Patent Application
20220354179
This application claims the benefit of Indonesian patent number S00201908739 filed Oct. 3, 2019; Indonesian patent number S00201907767 filed Sep. 4, 2019, and Indonesian patent number S00201907660 filed Sep. 2, 2019, the contents of each of which are incorporated by this reference in their entireties for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
The disclosure herein relates generally to electronic cigarettes. More particularly, the disclosure relates to devices and methods to facilitate a multi-shape lock and key mechanism for use in the refilling of electronic cigarette cartridges from an external reservoir of electronic vaporable liquid.
Throughout history people have used and consumed tobacco and tobacco products. This has been encouraged by the tobacco industry through the presentation of advertisements that reflect a lifestyle in which tobacco use and consumption is normalized. Further, marketing coverage by the tobacco industry in addition to the social influence makes a combination strong enough to increase the number of smokers even in the face of seriously fatal diseases. This effect is seen even though consumers of tobacco products understand the effects of tobacco and fully comprehend that nicotine can easily become addictive.
One answer to the endemic problems associated with tobacco consumption is that of the use of electronic cigarettes and the various related products as a replacement to conventional cigarettes and other plant-based tobacco products. Electronic cigarettes use little or no nicotine, can be atomized into vapor, and are less harmful to the users of the electronic cigarette than that of conventional tobacco products. The vapor can be inhaled by smokers the same as is done with a conventional cigarette. A consequence of using electronic cigarettes is that smokers may control the nicotine and thus they aid helping smokers quit smoking entirely by slowly becoming less addicted to nicotine.
The electronic cigarettes currently available on the market usually consist of two major components, a cartridge and a power bank. Commonly, the cartridge is often designed to be disposed after single use. Consumers cannot refill single-use electronic cigarette cartridges with vaporizing liquid once all the liquid has been consumed, the entire device must be disposed. This is unfortunate because although all hardware components are still functioning flawlessly and can be reused, the device is essentially useless without further addition of vaporizing liquid. This kind of design wastes considerable resources and places unnecessary financial burdens on the consumers and users of single-use electronic cigarettes.
Refillable electronic cigarettes are also on the market which helps to abate this issue. However, these multi-use electronic cigarettes tend to be cumbersome to refill which results in spills and wasted vaporizing liquid. Moreover, in areas where the control of vaporizing liquid is controlled by state, governmental, and regulatory bodies, refillable electronic cigarettes represent an area where the black market may take hold by the supply of cheaper and unregulated vaporizing liquid. Such black markets may evade quality control standards, produce dangerous products, and may evade state and local government taxes on these products.
What is needed is a system that permits for the accurate control, accounting, and regulation of electronic vaporizing liquid. Such as system can be verified by local state, governmental, and regulatory bodies as having been properly produced, is safe to use, and has been properly taxed. Further, such a system will greatly diminish the amount of vaporizing liquid that is lost during refill and further ensures that needless waste is not occurring.
The systems, methods, and devices described herein have innovative aspects, no single one of which is indispensable or solely responsible for their desirable attributes. Further, certain deficiencies of the prior art are overcome by the provision of embodiments of an apparatus, kit, and system in accordance with this present disclosure. Without limiting the scope of the claims, some of the advantageous features will now be summarized.
The disclosure herein may relate to a multi-shape key system and locking mechanism of a cartridge and an electronic cigarette device. Such a particular device may be made up of a casing and an atomization chamber. The atomization chamber may be enclosed within the casing and a vapor opening may be located on the top of the casing. The tank for liquid storage may be formed by a bottom of the atomization chamber and an inner wall of the casing. The lower section of the atomization chamber may be set on a mounting base which may have a clipping mechanism that clips onto the casing. One end of the mounting base may have a liquid filling hole. The bottom of the atomization chamber may be designed with a first stage liquid inflow hole. The liquid filling hole on the mounting base and the first stage liquid inflow hole is lined correspondingly to form a cavity, and within the cavity, it is accommodated with a turning lock mechanism that is enclosed with a ceiling on the top end, on the inner side of the lock, it has a liquid flowing passageway, the passageway may be cut through the ceiling to form a second stage liquid inflow hole. By turning the lock mechanism, consumers may self-refill the electric cigarette with liquids. The first key jamming position and the second key jamming position may be adjusted for the opening or closing of the passageway by turning the lock with a particularly shaped pipetted bottles or ampoules, thus making the liquid refilling process more convenient and more efficient.
