The invention relates to an imitated stearin candle comprising an essentially cylindrical body that supports a swingably mounted lamp in the form of a candle flame at its upper end.

There is an increasing) need for a replacement of common candles of paraffin, stearin or the like since, on the one hand said materials are becoming more rare and expensive, and on the other hand more and more consideration is taken for the risk of a fire in connection with use of a freely burning flame. Imitated stearin candles with electrical lamps are already known. An embodiment is also known, in which the lamp is movably mounted, so that the flickering of a normal candle-flame produced by the air turbulence can be simulated. For this reason the lamp has been movably mounted in a rubber membrane in the upper end of the candle body, and an extension in the lamp axis was restricted by a bimetallic stripe. However, a bimetallic stripe requires a relatively large amount of electrical energy for heating and is furthermore characterized in a very slow reaction.

The object of the invention is to produce an imitated stearin candle that in an optimal way simulates the flickering of a normal candle without the previously mentioned drawbacks.

According to the invention this is obtained with an imitated stearin candle of the type mentioned above by mounting the lamp at the upper end of a rod shaped lamp holder, the lower end of which is connected to the upper end of a helical spring that is axial symmetrically mounted in the hollow body, a magnetically conducting body being mounted in the area of the lower end of the

lamp holder, which magnetically conducting body is set into horizontal motion or oscillation by an intermittent, periodically or aperiodically turned-on and turned-off magnetic field from a coaxially in the hol low body mounted, essentially cylindrical coil. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the magnetically conducting body comprises a permanent magnet, whereby the effect of the horizontal motion is increased.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with the aid of the attached drawings, on which

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and

Figs. 2 to 4 show three embodiments of the electronic circuit that is us ed to obtain the flickering in the candle of the present invention.

Referring to Fig. 1 , an essentially cylindrical hollow body 1 with an upper aperture is provided with the electrical and mechanical parts forming the present invention. Reference number 2 refers to the lamp that has the form of a flame and that is mounted at the upper end of a rod-shaped lamp holder that resembles a wick. The lower end of the lamp holder 3 is connected to a helical spring 4 that is axial symmetrically mounted in the hollow body, for instance by cementing. The helical spring 4 can for instance be conical, as is shown in the Figure. The lower end of the helical spring is connected to an insert 5, in which electrical and electronic parts are mounted, as will be explained below. However, the he li ca l spring 4 c an al s o be f a s ten ed by engag ing recesses (not shown) on the inner wall of the hol low body 1. At the lower area of the lamp holder 3 a magnetically conducting body 6, preferably of a permanent magnetical material is mounted, for instance by cementing. An

essentially cylindrical coil 7 is coaxially arranged in the hollow body 1 at about the same height as the magnetically conducting body 6. Connecting leads 8 to the lamp 2 extend through the hollow lamp holder 3 and to the insert 5. The connecting leads 9 to the coil 7 extend directly to the insert 5. The bottom of the hollow body is for example formed as a detachable cover (not shown), so that the insert and the parts attached thereto can be inserted and removed. However, the bottom can also be provided with a threaded socket 10 (shown with dashed lines), so that the imitated stearin candle can be inserted or threaded into a common lamp holder. In principle the insert 5 comprises an electromechanical or electronic switch that intermittently turns off the current flow to the coil 7. This can be done either periodically or aperiodically. Time relais known per se. can be used as electromechanical switches. Known periodic multivibrators with transistors, unir* junction-tran¬ sistors, thyristors, JC-multivibrators etc. can be used as electronic switches. Switches with known random number generators can be used as aperiodic multivibrators. The power is supplied either over common batteries, rechargable accumulators or from the power line over a rectifier circuit.

When the switch in the insert 5 is closed current flows to build up a magnetic field in the coil 7. The magnetically conducting body 6 that is positioned in the magnetic field of the coil 7 has the same polarity as this magnetic field and is therefore subjected to a repelling force in the horizontal direction, in the same way as in a moving iron measuring instrument, whereby the lamp holder 3 with the lamp 2 is deflected sideways.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the magnetically conducting body 6 comprises a permanent

^* A.

magnet, the polarity of which is chosen so that it has the same sign as the magnetic field of the coil 7, so that also in this case a repelling force is obtained.

As soon as the current flow to the coil 7 is then turned- off by the switch, the deflected lamp holder 3 with the lamp 2 returns to the inertial position, but first oscillates a few times across this position, since the spring 4 and the elements 2, 3 and 6 comprise an oscillating system. After a time period of a few seconds the same process is repeated, either periodically or aperiodically. If the current is supplied through batteries or accumulators one or two such power sources can be inserted into the insert 5. If more than one or two power sources are required due to a longer "burn time", these can be inserted into a suitably formed socket foot, into which the imitated stearin candle can be inserted or threaded. The socket foot can be formed to receive several imitated stearin candles.

As mentioned above the way the candle according to the present invention works resembles a measuring instrument with a moving iron core. Such instruments are suited both for direct current and alternating current. Accordingly, the coil 7 could al so be driven by an alternating current, in which case the magnetic body 6 would be replaced by a short-circuited coi l, that wou ld be excentrically mounted in relation to the axis of the coil 7. In this case a voltage that is induced in the short- circuited coil would produce a current, the magnetic field of which tries to centre the excentrically mounted coil, thereby causing an oscillation of the lamp holder 3 and the lamp 2 sideways.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention several imitated stearin candles are arranged side by side in a common candle stick or chandelier. In this alternative embodiment the upper part of the candle is the same as before, while the lower part is modified so that the previously shown insert 5 is common for all candles.

Thus, the lamp body 1 will end at the lower part of the helical spring 4 (possibly in a socket resembling socket

10) and the connection leads 8 and 9 to the lamp 2 and the coil 7, respectively, will have their other end portions mounted in the common, in suitable place positioned insert 5. In other respects the alternative embodiment operates in the same way as the embodiment disclosed above and shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows a simple" circuit for energizing the coil 7. This circuit can be mounted in the insert 5 as described above. The drawback of this basic circuit is ' that the current through the coil is limited, which requires many turns in said coil.

Fig. 3 shows a modification of this basic circuit. In this case a large current can be obtained in the coil , which can have fewer turns. On the other hand, this circuit requires a powerful or separate trans formator to avoid blinking of the lamp. .

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the driving circuit of coil 7. In this case the left double base diode and the Darlington transistor produce a triangular voltage wave form with a period of for instance 5 minutes . This triangular wave feeds the right double base diode in the same way as in the basic circuit of Fig. 2. The result is that the pulse repetition rate will vary instead of being constant as in the basic circuit. This wi ll make the flickering of the lamp look more random. The output of

the circuit of Fig. 4 can be connected either directly to the coil as in the basic circuit of Fig. 2 or to a thyristor driving circuit as in the embodiment of Fig. 3.