Patent GB-497842-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to devices for containing and dispensing cigarettes
IPC: A24F15/10
Filed: 1937-06-24
Abstract: 497,842. Cigarette containers and lighters. COPELAND, F. C. June 24, 1937, No. 17627. [Class 18] [Also in Group XI] A cigarette dispenser combined with a lighter comprises an outer container 96, Fig. 7, and an inner fixed cigarette container with which coacts a trough 84 pivoted to the middle of a V-shaped yoke 79 which is oscillated about its pivot 30 by engagement of a pin 44 carried by the hinged lid of container 96 with a cam slot 81, the trough being tilted at the end of its movement by engagement of a projection 88, Fig. 10, with an abutment 56, Fig. 19, on a plate 12 secured to the outer wall of the cigarette container, this tilting movement also causing a pusher 57 to gravitate against the end of the cigarette container in the trough. The yoke 79 also carries a pin 106 which engages a recess 49, Fig. 18, in a plate 48 pivoted at 51 to the cigarette container, so that plate 48 is oscillated to actuate agitators 19, 20 and to actuate a pivoted apron 17, Fig. 7, by engagement of a projection with a cam slot 50 to prevent egress of cigarettes when the trough is in raised position. Lighter. A fiange 53 carries a resistance wire ignition element 77, Fig. 4, energized from leads carried through an opening 100 through a switching mechanism 65, of the leaf spring type, comprising four leaves 66-69 carried on a plate 64 riveted to a flange 63 on a bracket 60 pivoted at 59 to plate 12 and carrying a tongue 61 with a cam slot 62 engaged by a pin 25 on a hinged lid 22 of the cigarette container so that tongue 61 is raised when the lid is raised. Bracket 60 also carries pivotally a switch operating arm 73, having an insulating button 75 and a tail 76 against which the pin 44 is adapted to bear. When lid 22 is opened for replenishing the cigarettes, the upper edge of arm 73 engages the top edge of the cigarette container, as in Fig. 9, and causes button 75 to open the switch between plates 68, 69 and cut off the current. When the main lid is lifted for delivering a cigarette, pin 44 rises and permits the contacts between plates 68, 69 to be closed. The electrical connections may be as in Figs. 21-23. In Fig. 21, one lead-in wire 89 connects to leaf spring 69, and a wire 90 connects leaf 68 to leaf 66, while a wire 92 leads from leaf 67 to the ignition element 77 whence a wire 92 connects with the other lead-in wire 93. A shunt circuit between lead 93 and leaf 66 includes a heating element 71. Leaves 66, 67 are bimetallic so that they bend when heated to provide a thermostatic control. Condensers 94 prevent sparking. If, after lighting a cigarette, the lid is not closed, heater 71, which is adjustable by a screw 72, will cause the warping of bimetallic leaf 66 which frees it from contact with leaf 67, and breaks the ignition element circuit, heater 71 remaining energized till the lid is closed. If cigarettes are dispensed in rapid succession, the container remains heated so that leaf 66 does not resume its normal position, but since leaf 67 is also bimetallic it assumes a position such that contact 66-67 can be re-established before the leaves 66, 67 cool to normal. In the circuit of Fig. 22, the current through the ignition element is re-established every time leaf 66 cools sufficiently to re-establish the contact 66-67, until the lid is closed. In the circuit of Fig. 23, the igniter is energized so long as the lid is open.