The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity and detail through the use of accompanying drawings. Accordingly, further advantages of the present invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art with the benefit of the following detailed description of the various embodiments and upon reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Embodiments of systems, components, and methods of assembly and manufacture will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures. Although several embodiments, examples, and illustrations are disclosed below, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein extend beyond the specifically disclosed configurations, examples, and illustrations, and can include other uses of the disclosure and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. The terminology used in the descriptions presented herein is not intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner simply because it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the disclosure. In addition, embodiments of the disclosure can comprise several novel features and no single feature is solely responsible for its desirable attributes or is essential to practicing any one of the several embodiments herein described.
Certain terminology may be used in the following description for the purpose of reference only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “above,” “below,” “lower,” or “upper” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front,” “back,” “left,” “right,” “rear,” “top,” “bottom,” “side,” and so forth describe the orientation and/or location of portions of the components or elements within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the components or elements under discussion.
Moreover, terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” and so on, may be used to describe separate components. Such terminology may include the words specially mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Additionally, if directional references such as up, down, left, right, front, back, above, below, upper, lower, etc., were used in reference to the various figures, the directional indications of their relative positioning, and any dynamic movement is only limited to orientation of that particular drawing under consideration. If the original reference placement is changed, then the indication of directions should be changed accordingly. Furthermore, if terms such as first or second were used, they are solely used for the purpose of describing the logical manner for the implementation of the invention, it cannot be interpreted implicitly or explicitly as the relative importance or the number of unique features among the subjects discussed. When multiple unique features exist, it can be implicitly or explicitly indicated that there is at least one unique feature.
This disclosure may relate to the development of a unique cartridge 100 that has lock mechanism 102. The cartridge 100 may utilize a lock mechanism 102 and may be a component of commonly used electronic cigarette devices (not shown). Accordingly, the internal structure of the cartridge 100 may be designed such that it may store a predetermined volume of electronic cigarette liquid (hereinafter e-liquid). As a consumer uses the cartridge 100 of an electronic cigarette (not shown), the e-liquid may be atomized by an atomization chamber 104 thereby producing vapor (not shown) which may be inhaled by the user of the cartridge 100.
Referring now to
There may be a liquid filling hole 114 for use in refilling the liquid tank 112, located on one end of the mounting base 108 as mentioned above and shown in
Specifically illustrated in
Still referring to
As noted, the liquid refilling hole 114 may be located to one end of the mounting base 108, and similarly there may be a first stage liquid inflow hole 116 located to the lower portion of the atomization chamber 104 as illustrated in
As a consumer refills the e-liquid via the liquid filling hole 114, the liquid may flow through the lock mechanism 102 via the liquid inflow passageway 122 and may reach the second stage liquid inflow hole 124 as illustrated in
Referring now to
Notably, referring now to
Accordingly, any of the aforementioned shapes (non-limiting examples illustrated in
Referring now to
Referring to
Furthermore, on the outer wall of the lock mechanism 102, there may be a second rotation limitation marker 144, a second indented cut out 146 on the bottom of the atomization chamber 104, and a second rotation limitation marker 144 which may be slotted into the second indented cut out 146. Particularly, there may be a ring shape second rotation limitation marker 144 on the outer wall of the lock mechanism 102, and correspondingly, there may be a second indented cut out 146. The second rotation limitation marker 144 may be jammed with the second indented cut out 146. Since the ceiling 120 of lock mechanism 102 may be in contact with the bottom of atomization chamber 104, the mounting base 118 may be clipped on the lower part of the atomization chamber 104. While an end-user is operating the rotational aspect of the lock mechanism 102, excessive force could easily make the atomization chamber 104 fall off from the mounting base, thus causing damage to the internal structure of the cartridge 100. With the implementation of the second rotation limitation marker 144, excessive force may be transferred to the second rotation limitation marker 144, and consequently may reduce the possibility of damaging the components of the cartridge 100 while consumer is operating the lock mechanism 102.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Moreover, the first indented cut out 132 mentioned above may have a dedicated opening 156. An operator may observe the rotating status of the lock mechanism 102 through this opening 156 and react when there is a fault that may cause the lock mechanism 102 to fail to rotate freely. Similar failures can also be easily observed from the opening 156 making it easier for fault detection and maintenance.
