Patent Publication Number: US-6669466-B2

Title: Utility lighter

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This invention claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 60/308,348, filed on Jul. 27, 2001. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a utility lighter. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     There are numerous utility lighters on the market. Utility lighters all have a rod-like top end portion and a main body. The rod-like top end portion has a jetting nozzle for jetting out a fuel to form a flame protruding therefrom. The main body has the following elements: 
     1) a fuel tank, 
     2) a valve mechanism for opening and closing a path, through which the fuel is supplied from the fuel tank to the jetting nozzle, 
     3) a spark generating device which lights the fuel and the spark is generated by a conventional piezo-electric unit or a conventional flint wheel assembly, and 
     4) an operation member which drives the valve mechanism and the spark generating device in order to carry out the lighting operation. 
     Such devices are well known to those skilled in the art. 
     Internationally, there is a drive for such lighters to become child resistant. It is has come to the applicant&#39;s attention that Saito et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,775 and Fremund in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,783, disclose similar child safety devices for lighters. In particular, both patents claim and disclose a safety device having the following generic elements: 
     a) a locking member, which interferes with the operation member and thereby locks the lighting operation of the operation member, the locking member being capable of moving in a direction, that intersects with the direction along which the operation member moves, and 
     b) an urging member which urges the locking member to a locking direction, 
     c) the safety device being provided with an unlocking member, which is capable of being operated in order to move the locking member in a direction, that acts against the urging force of the urging member, the unlocking member being projected to the exterior of the main body on the side opposite to the operation member, 
     wherein when the locking member is released from a position preventing the lighting operation by operating the unlocking member, the lighting operation is carried out by operating the operating section of the operation member, and the locking member automatically returns to the state of the locking as the operation member returns to its original position. 
     The particular locking members and the operating members of Saito et al. and Fremund, however, are not always stable and do not provide the desired child resistant characteristics. 
     For example, Saito et al. disclose a bar-like shaft, which is inserted transversely through the main body, and an engagement section, which is located at one end of said bar-like shaft. The engagement section is designed to be inserted into an engagement groove of the operation member to interfere with the movement of the operation member. It is possible that the engagement section can become permanently positioned in the engagement groove to render the utility lighter useless or the engagement section can become dislodged so the utility lighter has no child resistance at all. 
     In contrast, Fremund discloses “when the lighter is not being used, [a] spring . . . has [a] locking slide . . . pushed to the right overlying [a] spring-loaded latch . . . and [a] lower end . . . of [a] locking rod . . . rests on the right hand end . . . of the locking slide . . . and it cannot be depressed and the lighter cannot be operated. When it is desired to use the lighter, the user pushes on [a] projection . . . on the locking slide . . . and pushes the locking slide to the left to free the latch . . . and actuating locking rod. . . . The latch . . . hits a notch . . . on the inside of the outer wall of the lighter assembly and is in such a position that the slide . . . cannot move to the right. Now the user can operate the activating lever . . . and to light the lighter. When the lever . . . is compressed, the spring latch . . . is pushed down and the locking slide . . . , whose end overlies slightly the spring-loaded latch . . . , is pushed to the right to rest against the locking rod. . . . When the lighter actuating lever . . . returns, it pulls the locking rod . . . upwardly above the locking slide&#39;s right hand end. . . . This allows the locking slide . . . to return, by the force of the spring . . . , to its rightmost position and to lock the locking rod . . . again in the inoperative position.” As disclosed, Fremund&#39;s child resistant system has stability problems because the locking slide is a single rod that can easily break. 
     Thus, there remains a need for a utility lighter which resists unwanted actuation, minimizes wiring, ignites efficiently and reliably, and minimizes the impact of manufacturing variances. The present invention solves these problems. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates an exploded view of the present invention with the housing  12 . 
     FIG. 2 a  illustrates FIG. 1 without the housing  12  and the operation member  27   a.    
     FIG. 2 b  illustrates FIG. 2 b  without the operation member  27   b.    
     FIG. 3 illustrates a valve mechanism in the open position. 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the valve mechanism in the closed position. 
     FIG. 5 a  illustrates the spark generating device  24  in its relaxed state. 
     FIG. 5 b  illustrates the spark generating device  24  in its potential energy state with a spark  25  at the spark gap. 
