Child resistant gas lighter

Abstract

The child resistant gas lighter of the invention has an ignition sleeve having a slit defined therein and an integrated safety cap having a press surface, an opposite slide surface, a direction bar formed on the slide surface which is inserted in the slit and is able to make the safety cap slidable in the slit. In use, a user has to move the safety cap against a bias spring by his thumb until the safety cap is no longer blocked by a top surface of a flame cover and then press down the safety cap. The invention is hard for children to get understand how to ignition thus making it safer for children, and needs a smaller pressing force thus making the gas lighter more adult user friendly without sacrificing child resistance.

Description

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a child resistant gas lighter, and more particularly, to a gas lighter which is more credible in preventing unintentional ignition and more adult user friendly.

2. Description of Related Art

Gas lighter industry has been engaging for developing simple yet credible child resistant devices for preventing gas lighters from unintentional ignition.

Such a lighter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,507, named “Piezoelectric Lighter with Safety Lock” to John Jiin Chung Yang. Yang discloses “ . . . a safety lock comprising an ignition cap having a guiding slot, . . . , and a locking member comprising a locking latch disposed in said ignition cavity and an operation button extended from said locking latch to outside through said guiding slot . . . ”. Yang subject matter has an operation button extending outside through a guiding slot defined in the ignition cap. Yang's slot (411) and operation button (432) make the ignition cap (41) look much different to ignition buttons of such kind of gas lighters, with or without child resistant means, currently available in present market. Such difference may increase a possibility that a child feels interesting and try to find its function.

At the same time, in use of Yang's lighter, an adult has to “ . . . firstly push the safety lock rearwardly and secondly push the ignition button rearwardly and downwardly. However, a child is unable to complete the two movements in one single action so that the safety lock can prevent the piezoelectric lighter from being ignited by the children.” (col. 2, In. 4-6). Yang's ignition cap (41) is reasonably designed for depressed with a thumb of an adult user. For the same materials and same pressure, a larger contacting area brings a larger friction. The operation button (432), an area of which is smaller than that of the ignition cap (41), needing a larger pressing force from the thumb of a user, who may have a very skinny thumb, increases the difficulty of completing ignition from either children or adults.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the invention is to provide a child resistant gas lighter which is hard for children to get understand how to ignition thus making it safer for children.

Another object of the invention is to provide a child resistant gas lighter which needs a smaller pressing force, making the gas lighter more adult user friendly without sacrificing child resistance.

In order to accomplish the aforementioned objects, the present invention provides a child resistant gas lighter having a fuel-storage chamber for containing liquefied gaseous fuel; an upliftable gas release nozzle mounted on the fuel-storage chamber; a piezoelectric unit mounted on the fuel-storage chamber and having a piezoelectric button which when pressed downward, is able to startup the piezoelectric unit to generate sparks for ignition; a pair of pillars securely mounted on the fuel-storage chamber; an ignition trigger having a ignition sleeve slidably mounted on the pair of pillars which when pressed down, slidable with respect to the pair of pillars and when released, resumable to its undepressed position; a lever rotatably mounted on the fuel-storage chamber which when the ignition trigger is pressed down, is able to uplift the gas release nozzle to release the gaseous fuel and at the same time depress the piezoelectric button to startup the piezoelectric unit to generate sparks; a slit defined in the ignition sleeve; a flame cover having a top surface and being installed on the fuel-storage chamber and fixed to the pair of pillars; and, an integrated safety cap having a press surface, an opposite slide surface, a direction bar formed on the slide surface which is inserted in the slit and is able to make the safety cap slidable in the slit, a pair of stoppers formed on the direction bar which is able to prevent falling off of the safety cap with respect to the ignition sleeve when sliding, a pole formed on the direction bar, a bias spring installed on the pole biasing the safety cap with respect to the ignition sleeve, and, a shoulder near the first end of the safety cap.

These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the child resistant gas lighter of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the child resistant gas lighter of the invention shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a safety cap of the invention shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the safety cap of the invention shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a side view of an ignition sleeve of the invention shown in FIG. 1. And,