In particular, the bottom of the lock mechanism 102 may be above the bottom of the liquid refilling hole 114. This is so designed because when the cartridge 100 is not filled with liquid, the lock mechanism 102 may be exposed to the open environment. Thus, if the cartridge 100 is not used over a period of time, dust may enter the liquid tank 112 or be pushed in during a later e-liquid refill which would impact the normal operation of the electronic cigarette (not shown). Also with the difference in height, a sealer (not shown) can be used to cover the liquid refill hole 114. The sealer (not shown) keeps dust from entering liquid refill hole 114 and the internal part of the lock mechanism 102, thus prolonging the life expectancy of the cartridge 100.
Furthermore, the second air intake hole 154 may be horizontally above the indented slot 152 located on the mounting base 118. This arrangement may be designed to stop and or prevent liquid leakage. When liquid drips to the internal area of the indented slot 152 due to the height difference between the second air intake hole 154 and the indented slot 152, it may take longer for the liquid to accumulate and overflow out of the second air intake hole 154.
Referring now to
The cartridge may have two primary configurations, open and closed; however, each fractional configuration between open and closed may also result in the passage of liquid from the bottle 200 to the cartridge 100 liquid tank 112 as described above. Any of these primary and fractional configurations may be achieved by turning the lock mechanism 102 to any point along a hemi-circle. After the liquid filling process is done, the lock mechanism 102 may be returned into the initial position before it may be removed from the cartridge 100. It should be further noted that the pipette head key 202 with the entrapment protrusion 204 may occur in a number of differing configurations. The possible number of configurations and combinations are not currently known, and more may develop in the future. Accordingly, it is noted that the lock mechanism 102 may be altered to accommodate these configurations and combinations. By way of example, the entrapment protrusion 204 may be of any shape and size which still achieves the same result of mechanically manipulating the lock mechanism 102, or alteration of the lock mechanism 102.
As shown in
The nozzle 208, as noted, may also have a lower portion referred to as a stopper 210. The stopper 210 may have a larger diameter than the pipette head key 202 which is located to the upper portion of the nozzle 208. The nozzle 208 may be configured in such a way that the length and the depth of the pipette head key 202 and the lock mechanism 102 may be slightly different, with the pipette head key 202 being slightly shorter than the vertical space of the lock mechanism 102. Thus, when the pipette head key 202 of the bottle 200 is inserted into the lock mechanism 102 of the cartridge 100, the upper ledge 216 of the stopper 210 will contact the exterior portion of the mounting base 108 of the cartridge 100, and thus prevent the pipette head key 202 from going further in. This way, the pipette head key 202 may avoid contacting the lock mechanism 102 ceiling 120, causing it to become damaged.
The outer wall of the body 206 of the bottle 200 may include a locking ring 218. This locking ring 218 may be used to lock a cover (not shown) that is available to seal the bottle 200. The locking ring 218 may further be that of threading which may thread a cover (not shown) onto the top of the bottle 200. The locking ring 218 may further snap-fit with a cover (not shown) onto the top of the bottle 200. This feature may prevent any dust or other contaminants from entering the bottle 200. This feature may also maintain the internal humidity percentage of the liquid of the internal portion of the bottle 200. The locking ring 218 may be in plurality.
