Ignition system for oil burner

An ignition system for oil burner capable of positively accomplishing ignition without operating a combustion cylinder construction and keeping ignition performance for a long period of time. The ignition system is constructed in a manner such that an ignition heater is operated at a level below the combustion cylinder construction and a closing door is actuated in synchronism with the ignition heater so that an ignition window may be opened only when the ignition heater is approached to a wick for ignition.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an ignition system for an oil burner, and more 
particularly to such an ignition system which is adapted to carry out 
ignition without operating a combustion cylinder construction. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
A conventional ignition device for carrying out ignition without operating 
a combustion cylinder is constructed to accomplish ignition by means of an 
ignition wick. However, such construction needs maintenance of the 
ignition wick and readily ruins ignition performance of an oil burner due 
to deterioration of the ignition wick. In order to avoid such a 
disadvantage, an ignition device has been proposed which is adapted to 
directly ignite a combustion wick. Such an ignition device is disclosed in 
each of Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 13226/1979 and Japanese 
Utility Model Publication No. 26901/1979. 
An ignition device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 
13226/1979 is provided with an ignition window at an upper portion of an 
outer cylinder of a wick receiving construction of an oil burner. 
Unfortunately, the ignition device is not adapted to tightly close the 
ignition window by means of any cover means, accordingly, an ignition 
heater must be fixed to cover the ignition window. Such construction of 
the ignition device causes air necessary for ignition to be supplied 
through only a gap formed above a filament of the ignition heater. This 
fails to supply a sufficient amount of air, resulting in deterioration of 
ignition performance. 
An ignition device disclosed in Japanese utility Model Publication No. 
26901/1979 is so constructed that a rising wall is arranged above an outer 
cylinder of a wick receiving construction at a long distance from a 
combustion wick and formed with an ignition window through which an 
ignition heater is approached to the wick and which is adapted to be 
closed by a shutter. The ignition device permits air sufficient for 
ensuring satisfactory ignition performance to be supplied to the wick. 
However, it has an important disadvantage of causing an overall height of 
an oil burner to be significantly increased due to arrangement of the 
rising wall above the outer cylinder, to thereby fail to render the oil 
burner small-sized. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an 
ignition system for an oil burner which is capable of allowing ignition to 
be positively carried out in a simple manner without operating a 
combustion cylinder construction. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ignition system 
for an oil burner which is capable of carrying out ignition at a position 
below a combustion cylinder construction to prevent an overall height of 
the oil burner from being increased. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ignition 
system for an oil bunrer which is capable of effectively keeping 
satisfactory ignition performance for a long period of time. 
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an ignition 
system for an oil burner which is capable of providing the oil burner with 
a space sufficient to arrange various mechanisms therein. 
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an ignition 
window construction for an oil burner which is capable of allowing 
ignition to be carried out without operating a combustion cylinder 
construction. 
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an 
ignition window construction for an oil burner which is capable of tightly 
closing an ignition window except at the time of ignition. 
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an ignition 
window construction for an oil burber which is capable of significantly 
improving ignition performance of the oil burner. 
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an ignition 
system for an oil burner which includes a wick arranged between outer and 
inner cylinders of a wick receiving construction and raised at an upper 
end portion thereof to a lower section of a combustion cylinder 
construction placed on the wick receiving construction. 
The ignition system includes an ignition window provided at an upper region 
of the outer cylinder of the wick receiving construction. The ignition 
window is tightly closed by a closing door which is movably arranged 
opposite to the ignition window to operate it. The ignition system also 
includes a door actuating means for actuating the closing door to operate 
the ignition window and an actuation arm arranged so as to be pivotally 
movable and having an ignition heater mounted thereon so as to be 
approachable to the ignition window. The door actuation means are 
operatively connected to the actuation arm to actuate the closing door in 
synchronism with the actuation arm, to thereby open the ignition window 
when the ignition heater is approached to the ignition window. Pivotal 
movement of the actuation arm is regulated within a predetermined range by 
means of an actuation regulator to appropriately approach the ignition 
heater to the wick. 
