Cigarette lighter adapter with gripping structure

A cigarette lighter adapter for an electronic device has an exterior gripping portion featuring a textured surface for gripping by the user and a finger hole for a user's finger to be inserted through to facilitate the insertion and removal of the adapter from a cigarette lighter socket. The exterior gripping portion and the finger hole permit the user to have a secure hold on the adapter without putting any tension on the adapter cord, thereby eliminating the possibility of damage to the cord and to the internal components of the adapter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 The present invention relates generally to cigarette lighter adapters for a
 cellular telephone or the like, and more particularly to adapters that
 adapt electrical components for use in a vehicle.
 2. Description of Related Art
 Cellular telephones are extremely popular and are being used by a larger
 segment of the population hand-held cellular telephones may be used by
 their owners either in or outside of vehicles. When the telephone is one
 that is normally carried by the user, an adapter is required to run the
 telephone off of the vehicle electrical power rather than the telephone
 battery. The present invention is directed to a cigarette lighter adapter
 for an electronic device, such as a cellular telephone, featuring finger
 gripping portions and cord protection means.
 The prior art describes a number of adapters that permit operation of
 various electronic devices from the electrical power source of a vehicle,
 particularly from the cigarette lighter within a vehicle. These adapters
 all share certain common components. The present invention is not focused
 on such common components as it is directed to a cord protection means
 which has been absent from the prior art, which facilitates a user to
 remove the adapter from the vehicle cigarette lighter without damage to
 the adapter cord. Particularly the invention provides a gripping means
 which protects the cord of the adapter from damage. In prior art without
 such means, a user could be tempted to remove the adapter from the socket
 of the cigarette lighter by pulling on the cord, and thereby tension
 exerted on the cord could be damaging to the internal components of the
 adapter.
 It is an object of the invention to provide an improved gripping means for
 a cigarette lighter adapter.
 A specific feature of the invention to provide a cord protection means for
 a cigarette lighter adapter.
 It is a further object of the invention to provide a cigarette light
 adapter for a cellular telephone with a separate grip portion that
 provides a textured surface for a user to grip.
 A specific object of the invention is to provide a separate finger gripping
 portion which a user can grip with a finger and further provide the
 advantage of protecting the adapter cord from being pulled or damaged.
 It is another object of the invention to provide an insulated grip portion
 adapter.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 The invention is a cigarette lighter adapter having an elongated housing.
 The housing has a main body portion and a barrel portion, the barrel
 portion sized to fit snugly within a cigarette lighter socket. The housing
 has an internal cavity extending through the main body portion and the
 barrel portion for housing electronic components of the cigarette lighter
 adapter. A conductive tip contact is disposed on a front end of the barrel
 portion. Grounding contact members are disposed on opposing sides of the
 barrel portion. The tip contact and the grounding contact members are
 operative with the electronic components of the cigarette lighter adapter.
 A cord passage is formed in a rear wall of the main body portion through
 which an electrical cord extends to connect with the electronic components
 of the cigarette lighter adapter. A contoured finger gripping hole passes
 through the main body portion, the finger gripping hole being positioned
 forward of the cord passage.
 The cigarette lighter adapter further includes an exterior gripping area
 disposed on a top portion of the main body portion of the housing. The
 improved cigarette lighter adapter exterior gripping portion features a
 textured surface for gripping by the user and a finger hole for a user's
 finger to be inserted through to facilitate the insertion and removal of
 the adapter from a cigarette lighter socket. The textured portion has
 raised knob-like members for improved gripping contact. The textured
 portion may be formed integrally with the housing or may be a portion
 attached to the main body housing. The textured portion may be a
 rubber-like material for enhanced gripping.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
 Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 7, a cigarette lighter adapter 100 is
 shown constructed in accordance with the principles of the present
 invention. The adapter 100 is insertable into a cigarette lighter socket
 (not shown) of a vehicle to draw power from the vehicle in order to power
 an electronic device, such as cellular telephone, spot light, air
 compressor, etc. The adapter 100 has a plastic housing 102 that encloses
 the relevant components thereof and may be considered as having two
 interconnected sections secured together by fastening means 103. One
 section includes an elongated, cylindrical barrel portion 104 having a
 diameter that is dimensioned to be received within the vehicle lighter
 socket (not shown). The second section is a main body portion 106 that is
 attached to, but is generally larger than the barrel portion 104. The main
 body portion 106 and the barrel portion 104 are hollow so that they
 cooperatively form an internal cavity of the adapter 100 that houses and
 encloses the electronic components of the adapter 100. The barrel and main
 body portions 104 & 106 of the adapter 100 may be easily formed from a
 plastic by a suitable process such as injection molding.
