US3750677A

US3750677A - Smoking pipe and method of manufacture

Info

Publication number: US3750677A
Application number: US00196377A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Jodoin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-11-08
Filing date: 1971-11-08
Publication date: 1973-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1990-08-07

Abstract

A smoking pipe has a bowl with a top face opening through which tobacco is positioned and a lower stem receiving bowl opening. An elongated stem is releasably joined to the bowl at a joint arranged for locking the bowl and stem in a smoking position and for permitting sliding of the stem with respect to the bowl to allow ease of removal of burned and unburned tobacco. The top face opening is angularly positioned with respect to the axis of the stem to allow substantial angular movement of the stem toward the top face opening. A bowl tobacco chamber is formed in part by first drilling the stem receiving bowl opening in one direction and then backdrilling said stem receiving bowl opening with a tapered bit.

Description

United States Patent Jodoin 1 Aug. 7, 1973 SMOKING PIPE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE Primary Examiner-Joseph S. Reich [76] Inventor: Joseph J. L. Jodoin, 221 Merriam Attorney-wolf Greenfield & Sacks St., Weston, Mass.

' 221 Filed: Nov. 8, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 196,377 [57] ABSTRACT A smoking pipe has a bowl with a top face opening 1 C1 3 /2 6 through which tobacco is positioned and a lower stem [51] Int. Cl. A241 05/00 receiving bowl opening, An elongated stem is releas- [58] Field of Search 131/172, 180, 181, ably joined to the bow] at a joint arranged for locking l3 U1 226 the bowl and stem in a smoking position and for permitting sliding of the stem with respect to the bowl to allow References Cited ease of removal of burned and unburned tobacco. The UNITED STATES PATENTS top face opening is angularly positioned with respect to 1 144,825 6/1915 Dula 1-31 191 the axis of the stem substantial angular 1:221,864 4/1917 1rving. 131/191 ment of the stem toward the top face opening. A bowl 1,223,757 4/1917 Bolte 131/191 tobacco am is f rmed in part by first drilling the 185,641 12/1876 Lammertz... 131/192 X stern receiving bowl opening in one direction and then 2,772,680 12/1956 Rchfcld l3l/l92 X backdrilling said stem receiving bowl opening with a 072,953 6/1927 Martinez 131/226 ux tapered bit. 3,106,922 10/1963 Hefti 131/181 X FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 21,525 0/1902 Great Britain 131/172 //1/ 1 r If 1 L y a d 26 27 24 SMOKING PIPE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A large variety of tobacco-smoking pipes are known in the art. Most such pipes define an integral stem portion and bowl. This leads to inconvenience in cleaning of the bowl after smoking. Cleaning is usually carried out by scraping from the bowl face opening downwardly.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,922 proposed a novel sliding stem and bowl arrangement in a tobacco pipe. This patent teaches the use of a bowl chamber axially aligned with a pipe stem placing the bowl face at a right angle to the axis of the stem. Inherent problems in such construction include the necessity for a grating to hold the tobacco in position and the inconvenience of an unconventional type of smoking since the bowl opening is essentially at the side rather than in the conventional top position. Moreover, air sealing and joint means of relatively complex constructions are suggested for use in the patent.

It is an object of this invention to provide a two-piece bowl and stem construction in a smoking pipe which enables the stem to be used as a cleaning device to remove unwanted products from the bowl.

Another object of this invention is to provide a smoking pipe in accordance with the preceding object which can be collapsed for ease of carrying as in pants or shirt pockets.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel method for forming a joint between a pipe stern and pipe bowl to allow releasable interlocking of the pipe stem and bowl.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention a smoking pipe has a bowl defining a tobacco chamber for holding tobacco. The bowl defines a bowl top face opening through which tobacco is positioned in the chamber and a lower stem receiving bowl opening with the tobacco chamber therebetween defining a curved configuration. An elongated stem having a smoke drawing passageway therethrough and comprising a forward plunger face carrying portion and a rear bit portion, is releasably joined to the bowl. A joint means locks the bowl and stem in a smoking position with the stem portion outwardly positioned from the bowl. The joint means permits sliding of the stem with respect to the bowl to cause the plunger face to remove unwanted tobacco from the bowl by forcing the tobacco out of the face opening. The joint means is constructed and arranged to permit inward movement of the stem toward the bowl along a curved path.

According to the method of this invention, the pipe bowl is formed by face grinding along an arcuate path to form the curved bowl section, drilling of the stem receiving bowl opening having a constant diameter and subsequent back drilling of the stern receiving bowl opening with a tapered bit to form a portion of the joint means.

