US3392672A - Flare lighter - Google Patents

Description

.- July 16.1963- 7 w s 3,392,672

FLARE LIGHTER Filed may 29. 1967 HQ 3 4 'INVENTOR. RONALD c. 'NOLES ROY MILLER ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,392,672 FLARE LIGHTER Ronald C. Noles, China Lake, Califi, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed May 29, 1967, Ser. No. 643,309 Claims. (Cl. 102-70) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A firing pin type ignition device designed to have the firing pin body fit into and block the ignition port and also hold aside the primer shutter when in the safe position and adapted to be fired by application of a single slight unidirectional force.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to ignition means for pyrotechnic devices and particularly to long burning flares or candles carried by a balloon or parachute. Long burning flares and candles are commonly manufactured from materials which are not easily ignited. It has been the practice, therefore, to include a first fire mix on the ignition end of the candle. Ignition devices for these candles needed only a primer and a starter to ignite the first fire mix in the candle. Such ignition devices commonly incorporated numerous safety features including the shutter type primer carrier designed to be maintained out of firing position when in the safe condition and often the shutter was arranged to cover the firing port in the safe position. Usually such devices were also provided with a safety pin which had to be pulled before the firing pin could be cocked and the device put into a ready condition. The device was then ready to be fired by a tripping mechanism. These prior art ignition devices and candles presented two main problems. First, the inclusion of a highly incendiary first fire mix in the candle made the handling and storage of these candles hazardous. Secondly, the complicated procedure necessary for assembling, arming, cocking and tripping the device was complicated and presented a source of error and was necessarily time consuming.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an igniter device which is safely, reliably and easily armed, cocked and fired by a pull force of only about 68 pounds.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ignition device which will reliably ignite a flare or candle without the necessity for such flare or candle having a first fire device.

Further and ancillary objects of the invention will appear from a study of the following specification and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of one practical embodiment of an ignition device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the disclosed device taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the device with the firing pin retracted sufficiently to allow the rotor to be in position over the ignition port; and

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a generally cylindrical housing member is shown at 10. Housing is internally threaded at each end and receives, in the one end, a firing pin assembly 20 and, in the other end, a booster cup 12. Located centrally of the housing is a coaxial, cylindrical 3,392,672 Patented July 16, 1968 firing port 50. This firing port has a relieved portion 11, complementarily formed to receive a portion 24 of firing pin 22. A shutter 40 is pivoted on post 42, integral with housing 10, and is biased to a firing position by means of a spring 41. Spring 41 acts against the side of the housing 10 and against a pin 51 provided on the shutter. See FIGS. 2 and 4. The spring and shutter are confined on the post 42 by means of washer 44 and pin 43. When the device is first assembled, the shutter 40 is held out of firing position by firing pin 22 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The shutter carries a primer 45 and is so shaped and positioned that, when released, the primer 45 will be positioned directly over the firing port 50. Firing pin 22 is maintained in this initial position by means of firing pin spring 21 acting upon guide washer 15 and a flange of the adapter 14. At its outer end the firing pin is attached to a flanged portion of sleeve 16 as by forging a head 39 on reduced portion 18 of the pin. Sleeve 16 has one or more holes therein adapted to receive a detent ball 17. A pull cap 19 is slidably received on sleeve 16 and is retained in place thereon by detent ball 17. The booster cup 12 has a central cylindrical cavity, coaxial with the firing port 50, and is chambered to receive an ignition pellet 32. The ignition pellet 32 is chambered to receive a container 13 of a starter mix 30. Ignition pellet 32 is held in position in the cup by a pellet support 33. Booster cup 12 is provided with a central fire hole 35 coaxial with the firing port 50 and, in some applications, also may have a number of peripheral ports 34. When the device is in its safe position as shown in FIG. 1, the rotor 40 is maintained out of position by intervention of firing pin section 22.

In its operational use, the firing device is actuated simply by applying a force to pull cap 19 in a direction to the left as viewed in FIG. 1. This force is transmitted to sleeve 16 by means of detent ball 17 and thus firing pin 20 is pulled out of interfering relationship with rotor 40 as shown in FIG. 3. When rotor 40 is free to assume the position shown in FIG. 4, rotor spring 41 positions the rotor against stop 46. In this position, primer 45 is in line with the central firing port with the primer port 48 in coincidence with firing port 50. Further motion of the firing pin in the same direction will result in ball 17 being in a position to ride off of adapter 14 and to move inwardly and allow pull-cap 19 to then slide off of sleeve 16. With pull cap 19 out of the way, sleeve 16 and firing pin 20 are free to be urged in the opposite direction by firing pin spring 21. Primer 45 is in position to be struck by the point 23 of the firing pin and is thus ignited. The primer fires through the firing port 50, starting the starter mix 30, which in turn ignites an ignition pellet 32. Ignition pellet 32 creates a heat sufiicient to ignite ordinary flare candle compositions through ignition port 35 and/ or a heat generator device through ports 34.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it may be seen that the firm seating of firing pin portion 22 into mating portion 11 of the housing is sufficient to maintain the ignition device in a safe condition without the necessity of safety pins, safety wire or other such safety devices usually employed in prior art ignition devices. From the above description it should be noted that the device of the present invention is removed from a safe condition, armed, and fired all in one smoothly moving operation by the application of a slight pull.

While the above is a description of, what at present is considered the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, intended in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the true scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An ignition device comprising:

a housing;

partition means in said housing dividing said housing into first and second chambers,

said partition having a central firing port therein communicating between said chambers,

primer means in said first chamber;

said primer means carrying a percussive primer and having a primer port and being biased to a firing position wherein said primer and said primer port are in coincidence with said firing port,

firing means in said first chamber,

said firing means including a firing pin biased in a direction toward said firing port and normally occupying an initial position wherein said firing pin fits into and blocks said firing port and simultaneously holds said primer means in a safe position with the primer port remote from coincidence with said firing port;

an ignition element in said second chamber,

said firing pin and said firing port comprising cylindrical mating surfaces and conical mating surfaces such that, when said firing pin is in said initial position, the conical surface on said pin closely mates with the conical surface in said firing port to prevent accidental firing of said ignition means in the event of premature ignition of said primer.

2. An ignition device according to claim 1 including:

means for moving said firing pin from said initial position to thereby sequentially open said firing port, clear said primer means for movement to firing position over said firing port, and

release said firing pin for return travel toward said primer means. 3. An ignition device according to claim 1 wherein: said firing means includes releasable detent means ar- 5 ranged to connect the firing pin to a pull cap for moving the firing pin from said initial position and for releasing said firing pin after a predetermined travel of said firing pin. 4. An ignition device according to claim 1 further including a booster cup removably attached to said second chamber,

said booster cup providing; a cavity for holding said ignition element, and an ignition port leading outwardly from said cavity.

5. An ignition device according to claim 4 including:

said booster cup further comprising a plurality of peripheral ignition ports.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,665,666 4/1928 Junghans 102-76 2,421,271 5/1947 Kiang 10279 2,750,890 6/1956 Leonard 102-82 2,806,427 9/1957 Hager 102-71 3,320,885 5/1967 Foster et al. 10270X BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

0 SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Examiner.

G. H. GLANZMAN, Assistant Examiner.

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