The connection of the nozzle 208 to the body 206 may be done through an insertion plug 220. The insertion plug 220 may be contiguous with the nozzle 208 but may not be visible when installed into the body 206. The insertion plug 220 may be generally circumferential in shape and hollow in the internal area. However, the insertion plug may take a variety of shapes, by way of example, a rhombus, a quadrilateral, a triangle, or a variety of other shapes and designs. The insertion plug 220 may further be divided into two parts, a flat portion 222 and a tapered portion 224. The flat portion 222 may have a larger width than the tapered portion 224. The tapered portion 224 may generally be tapered to allow for easy insertion of the insertion plug 220 into the body 206 to form the bottle. The insertion plug 220 may not prevent any liquid held internal to the boy 206 from flowing to the stopper reservoir 212 and further to the liquid channel 214 and finally to the liquid tank 112 of the cartridge 100.
Furthermore, there may be a plug ring 226 which is positioned to the top of the body 206 but below that of the nozzle 208 which may function to prevent liquid from leaking due to any gaps around the upper portion of the body 206. The plug ring 226 may further prevent contaminants from entering into the body 206. This feature, like the cover (not shown), can also maintain the humidity of the liquid held internal to the body 206 of the bottle 200.
Having disclosed the structure of the various embodiments, it is now possible to describe its function, operation, and use. There may be a liquid filling hole 114 on one end of the mounting base 108 as mentioned above. There may be a first stage liquid inflow hole 116 on the bottom of the atomization chamber 104. The liquid filling hole 114 on the mounting base 108 and the first liquid inflow hole 116 may be lined correspondingly to form a cavity 118. The cavity 118 may be accommodated with a rotatable lock mechanism 102 that is enclosed with a ceiling 102 on the one end which may also be located to the inner side of the lock mechanism 102. It may have a liquid inflow passageway 122. The liquid inflow passageway 122 may traverse through the ceiling to form a second liquid inflow hole 124.
The bottom of the liquid filling hole 114 may comprise the entrapment ledge 126, and the bottom of the lock mechanism 102 may hold the entrapment notch 128. The entrapment ledge 126 and entrapment notch 128 work cooperatively to allow multi-shaped keys operating the locking mechanism for liquid filling purposes.
On the exterior portion of the locking mechanism 102, there may be a first rotation limitation marker 130, the top of the liquid refilling hole may have a first indented cut out 132, and the first rotation limitation marker 130 may be free to rotate within the first indented cut out 132. The first indented cut out 132 may have a first positioning point 134 and a second positioning point 136. The top of the liquid filling hole 114 may have a multitude of position limitation poles 138, these poles 138 may lay within the first indented cut out 132. The position limitation poles 138 and the first positioning point 134 may form the first jamming slot 140. The position limitation poles 138 and the second positioning point 136 may form the second jamming slot 142.
On the outer wall of the lock mechanism 102, there may be a second rotation limitation marker 144. Further, there may be a second indented cut out 146 on the bottom of the atomization chamber 104. The second rotation limitation marker 144 may be slotted into the second indented cut out 146.
The interior portion of the casing 106 may be lined with a plurality of guided rails 148, and the bottom of the atomization chamber 104 may slide within the rails. There may be a first air intake hole 150 positioned at the center of the bottom of the atomization chamber 150. There may be an indent slot 152 located at the center of the mounting base 108. Further, a second air intake hole may be positioned within the indent slot 152 with the first air intake hole 150 and the second air intake hole 154 being inter-adjustable, inter-changeable, mutually compatible, and/or independently adjustable. The bottom of the first air intake hole 150 may be lower than the top of the second air intake hole 154. In some embodiments, the first indented cut out 132 may have a dedicated opening. Additionally in some embodiments, the lower portion of the lock mechanism 102 may be above the lower portion of the liquid filling hole 114. The second air intake hole may also be horizontally above the indent slot 152 of the mounting base 108. Specifically, a unique feature of the design of this disclosure is that the lower portion of the atomization chamber 102 and the interior portion of the casing 106 may form part of the liquid tank 112.