     FIG. 6 is a side view of the safety unit and the operation member, without the interior housing. 
     FIG. 7 is the bottom side of the operation member. 
     FIG. 8 is the bottom side of FIG. 2 b  without the tank. 
     FIG. 9 is side operational view of the safety unit and the operation member in their relaxed states. 
     FIG. 10 illustrates a side operation view of the safety unit in its potential energy state and the operational member in its relaxed state. 
     FIG. 11 is a top view of an adjustment knob. 
    
    
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a utility lighter having a housing, a nozzle, a lighter fluid reservoir, a conduit, an igniter assembly, a valve actuator, and a locking device. The housing has a top side, a bottom side, sides, a distal end, and a proximal end. The nozzle extends away from the distal end and has a nozzle tip. The lighter fluid reservoir is in the distal end. The conduit delivers the lighter fluid from the reservoir through the conduit to the nozzle tip. The igniter assembly generates a spark at a spark gap near the nozzle tip to ignite the lighter fluid, and has a conventional piezoelectric component. The valve actuator is associated with the lighter fluid for selectively releasing the lighter fluid from the reservoir, and the igniter assembly. A compressor is connected to the valve actuator and when the valve actuator moves toward the nozzle tip, the valve actuator releases the lighter fuel and then sequentially activates the igniter assembly by having the compressor compress the piezoelectric component. The locking device diminishes the undesirable movement of the valve actuator. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a utility lighter  10 , as illustrated in FIG.  1 . In FIG. 1, the utility lighter  10  illustrates an exterior housing  12  and an end cap  13  which define a main body  15 , and a nozzle  14 . The main body  15  contains many of the components that allow the utility lighter  10  to generate a flame at the terminal end  38  of the nozzle  14 . These main components are 
     1) a fuel tank  20  as shown in FIGS. 2 a  and  b,    
     2) a valve mechanism  22  for opening (as shown in FIG. 3) and closing (see FIG. 4) a conduit  23 , through which the fuel is supplied from the fuel tank  20  to the terminal end  38 , 
     3) a spark generating device  24  which lights the fuel from the conduit  23  at the terminal end  38  and as shown in FIG. 5 a  a spark  25  is generated when a resilient extension member  26  is compressed, as shown in relation between FIGS. 5 a  and  5   b , wherein the device  24  is a conventional piezo-electric unit assembly, 
     4) an operation member  27  which drives the valve mechanism  22  and the spark generating device  24  in order to carry out the lighting operation, and 
     5) an internal housing  28  that holds all the main components in the proper position. 
     The operation member  27  is divided into two components, a finger member  27   a  and an internal member  27   b . The finger member  27   a  is designed to allow a user&#39;s fingers (or thumb) to easily slide the operation member  27  toward the terminal end  38 . The finger member  27   a  protrudes from an operation aperture  39  of the housing  12 . 
     The internal member  27   b  has a plurality of apertures  40 . The apertures  40  receive corresponding prongs  41  which extend from the finger member  27   a . That way, the finger member  27   a  is securely attached to the internal member  27   b . The internal member  27   b  remains within the housing  12  but a portion of the internal member  27   b  can be exposed through the operation aperture  39 . 
     On the opposite side of the internal member  27   b  that has the finger member  27   a  (as shown in FIG.  6 ), are a valve latch  50 , a driving head  51 , and at least one interference member  52 , as shown in FIG.  7 . The valve latch  50  is designed to be positioned to drive a latch  53  of the valve mechanism  22  toward the terminal end  38  when the operation member  27  is moved forward. By moving the latch  53  forward, as shown in FIG. 3, the fuel from the fuel tank  20  is released into the conduit  23 . 
     The latch  53  is attached to a compression conduit  54  that when the latch  53  not moved forward, as shown in FIG. 4, the compression conduit  54  does not allow the fuel to be released from the tank  20  into the conduit  23 . And when the latch  53  is moved forward as shown in FIG. 3 the compression conduit  54  allows the fuel to be released from the tank  20  into the conduit. The latch  53 , however, is not moved forward until the operation member  27  is moved forward. 
     The operation member  27  cannot move forward until the safety unit  60  is moved into the housing  12  a predetermined distance. The safety unit  60  is divided into an external cap  61  and a resilient interference protrusion unit  62 . The external cap  61  protrudes from the housing  12  through a safety aperture  63 , which is on the opposite side of the operation aperture  39  and when a user examines just the housing  12  through the operation aperture, the user will see a portion (the portion facing away from the terminal end  38 ) of the safety aperture  63 . 