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided an 
ignition window construction for an oil burner which includes a wick 
arranged between outer and inner cylinders of a wick receiving 
construction and raised at an upper end portion thereof to a lower portion 
of a combustion cylinder construction placed on the wick receiving 
construction. The ignition window construction includes an ignition window 
which is provided at an upper region of the outer cylinder of the wick 
receiving construction and tightly closed by a closing door. The closing 
door is movably arranged opposite to the ignition window to operate it. 
The ignition window construction also includes a door actuating means for 
actuating the closing door to operate the ignition window. The door 
actuating means actuates the closing door in synchronism with an ignition 
heater construction so as to open the ignition window when an ignition 
heater of the ignition heater construction is approached to the ignition 
window. Also, the door actuating means forces the closing door against the 
ignition window to tightly close the window.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Now, an ignition device for an oil burner according to the present 
invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying 
drawings. 
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an oil burner in which an ignition device 
according to the present invention is adapted to be incorporated. The oil 
burner generally designated by reference numeral 10 is in the form of a 
red-heated oil-fired space heater, however, it should be noted that an oil 
burner in which an ignition device of the present invention is to be 
employed is not limited to such a red-heated space heater. 
Prior to describing an ignition device of the present invention, the oil 
burner illustrated in FIG. 1 will be briefly described. 
The oil burner per se is constructed in a manner widely known in the art. 
The oil burner 10 includes an oil reservoir 12 for storing therein fuel 
oil such as kerosene, a wick receiving construction 14 positioned on the 
oil reservoir 12 and a combustion cylinder construction 16 arranged on the 
wick receiving construction 14. On the oil reservoir 12 is invertedly 
supported an oil tank (not shown) in a manner to be communicated with the 
oil reservoir to supply fuel oil therefrom to the reservoir 12. 
The combustion cylinder construction 16 includes a double combustion 
cylinder 18 comprising an inner cylindrical member 20 and an outer 
cylindrical member 22 which are arranged to define a space 24 therein. The 
inner and outer cylindrical members 20 and 22 each are provided with a 
plurality of through-holes and red-heated during combustion operation of 
the oil burner. The combustion cylinder construction also includes a 
heat-permeable cylinder 26 which is arranged so as to be spaced from the 
outer cylindrical member 22 and serves to discharge heat rays emitted from 
the red-heated double combustion cylinder 18 therethrough to an exterior 
of the oil burner. 
The wick receiving construction 14 includes an inner cylinder 28 and an 
outer cylinder 30 which are substantially concentrically arranged to 
define an space or chamber 32 (FIG. 2) for movably receiving a wick 34 
therein. The wick receiving chamber 32 is formed so as to be communicated 
to the space 24 between the inner cylindrical member 20 and the outer 
cylindrical member 22 and the oil reservoir 12. When combustion is to be 
carried out, the wick 34 is raised at an upper end thereof to a lower end 
portion of the space 24 by means of a wick actuating mechanism which is 
generally indicated at reference numeral 36 in FIG. 1 and operated by a 
knob 37. The wick actuating mechanism 36 may be constructed in a manner 
widely known in the art. The wick 4 is constantly immersed at a lower 
portion thereof in fuel oil stored in the oil reservoir 12. The inner 
cylinder 28 is inwardly enlarged at an upper end to form a flange 38 on 
which the inner cylindrical member 20 of the double combustion cylinder 18 
is supported. Likewise the outer cylinder 30 is formed at an upper end 
thereof with an outward flange 40 on which the outer cylindrical member 22 
is supported. 
An ignition device of the illustrated embodiment is arranged adjacent to an 
upper portion of the wick receiving chamber as generally indicated by 
reference numeral 50 in FIG. 2. The ignition system 50 of the illustrated 
embodiment is adapted to operate an ignition window by means of a closing 
door. More particularly, the ignition system 50 includes an ignition 
window construction generally designated by reference numeral 51 in FIGS. 