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of another preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the child resistant lighter of the invention has a fuel-storage chamber 10 for containing liquefied gaseous fuel, an upliftable gas release nozzle 20 mounted on the fuel-storage chamber 10, a piezoelectric unit 30 securely mounted on the fuel-storage chamber 10 and having a piezoelectric button 31 which when pressed downward, is able to startup the piezoelectric unit 30 to generate sparks for ignition, a pair of pillars 11 securely mounted on the fuel-storage chamber 10, an ignition trigger 40 having an ignition sleeve 41 slidably mounted on the pillars 11 which when pressed down, slidable with respect to the pillars 11 and when released, resumable to its undepressed position, a lever 50 rotatably mounted on the fuel-storage chamber 10 which when the ignition trigger module 40 is pressed down, is able to uplift the gas release nozzle 20 to release the gaseous fuel and at the same time depress the piezoelectric button 31 to startup the piezoelectric unit 30 to generate sparks, and, a flame cover 60 having a top surface 61 and being installed on the fuel-storage chamber 10 and fixed to the pair of pillars 11. The gas release nozzle 20 is so positioned that the gaseous fuel being released is easy able to be ignited by the sparks generated from the piezoelectric unit 30.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a slit 411 is defined in the ignition sleeve 41. the slit 411 has an open end 412 and a close end 413. The ignition trigger 40 further has an integrated safety cap 42 having press surface 421 and an opposite slide surface 422. The safety cap 42 has a direction bar 423 formed on the slide surface 422 thereof. The direction bar 423 has a first end 424 close to the gas release nozzle 20 and a second end 425 in opposite. The second end 425 of the direction bar 423 is able to be inserted into the open end 412 of slit 411 thus making the direction bar 423 slidable in the slit 411. A pair of stoppers 426 may be formed on the direction bar 421 near the first end 424 thereof which is able to prevent falling off of the safety cap 42 with respect to the ignition sleeve 41 when sliding. A pole 427 is formed on the direction bar 42 on which a bias spring 428 is installed. The safety cap 42 also has a shoulder 420 near the first end 424 thereof. In assembly, the second end 425 of the direction bar 423 is first inserted into the open end 412 of slit 411. And then the ignition button 41 is inserted into the fuel-storage chamber 10. Then the safety cap 42 is moved by thumb in a direction from the open end 412 of the slit 411 to the close end 413 until the flame cover 60 can be attached to the fuel-storage chamber 10 and the pair of pillars 11. Then the safety cap 42 can be released and it will slide along the slit 411 until the shoulder 420 of the safety cap 42 stops just on the top surface 61 of the flame cover 60.

In use, as with reference back to FIG. 1, an action of pressing the safety cap 42 directly downward cannot ignite the lighter because the shoulder 420 of the safety cap 42 is blocked by the top surface 61 of the flame cover 60. In order to ignite the lighter, a user has to move the safety cap 42 against the bias spring 428 by his thumb and then press down the safety cap 42 when the safety cap 42 is no longer blocked by the top surface 61 of the flame cover 60. After ignition, the user may release the safety cap 42. The ignition button 41 slides back and the safety cap 42 then resumes its original position before moved under a biasing force from the bias spring 428.

The lighter of the invention may have a housing (not shown in the FIGs.) for containing the fuel-storage chamber 10. As shown in FIGs., the press surface 421 of the safety cap 42 may have a raised wale 429 for antislipping when moved by thumb.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the flame cover 60′ has a recess 62′ for receiving the shoulder 420′ of the safety cap 42′, making the top surface 61′ of the flame cover 60′ be at a same level as a top surface of the safety cap 42′.

The embodiments of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.

From above description, it is seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. Embodiment of the invention has been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from the invention's principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A child resistant gas lighter having a fuel-storage chamber for containing liquefied gaseous fuel, an upliftable gas release nozzle mounted on said fuel-storage chamber, a piezoelectric unit mounted on said fuel-storage chamber and having a piezoelectric button which when pressed downward, is able to startup said piezoelectric unit to generate sparks for ignition, a pair of pillars securely mounted on said fuel-storage chamber, an ignition trigger having an ignition sleeve slidably mounted on said pair of pillars which when pressed down, slidable with respect to said pair of pillars and when released, resumable to its undepressed position, a lever rotatably mounted on said fuel-storage chamber which when said ignition trigger is pressed down, is able to uplift said gas release nozzle to release said gaseous fuel and at the same time depress said piezoelectric button to startup said piezoelectric unit to generate sparks, and, a flame cover having a top surface and being installed on said fuel-storage chamber and fixed to said pair of pillars, wherein the improvements comprising: a slit defined in said ignition sleeve;an integrated safety cap having a press surface, an opposite slide surface, a direction bar formed on said slide surface which is inserted in said slit and is able to make said safety cap slidable in said slit, a pair of stoppers formed on said direction bar which is able to prevent falling off of said safety cap with respect to said ignition sleeve when sliding, a pole formed on said direction bar, a bias spring installed on said pole biasing said safety cap with respect to said ignition sleeve, and, a shoulder near said first end of said safety cap.

2. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said child resistant gas lighter has a housing for containing said fuel-storage chamber.

3. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said the press surface of said safety cap has a raised wale for antislipping when moved by thumb.

4. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 2, wherein said press surface of said safety cap has a raised wale for antislipping when moved by thumb.

5. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said flame cover further has a recess for receiving said shoulder of said safety cap, making said top surface of said flame cover be at a same level as a top surface of said safety cap.

6. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 5, wherein said child resistant gas lighter has a housing for containing said fuel-storage chamber.

7. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 5, wherein said the press surface of said safety cap has a raised wale for antislipping when moved by thumb.

8. The child resistant gas lighter as claimed in claim 6, wherein said press surface of said safety cap has a raised wale for antislipping when moved by thumb.