Patent · US Expired

Electrically-powered heating element

US5224498A · kind A · utility

538Cited by
62References
29Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 5, 1991
Grant dateJul 6, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 5, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
  • CPC primaryA24F40/20
  • WIPO fieldOther consumer goods
  • WIPO sectorOther fields

Abstract

A heating element for use within a smoking device which is intended to be held in the lips of a consumer, and which, without burning, heats a flavor-generating medium within the device to produce an aerosol, vapor, or flavor, which the consumer may inhale. More particularly, an electrically-powered heating element having a plurality of discrete resistive heating segments, only one of which is active at any given time. In a preferred embodiment, the heating element is contained within the device so that the individual heating segments of the element are adjacent to a flavor-generating medium. As each segment of the heating element is provided with power, the flavor-generating medium adjacent to that segment is heated, but is not burned. This heating causes the flavor-generating medium to produce a flavor, aerosol, or vapor, which the consumer of the device may inhale.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.