It is a feature of this invention that the pipe can be collapsed for ease of carrying in the apparel of the user. The pipe can be easily and conveniently cleaned without tools simply by moving the stem with respect to the bowl to thereby force unwanted tobacco out of the top face opening. Since the top face opening is at an angle to the axis of the stern due to the curved chamber, a conventional appearing and smoking pipe is obtained. Because of the releasable joint between the stem and the bowl, the pipe is not subjected to fracture at a rigid joint by ordinary dropping. The sliding nature of the stem also provides for smoking of even small amounts of tobacco as by filling the bowl partially, holding the hand of the user over the bowl top face and back tamping tobacco with the stem. The back tamping compresses the tobacco sufficiently for lighting and smoking. Back tamping of the stem can also be used to clear the smoke passageway should it become obstructed during packing of the tobacco.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following specification when read in conjunc? tion with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view through the center line thereof;

FIG. 4 is a semidiagrammatic showing illustrating steps in the method of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference now to the drawings and more partic ularly FIGS. 1-3, a preferred embodiment of the smok' ing pipe is illustrated generally at 10 having a tobacco bowl 11 and a stem 12 made up of a forward plunger portion 13 and a rear bit 14. The stem and bowl are releasably joined together at a joint means 15.

The tobacco bowl 11 is preferably formed of conventional tobacco pipe bowl material such as briar and has a bowl top face opening 16 defining a face 17 angularly arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis of the stem 12. Preferably the angle that the plane of the face 17 makes with an extension of the central axis of the stem 13 is less than 45 in order to have an upwardly facing face and prevent ashes from falling out of the pipe in normal use. At the rearward end of the bowl I1 is a stem receiving bowl opening 18 which is preferably back tapered to expand in diameter slightly as the to bacco chamber 19 extends from the opening 18 toward the face of the pipe as indicated in FIG. 3.

The tobacco chamber 19 has a curved configuration as best seen in FIG. 3 to arrange the smoking surface of the tobacco in angular relationship to the stem thus preventing dropping of ashes in use and avoiding the necessity for a retaining screen as would be the case if the face 17 were perpendicular to the axis of the stem.

The forward portion 13 of the stem is preferably formed'of the same material as the pipe bowl, i.e., briar in the preferred example. Portion 13 has an elongated axially extending smoke passageway 20 extending from one end to a second end narrowed by a circular collar 21 in accordance with known practice. The stem portion 13 itself is cylindrical except for the portion corresponding to the portion of the pipe bowl indicated at D. This forward portion 22 is frustoconically shaped to match the frustoconical shape of the portion D of the bowl as best seen in FIG. 3. Thus, by pulling the stem to the left as shown in FIG. 3 while retaining the bowl in position, one can lock the stem to the bowl (in the full line position shown) in an airtight releasable seal.

On the other hand, when it is desired to remove a cake of unburned tobacco particles from the bowl, the stem is pushed forward with respect to the bowl to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 3 whereby the cake will be pushed from the bowl out of the opening 16 to clean the pipe. Thus, surface 23 of the portion 13 acts as a plunger face in removing unwanted materials from the bowl. Moreover, the plunger can be activated to tamp tobacco internally. Tobacco can be placed within the bowl in an amount less than necessary to fill the bowl and the plunger moved forward to internally tamp the bowl and form a good smoking plug after which the plunger is withdrawn to the smoking position. Similarly, the plunger can be moved forward to release any trapped tobacco particles from the forward end of the opening 21 if clogging occurs during loading of the pipe. The plunger can also be moved forward to its dotted line position to reduce the over-all size of the pipe for carrying and storage.

The rear end of the portion 13 has a cylindrical fe-- male recess 24 mating with a cylindrical boss 25 of the bit portion 14. Bit 14 can be of conventional material such as hard rubber or the likehaving a teeth-gripping end 26 and a central smoke passageway 27 preferably coaxial with the smoke passageway of the portion 13. A friction fit is used to hold the bit on the portion 13.

' Many modifications of the stem and bit are possible in accordance with known constructions. Screw threaded interengagements can be used as well as filters employed withinthe bit or stem, all as known in the art. While it is preferred that the stem portion 13 and bit 14 be generally cylindrical except for the flattened tooth gripping portion, other shapes can be used. Similarly, the external bowl shape can vary greatly.

Preferably the axial length of the portion 13 is predetermined so that the bit can be removed from portion 13 and portion 13 inserted or withdrawn from the bowl through the face opening 16. This is important to allow for assembly of the pipe with the novel frustoconical friction joint therebetween.

The friction joint means between surface 22 and the bowl portion D is important to allow for tight gripping in normal use by a friction airtight seal with ease of release when wanted.

Turning now to the method of this invention, a novel procedure is used to form the reverse taper at the portion D of the pipe bowl.

As represented in FIG. 4, the bowl 11 is formed from a briarwood chunk by first drilling through the face opening 16 with a drill bit 30 comprising a face drill having a face cutting surface 31. The surface 31 cuts only along its planar face and the shaft of the drill bit is pivotally mounted about a point 32 so that it follows the radius indicated at 33 to drill the chamber with a diameter 34 as it moves along its arcuate path. The bit 30 makes its arcuate hole and is stopped at a point 35. The bit 30 moves along a substantially straight line to cover distance 51. A bore 36 having diameter 50, is formed with a conventional drill bit drilling through opening 18. At this point, the bit 30 can be used to mill away the shaded portion 36 to obtain the desired curvature at the top of the chamber as shown in FIG. 4.

ln a subsequent step, after drilling of the straight bore 36' and arcuate portion formed by drill bit 30, a frustoconical bit (not shown) is inserted through the: opening 16 and used to form the frustoconical portion D which narrows toward the stern opening 18. With the shank of the frustoconical bit extending toward the left as seen in FIG. 3, through the opening 18, the bit is drawn in the same leftward direction, thereby providing the frustoconical shape shown.

