Smoke generator with combined spacer and wetting wire and toy smoke-ring gun using same

摘要

A toy gun produces a series of traveling smoke rings. It has a smoke chamber fed with smoke from a battery-powered electrical resistance generator. An elastic, edge-mounted diaphragm extends across at least a portion of the rear of the smoke chamber. A reciprocating actuator movable in response to a trigger strikes the diaphragm to eject a smoke ring through an orifice in the opposite wall of the smoke chamber. The smoke generator includes a supply tank of a suitable liquid and a source of variable pressure to drive the liquid through a narrow annular clearance to the heater where it is rapidly vaporized. The generator includes a pair of concentric tubes that define the annular clearance and an electrical resistance heating element mounted on one of them at a point spaced from the supply tank. The generator also includes a spacer and a member that increases the length of the flow path of the fluid driven through the narrow annular gap. The spacer establishes and maintains a generally uniform clearance circumferentially. A spiral wound wire preferably acts as the spacer and establishes a helical fluid flow path of increased length as compared to a linear, axial fluid flow path.