Simulated flame device

A device for simulating a flame comprises: a housing 12; an elongate flame-shaped piece of collapsible material 14; a lamp 16 for illuminating the piece of material 14; a fan 18 for circulating air in the housing along a predetermined cyclic path in the housing; and an inner housing 20 for mounting a first end portion 22 of the piece of material 14 in said housing such that, in use, the piece of material 14 is supported by said circulating air along the path and a second end portion 24 of the piece of material is free to move in the circulating air.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a device for simulating a flame.

A device for simulating a flame is described in the Applicant's co-pending patent application GB 2323159A. The previous application describes a device in which a flame shaped piece of material is mounted at an opening in a housing and is supported by an air flow emerging from said opening. Such a device creates a realistic flame appearance allowing the flame shaped piece of material to flicker in the air flow like a naked flame.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved device for simulating a flame.

The present invention provides a device for simulating a flame, said device comprising: a housing, an elongate flame-shaped piece of collapsible material; means for illuminating said piece of material; circulation means for circulating air in said housing along a predetermined cyclic path in said housing; and means for mounting a first end portion of said piece of material in said housing such that, in use, said piece of material is supported by said circulating air along said path and a second end portion of said piece of material is free to move in said circulating air.

The housing may be substantially air-tight.

Preferably, air circulating along a first portion of said path is for supporting said piece of material and air circulating along a second portion of said path is for circulation back to said first portion of said path. In this case, wall means may separate air along said first portion of said path from air along said second portion of said path.

The circulation means may be disposed in a base which is spaced from a bottom surface of said housing.

The wall means may extend transversely from a surface of said base.

In one embodiment of the invention described hereinafter the wall means is a cylinder.

Preferably, the wall means is at least partially transparent.

The circulation means may comprise a fan.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, in which like parts in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIGS. 4 and 5 have been given like references, each embodiment comprises a device 10 for simulating a flame. In each case, the device 10 comprises a housing 12 , an elongate flame-shaped piece of collapsible material 14 , means 16 for illuminating the piece of material 14 , circulation means 18 for circulating air in the housing 12 along a predetermined cyclic path in the housing 12 , and means 20 for mounting a first end portion 22 of the piece of material in the housing 12 . When the device 10 is in use, the piece of material 14 is supported by the circulating air along the path (shown in the Figures by arrows) and a second end portion 24 of the piece of material 14 is free to move in the circulating air.

The housing 12 is substantially air-tight, in use. However, air will be able to escape from the housing and likewise air outside the housing will be able to enter it because it would not be practical in a device of this type to completely seal the interior of the housing from the exterior thereof. In fact, the housing 12 need only be air-tight to the extent that the device 10 can be, for instance, placed outside without rain, wind etc interfering with the workings of the device 10 . The device 10 can also be used inside in which case the substantially air-tight housing inhibits the ingress of dust, smoke and other air-borne pollutants into the housing 12 inhibiting their interference with the workings of the device 10 .

The elongate flame-shaped piece of collapsible material 14 is mounted in the housing 12 to an inner housing 20 as shown in FIGS. 2 , 3 and 5 (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 ). The inner housing 20 mounts the piece of material 14 in the circulating air along the path. A first end portion 22 of the piece of material 14 is secured to the inner housing 20 by any suitable means such as adhesive. The piece of material 14 may alternatively be secured to a wire which spans across the upper opening of the inner housing 20 . The second end portion 24 of the piece of material 14 is not fixed and is therefore, free to move in the circulating air. When the circulating air is controlled correctly, the second end portion 24 wafts, flickers and semi-collapses on itself in the same way as a naked flame of a candle or oil lamp.

The piece of material 14 is preferably made of silk as this is light and reflective, and therefore suitable for the purposes of the device. Other materials may be used instead provided they are sufficiently light and reflective.

