windshield is formed in a semicylindrical shape halved in a longitudinal direction, and opposed to a semicylindrical ignition operator halved in the same direction, so that both form a cylindrical shape. Moreover, the lighter body is formed in a cylindrical shape, and can be sealed in a watertight manner at topside of the lighter body by a dome-shaped cap covering the ignition operator and the windshield at the top.
Furthermore, preferably, the ignition operator has a finger putting portion formed one step lower than a top face of the windshield, and a guard portion facing a windshield side, which are formed with being integrally connected to each other, and is internally equipped with the ignition mechanism. While a piezoelectric mechanism having a piezoelectric element is preferably used for the ignition mechanism, another type of mechanism such as flint type can be used.
An embodiment of the invention is configured as above, and includes the cover covering the top and/or the bottom of the lighter body in the watertight or airtight manner, and the clip protrusively arranged on the cover or the lighter body, thereby it has excellent water-proof, weather-proof and pressure-proof, consequently a gas lighter which can be easily attached to a pocket of cloths, bag, or belt without concern for river, sea, rain, or highland (altitude), that is, an optimum gas lighter for the outdoors can be provided.
Moreover, the semicylindrical windshield halved in the longitudinal direction, and the semicylindrical ignition operator halved in the same direction are opposed and cylindrically aligned with each other, resulting in a compact and novel tightly covered lighter that can be ignited in a manner of sliding the semicylindrical ignition operator.
Furthermore, the lighter body is formed in a cylindrical shape, and sealed in the watertight or airtight manner at the top side of the lighter body via the dome-shaped cap covering the ignition operator and the windshield at the top, consequently the gas lighter is excellent in water-proof so that it can be used with being carried even in river or sea despite the internal-combustion gas lighter.
Moreover, the windshield is formed in the semicylindrical shape to compactly cover the internal combustion mechanism, and the ignition operator has the finger putting portion formed one step lower than the top surface of the windshield and the guard portion facing the windshield side, which are integrally connected to each other, to cover the piezoelectric mechanism, thereby even in the condition that the ignition operator is pressed down, a side face of the windshield (a side opposed to the ignition operator) is not opened unlike the usual, and the guard portion is moved along a face of the windshield to overlap with the side face, resulting in an advantage that entering of sand, dust or the like into the internal combustion mechanism or the piezoelectric mechanism can be prevented, consequently the gas lighter can be used even in river, sea or highland without worrying.
In this way, an embodiment of the invention can provide a tightly covered lighter in a high-grade specification, which is protected from entering of sand, dust or the like, and excellent in waterproof, weather-proof and pressure-proof despite the internal-combustion gas lighter, in addition, since the tightly covered lighter has a simple configuration, it is suitable for mass production and can be inexpensively provided to users, consequently carrying out of an embodiment of the invention has significantly large beneficial value.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a tightly covered lighter according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the tightly covered lighter;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section view of the tightly covered lighter;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a condition that a cap of the tightly covered lighter is opened; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a condition that a bottom cover of the tightly covered lighter is removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Next, an example of the invention is described with reference to drawings. In the figures, “A” indicates a lighter according to an embodiment of the invention, and the lighter A has a lighter body 1, a windshield 2 formed on a top of the lighter body 1, an ignition operator 3 formed adjacently to the windshield 2, and a cap 4 covering tops of the ignition operator 3 and the windshield 2 in an openable and closable manner.
The lighter body 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and as shown in FIG. 3, a gas tank 1 b is formed therein via a top tank cover 1 a. A bottom cover 1 d covering a gas-rate adjustment lever 1 c (see FIG. 5) is screwed in an airtight manner on a bottom of the lighter body 1 via an annular gasket (packing) 1 e, and a clip 5 is protrusively arranged on a side face of a drum.
The windshield 2 has a semicylindrical shape halved in a longitudinal direction, and has an internal combustion mechanism 6 compactly assembled in a hollow portion. As shown in FIG. 3, the internal combustion mechanism 6 has a nozzle plate (not shown) encapsulating an ejection port of a gas ejection nozzle 8 c described later, a mixing tube 6 b capped on an upper end of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c via a spacer 6 a to internally arrange the nozzle plate, a diffuser 6 c connected to an upper part of the mixing tube 6 b, and a combustion cylinder 6 d connected to the diffuser 6 c to install it therein.
The nozzle plate includes a cylinder cover having a perforation in the center, and a plate body arranged in the cylinder cover, and the nozzle plate further accelerates flow velocity of evaporated gas ejected from the gas ejection nozzle 8 c, and is equipped with a filter having a small pore size (not shown) at a bottom side of the perforation as necessary.
The mixing tube 6 b is formed to be a hollow cylinder, and has a plurality of intake ports 6 b, opened in a radial direction. The intake ports 6 b ₁draw air by using negative pressure caused by ejecting fuel gas, which has passed through the perforation of the nozzle plate (not shown), with increased flow velocity, so that mixing of the fuel gas and air is accelerated.
In the diffuser 6 c, an ejection path penetrated in a vertical direction (coaxial direction) and a plurality of diffusion holes 6 c ₁, 6 c ₁. . . communicating with the ejection path are formed. The diffusion holes 6 c ₁, 6 c ₁. . . are reduced in diameter to be small compared with a diameter at an entrance side (lower end side) of the ejection path such that mixed gas flowing therein from a side of the mixing tube 6 b is contacted to the top face of the diffuser 6 c to induce a reverse jet flow, so that the mixed gas is effectively diffused while gas mixing is further accelerated.
The combustion cylinder 6 d is formed into a hollow cylinder opened at two vertical ends, and connectedly supports the diffuser 6 c to fix it in an opening at a lower end, and has an upper end side facing a burner port 2 a of the windshield 2.
On the other hand, the ignition operator 3 has a semicylindrical shape halved in a longitudinal direction, and has a finger putting portion 3 a one step lower than a top face of the windshield 2 and a guard portion 3 b facing a side of the windshield 2, which are integrally connected to each other, so that the piezoelectric mechanism 7 is covered in a manner that push operation can be performed.
A piezoelectric mechanism 7 includes a piezoelectric unit having an outer box 7 a and an inner box 7 b fitted with each other such that they are expanded and contracted in a vertical direction, and while not shown, a piezoelectric element, hammer, return spring and the like are assembled in the inner box 7 b.
A valve mechanism 8 is pressed-in in a water-proof manner via a through hole communicating with the gas tank 1 a, wherein a nozzle helix 8 a in a cylindrical cover shape having an opening (not shown) at an end face of a top, and a nozzle bottom plug 8 b in a blind cylinder shape fitted in a lower opening of the nozzle helix 8 a form a valve chest (not shown) within the valve mechanism.
In the valve chest, the gas ejection nozzle 8 c is equipped via an o-ring and a spring such that an upper end is protruded outward from the opening of the nozzle helix 8 a.
Furthermore, a liquefied-gas suction member (not shown) is equipped on a bottom of the nozzle bottom plug 8 b via a filter (not shown) including malt and a nail-like stator (not shown). The liquefied-gas suction member is assembled such that an upper end is connectedly supported by a heat collector cylinder (not shown), and a lower end extends into the gas tank 1 b.
An ignition mechanism includes a valve operation lever 9 supported in a vertically swingable manner while being engaged with a neck of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c, and assembled such that the neck of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c is operated in an extraction direction by raising operation of the valve operation lever 9, so that a valve is opened to start ejection of gas.
In other words, in the valve operation lever 9, one end 9 a is engaged with the neck of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c such that the lever swings in a vertical direction with a bearing (not shown) protrusively arranged on a top face of the upper tank cover 1 a as a fulcrum, and the other end 9 b is pressed down by a semicircular push member 11 assembled to the ignition operator 3, so that the valve operation lever 9 swings about the fulcrum to allow the neck of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c to operate in the extraction direction. In the figure, the numeral 10 indicates a view window for the gas tank 1 b.
In the tightly covered lighter A of an embodiment of the invention configured in this way, the dome-like cap 4 screwed with the lighter body via the gasket 1 e in the watertight manner is rotated counterclockwise, thereby the cap can be opened to be separated from the lighter body 1.
Then, a thumbnail is put on the finger putting portion 3 a of the ignition operator 3 for pressing-down operation, thereby the piezoelectric mechanism 7 is operated so that spark discharge is generated between discharge terminals (not shown), and the neck of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c is operated in the extraction direction by the valve operation lever 9 to open the valve, and fuel gas sucked from the gas tank 1 b via the liquefied gas suction member (not shown) reaches the filter (not shown) and evaporates.
Evaporated gas passes through a valve hole of the nozzle bottom plug 8 b through the filter, and further passes through a perforation (not shown) opened in a radial direction of the gas ejection nozzle 8 c to reach into a gas ejection path (not shown), then ejected outward from an ejection port at an upper end.
Then, such evaporated gas ejected from the gas ejection nozzle 8 c is ejected with further increased gas velocity by encapsulation by the nozzle plate, and concurrently ejected to the diffuser 6 c while drawing air through the intake ports 6 b, of the mixing tube 6 b by using a negative pressure effect caused by such increased flow velocity.
Thus, mixed gas of the ejected gas and air is contacted to the top face of the diffuser 6 c to induce a reverse jet flow, so that the mixed gas is diffused into the combustion cylinder 6 d via a top of the ejection path and the plurality of diffusion holes 6 c, opened in the side face while being further mixed to improve combustion efficiency, and at the moment, the spark discharge leads to lightening and burner-like ignition occurs.
In addition, in a condition of pressing down the ignition operator 3 (ignition condition), the side face of the windshield 2 (a side opposed to the ignition operator) is not opened unlike the usual, and the guard portion 3 b is moved along a face of the windshield to overlap with the side face, therefore entering of sand, dust or the like into the internal combustion mechanism 6 or the piezoelectric mechanism 7 can be perfectly prevented (without concern for firing or the like), consequently the gas lighter can be used without concern for river, sea or highland (altitude). In addition, the gas lighter can be easily attached to a pocket of cloths, bag, or belt via a dip 5 for use in both conditions that the cap 4 is opened and closed. That is, an optimum gas lighter for the outdoors can be provided.
The lighter A of an embodiment of the invention is not limited to the example, and can be freely altered in design within a scope of the purpose of the invention, and the invention encompasses all of them. For example, it will be appreciated that the ignition mechanism of the halved type mentioned in the example is not limitedly applied to the internal-combustion gas lighter (piezoelectric lighter) employed in the example, and can be applied to a flint type lighter or an oil lighter.

