Ash tray having fire protecting activity

An ash tray having fire protecting activity and comprising an ash tray body (2) including an ash container (24) and an internal or external time delay circuit which is connected to an acoustic and/or optical alarm and supervising means. The ash tray is formed with a lid (3) which is normally intended to be closed, whereby the time delay circuit (25) and any other units connected thereto are disconnected but which upon opening of the lid actuates the time delay circuit, whereby the time delay circuit provides an alarm signal unless the lid (3) is closed before a predetermined set time delay has passed to an end. The lid (3) preferably is actuated by a spring (16) which tends to open the lid and against the action of which the lid can be closed, whereby the time delay circuit (25) and the alarm means connected thereto are reset. The ash tray may include a cigarette lighter (32) which is covered and non-actuatable when the lid is closed but which is exposed and can be actuated when the lid is opened.

The present invention generally relates to an ash tray for smokers, and 
more particularly the invention is concerned with an ash tray which is 
formed so as to emit a strong alarm sound signal after a predetermined 
time has passed from the moment that the smoking person has started 
smoking. 
Every year several fires start because a smoking person has put down and 
forgotton a burning cigarette or cigar which, due to self-burning, drops 
down from an ash-tray and sets other burnable materials on fire. Still 
more often it happens that persons are burnt or are burnt to death in 
their houses owing to the fact that a person in case of bed smoking falls 
asleep away from his cigarette. Many different attempts have been made to 
eliminate or at least reduce the number of fires resulting from smoking. 
For instance there is suggested in the Swedish patent 78 01748-0, 
publication No. 406 542, that an ash-tray be made with a switch which upon 
actuation starts a clock-work which after a predetermined time in turn 
actuates a buzzer which emits a signal of warning unless the clock-work is 
stopped before that. The apparatus described in the patent functions 
satisfactorily provided that the ash-tray is used as intended and that the 
smoking person starts the clock-work at the same time as the cigarette, 
the cigar, the pipe or the like is lighted. The buzzer tone, however, in 
many cases is considered to be annoying, and since the ash-tray can as 
well be used without starting the clock-work the smoking person may 
neglect to start the clock-work, especially if the person in question 
believes himself to be sure not to forget the cigarette or to fall asleep 
away from the cigarette. 
The object of the invention therefore is to provide an ash-tray which under 
no circumstances can be used unless a special safety operation is started 
which is ended with the emissions of a strong acoustic or even optical 
alarm signal or stopping the smoking and the interrupting safety operation 
before the said alarm signal is emitted. 
According to the invention this is provided for in an ash-tray of the type 
mentioned above in that the ash-tray is formed with a lid which normally 
is kept closed and which when upon being opened activates a time delay 
circuit having a siren or any other type of alarm means connected thereto, 
and in which the time delay circuit after a predetermined time activates 
the alarm means to emit a strong acoustic or optical signal unless the 
time delay circuit and thereby the alarm means is inactivated before that 
by closing the lid. 
In a special embodiment of the invention a cigarette lighter can be mounted 
in the ash-tray underneath the closed lid so that the lighter does not 
appear and cannot be used until the lid is opened and the time delay 
circuit has started its operation. Since the ash-tray consequently cannot 
be used without at the same time starting the alarm system the ash-tray 
provides assurance that the smoker does not forget or fall asleep away 
from his cigarette and thereby affords safety against fire.

