TITLE

CIGARETTE LIGHTER EQUIPPED WITH WASTE RECEPTACLE

DESCRIPTION

Field of invention The present invention generally concerns the lighter manufacturing industry and in particular it refers to a lighter equipped with cigarette butts storage means. Background of the invention As known, smokers often smoke cigarettes in places not provided with ash-trays or cigarette butt containers, for example in the street or in public parks. In this case, upon finishing the cigarette, smokers toss the butt on the ground, thus leading to the evident pollution and litter problems. Over the years, efforts to solve such problems have focussed on two distinct directions. A first direction concerns the pocket cigarette butt containers, while a second direction concerns lighters with built in cigarette butt container sections. With reference to the latter case, such solutions can be substantially summarised in two types, lighters with built in cigarette butt storage compartments accessible by a "drawer" type opening (see for example patent documents JP 2000-157249A, JP 2002-335939, JP 2003- 52350A, JP 11225736, US 2649095, US 2666522) and lighters with built-in storage compartments accessible through the opening of a special tilting door (see for example patent documents JP 2001-238659A, JP9121831, US 4897033, US 2777569, US 1545980) . The main drawback of all these solutions lies in the fact that their butt storage volume is lower than the actual waste storage volume needed by the smoker; this

lack of volume is due to the fact that the device must in any case have a small size.

Summary of the invention

Therefore, the object of the present invention is that of providing a lighter of small dimensions with a built-in cigarette butt storage section of a satisfactory capacity.

Another object of the present invention is that of providing a lighter with a built-in cigarette butt storage section which is structurally simple and easy to use.

These objects are achieved with a lighter according to the invention, which comprises a lighting section and a cigarette butt storage section made up of a box-shaped portion internally defining a storage compartment equipped with an opening for the insertion of the butts, a closure door being provided for said opening, said closure door being hinged to said box-shaped portion transversely to the direction of access into the compartment, characterised in that it comprises a shutter arranged transversely to the direction of access into the compartment and facing said door when closed, the internal part of the door forming a resting base for the cigarette butt during a step of insertion of the same cigarette butt into the compartment, the shutter being reversibly translatable from a closure position of the compartment to an open position during said step of insertion of the cigarette butt into the compartment, as a result of a pushing action exerted on the door, means for compacting the cigarette butts towards the shutter being also provided.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the

lighter according to the present invention shall be more apparent from the following description of one of its embodiments, provided for exemplifying and non-limiting purposes with reference to the appended drawings wherein: - figure 1 represents an axonometric top view of a lighter according to the invention, showing the inside of the cigarette butt storage section; figure 2 represents an axonometric side view from below of a portion of the lighter of figure 1 showing the inside of the cigarette butt storage section; figures 3, 4 and 5 schematically show, in cross- section, the steps for inserting a cigarette butt into the storage section.

Detailed description of the invention With reference to the above figures, a lighter according to the invention comprises a lighting section 11 and a cigarette butt storage section, indicated by the numeral 12.

In the example, the lighter is of the flint type fuelled by gas. Therefore, the lighting section 11 is equipped with a gas tank 13 arranged on top of which is a burner 14 with a thumbwheel 15 for rubbing against the flintstone (not shown in the figures for the sake of simplicity) , and a button 16 which allows the release of gas from the tank at the burner 14. Furthermore, it is clear that the innovative concept can be applied on lighters which provide for other lighting methods and type of fuel.

In this embodiment, the storage section 12 is arranged directly beneath the tank 13 in practice to form a single body holdable by the user, and comprises a box- shaped portion 17 which internally defines a storage

compartment 18 equipped with an opening 19, closable, for the insertion of the cigarette butts, schematically indicated by letter M in figures 3, 4 and 5. Such opening

19 faces downwards, with reference to the direction of the structure of the lighter during normal use.

