IMPROVEMENTS IN CIGAR LIGHTERS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CIGAR LIGHTERS." A communication from abroad by Otis Wallace Boyden,
of Newark, and Edwin Charles Burt, of Orange, both in the County of Essex,
and State of New Jersey, and Frank Benjamin Burt, of the City, County, and
State of New York, both in the United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st May 1876.
ALEXANDER MELville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CIGAR LIGHTERS." A communication from
abroad by Otis Wallace Boyden, of Newark, and Edwin Charles Burt, of Orange,
both in the County of Essex, and State of New Jersey, and Frank Benjamin Burt,
of the City, County, and State of New York, both in the United States of
America.
This Invention relates to an improved cigar lighter for pocket use that explodes
by the opening of the lid a fulminate pellet, and sets fire to a sliding tinder
extinguishing the tinder by the closing of the lid.
The Invention consists of a fulminating tape that is fed forward along an anvil
by suitable mechanism, and ignited by a spring hammer operated by the opening
of the lid, so as to set fire to a strain of tinder by which the cigar is lighted.
In the accompanying Drawing Figures 1 and 2 are side views of the improved
cigar lighter showing the same in open and closed positions; and Figure 3 is a
horizontal section of the same on line x, x, Figure 2.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
A represents a case of suitable material and of flat shape to be conveniently
carried in the pocket, being opened by a lid B. The case or box A contains a
strain C of prepared tinder that readily takes fire and serves to light the cigar in
the customary manner. The tinder is fed forward by means of a sliding sleeve f
and spring tooth f¹ entering through a slot of the sleeve, or by means of a spur
wheel or other device that moves the tinder forward to the exact position required
at the anvil; it is guided along a longitudinally arranged anvil D which is slotted
near the ends and provided with a sharp edge for the purpose of admitting the
Paino 1.71

page_text: passage of the sparks produced by the explosion of the fulminate pellets on to the
tinder, and for cutting off the spent part of the fulminating tape E. The
fulminating tape E is made in the usual manner of a narrow strip of paper with pellets
of a fulminating compound arranged at equal distances thereon; it is guided in
suitable manner to the anvil, and fed along the same to the upper end by means of
a spring acted pusher F that takes hold of one of the pellets, and moves the same
forward by suitable lever mechanism connected to the lid B. The lid B operates
at the same time by a pivot link or rod a attached to the lid by suitable lever
mechanism, a swinging hammer G that is raised jointly with the opening of the
lid, and released by the contact of the operating catch b with a fixed stop d, so that
the hammer may be thrown by its strong spring G¹ with considerable force against
the end of the anvil, exploding the pellet fed by the pusher and forcing the sparks
through the slots on the tinder so as to ignite the same and admit the lighting of
the cigar. The end of the spring hammer F has a sharp cutting blade e that passes
along the sharp edge of the anvil, and cuts off the spent portion of the tape.
The closing of the lid produces the backward notion of the pusher and the
extinguishing of the burning tinder. The opening of the lid explodes the pellet
and ignites again the tinder and furnishes thereby in a positive, reliable, and
convenient manner, a means for lighting cigars, pipes, etc., at any moment and in
any draft, forming thus a useful and at the same time perfectly safe and dangerless
cigar lighting device for the travelling and smoking public.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is,―
1st. A cigar lighter composed of a case or box with hinged lid, a spring hammer!
and pusher operated thereby, and of an anvil, fulminating tape, and tinder, to
produce by the opening of the lid, the explosion of a fulminating pellet, and the
ignition of the tinder, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2nd. The combination of the lid of a cigar lighting device, with the swinging
spring hammer and pusher and suitable lever, and release mechanism to produce the
forward feeding of the tape simultaneously with the raising and dropping of the
hammer, substantially as described.
3rd. The anvil provided with a slotted end to admit passage of sparks to tinder,
substantially as specified.
4th. The combination of the spring hammer having cutting blade with the shaip
end of anvil to cut off the spent portion of tape at each explosion of a pellet, sub-
stantially as described.
5th. The combination of the sliding tinder, carrying sleeve, with a spring tooth
of the case, entering sleeve to feed tinder to anvil, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
A M CLARK 1101