Patent Publication Number: US-11375747-B2

Title: Smoking pipe

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to devices for smokers and methods of use. More particularly, the invention concerns a method and apparatus for smoking tobacco and other materials. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Human use of smoking pipes has been dated back thousands of years. Most pipes comprise a bowl where tobacco or other material is deposited. The bowl is located at one end of a hollow tube, with a mouthpiece located at the other end of the tube. The tobacco or other material is ignited, and the user inhales the smoke emitted by the burning material at the mouthpiece. This basic smoking pipe has many shortcomings, the two primary ones being inhalation of smoke that is “hot” and along with the smoke, embers or ashes from the burning material are also inhaled. 
     Countless modifications have been developed in attempts to decrease the temperature of the smoke, and eliminate embers and ashes from reaching the mouthpiece. Some designs have been more successful than others. However, there still remains a need to overcome these, and other shortcomings in the above-described, existing art. 
     The discussion of the background to the invention included herein is included to explain the context of the invention. This is not to be taken as an admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of the smoking pipe embodying the principals of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an perspective exploded view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective sectional view taken along cutting plane A-A of  FIG. 1 , with a slide element in a deployed position; 
         FIG. 4  is a side elevation sectional view taken along cutting plane A-A of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective bottom view of the upper housing shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the large insert and the small insert shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective top view of the large insert shown in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective bottom view of the large insert shown in  FIG. 6 ; and 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective top view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , with a cigarette inserted in one opening. 
     
    
    