The pipe is assembled by taking the preformed stem 13 with its frustoconical forward section 15 and inserting it through the face opening 16 after which the bit portion 14 is attached and the pipe completed.

This method of drilling from the face opening 16 along a first arcuate path toward a generally cylindrical area of the bowl followed by later drilling from the opening 18 and then forming the frustoconical surface is important and novel in that it allows ease of manufac ture of the positive locking joint means.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, many modifications are possible. The particular shape of the tobacco chamber shown is preferred although other shapes can be employed. in all cases, the chamber must be curved or arcuate and the stem must follow an arcuate path to be effective in removing after-products of tobacco burnmg.

ln some cases, the face 23 of the stem as well as the forward portion of the frustoconical surface of the stern can be provided with an abrasive surface for honing any crust buildup in the pipe bowl. Similarly, the face can vary in shape and need not be planar.

What is claimed is:

1. A smoking pipe comprising,

a bowl for holding tobacco,

said bowl defining a bowl top face opening through which tobacco is positioned in the bowl and a generally circular lower stern receiving bowl opening with a tobacco chamber therebetween defining a curved configuration and a chamber portion increasing in diameter from said circular lower stem receiving openingin a forward direction,

an elongated stem having a smoke drawing passageway therethrough and comprising a forward plunger face carrying portion and a rear bit portion, said stem and bowl being releasably joined together at a joint means for locking said bowl and stem in a smoking position with the stem bit portion extending rearwardly from the bowl, and for-permitting sliding of said stem with respect to said bowl to cause said plunger to remove burned and unburned tobacco from said bowl by forcing said tobacco out of said top face opening,

said joint means being constructed and arranged to permit movement of said stem toward said bowl top face opening along a curved path,

said joint means comprising mating frustoconical surfaces positioned on said stern and bowl to permit releasable locking thereof in airtight sealing engagement.

2. A smoking pipe in accordance with claim I wherein said bowl top face opening is defined by a flat surface lying in a plane arranged at an angle of less than 45 to an extension of the elongated axis of said stem.

3. A smoking pipe in accordance with claim 2 wherein said forward plunger face carrying portion has an axial length dimensioned to permit passage of said portion through said chamber from said stern receiving opening to said top face opening whereby said portion can be removed and inserted through said chamber.

sageway through said face opening of said bowl to cut a reverse taper in said cylindrical passageway whereby said chamber defines a generally frustoconical surface at said stem receiving opening with a small diameter portion at said opening passing to a larger diameter portion in said chamber. 5. A method in accordance with the method of claim 4 and further comprising passing a stem portion through said chamber from said top bowl face opening to said stern opening to mount said stern on said bowl.

Claims

1. A smoking pipe comprising, a bowl for holding tobacco, said bowl defining a bowl top face opening through which tobacco is positioned in the bowl and a generally circular lower stem receiving bowl opening with a tobacco chamber therebetween defining a curved configuration and a chamber portion increasing in diameter from said circular lower stem receiving opening in a forward direction, an elongated stem having a smoke drawing passageway therethrough and comprising a forward plunger face carrying portion and a rear bit portion, said stem and bowl being releasably joined together at a joint means for locking said bowl and stem in a smoking position with the stem bit portion extending rearwardly from the bowl, and for permitting sliding of said stem with respect to said bowl to cause said plunger to remove burned and unburned tobacco from said bowl by forcing said tobacco out of said top face opening, said joint means being constructed and arranged to permit movement of said stem toward said bowl top face opening along a curved path, said joint means comprising mating frustoconical surfaces positioned on said stem and bowl to permit releasable locking thereof in airtight sealing engagement.

2. A smoking pipe in accordance with claim 1 wherein said bowl top face opening is defined by a flat surface lying in a plane arranged at an angle of less than 45* to an extension of the elongated axis of said stem.

3. A smoking pipe in accordance with claim 2 wherein said forward plunger face carrying portion has an axial length dimensioned to permit passage of said portion through said chamber from said stem receiving opening to said top face opening whereby said portion can be removed and inserted through said chamber.

4. A method of forming a tobacco chamber in a pipe bowl, said method comprising, passing a face cutting bit along an arcuate path into a bowl to cut an arcuate chamber passageway extending from a top bowl face opening, cutting a cylindrical straight passageway into said bowl from a stem receiving opening thereof to form a continuous passageway with said arcuate passageway, passing a frustoconical bit into said continuous passageway through said face opening of said bowl to cut a reverse taper in said cylindrical passageway whereby said chamber defines a generally frustoconical surface at said stem receiving opening with a small diameter portion at said opening passing to a larger diameter portion in said chamber.

5. A method in accordance with the method of claim 4 and further comprising passing a stem portion through said chamber from said top bowl face opening to said stem opening to mount said stem on said bowl.