This disclosure of the multi-shape key system for the lock mechanism of a cartridge 100 may provide particular benefits. With the lock mechanism 102 and the liquid inflow passageway 122 arrangement, a wide assortment of shapes of the pipette head key 202 can work together with the on the liquid bottle 200 to create a multi-shape key system as disclosed herein and illustrated in
Further benefits may include but are not limited to the entrapment ledge 126 and the entrapment notch 128 working cooperatively with any of the aforementioned and uniquely shaped pipette head keys 202 of the refill bottle 200 to achieve an interlocking mechanism. Specifically, as the refill bottle 200 is inserted through the liquid filling hole 114 and into the internal structure of the lock mechanism 102, the uniquely shaped pipette head key may become interlocked with both the entrapment ledge 126 and the entrapment notch 128. Rotational movement of the refill bottle 200 with respect to the cartridge 100, results in rotation of the lock mechanism 102, allowing the refill bottle 200 to be held securely by the entrapment notch 128. Hence there is no need to constantly hold the refill bottle 200 to prevent the refill bottle 200 from falling out. This results in a refilling process which is more convenient and easier for the end consumer.
While adjusting to the first jamming slot 140 and the second jamming slot 142, if the first rotation limitation marker 130 of the lock mechanism may be positioned inside the first jamming slot 140 and the second jamming slot 142, more effort is thereby needed to rotate the lock mechanism 102 which may ensure that the open and closed configurations of the lock mechanism 102 are more stable, retainable, and durable. This may prevent the first rotation limitation marker 130 and the first positioning point 134 from coming into contact with the second positioning point 136. External forces causing the aforementioned contact could cause lock mechanism 102 to rotate freely, which is may be very inconvenient for refilling the liquid tank 112 and even result in leakage while the lock is in a closed configuration.
The fluid delivery kit and system having a refill bottle 200 with a pipette head key 202 which may be to one lateral end, a lock mechanism 102 which may be enveloped in a mounting base 108. The mounting base 108 may be reversibly attached to one end of an electronic cigarette cartridge (not shown). The pipette head key 202 may be configured to rotatably engage with the lock mechanism 102 such that a liquid filling hole 114 is configurable to an open position and a closed position. The open position permitting fluid delivery into a liquid tank, said closed position, said closed position preventing fluid escape from the liquid tank. The mounting base may be further configured to have a first liquid inflow hole 116 and the lock mechanism 102 may also further be configured to have a ceiling 120, second liquid inflow hole 124, and an entrapment notch 128.
The pipette head key 202 shape may be further configured to match the shape of the liquid filling hole as is seen in
Moreover, the atomization chamber 104 may be enclosed within the casing 106 and the casing 106 may further have a vapor opening 110 located to one end of it, the atomization chamber 104 and an inner wall of the casing 106 forming the liquid tank 112. Additionally, the mounting base 108 may be configured to clip onto the casing 106. The locking mechanism 102 may further comprise an outer wall 131, the outer wall 131 may have a first rotation limitation marker. The mounting base 102 may also further have an opening 156, the opening 156 may have a first indented cut out 132, the first indented cut out 132 may have a first positing point 134, a second positioning point 136, and one or more than one position limitation poles 138. The first rotation limitation marker 130 may engage with the first indented cut out 132 and the first limitation marker 130 of the lock mechanism 102 may remain freely rotatable between a first positioning point 134 and the second positioning point 136 of the first indented cut out 132 with the one or more than one position limitation poles 138 providing tactile feedback to a user rotating the bottle 200 in the lock mechanism 102.