     The protrusion unit  62  is larger (a shoulder) than the safety aperture  63  (that way it will not be displaced from the lighter  10 ), and has at least one resilient member  163  that forces the unit toward the safety aperture  63 , and at least one “L” shaped protrusion  64 , wherein the L faces away from the terminal end  38 . The L shaped protrusion  64  is divided into a vertical extension  64   a  and a horizontal extension  64   b.    
     The unit  62  is positioned to contact the internal housing  28 , opposite the operation member  27 , within a safety receiver  65 , as shown in FIG.  8 . The safety receiver  65  has at least one protrusion aperture  66 , at least one protrusion  67  which receives the resilient member  163 , and a boundary wall  68  that contains the safety unit  60  within the lighter  10 . That way, the unit  62  in the relaxed mode is pushed toward the safety aperture  63 . 
     When the unit  62  is in the relaxed mode, the protrusion  64  member is positioned within a corresponding protrusion aperture  66 . In particular, the horizontal extension  64   b  protrudes just beyond the protrusion aperture  66  as shown in FIG.  9 . In that position, horizontal extension  64   b  interferes with the movement of the operation member  27 . In particular, the operation member  27  has a corresponding “L” shape unit  52  having a vertical member  52   a  that protrudes toward the interior housing  28  and a horizontal member  52   b . The horizontal member  52   b  and horizontal extension  64   b  are designed to contact each other when the unit  62  is in the relaxed state, as shown in FIG.  9 . By contacting each other, the operation member  27  is unable to move forward and thereby the user is unable to operate the lighter  10 . 
     When the user depresses the unit  62  into the housing  12 , the protrusion  64  is moved further into the housing  12 . That means the horizontal extension  64   b  is positioned above the upper surface  70  of the horizontal member  52   b , as shown in FIG.  10 . Once the unit  62  is in this potential energy position, the user can now freely move the operation member  27  forward toward the terminal end  38  because the horizontal extension  64   b  and the horizontal member  52   b  will not contact each other. 
     Once the operation member  27  is moved forward toward the terminal end  38 , the operation member  27  drives the valve mechanism  22  and the spark generating device  24  in order to carry out the lighting operation. How the operation member  27  drives the valve mechanism  22  is set forth above. 
     The operation member  27  drives the spark generating device  24  through the driving head  51 . The driving head  51  is moved forward and contacts the spark generating device  24 . Device  24  is a conventional piezoelectric lighter unit that amplifies the contact force of the driving head  24  through the resilient extension member  26  to generate the standard electrical impulse from the piezoelectric unit for generating the spark near the terminal end  38 . 
     The electrical impulse is transmitted through a wire  80  and the spark  25  is generated when the electrical signal has to jump (spark gap) to corresponding electrical contact  80   b . When the spark  25  is generated, the fuel from the tank  20  was released into the conduit  23  that directs the fuel to a metallic conduit  95  that simultaneously transmits the fuel and is the receiving contact  80   b  of the spark  25 . That way, the fuel is lit, and the lighter  10  has generated its desired flame with a quality safety system. 
     Once the user wants to terminate the flame, the user merely releases the operation member  27 . The operation member  27  through the resilient extension member  26  will return the operation member to the relaxed state illustrated in FIG.  9 . Also, the user can release the safety unit  60 , which will also return to the relaxed state, illustrated in FIG. 9, in response to the resilient member  163 . 
     In addition, the tank  20  has a conventional refilling port and flame adjuster control unit  90 . The unit  90  protrudes from the tank  20  as illustrated in FIGS. 2 a  and  b , and through the end cap  13 . To allow the user to adjust the unit  90 , the end cap  13  has an adjustment knob  91 . The knob  91 , as shown in FIG. 11, has an aperture  92  that allows a user to refill the tank  20 , through conventional methods. 
     In addition, the housing  12  has a tank aperture, not shown, that allows a user to see how much fuel is in the tank  20 . 
     Although variations in the embodiment of the present invention may not each realize all the advantages of the invention, certain features may become more important than others in various applications of the device. The invention, accordingly, should be understood to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.