| Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas ligh -> Monitor Keywords |
|
|
  Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas lighUSPTO Application #: 20080050686Title: Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas ligh Abstract: A child resistant piezoelectric gas lighter includes an intermediate member (40, 60, 70, 80) and a safety button (50) which is operable to set the intermediate member from a disabled condition, wherein the trigger (30) is depressible without actuating the piezoelectric spark generator (20) or, less preferably, thee valve, to an enabled condition wherein the intermediate member transmits the actuating motion from the trigger to the piezoelectric device to generate a spark, and operate the lighter. The intermediate member may be a resilient leaf (40, 60) mounted at a fixed point on the trigger (30) or piezoelectric device (20) or may be a separate element (70) mounted on the lighter body (1) for translational movement and engaging both components. (end of abstract) Agent: K.f. Ross P.C. - Bronx, NY, US Inventor: Carel Sewalt USPTO Applicaton #: 20080050686 - Class: 431255 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080050686. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001]This invention relates to child resistant actuation means for gas lighters with piezoelectric ignition. [0002]Piezoelectric gas lighters consist essentially of a small pressurized fuel gas container or reservoir, a valve which is operable to allow fuel to escape, and a piezoelectric spark generating device for igniting the gas, and benefit from simplicity, reliability and longevity in use. Common types of piezoelectric gas lighters include small cigarette lighters for carrying in the pocket, and utility lighters or gas lighting rods which are typically used for such purposes as igniting burners on gas cookers and lighting barbecues and camp fires. [0003]It is well known that children are liable to play with lighters (whether cigarette lighters or utility lighters),and serious accidents can occur as a result. Lighters must therefore be designed to minimize the chance of a child being able to light them. In other words, they should be child-resistant, though perfect child-proofing is of course impossible. Ideally, an adult should be able to use the lighter easily and a child should find it impossibly difficult to use. But in practice this obviously cannot be achieved, and a lighter is regarded as child-resistant if it provides a balance between these two conflicting requirements which is as good as is reasonably feasible and which fulfils minimum child resistance criteria. [0004]Lighters, both of the cigarette lighter and the utility lighter pattern, are typically subjected to frequent, repeated and often forceful use. They may also be stored in dirty or dusty conditions, such as in a pocket or drawer. It is very important that the components of the lighter on which its child resistancy depends are able to withstand such use and storage without failing in the operative condition. [0005]Furthermore, it is observed that when small children play with a lighter they tend to do so by imitation and more or less random experimentation, rather than by following a sequence of logical steps as an adult might approach a problem solving exercise. It is therefore desirable that a child resistant lighter should present an intellectual barrier to operation by the small child which reduces as far as possible the probability of successful operation as a result of this type of play. [0006]A minimum standard for child resistance has been specified in the USA by means of a functional test by the Consumer Product Safety Commission: 16 CFR Parts 1145 and 1210, Risks of Injury Associated with Lighters That Can Be Operated by Children; Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters; Rules: Federal Register, Monday Jul. 12 1993. The degree to which a lighter is child resistant may be objectively determined by applying the test described in these Rules and Regulations. [0007]A utility lighter incorporating a child resistant safety mechanism is shown in our earlier published PCT patent application, WO 00/08387. In that utility lighter, a control button or trigger is movable generally transversely to the body of the lighter to operate the fuel valve and the piezoelectric device, and a safety button is located roughly opposite the control button. The safety button is coupled to one arm of a cranked lever which is pivoted at the point where the two arms meet; the distal end of the second arm normally engages with the control button to prevent its depression. Depressing the safety button causes that second arm to move out of engagement with the control button, which is thereby released for movement. Thus in order to release fuel and ignite it, both buttons must be operated together, which in practice it is found difficult for small children to achieve. [0008]Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,992 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,772 to Sung disclose utility lighters wherein a resilient leaf is arranged to block depression of the trigger, and a separate safety button on the top of the lighter must be operated in order to open the fuel valve and move the resilient leaf to the non-obstructing position. The safety button may be freely operated, liberating fuel, but the fuel will not be ignited until the trigger is depressed. Once the safety button is held in the operative position, the trigger may be depressed to activate the piezoelectric device and ignite the fuel. [0009]It is possible that, during the working life of a gas lighter, and especially a utility lighter which has larger control elements or buttons, large forces may be applied to its operating mechanisms through careless or excessively vigorous use. Furthermore, some users may deliberately apply excessive force to a lighter in an attempt to defeat