Disclosed herein may be a fluid refilling method which may have a pipette head key 204 on one end of a refill bottle 200 and a lock mechanism 102 which may be located to one end of a mounting base 108 of an electronic cigarette cartridge (not shown). The mounting base 108 may have a first liquid inflow hole 116 and the lock mechanism 102 may have a ceiling 120, a second liquid inflow hole 124, and an entrapment notch 128. As seen in
Further embodiments include a fluid delivery kit for the refilling of electronic cigarette (not shown) cartridges 100 which may include a pipette head key 202 and a lock mechanism 102, wherein the pipette head key 102 may be disposed to one end of a liquid refill bottle 200, the pipette head key 202 may be further configured to rotatably engage (shown in
Match being defined herein as the use of the predetermined shape being insertably engageable with the lock mechanism 102, such that the two dimensional planer aspect of the shape, when viewed from a vantage which is directly above or below the shape, may be inserted along the three-dimensional axis when viewed from a lateral perspective. The two dimensional planer slice may approximately match into the lock mechanism 102 via the outline of the two dimensional planer slice as seen in
The pipette head key 202 may further have an entrapment protrusion 204, the entrapment protrusion 204 may be configured to engage with the entrapment notch 128 via rotational engagement of the pipette head key 202. The lock mechanism 102 may then result in the alignment of the first liquid inflow hole 116 with the second liquid infill hole 124 and may additionally result an unobstructed liquid inflow passageway 122. Moreover, the rotational engagement of the pipette head key 202 with the lock mechanism 102 may result in the misalignment of the first liquid inflow hole 116 with the second liquid infill hole 124 resulting an obstructed liquid inflow passageway 122.
Further, the rotational engagement of the pipette head key 202 with the lock mechanism 102 may result in the entrapment protrusion 204 being entrapped between an entrapment ledge 126 and an entrapment notch 128 which may occur simultaneous with the alignment of the first liquid inflow hole 116 with the second liquid infill hole 124 which may prohibit removal of the pipette head key 202 from the lock mechanism 102. Moreover, the reverse rotational engagement of the pipette head key 202 with the lock mechanism 102 may result in the entrapment protrusion 204 being unentrapped between a entrapment ledge 126 and an entrapment notch 128 which may occur simultaneous with the misalignment of the first liquid inflow hole 116 with the second liquid infill hole 124 allowing removal of the pipette head key 202 from the lock mechanism 102.
Structurally, the lock mechanism 102 may further comprise an a outer wall 131 having a first rotation limitation marker 130. The mounting base 108 may further having an opening 156, the opening 156 may further have a first indented cut out 132, the first indented cut out 132 may further have a first positing point 134, a second positioning point 136, and one or more than one a limitation pole 138. That first rotation limitation marker 130 may engage with the first indented cut out 132 and the first limitation marker 130 of the lock mechanism 102 may be freely rotatable between a first positing point 134 and second positioning point 136 of the first indented cut out 132 and the one or more than one limitation poles 138. This may provide tactile feedback to a user rotating the bottle 200 in the lock mechanism 102.
Moreover, the inner wall 107 of the casing 106 may be lined with guide rails 148 which may be configured to guide the atomization chamber 104 to proper positioning internal to the casing 106. One end of the atomization chamber 104 may further have a first air intake hole 150 with a further indented slot 152 located correspondingly to a second air intake hole 154 located to the mounting base 108. The second air intake hole 154 may be being positioned within the indented slot 152, such that the first 150 and second air intake holes 154 are inter-adjustable and/or independently adjustable.
While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited except by the appended claims. Insofar as the description above and the accompanying drawings disclose any additional subject matter that is not within the scope of the claims below, the inventions are not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more applications to claim such additional inventions is reserved.
Furthermore, this disclosure relates to the implementation of an electronic cigarette (not shown), which uses the lock mechanism 102, the implemented prototype described above is drawn as a reference for the actual structural design of an electronic cigarette (not shown) cartridge 100. Since the electronic cigarette (not shown) is derived from all of the technical practices as described above, rights are reserved for all the benefits gained from any and all of the points stated above, for the development of a multi-shape key system for the lock mechanism of a cartridge 100.
The contents above described the prioritized implementation example for this invention, it is not used to set the limitation for the rightful claim of this invention. Any ideas that build on the scope of this invention, the use of this invention claims, drawings, in which leads to any structural design with the same functionalities, or directly and indirectly applied in other related technical fields, are all considered to fall under the rightful claim and protection of this invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| S00201907660 | Sep 2019 | ID | national |
| S00201908739 | Sep 2019 | ID | national |
| S00201907767 | Sep 2019 | ID | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2019/060502 | 12/6/2019 | WO |