1 to 4. The ignition window construction 51 includes an ignition window 52 
formed at the outer cylinder 30 of the wick receiving chamber 32. The 
ignition window 52 is arranged at a position which allows an ignition 
heater 54 actuated in a manner described hereinafter to be approached to 
an upper end portion of the wick 34. In the illustrated embodiment, the 
ignition window 52 is formed at an upper section of the outer cylinder 30 
extending from an upper portion of a cylindrical section of the outer 
cylinder 30 to the flange section 40 of the cylinder 30. Such arrangement 
allows the upward flow of air through the flange section 40 to be 
immediately formed, so that a flame formed by ignition may rise while 
being carried on the upward air flow to significantly improve ignition 
performance of the oil burner. 
The ignition window construction 51 also includes a closing door 55 which 
is actuated by means of a door actuating means or door actuator 56 to 
openably operate the ignition window 54. The door actuator 56 includes an 
actuator body 58 which, in the illustrated embodiment, is formed into an 
elongated plate-like shape, as shown in FIG. 3. The closing door 55 is 
movably mounted on the door actuator 56. In the illustrated embodiment, 
the door 55 is movably fitted at a base section thereof on one end portion 
of the actuator body so as to be movable in a direction substantially 
perpendicular to the body 58. The actuator body 58 is provided with a 
projection 60 extending toward a door body of the closing door 55. In the 
embodiment, the projection 60 is formed into a rod-like shape and arranged 
so as to obliquely upwardly extend toward the door body of the door 55, as 
shown in FIG. 4. On the rod-like projection 60 is loosely fitted a coiled 
spring 62 in a manner to be interposed between the projection 60 and the 
door body of the closing door 55. The spring 62 is supported at one end 
thereof on a base of the projection 60 and abutted at the other end 
thereof against the door body of the closing door 55 to constantly force 
the closing door in an obliquely upward direction. This results in the 
closing door 55 being pressed against the upper section of the outer 
cylinder 30, and more particularly, in the illustrated embodiment, the 
upper portion of the cylindrical section of the cylinder 30 and the flange 
section 40, so that the closing door may tightly close the ignition window 
52. 
The ignition system of the illustrated embodiment further includes an 
ignition heater construction which is provided with the above-described 
ignition heater 54. The ignition heater construction, as shown in FIG. 3, 
includes an actuation arm 64 pivotally mounted on a support member 66 of 
the oil burner through a pivot pin 68. The above-described ignition heater 
54 is mounted on a distal end of the actuation arm 64, so that it may be 
approached to the wick 34 depending upon pivotal movement of the actuation 
arm 64. The actuation arm 64 is operatively connected to the door 
actuating means 56 of the ignition window construction 51 through a 
connection means 70, so that the door actuating means 56 and closing door 
55 may be separated from the ignition window 52 depending upon pivotal 
movement of the actuation arm 64 as described hereinafter. In the 
illustrated embodiment, the connection means 70 is formed into a 
plate-like shape and integral with the actuation arm 64. The support 
member 66 of the oil burner is provided with a guide means or guide pin 72 
and correspondingly the door actuating means is provided at the actuator 
body with an elongated guide groove 74 which is formed to extend in a 
longitudinal direction of the actuator body 58 and loosely fitted on the 
guide pin 72, so that the door actuating means 56 may be linearly 
reciprocated along the guide pin 72 depending upon pivotal movement of the 
actuation arm 64. 
The actuation arm 64 is pivotally moved by means of an operation means 76 
such as a lever and pivotal movement of the actuation arm 64 is controlled 
by an actuation regulator 78. The regulator 78 may be provided at the 
actuation arm 64 or a portion of the oil burner positionally corresponding 
to the actuation arm 64. In the illustrated embodiment, the actuation 
regulator 78 is in the form of a projection and provided at the oil burner 
and more particularly at the support member 66 of the oil burner, so that 
the actuation arm 64 may be selectively abutted against the regulator 78, 
resulting in the pivotal movement being regulated within a predetermined 
range. Alternatively, a combination of the guide pin 72 and guide groove 
74 may be used as the regulator. This eliminates the provision of an 
independent regulator such as the regulator 78 as shown in FIG. 3. More 
particularly, the illustrated embodiment may be so constructed that the 
pivotal movement of the actuation arm 64 about the pivot pin 68 is stopped 
when any end of the guide groove 74 is abutted against the guide pin 72 as 
shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Accordingly, the action of the combination as the 
regulator is accomplished by merely appropriately determining a length of 
the guide groove 74. 
