Patent GB-638363-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to pocket lighters
IPC: F23Q2/06
Filed: 1947-02-25
Abstract: 638,363. Igniters. DALLENBACH, W. Feb. 25, 1947, Nos. 5404, 5405 and 5406. Convention dates, Feb. 26, 1946, July 29, 1946 and Feb. 11, 1947. [Class 75 (iii)] A blade spring, inserted between the body of a pocket lighter and the hinged cover, is buckled when the cover is opened or closed. The ends of a steel plate, blade spring 7, Fig. 3, are mounted in notches 36, 37 in the lighter body 1 and the cover 2 respectively, both notches being parallel to the hinge pin 3 rigid with the cover, opening and closing of which results in the notch 37 approaching and then receding from the notch 36 so that the spring 7, which may be corrugated, buckles and then expands again. The flint 20 lies in a channel 19, Fig. 5, on the top of the body 1 so that when the cover 2 is raised the length of the flint is visible through the open top of the channel; to retain the flint 20 in the latter one end is placed under a shoulder at the upper end of the friction wheel 18 and the other end is pressed by the nose 22 of a spring-urged lever 21 rotatably mounted on a pin 24 fixed in the body 1. An upwardly projecting part of the nose 22 enables the user to remove the spring pressure from the flint so that a new one can be inserted. The friction wheel 18, provided with a bore having a left-hand thread, is screwed on to the free end of the spindle of the operating roller 16, which is housed in a recess in the body 1. The body 1 is formed with a cotton-wool compartment 8, Fig. 3, which communicates through an opening 10 with a wick compartment 11, closed by a filling screw 14, the wick 12 being inserted through the opening for the screw 14 and drawn through a conduit 13 into the wick tube 15. An air duct 25 leads from the top of the body 1, near the wick tube 15, to the recess for the operating roller. The cover 2 and body 1 may be either die-cast or hot-pressed, drills and milling cutters being then used to form the various holes and compartments, after which the compartment 8 is permanently closed by a plug 9; the compartments 8, 11 may however be formed during die-casting. To facilitate engagement by the user's finger or thumb the cover 2 projects either beyond the front of the body 1 or beyond the rear according to whether it is opened or closed. The spring-urged snuffer 4 is slidably mounted in a sleeve 6 fitted in the cover 2. In a modification, Figs. 8 and 11, a body part 1<SP>1</SP> of die-cast light metal is fixed inside a drawn casing 26 by a petrol resistant synthetic resin or varnish. A cover part 2, also of die-cast light metal, is similarly fixed inside a drawn lid 27. An extension 28 of the body part 1<SP>1</SP> reaches to the bottom of the casing 26 where it is provided with a foot 54 having a threaded bore for the filling screw 14. A channel 30 for the flint 20 is bent up from sheet material and is provided with a flat, apertured extension 32 placed around the spindle 17 of the roller 16, and retained in position by the friction wheel 18 ; two lugs 31 on the channel are bent over near the wheel 18 to retain the flint. The spring-controlled lever 21 having a pin 33 on its free end which penetrates into the channel, is provided on its upper side with a slot 34, in which a coin can be inserted to move the lever away from the flint, whereupon by turning the roller 16 slightly the channel 30 is swung out and a new flint can be inserted. The lever 21, and its associated parts comprise a removable unit. The wick cap 4 is carried by a blade spring 29 secured between the cover 2 and drawn lid 27. In another modification, Fig. 15, the flint sleeve 44, bent up from sheet material and mounted as in the previous construction, has an opening 47 along one side through which the spring-controlled lever 48 operates on the flint. The end 481 of the lever 48 is bent up to prevent accidental pivoting of the sleeve 44, in which a flint is held frictionally, so that when a new one is inserted the old piece, with its end curved to fit the friction wheel, remains in the sleeve. In the examples of Figs. 3, 5 and 15 the body 1 and cover 2 are preferably produced by machining light metal so that their outer surfaces can be anodised. In the example of Fig. 8 the drawn sleeve 26 and lid 27 may be anodised, but the body 1<SP>1</SP> and cover 2 if diecast, cannot generally be anodised unless the layer of oxide is given a black colouring.