Cigarette lighters, particularly for motor vehicles

Claim 1

A cigarette lighter, particularly for motor vehicles, having a control knob mounted for sliding movement within a cylindrical casing and acting through a control rod upon a pivotally mounted contact plate for opening and closing an electric circuit including an electrical heating resistance incorporated in a hot plate adapted to light a cigarette when it is held against; a bimetal tongue positioned adjacent said hot plate so as to be heated thereby and having a resilient shaped end projecting toward and in engagement with an edge of said pivotally mounted contact plate to release the latter when the cigarette is lighted and said bimetal tongue has been heated; a light emitting diode mounted in said cylindrical casing for emission of light to indicate the position of the lighter on an instrument panel; said electric circuit comprising an input connection plate connectable to a source of current secured to a lower end of an upright stem extending through a lower portion of said lighter and supporting at its upper end said hot plate, said electric circuit further comprising said bimetal tongue, said pivotally mounted contact plate, mounting lugs for said contact plate, a bottom disc supporting said mounting lugs and a connection lug extending downwardly from said bottom disc and connectable to a ground side of said source of current; said electric circuit, for energization of said light emitting diode, further comprising a support plate secured to and extending perpendicularly from said upright stem, a central stem extending perpendicularly upwardly from a free end of said support plate and through a diode body of said light emitting diode to a cathode thereof, a conductor extending parallel to said central stem from an anode of said diode located opposite said cathode to a single coil spring peripherally surrounding said diode body in a position intermediate the ends thereof, said coil spring engaging the under side and being electrically connected to said bottom disc which through said connection lug extending downwardly therefrom is connected to the ground side of said source of current; and resilient means peripherally surrounding the end of said cylindrical casing adjacent said control knob for detachably mounting the lighter on the instrument panel.