In the illustrated embodiment, at least a part of the operation means 76 
may comprise an elastic member such as a leaf spring. Such construction 
effectively prevents the regulator 78 from being deformed even when the 
operation lever 76 is operated with excessive power. 
Now, the manner of operation of the illustrated embodiment described above 
will be described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. 
First, the wick 34 received in the wick receiving chamber 32 is raised at a 
tip end thereof to the lower portion of the space 24 between the inner 
cylindrical member 20 and the outer cylindrical member 22 by means of the 
knob 37 and wick actuating mechanism 36. Then, the actuation arm 64 is 
pivotally moved toward the outer cylinder 30 of the wick receiving 
construction 14 through the operation means 76 as indicated at an arrow in 
FIG. 3. This causes the connection means 70 to move the door actuating 
means 56 in a direction indicated at an arrow in FIG. 3, so that the 
closing door 55 may be separated from the ignition window 52 to open it. 
Then, the actuation arm 64 is further moved in the same direction to 
approach the ignition heater 54 to the wick 34 through the opened window 
52, resulting in the wick 34 being ignited. 
The positional relationship between the ignition heater 54 and the wick 34 
substantially affects ignition performance of the oil burner. More 
particularly, not only excessive approach of the ignition heater to the 
wick but excessive separation of the former from the latter renders the 
ignition difficult. In order to avoid such a problem, the ignition system 
of the illustrated embodiment is provided with the regulator 78 which 
serves to keep the positional relationship constant to ensure the positive 
ignition. 
When the actuation arm 64 is returned to its original position after the 
ignition, the ignition heater 54 is retracted from the wick and the door 
actuating means 56 is moved to cause the closing door 55 to tightly close 
the ignition window 52. Thus, combustion starts in the combustion cylinder 
construction 16. The combustion renders the double combustion cylinder 18 
red-heated to a degree sufficient to emit heat rays therefrom, which are 
then discharged through the heat-permeable cylinder 26. 
FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of an ignition system according to 
the present invention. The embodiment of FIG. 7 is so constructed that an 
actuation regulator 78 is provided at a tip end of an actuation arm 64 in 
a manner to be adjacent to an ignition heater 54. Such construction causes 
the regulator 78 to be abutted against an outer cylinder of a wick 
receiving construction when an actuation arm 64 is pivotally actuated to 
move an ignition heater 54 toward a wick 34, resulting in the movement of 
the actuation arm 64 being appropriately regulated. In the embodiment, an 
operation means 76 is manually operated by means of a push button 80. 
Alternatively, it may be operated using any other suitable means such as a 
cam or the like. The remaining of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 may be 
constructed in substantially the same manner as the embodiment described 
above. 
As can be seen from the foregoing, the ignition window construction 
employed in the ignition system allows the ignition operation to be 
readily accomplished without moving or operating the combustion cylinder 
construction. Also, in the ignition window construction, the spring 
constantly forces the closing door in the obliquely upward direction so 
that the door may tightly close the window. Also, the formation of the 
ignition window at the upper section of the outer cylinder extending from 
the upper portion of the cylindrical section to the flange section results 
in the upward flow of air through the flange section. This causes a flame 
to immediately rise even when the ignition heater carries out ignition on 
a side portion of the wick, to thereby significantly improve ignition 
performance of the oil burner. 
Also, the ignition system of the present invention is adapted to carry out 
ignition at a position below the combustion cylinder construction, to 
thereby prevent the overall height of the oil burner from being increased. 
Further, in the ignition system, the ignition heater, actuation arm, 
connection means and door actuating means may be arranged at substantially 
the same level, resulting in the oil burner being provided with a space 
sufficient to arrange a wick actuating mechanism, an automatic 
fire-extinguishing device and the like therein. 
While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described with a 
certain degree of particularity with reference to the drawings, obvious 
modifications and variations are possible in the light of the above 
teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the 
appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as 
specifically described.