At the edges 19a of the opening 19, a door 20 is provided for the closure of the same opening 19. Such door

20 is hinged to the box-shaped portion 17 transversely to the direction of access into the compartment 18, that is an orthogonal direction with respect to the laying plane of the edges 19a of the opening 19. In practice, the door 20, when closed, forms the base of the lighter. As can be observed in the figures, concave appendages 21 are formed on the internal face of the door 20 (with the concavity facing towards the compartment 18) . The appendages 21 form a resting base for the butt M when it has to be inserted into the compartment 18, as better explained further on.

In proximity to the edges of the opening 19 a shutter 22 is also arranged transversely the direction of access into the compartment 18. The shutter 22 faces the door 20 when the same door is closed. Such shutter 22 is made up of a flat-shaped element inserted in a sliding manner into guide slots 23; the latter are formed through opposite walls 18a of the compartment 18 orthogonal to the hinge axis of the door 20. In particular, corresponding end portions 22a of the shutter 22 project to the outside of the compartment 18 through the guide slots 23 to allow holding the same shutter by the user using two opposite fingers. In addition, transverse recesses 24 are formed in a side of the shutter 22 for allowing the passage of the corresponding concave appendages 21 inwards the

compartment 18. As a matter of fact, when the door 20 is closed, the bottom of the concave appendages 21 is substantially aligned (or possibly arranged at a higher height) with respect to the surface 22b of the shutter 22 facing inwards.

Means 26 for compacting the butts M towards the surface 22b of the shutter 22 in the compartment 18 are arranged. In this embodiment, such means 26 are made up of a piston 27 placed in the compartment 18 and sliding along the direction of access into the compartment itself; such piston 27 is associated to elastic means 28 counteracting the translation of the same piston in the direction of the increase of the volume of the compartment 18; For exampl.e, such elastic means 28 are made up of a pair of springs interposed between the piston 27 and the roof 18b of the compartment 18.

When using the lighter to light cigarettes, both the shutter 22 and the door 20 are in a position closing the compartment 18. In particular, the shutter 22 is inserted for the entire length of the guide slots 23 (such situation is shown in figure 5), projecting from the box- shaped portion 17 only with the end side portions 22a for the fingers hold. The door 20 is closed on the edges 19a of the opening 19, with the concave appendages 21 inserted into the transverse recesses 24 of the shutter 22.

When the insertion of a butt M into the compartment 18 is required, the door 20 is opened and the butt is positioned on the concave appendages 21. Then, the door is pushed with the butt towards the shutter 22, as shown in figure 3. In case there are butts already inside the compartment 18, the piston 27 holds them compact towards the shutter 22. At this point, pushing the door further

towards the shutter, the latter is translated to an opening position (se figure 4), hence allowing the insertion of the butt into the compartment 18. The pressure against the door 20 is greater than the elastic force to which the piston 27 is subjected. Therefore, the new butt is introduced into the compartment pushing the butts already present and the piston itself up again. The door is pushed until it reaches the closed position. At this point, the shutter 22 is moved inwards the compartment again, closing it (see figure 5) . The last introduced butt is at an identical or higher height with respect to the surface 22b of the shutter and therefore the shutter is not hindered during its reinsertion.

The invention thus described leads to the attainment of predetermined objects. As a matter of fact, the invention provides for a lighter capable of storing in a comfortable manner a suitable number cigarette butts. This is attained by combining means for compacting cigarette butts into the storage compartment with a smart compartment closure/opening system which facilitates the insertion of cigarette butts without the risk of ejecting the ones already accommodated.

The special arrangement of the storage section beneath the lighting section was described as a preferred embodiment, but other embodiments of the lighter according to the invention can comprise different structures, for example a structure with the lighting section and the storage section arranged adjacent to each other.

The lighter thus conceived is susceptible to various modifications and variants, all falling within the inventive concept; furthermore, all the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements, without

for this reason departing from the scope of protection of the same invention.

In practice, on condition that these are compatible with the specific use, all materials and dimensions can be of any type according to technical requirements and state of the art.

Where any of the characteristics and techniques described in any of the claims are followed by reference signs, these have been included for the purpose of providing examples simply to increase the clarity of the claims and consequently, they have no limiting effect on the interpretation of each element they identify.