The conventional type of lighters which today are available in the market are intended for use in connection with the lighting of a cigarette, a cigar or the like. In those cases when ordinary cigarette lighters are to be used for other purposes, for example for igniting a gas flame above a stowe, or to start an open fire, it is not unusable that the person handling the lighter gets his fingers burned. For that reason there has been designed special lighters adapted for such use. They do then include a long stick at the free end of which the ignition of the flame takes place. However, it is inconvenient to carry such a lighter about and to use it for the purpose of lighting ordinary cigarettes or the like. Also, such lighters are generally not close at hand when one wants to start for example an open fire.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above mentioned short-comings and to provide a cigarette lighter device which can be used in com- bination with a standard type cigarette lighter with no risk of burning the fingers, irrespective of whether the lighting concerns cigarettes, gas flames or open fires.

The features characterizing the invention are set out in the subsequent patent claims.

Thanks to the invention there has now been provided a cigarette lighter device, which in an excellent manner satisfies the requirements and at the same time has low manufacturing costs. The device according to the invention consists of a sleeve surrounding a cigarette lighter of ordinary type which is displaceably arranged in such a way that the ignition of the lighter itself takes place with the aid of the sleeve. During that operation the cigarette lighter is displaced from a position inside the sleeve with use of a finger actuating the cigarette lighter at a distance from the flame which distance is sufficient to avoid burning injuries. When the lighter is displaced its ignition control member comes into contact with a stop activating the lighter so that the gas is ignited. The risk to get burned when the gas leaving the lighter is ignited has been eliminated in the following way. The finger use displaces the lighter inside the sleeve so that the lighter control member is brought into contact with a stop surface on the sleeve whereby the control member is triggered to ignite the flame. During that process the finger is spaced from the gas outlet.

When one desires to put out the flame it is sufficient to release the member causing the displacement movement of the lighter inside the sleeve. The lighter is then auto- matically displaced to its inactive position inside the sleeve by the force of the spring at the ignition member of the lighter. A sleeve according to the invention can alternatively be mounted afterwards on an existing cigarette lighter or be attached to the lighter in connection with the manufacturing in a factory.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are more in detail described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatical lateral view illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention and showing a sleeve not yet surrounding a cigarette lighter, Fig. 2 shows a cigarette lighter of the conventional type, Fig. 3 illustrates a control member shaped like a but- ton, which is intended to be attached to a cigarette lighter inside the sleeve according to Fig. 1, Fig. 4 illustrates the cigarette lighter mounted inside the sleeve according to Fig. 1 and against which a control button according to Fig. 3 is attached and said sleeve the lighter is in its inactive position, Fig. 5 shows the complete device comprising a cigarette lighter as shown in Fig. 4 which has been dis- placed to its active position with the aid of the control button and in order to ignite the lighter, Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a cigarette lighter device according to an alternative embodiment of the invention in its inactive position, where the sleeve housing a lighter and the control member being in the shape of a slide having a support surface for cooperation with the bottom surface of the lighter at the same time as the slide is

displaceable along guiding means defining a longitudinal opening in the sleeve, Fig. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the cigarette device illustrated in Fig. 6 without a sleeve but with a lighter located in the control member before mounting into the sleeve, Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the sleeve shown in Fig.

6, Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the control member forming part of the device in Fig. 6 and Fig. 10 is a lateral view showing the control member of Fig. 9.

As appear from the drawings Figs. 1-5 illustrate a first embodiment of the invention comprising a sleeve 3 manufactured of a plastic or metallic material and adapted to receive a cigarette lighter 2. The introduction of the cigarette lighter 2 in the sleeve 3 is continued until the lighter has reached a stop 4 inside the sleeve 3. Said stop 4 is located where a user generally applies a thumb to excert pressure in order to ignite a flame. Centrally in sleeve 3 there is a slot formation in the shape of a oval hole or opening 5, in which an actuation or control member shaped like a button 1 can be detached to lighter 2. When the button 1 is in a position at the lower end of the oval on the wall surface 15 of the sleeve 3, the lighter 2 is in its inactive position. When the lighter 2 is in its inserted position the ignition button 7 is in

contact with the stop 4, which adjoins an open portion of sleeve 3, where the flame of the lighter 2 shall exit.

As more in detail appears from Figs. 4 and 5 the lighter 2 is displaceably arranged in the sleeve 3 between an inactive position shown in Fig. 4 and an active position shown in Fig. 5. In the latter position the lighter 2 has been displaced in an upward direction against the stop 4, which will then excert a pressure against the normal ignition button of the lighter 2. As long as the button 1 of the side wall of the lighter 2 is kept in its upper position the flame will be burning and said flame together with its lighter portion 10, which includes a nozzle 9 for the flame, protrudes through an opening 11 in the front end portion 12 of sleeve 3. When the flame shall be put out one just releases button 1 causing the lighter automatically to be pushed back to its inactive position in the sleeve 3.

According to this illustrated embodiment it is suitable, after the introduction of the lighter 2 into the sleeve 3, to close the latter at its rear end portion 13 by means of an end wall 14. According to an alternative embodiment, not shown on the drawing, the button 1 can be connected with or secured to the lighter 2 via a slot formation in the wall 15 of the sleeve 3 instead of in the oval opening 5. Ignition of the lighter 2 is carried out by displacement of the button 1 in the upward direction.

In this case, the button 1 has a stem passing through the longitudinal slot along which the button 1 and its stem can be displaced.

Instead of a button 1 it is possible to use any other control member to carry out the displacement of the lighter 2 up to the stop 4, provided that the same is connected to the lighter in such a way that the control member can be actuated with the aid of a finger at a sufficient distance from the flame proper and its ignition button 7.

In the alternative embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 6-10 the control member 1 is shaped like a slide 16 having a bottom 17 with external projections 18 for guidance and retention in slots 19,20 in the inner wall surface 21 of the sleeve 3'. The slide 16, which consists of an integral piece, has an inter- mediatae support 22 which easily can be broken away and is intended to cooperate with the bottom surface of a cigarette lighter 2', which is shorter than such a normal type, which is adapted with its bottom surface 23 to cooperate with the support surface 24 on the bottom 17 of slide 16. In this embodiment the slot formation is constituted by a longitudinal opening 5'naturally defined by a guide 25 constituted by strip-shaped projections 26,27, which slide in lateral grooves 28,29. The slide 16 has a bulge 30 and cross-ribs 31 intended to facilitate displacement of the slide by means of a finger in the opening 5', when the cigarette lighter is ignited.