The illustrated ash-tray may be a table ash-tray or a floor ash-tray 
mounted on a column 1. The ash-tray comprises a body 2 which includes a 
collection container and an electrical, electronic or mechanical apparatus 
for providing a fire protecting activity and an electrical, electronic or 
mechanical means for activating the ash tray. The essential feature of the 
invention is that the ash-tray is formed with a lid 3 which in its 
normally closed position maintains the fire protecting electronic means 
and the alarm siren inactivated. For the actuation of the ash-tray there 
is a switch or button 4 actuatable from outside for providing an opening 
of the lid and thereby a starting of the fire protecting activity. The 
ash-tray also can be formed with a further switch 5 actuatable from 
outside and preferably sub-ordinated to switch 4 for providing an 
actuation of a cigarette lighter included in the ash tray. 
The ash tray body may have any wanted form or size, and the lid may be 
opened by rotation upwards or it may be mounted to be openable or closable 
in any other way. What is important to the invention is that the lid 
cannot be opened without starting the electrical, electronic or mechanical 
means providing the fire protecting function, and that the lid when 
subsequently closed resets all such means to a starting position. 
In the illustrated case the ash tray has a round form and the lid which is 
likewise round is formed as a visor having eight visor discs 7 which are 
interconnected to each other. The uppermost visor disc is formed with a 
grip 8 by means of which the lid can be easily closed. 
The mechanical design of the ash tray is most evident from FIG. 3. The ash 
tray body 2 is formed with a central carrier portion 9 in which a central 
shaft 10 is mounted. On the central shaft the visor discs 6 and 7 are 
rotatably mounted. Every visor disc except for the uppermost visor disc 7 
is formed with an arcuate slot 11 which is concentric to the shaft 10 and 
in which a pin 12 of the adjacent upper visor disc engages. The pin of the 
lowermost visor disc 13 engages in a slot 14 in the central carrier 
portion 9 as indicated with the arrow 15. For the actuation of the visor 
discs in the opening direction there is a spiral spring 16 having a pin 17 
at one end which is secured in a bore of the central carrier portion 9 as 
indicated with the arrow 18. The inner end of the spring 16 is secured to 
the central shaft 10. For the actuation of the visor discs the upper end 
of the central shaft 10 is formed with splines 18 which cooperate with 
corresponding rifles 20 of the uppermost visor disc 7. A washer 21 keeps 
the spiral spring 16 in contact with the lowermost visor disc 13. An upper 
carrier ring 22 cooperates with the central shaft 10 to maintain the visor 
discs and the spiral spring locked to the body 2. 
The ash tray body is formed with a sector like recess 23 in which an ash 
container 24 fits. The ash container 24 is removably mounted under the 
visor discs. The container 24 can be removed and emptied and cleaned 
respectively only when the lid is open and the visor discs are moved away 
to the position shown in FIG. 4. 
In this case the fire protecting activity of the ash tray is established by 
a diagrammatically indicated electronic circuit card 25, which is supplied 
with current from a battery 26 which can be put into the ash tray and 
which is connected to a switch 27. The circuit card 25 includes a time 
delay circuit which is known per se and which can be adjusted to a 
suitable time delay that preferably corresponds to slightly more than the 
normal time for smoking a cigarette, for instance a time of 5-8 minutes. 
The circuit card further is connected to a non-illustrated siren which is 
also known per se and which after the lapse of the adjusted time is 
actuated and emits a strong acoustic signal through a sound opening 
28-which is covered when the lid is closed but which is exposed when the 
lid is opened. 
In order to keep the lid in the closed position the uppermost visor disc 7 
has a locking pin 29 which cooperates with an arm 30 mounted in the 
opening button 4 to keep the lid in the closed position. The opening 
button 4 and thereby the locking arm 30 can be actuated by a spring 31 as 
indicated in FIG. 3. 
In the body 2 also a cigarette lighter 32 can be mounted, which lighter is 
adapted to be actuated by a lighter button 5. When the lid is closed the 
cigarette lighter 32 is covered by the visor discs and preferably the 
lighter is thereby inactivated so that it can be lit only when the lid is 
open. Between the starting switch 4 and the intermediate switch 5 there is 
shown an opening in which for instance an indicator lamp 33, e.g. 
indicating the charge status of the battery 26, can be mounted. 
Alternatively an indicator lamp 34 can be mounted at the top of the 
central shaft 10. 
The ash tray according to the invention also can be formed with an adaptor 
35 for mains connection of the circuit card 25 etc. and/or for connection 
of the ash tray to an optical signal means or to a central alarm unit, by 
means of which a large number of ash trays may be supervised, for instance 
in hotels, hospitals or other institutions. 
The ash tray according to the invention operates as follows: Normally the 
lid 3 is closed as shown in FIG. 2, whereby the uppermost visor disc 7 is 
locked in that the locking pin 29 thereof engages behind the locking arm 
30 of the opening switch 4. It should be noted that all visor discs are 
steadily locked in relation to each other by the grooves 11, 14 and the 
pins 12. When the ash tray is to be used the opening button 4 is pressed 
down, whereby the uppermost visor disc 7 is released and rotates in the 
counter-clock-wise direction from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the 
position shown in FIG. 4. The pin 12 of the uppermost visor disc 7 brings 
around the uppermost disc but one, etc., so that when the lid is open all 
visor discs are positioned above each other as one single sector as shown 
in FIG. 4. In this position both the ash container 24 and the sound 
opening 28 and the cigarette lighter 32, which may be present, are 
exposed. 
As soon as the uppermost visor disc 7 starts to move the locking pin 29 
thereof actuates the switch 27 which thereby supplies current to the time 
delay circuit of the electrical circuit card 25. If the lid is not closed 
before the delay time set by the time delay circuit has expired, the 
circuit card supplies current to a siren 36 emitting a strong sound 
through the sound opening 28. The time delay circuit also can be connected 
to an optical signal means so that a flashing or other light appears. As 
mentioned above the time delay circuit also can be connected to a central 
supervising station in which a sound or light signal immediately is 
observed when the ash tray indicates the alarm. 
For disconnecting the time delay circuit when the smoking is stopped the 
lid is closed by grasping the grip 8 and rotating the uppermost and 
thereby all other visor discs back to the closed position as shown in FIG. 
2. When the locking pin 29 of the uppermost visor disc passes the switch 
27 the current is disconnected and the circuit card with the time delay 
circuit is reset to its initial starting position. 
It is to be understood that the above description and the embodiment of the 
invention illustrated in the drawings is only an illustrating example and 
that many different modifications may be presented within the scope of the 
appended claims.