 The adapter housing 102 may be formed by molding two opposing halves 108,
 109 that engage with each other. As an alternative to the fastening means
 103, one such opposing half may include recessed female receptacles (not
 shown) formed in boss sections of the housing. These receptacles receive
 male pins (not shown) that project from the other housing half 108 and the
 engagement between the two housing halves 108, 109 is in the manner of a
 press-fit engagement as would be understood by those skilled in the art.
 An interior lip (not shown) may be provided along the interior edges of
 the housing half 109 and this lip may be received in a corresponding
 recess of the other housing half 108.
 Each housing half 108, 109 includes a passage 114 formed in the rear wall
 115 thereof through which an electrical cord 116 extends for connection to
 the electronic device (not shown).
 Preferably, a strain relief member 116a is provided at the interface of the
 electrical cord 116 and the passage 114. At the forward end 118, each
 housing half 108, 109 includes a similar cylindrical passage 119 formed
 therein which accommodates a cylindrical conductive tip contact 120. This
 tip contact engages, as is known in the art, a "hot" contact of the
 vehicle electrical system that is typically disposed at the center and end
 portion of the cigarette lighter socket (not shown). This tip contact 120
 is electrically connected in a conventional manner to one or more "hot" or
 "live" circuits disposed on an internal circuit board. This connection is
 typically made by a conductive spring not shown) that biases the tip
 contact 120 forwardly within the housing end passage 119. The spring is
 connected to the circuit board in a suitable manner such as soldering. The
 circuits disposed on the circuit board may include a transformer circuit
 that either steps the voltage of the vehicle electrical system up or down
 to a level appropriate to run a specific electronic device, a charging
 circuit for charging the electronic device during operation, or even
 merely a circuit that provides a simple electrical connection between the
 vehicle and the electronic device. As such, the circuits may include
 electrical components such as capacitors and resistors as well as
 integrated circuits in the form of chips. The aforementioned electrical
 connections and components internal to the cigarette lighter adapter will
 be understood by those skilled in the art and further discussion thereof
 as such is unnecessary.
 As part of the internal circuitry (not shown) of the adapter 100, an
 indicator, such as a light-emitting diode ("LED") 128 may be provided and
 positioned within an opening 130 of the housing 102. This LED 128
 indicates to the user that the adapter 100 is operational and a connection
 has been established with the vehicle electrical system through the
 lighter socket 102.
 To facilitate the gripping thereof by a user when either inserting or
 removing the adapter 100 from the cigarette lighter socket 101, a top
 portion 132 of the main body 106 may include textured portions 133 on
 opposite extents of the top portion 132. These portions 133 may include a
 plurality of raised knob-like members 134 or any other similar pattern.
 These textured portion are preferably integral with the housing halves
 108, 109, and may be formed as an integral part of the housing during the
 aforementioned injection molding.
 As described previously, the adapter includes an exterior grip portion 132,
 133. This grip portion may be alternatively formed from a resilient
 material, such as an elastomer or soft plastic to provide an enhanced
 gripping surface. The textured pattern may be attached thereon after the
 construction of the housing halves 108, 109 by suitable means. The soft
 plastic grip portion also provides a measure of heat insulation to the
 adapter. It will be understood that the elastomer covering is not limited
 to only the top portion of the gripping area.
 The top portion 132 may be formed from a flexible or resilient material,
 such as rubber, an elastomer or a soft plastic, which covers the top
 portion 132 of the gripping area of the cigarette lighter adapter. The
 circuitry of the adapter 100 inevitably produces heat during operation and
 in this regard, thus the rubber covered area 132 provides an insulating
 layer for the adapter 100. The textured portions 133 provide an exterior
 surface that may be reliably gripped by the user regardless of the
 surrounding temperature.
 In an important aspect of the invention, the adapter 100 includes a
 contoured finger gripping hole 136 through which a user can insert a
 finger to securely get hold of the rear portion of the adapter 100. When a
 user inserts a forefinger through the finger gripping hole 136, the user's
 thumb becomes positioned on the top portion 132 on the textured area 133
 of the adapter 100. The textured portion 133 acts mainly as a thumb grip.
 When gripped using the finger hole 136 and the textured area 133, the
 adapter may be gripped firmly and easily pulled from the cigarette lighter
 socket without any tension to the cord 116. These features of the
 invention protect the adapter cord 116 from damage and prolong the life of
 the cigarette lighter adapter.
 The adapter 100 includes a pair of contact members 140 that provide a
 ground path or contact between a ground of the adapter circuitry and a
 ground of the vehicle electrical system. The vehicle system ground
 typically includes the interior walls 141 of the cigarette lighter socket
 101.
 Having thus described various exemplary embodiments of the invention, it
 will be understood by those skilled in the art that modifications or
 changes in details of the invention may be implemented without departing
 from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following
 claims.