Patent GB-676125-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to pyrophoric lighters
IPC: F23Q2/40
Filed: 1950-01-30
Abstract: 676,125. Frictional lighters. BOLLE, L., and NATIONALE SOC. ANON. Jan. 30, 1950 [Feb. 4, 1949], No. 2342/50. Class 75(iii) In a frictional lighter wherein the cover is held closed against spring action by a locking device and is released by movement of the actuating member for the friction wheel, the release of the locking device is effected by an angular displacement (small rotation) of the actuating member acting through a coupling after this has been brought into engagement by a preliminary movement of the actuating member different from a simple rotary movement. An actuating roller 21, Fig. 1, connected by a gear train to a friction wheel mounted on a spindle 17, is fixed to a spindle 22, the ends of which are slidable in inclined slots 23 in the side walls of a support S on the top 2 of the lighter. On pushing the roller 21 inwards the milled surface 29 of the spindle 22, which is normally held at the rear of the slots 23 by a spring 24, frictionally engages the end 28 of a pivoted lever 25, the other end of which rests on a heel 27 of a pivoted latch 12; subsequent anti-clockwise rotation of the roller 21 results in the spindle 22 raising the end 28 of the lever 25, so that the latch 12 is swung back against the action of a spring 13, its hooked end 15 being disengaged from a pin 11 on the pivoted cover 7 which is immediately raised by a spring 10. Opening movement of the cover is limited by a finger 30 carried thereby engaging a projection 31 of the lever 25, swinging of which is stopped when the base of the latch 12 contacts the top 2 of the lighter. In a modification, Fig. 4, the roller 21 and gear train are replaced by an operating lever 33 connected by a link 34 to a member 35, pivoted on the friction wheel spindle 17 and having a one-waydrive connection with the friction wheel. In use, the lever 33 is pressed anticlockwise, bringing the spindle 22 into contact with the lever 25 as before, and is then rotated. The lighter shown in Fig. 6 has the cover released by giving a vertical actuating roller 38 an axial, upward thrust against the action of a spring 54 to bring a washer 50, inserted in the top thereof, into contact with the base 51 of a spring-urged latch 44 pivoted in the cover 46, rotation of the roller then resulting in the hooked lower end of the latch being freed from a pin 49 on the lighter body so that the cover is raised; the friction wheel 16 is secured to a spindle 17 having a part 40 of polygonal cross-section engaging a similarly shaped bore 41 in the roller 38. Swinging of the latch 44 is limited by the engagement of a heel thereto with the underside of the cover. In a further modification, Fig. 7, the latching device is as in the last embodiment but the friction wheel 16 and a vertical actuating roller are secured to a spindle having a milled part 59 displaceable in an oval hole 56 in the top of the lighter. By pressing on the actuating roller the milled part 59 engages a stepped part 58 of a pivoted lever 57, rotation of the roller then resulting in the forward end of the lever releasing the latch 44 from the pin 49. The actuating roller is returned to its initial position by the spring r of the flint p. In a modification of the last embodiment Fig. 9 (not shown), the actuating roller is operatively connected to but axially slidable on the friction wheel spindle, and has an upward projection which normally engages under spring action a recess in the underside of the top of the lighter; the roller must therefore be pushed axially downwards to free said projection before it can be displaced in the oval hole 56.