As well as simulating the movement of a naked flame, the piece of material 14 must be illuminated to resemble the luminosity of a naked flame. In the illustrated embodiments the piece of material 14 is illuminated by a lamp 16 . The lamp 16 should be sufficiently bright to enable light reflected from the piece of material 14 to be of a similar intensity to that of a candle or oil lamp. Preferably, the lamp 16 is positioned to one side in the inner housing as shown in FIGS. 2 , 3 and 5 so that the piece of material is illuminated strongest at its lower portion in the same way that the lower portion of a naked flame is the brightest.

For the device 10 to simulate a flame, the flow of air over the elongate flame shaped piece of collapsible material 14 must be sufficient to support the piece of material 14 otherwise it collapses under its own weight. The air flow which supports the piece of material 14 is shown by the arrows in FIGS. 2 , 3 and 5 which point vertically up from a bottom surface 26 of the housing 12 towards a top surface 28 of the housing 12 and which circulates along a first portion of the cyclic path. Air flow which does not support the piece of material 14 is shown most clearly in FIGS. 3 and 5 by the arrows which point vertically down from the top surface 28 of the housing 12 towards the bottom surface 26 of the housing 12 and which circulates along a second portion of the cyclic path. Therefore, the air which has passed over and supported the piece of material 14 is circulated to the bottom of the housing 12 without interfering with the air which is supporting the piece of material 14 . If the air in the housing was not circulated on a predetermined cyclic path, the flow inside the housing 12 would be randomized and the piece of material 14 would not be adequately supported because air which is not supporting the piece of material would interfere with the air that is. In this case, the supporting air would not be able to provide sufficient supporting force (upward force as shown in the embodiments) and the piece of material would at best not behave like a naked flame or at worst would remain in a collapsed state.

In the embodiments shown in the drawings, the air along the first portion of the predetermined cyclic path is separated from the air along the second portion of the predetermined cyclic path by wall means 30 . The wall means 30 in FIGS. 1 to 3 is planar and in FIGS. 4 and 5 is a circular cross-sectional cylinder, however, many other shapes could be adopted whilst still adequately performing the separating function.

The circulation means 18 is disposed in a base 32 in the illustrated embodiments and the base is spaced from the bottom surface 26 of the housing to allow air being circulated to be drawn into the circulation means 18 . The circulation means 18 shown is a fan which draws air in from underneath and pushes it upwardly to support the piece of material 14 .

The circulation means 18 shown in the embodiments is disposed underneath the piece of material 14 . However, the circulation means 18 may be disposed at any part of the predetermined cyclic path provided that adequate circulation in the housing 12 is achieved.

In the illustrated embodiments, the wall means 30 extends upwardly from a surface of the base 32 . In this way, the air along the first portion of the predetermined cyclic path is separated from air along the second portion of the predetermined cyclic path by the wall means 30 and from air underneath the fan by the base 32 . The base 32 can, however, be omitted without interfering with the supporting action of the air along the first portion of the predetermined cyclic path because air underneath the fan will tend to be drawn into the fan rather than passing to the side of the fan to interfere with the air supporting the piece of material 14 .

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , the wall means 30 is at least partially transparent so that the piece of material 14 can be seen therebehind. The wall means 30 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 may also be at least partially transparent.

The device may be powered by a battery or from the mains as shown.

The operation of the embodiments will now be described. On rotation of the fan 18 air is drawn into the fan from underneath and expelled upwardly. This air travels over the piece of material 14 exerting an upwards force thereto which serves to support the piece of material 14 and prevent it from completely collapsing. The rate at which the fan is driven is controlled so that the air circulating along the predetermined cyclic path and in particular along the first portion thereof, causes the piece of material 14 to resemble a naked flame (partially collapsing on itself, wafting from side to side, etc). After passing over the piece of material 14 , the air is drawn over the top of the wall means 30 and back towards the fan for circulation. In this way the air in the housing can be continuously recycled along the predetermined cyclic path within the housing without the need for air to be drawn into the housing from the exterior thereof. As indicated above, air may be drawn into the housing as it would not be practical to have a completely air-tight housing. When such air is drawn into the housing then a corresponding amount of air is excreted from the housing. Equally though a completely air-tight housing could be used but would obviously be more expensive.