its child resistancy so as to make it easier to use. Under these circumstances it is possible that the cranked lever or the resilient leaf of the above mentioned devices may be damaged, impairing the child resistancy of the lighter and leaving it vulnerable to unintended use. [0010]In order to overcome this problem an alternative class of safety mechanism has been proposed, in which the operating button or trigger of the lighter is arranged to be selectively disabled from operating the lighter without its movement being blocked. The adult user must then enable the trigger in addition to depressing it in order to operate the lighter. [0011]U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,763 to Man discloses a utility lighter which exemplifies the latter "enablement" approach. To operate the lighter, the user must enable the trigger by sliding it upwards towards the top of the lighter, so bringing a rearward extension on the trigger into alignment with the fuel release lever. Depression of the trigger will then release fuel and so produce a flame. [0012]Although this lighter will not produce a flame when the trigger is depressed in the disabled condition, it will produce a spark. This is disadvantageous since it may be possible to ignite very flammable materials by means of the spark alone. The production of a spark when the trigger is depressed may also encourage a small child to continue to play with the lighter. [0013]U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,109 to Hirota & Co. Ltd. discloses a cigarette lighter having a disabled condition in which a slider piece on the top of the lighter may be depressed by the user without either producing a spark or releasing fuel. In order to ignite the lighter, the user must first slide the slider piece forwards towards the burner. This aligns a downwardly extending abutment on the slider piece with a corresponding abutment on a latch element which in turn operates the spark generator and the fuel release lever. The slider piece may then be depressed to operate the fuel lever and the spark generator and so produce a flame. [0014]In both of the above mentioned devices the lighter is operated by a single trigger or operating button with two degrees of freedom. This makes it more likely that the child will achieve ignition by playing with the trigger, perhaps by gripping it with both hands while experimenting with all of its possible movements. It has been found in practice to be most desirable to physically separate the safety button and trigger functions so that the user must operate two separate elements in order to achieve ignition. In a utility lighter these are preferably positioned roughly opposite each other on the lighter casing so that an adult may operate them conveniently with the thumb and finger of one hand. Since a child under five years has smaller hands than an adult user it will find it difficult or impossible to reach both buttons simultaneously, and this physical separation of the trigger and safety button has proved in practice to be a significant barrier to successful operation by a child. [0015]U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,877 to Wang et al discloses a utility lighter which prevents spark generation in the disabled condition while achieving the required physical separation of the trigger and the safety button, by providing the trigger with a sliding disabling mechanism. The disabling mechanism has a wedge shaped finger at its lower end, which projects downwards between the trigger and the spark generator, and a rearwardly extending actuator, and is depressible by a separate safety button located on the top of the lighter casing. In the disabled condition the actuator and the finger are misaligned with the fuel lever and the spark generator respectively so that depression of the trigger in this condition is ineffective to operate the lighter. In order to produce a flame, the user must depress the safety button so as to align the actuator with the fuel release lever and at the same time force the wedge shaped finger between a rear surface of the trigger and the spark generator. When the trigger is depressed the actuator then engages the lever and the spark generator is fully compressed by the trigger and the finger so that a spark is produced to ignite the released fuel. [0016]An alternative arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,807 to Hsu, which shows a utility lighter having a pair of sprung rods slidably mounted in a pivotable frame. The frame is pivoted by means of a separate safety lever on the side of the lighter casing to move the rods into alignment respectively with the fuel lever and the spark generator, so that when the trigger is depressed it presses against both of the rods to actuate the fuel lever and the spark generator and so produce a flame. In the disabled condition, the rods are misaligned so that the trigger may be depressed without producing a spark. [0017]It is the aim of the present invention to provide a piezoelectric gas lighter which is convenient in use and provides effective and reliable child resistancy. Preferably the lighter should prevent the production of a spark in the disabled condition. [0018]According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a piezoelectric lighter, including a casing, a reservoir containing fuel, a valve operable by a user for releasing fuel from the reservoir, a piezoelectric device for generating a spark for igniting the fuel, and at least a first control element, wherein the first control element is normally biased to a rest position and is displaceable by the user in at least a first direction to impart an actuating motion to the piezoelectric device; and further including an intermediate member for transferring the actuating motion from the first control element to the piezoelectric device, together with enabling means operable by the user to move the intermediate