     It will be recognized that some or all of the Figures are schematic representations for purposes of illustration and do not necessarily depict the actual relative sizes or locations of the elements shown. Unless otherwise specifically noted, articles depicted in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. The Figures are provided for the purpose of illustrating one or more embodiments of the invention with the explicit understanding that they will not be used to limit the scope or the meaning of the claims. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the smoking pipe, or apparatus that embodies principals of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the smoking apparatus may be practiced without some of these specific details. Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than as limitations on the smoking apparatus. That is, the following description provides examples, and the accompanying drawings show various examples for the purposes of illustration. However, these examples should not be construed in a limiting sense as they are merely intended to provide examples of the smoking apparatus rather than to provide an exhaustive list of all possible implementations of the smoking apparatus. 
     Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as is commonly understood by one of skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In event the definition in this section is not consistent with definitions elsewhere, the definitions set forth in this section will control. 
     Specific embodiments of the invention will now be further described by the following, non-limiting examples which will serve to illustrate various features. The examples are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the invention may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the invention. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. In addition, reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In this description, the directional prepositions of front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1-9 , the smoking pipe, or apparatus  10  is illustrated. The figures show a preferred embodiment comprising a rectangular aluminum body having an upper housing  12 , a lower housing  14  removably coupled to the upper housing  12  and a large insert  16  removably located between the upper housing  12  and the lower housing  14 . One feature of the present invention is that the upper housing  12  and the lower housing  14  and the large insert  16  are structured to form a serpentine interior channel  18  that allows air introduced to the interior channel  18  to move toward a user, then away from the user, then toward the user again. This is shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
     In a preferred embodiment, the upper housing  12  and lower housing  14  are held together by magnets  20 , shown in  FIG. 2 . The magnets are located on the upper housing  12  and the lower housing  14 . The method of attachment of the parts of the smoking pipe  10  is not critical as long as it can serve the natural need to disassemble the smoking pipe  10  for the occasional cleaning of its internal surfaces. Screws, clamps, complementary magnets, or other means can be used to keep the parts of the smoking pipe  10  together. 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the upper housing  12  has four magnets  20  that are attached by glue, or other means. The lower housing  14  also has four magnets  20  that are also glued or otherwise attached to the lower housing  14 , as shown in  FIG. 2 . As is well known, a magnet attracts itself to the opposite pole of another magnet. For example, a magnet&#39;s south pole will attach itself to the north pole of another magnet. This feature is used to magnetically couple the upper housing  12  to the lower housing  14 . One feature of this novel arrangement is that the smoking pipe  10  can be quickly and easily disassembled to that each part can be cleaned thoroughly. 
     The upper housing  12  features three openings, or apertures. A large opening, or aperture  22  for receiving tobacco, and a small opening, or aperture  24  that can function as a secondary air passage (i.e., a “carb”), or as a holder for a cigarette. The third opening, or mouthpiece aperture  26  functions as the mouthpiece where a user would place their lips. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the lower housing  14  includes the four magnets  20  discussed above that magnetically couple the lower housing  14  to the upper housing  12 . The lower housing also includes a tapered circle  28  that helps negate the need for a metal screen. During use, when tobacco, or other smoking material is placed in the large opening  22 , or bowl, and ignited, tobacco particles are trapped in the large opening as the tapered circle  28  causes airflow to be directed around the entire circumference of the base of the large opening  22 . This is a novel feature of the smoking pipe  10  as conventional pipes pull air from the center of the bowl. This feature of the smoking pipe  10  greatly improves uniformity of tobacco ignition. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 6-8 , the large insert  16  is illustrated. The large insert  16  includes four magnets  20  that have their polarity, or poles arranged so that they repel, rather than attract the magnets in the upper housing  12 . As a result of this magnet polarity arrangement, the large insert  16  is ejected from the upper housing  12  by the repelling force of the magnets  20 . 
     The upper housing  12 , lower housing  14  and the insert  16  form an interior channel  18 , or serpentine pathway shown in  FIGS. 3-4  that channels air passing from the large opening, or bowl  22  to the mouthpiece opening  26 . Specifically, air enters the large opening  22  and proceeds through large insert aperture  28 , shown in  FIG. 8 . The air then proceeds along the small insert upper surface  30 . The small insert  17  is sized so that a gap  32  is formed between a distal end of the small insert  17  and an adjacent portion of the large insert  16 , shown in  FIGS. 3-4 . 
     The air proceeding from the large opening  22 , having passed along the small insert upper surface  30 , reverses direction by passing through the gap  32 , and proceeds between the lower surface of the small insert  17  and the large insert upper surface  34 , shown in  FIGS. 2-4 and 6 . 
     The air, proceeding between the lower surface of the small insert  17  and the large insert upper surface  34  reaches slot  36 , shown in  FIGS. 7-8 . Slot  36  is formed in the large insert  16 , and the air passes through the slot  36  and again reverses direction, now proceeding between the large insert lower surface  38  and the lower housing upper surface  40 . 
     Finally, as shown in  FIGS. 3-4 , the air proceeds between the large insert lower surface  38  and the lower housing upper surface  40 , and exits at the mouthpiece opening  26 . 
     The interior channel  18 , or serpentine flow path described above is a novel feature of the smoking pipe  10 . One advantage of the serpentine flow path is that smoke flowing along the pathway is cooled before it reaches the mouthpiece opening  26 . Smoke travels through three layers of dimples  42  before reaching the mouthpiece opening  26 . In one embodiment, each dimple  42  comprises a segment of a sphere of radii 5/64 inches, with a depth of 1/64 inches. As illustrated, the dimples  42  are located on the upper housing  12  (lower surface), lower housing  14  (upper surface), large insert  16  (both upper and lower surfaces) and small insert  17  (both upper and lower surfaces). 
     The dimples  42  increase the surface area of the interior channel  16  and the interior channel  18 , or serpentine pathway increases the exposure time of the smoke to the dimples  42  for maximum heat exchange, thereby cooling the smoke. The serpentine flow path also eliminates the risk of particles reaching mouthpiece opening  26 , which means in a preferred embodiment, a screen is not required in the large opening, or bowl  22 . However, it will be appreciated that a screen (not shown) may be positioned in the bowl  22 . In one embodiment the bowl  22  may have a volume of 0.1745 cubic inches. 
     The components comprising the smoking pipe  10 , namely the upper housing  12 , lower housing  14  and the insert  16  are “stacked” in a very compact arrangement that maximizes surface area while keeping the smoking pipe  10  small enough to fit in a pocket. For example, in one embodiment, the smoking pipe  10  may have a dimension of 5.75 inches long, 1.5 inches wide and 0.5 inches tall. This allows the smoking pipe  10  to fit in a standard eyewear case. 
     Also, different materials may be employed to maximize the heat exchange properties of the smoking pipe  10 . For example, one embodiment may be constructed of aluminum, but other embodiments may be constructed of brass, bronze, copper, silver, gold, platinum and their alloys having a high thermal conductivity coefficient. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a graphics or art insert  44  is included in the smoking pipe  10 . The graphics insert  44  is removeable when the slide cover  46  is removed. The graphics insert  44  is interchangeable so that a variety of custom graphic options may be displayed through the slide cover large aperture  48 . The graphics insert  44  is held in place by the magnetic field between the slide cover  46  and large insert  16 . 
     The slide cover  46  is comprised of a ferrous material so that it is attracted to an magnetic field. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the magnets  20  in the large insert  16  are positioned in rectangular apertures  50  in the upper housing  12  when the smoking pipe  10  is assembled. The magnets  20  attract the slide cover  46 , which captures the graphics insert  44  and the large insert  16 , thereby keeping the large insert  16  captured in the upper housing  12 . When the lower housing  14  is removed, the large insert  16  will remain captured within the upper housing  12 . To remove the large insert  16 , and small insert  17 , the slide cover  46  is removed. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 2 and 9 , the slide cover  46  includes a slide cover small aperture  52 . The slide cover small aperture  52  can be aligned with the small opening  24  in the upper housing  12 , so that air can be drawn through the small opening  24 . This air would pass through the interior channel  18 , or serpentine pathway of the smoking pipe  10  as described above, and shown in  FIGS. 3-4 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 9 , a cigarette  54  may be inserted through the slide cover small aperture  52  and into small opening  24  so that a user may smoke a cigarette  54  using the smoking pipe  10 . 
     Alternatively, the slide cover small aperture  52  can be used to clear smoke or air from the interior channel  18 , or serpentine pathway. For example, a user would push the slide cover  46  to align the slide cover large aperture  48  with the large opening  22 . Tobacco, or other smoking products in the large opening  22  would be ignited. Smoke may remain in the interior channel  18  after the smoking process. The user would then move the slide cover  46  to align either the slide cover large aperture  48  or the slide cover small aperture  52  with the small opening  24 . The user would then inhale through the mouthpiece opening  26 . The small opening  24  bypasses the large opening  22 , and air flows through the interior channel  18  thereby clearing the smoking pipe  10  of any residual smoke. 
     It is to be noticed that the term “comprising”, used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to the means listed thereafter. Thus, the scope of the expression “a device comprising means A and B” should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B. It means that with respect to the present invention, the only relevant components of the device are A and B. Similarly, it is to be noticed that the term “coupled”, also used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to direct connections only. Thus, the scope of the expression “a device A coupled to a device B” should not be limited to devices or systems wherein an output of device A is directly connected to an input of device B. It means that there exists a path between an output of A and an input of B which may be a path including other devices or means. Finally, the terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise. 
     Thus, it is seen that a smoking apparatus is provided. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced by other than the above-described embodiments, which are presented in this description for purposes of illustration and not of limitation. The specification and drawings are not intended to limit the exclusionary scope of this patent document. It is noted that various equivalents for the particular embodiments discussed in this description may practice the invention as well. That is, while the present invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, permutations and variations will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the appended claims.