Claims

1. A tightly covered lighter, comprising:

a cylindrical lighter body,

a gas tank for storing fuel formed in the lighter body,

an internal combustion mechanism having a gas ejection nozzle,

a valve mechanism for transferring fuel gas from the gas tank to the internal combustion mechanism,

an ignition mechanism having an ignition operator for emitting a spark for ignition,

a windshield having the internal combustion mechanism assembled therein, and a cover covering a top and/or a bottom of the lighter body in a watertight or airtight manner,

wherein a clip is protrusively arranged on the cover or the lighter body.

2. The tightly covered lighter according to claim 1,

wherein the windshield is formed in a semicylindrical shape halved in a longitudinal direction, and opposed to a semicylindrical ignition operator halved in the same direction, so that a cylindrical shape is formed by both.

3. The tightly covered lighter according to claim 1,

wherein the lighter body is formed in a cylindrical shape, and is sealed in a watertight or airtight manner at topside of the lighter body by a dome-shaped cap covering the ignition operator and the windshield at the top.

4. The tightly covered lighter according to claim 3,

wherein the ignition operator has a finger putting portion formed one step lower than a top face of the windshield, and a guard portion facing a windshield side, which are formed with being integrally connected to each other, and is internally equipped with the ignition mechanism.

5. The tightly covered lighter according to claim 4,

wherein the ignition mechanism is a piezoelectric mechanism having a piezoelectric element.