member in a second direction from a normal, disabled position, wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is not transferred to operate the piezoelectric device, to an enabled position wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is transferred to operate the piezoelectric device; [0019]characterised in that the intermediate member extends from a proximal end to a distal end, the proximal end being located at a fixed point on the first control element so as to be movable together with the first control element in the first direction, the distal end being movable relative to the proximal end in the second direction, and in that the distal end has a first engagement surface and the piezoelectric device includes a second engagement surface, and in use the first engagement surface engages the second engagement surface. [0020]According to a second aspect the invention provides a piezoelectric lighter, including a casing, a reservoir containing fuel, a valve operable by a user for releasing fuel from the reservoir, a piezoelectric device for generating a spark for igniting the fuel, and at least a first control element, wherein the first control element is normally biased to a rest position and is displaceable by the user in at least a first direction to impart an actuating motion to the piezoelectric device; and further including an intermediate member for transferring the actuating motion from the first control element to the piezoelectric device, together with enabling means operable by the user to move the intermediate member in a second direction from a normal, disabled position, wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is not transferred to operate the piezoelectric device, to an enabled position wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is transferred to operate the piezoelectric device; [0021]characterised in that the intermediate member extends from a proximal end to a distal end, the proximal end being located at a fixed point on a part of the piezoelectric device so as to be movable together with the said part of the piezoelectric device in the first direction, the distal end being movable relative to the proximal end in the second direction, and in that the distal end has a first engagement surface and the first control element includes a second engagement surface, and in use the first engagement surface engages the second engagement surface. [0022]According to a third aspect the invention provides a piezoelectric lighter, including a casing, a reservoir containing fuel, a valve operable by a user for releasing fuel from the reservoir, a piezoelectric device for generating a spark for igniting the fuel, and at least a first control element, wherein the first control element is normally biased to a rest position and is displaceable by the user in at least a first direction to impart an actuating motion to the piezoelectric device; and further including an intermediate member for transferring the actuating motion from the first control element to the piezoelectric device, together with enabling means operable by the user to move the intermediate member in a second direction from a normal, disabled position, wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is not transferred to operate the piezoelectric device, to an enabled position wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is transferred to operate the piezoelectric device; [0023]characterised in that the intermediate member is a separate element mounted independently of the first control element and of the piezoelectric device for translational movement in the second direction between the disabled position and the enabled position, the intermediate member having two first engagement surfaces and the first control element and the piezoelectric device having each respectively a second engagement surface, wherein in use, in the enabled position the first engagement surfaces engage each respectively of the second engagement surfaces, and in the disabled position the first engagement surfaces engage neither of the second engagement surfaces. [0024]In a fourth aspect the invention provides a piezoelectric lighter, including a casing, a reservoir containing fuel, at least a first control element, and two operating components operable by a user, the operating components comprising a valve for releasing fuel from the reservoir and a piezoelectric spark generating device for igniting the fuel, wherein the first control element is normally biased to a rest position and is displaceable by the user in at least a first direction to impart an actuating motion to at least one said operating component; and further including engagement means for transferring the actuating motion from the first control element to the said at least one operating component, together with enabling means operable by the user to set the engagement means from a normal, disabled condition, wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is not transferred to operate the said at least one operating component, to an enabled condition wherein on displacement of the first control element in the first direction, the actuating motion is transferred to operate the said at least one operating component; Continue reading... Full patent description for Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas ligh Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas ligh patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas ligh or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Piezoelectric lighter Next Patent Application: Gas burner assembly Industry Class: Combustion ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Child resistant actuation means for piezoelectric gas ligh patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.27795 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Accenture , Agouron Pharmaceuticals , Amgen , AT&T , Bausch & Lomb , Callaway Golf |
||
