A motor vehicle cigar lighter is described for example in French patent specification No. FR 2 630 057 A, and comprises a removable heating plug, for the purpose of lighting a cigar or a cigarette, together with a lighter body which receives the removable plug and supplies power to the latter for heating it, an illuminating sleeve which surrounds the lighter body, an illuminating module carried by and projecting from the illuminating sleeve, a connection module fixed on the lighter body for making the electrical connections to supply power to the lighter body, and locking means for connecting the illuminating sleeve to a fixed wall of the vehicle. The illuminating sleeve is arranged to be lit at night, so as to mark the position of the cigar lighter, the light source for this illumination being contained in the illuminating module.
Fitting of such a cigar lighter in the fixed wall of the vehicle is carried out in a series of operations. In a first of these operations, the illuminating sleeve is mounted on the fixed wall, and then, in a second operation, the lighter body is inserted from the front of the fixed wall (i.e. from the side facing into the cabin of the vehicle), so as to insert the lighter body into the illuminating sleeve and to proceed with the locking operation. This does not of course take account of the presence of the illuminating module, which can be fitted, from behind the fixed wall, on the illuminating sleeve after the latter has been fitted on the wall. In practice, the connector for the lamp is connected on the illuminating module prior to the first operation, while the electrical connection of the connecting module (supplying power to the cigar lighter itself) is carried out between the first and second operations.
The locking means, whereby the illuminating sleeve is locked on the fixed wall, comprises locking tongues which are deployable radially and which include radially outwardly projecting lugs for gripping the fixed wall between a terminal collar portion of the illuminating sleeve and the axially oriented tongues, which are formed with lugs and project from the illuminating sleeve.
In order to reduce the number of operations in the fitting of the cigar lighter in place, it is possible to extend the length of the illuminating sleeve towards the rear, so that the latter will be integral with the connecting module. In that case, the light source can be disposed at the rear, in the connecting module, so that the need for a radially projecting illuminating module is avoided. With this arrangement, the cigar lighter is delivered to the vehicle manufacturer as a unit, and may be fitted from the front of the fixed wall in a single operation, although this is of course carried out after the electrical connections have been made. Such electrical connections can be made automatically.
This solution does however call for serious modification of the cigar lighter, and in particular the illuminating sleeve and the illuminating module. It is therefore only possible to achieve such an arrangement with the use of comparatively expensive non-standard components.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds