Abstract: A device for detecting the liquid level in a tank. The device inlcudes a dioptric element having faces and a base immersible in the liquid. A bundle of optical fibers is operationally arranged with the dioptric element so that the dioptric element is disposed at one plane end of the optical fiber bundle while the other plane end of the optical fiber bundle provides an observation face. The bundle of optical fibers and the dioptric element are arranged and adapted to provide two separate and distinct zones in the observation face which are directly viewable in the surface of the observation face. One zone provides a signal zone which receives a larger quantity of light from a dioptric element when the element is not immersed than when it is immersed. The other zone provides a reference zone which receives a constant quantity of light from the dioptric element whether or not the dioptric element is immersed in the liquid.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is a device for the detection of imminent gas depletion of a liquified gas tank, comprising a bundle of fiber optics (22), one end of which, forming an observation surface is visible from the outside of the tank, and other end of which, placed inside of the tank, is in optical contact with a flat surface of a transparent element (20), comprising, on its opposite surface, at least one dioptricelement (26). According to the invention, the lateral walls of the element (26) form with said surface an angle, preferably obtuse, the dimensions of which are such that it is capable, as long as there is liquid gas remaining in the reservoir, of being covered, almost totally, by a mensicus formed of a liquid gas condensate, which thus prevents any total reflection on said surface, of the rays directed by the fiber beams.

Abstract: The invention relates to a writing instrument cap and clip therefor. The cap has secured thereto an immovable end piece made rotationally integral with the cap by the heel portion of the clip being sunk into a notch in the cap.

Abstract: The invention relates to a gas flowrate adjustment and limitation device for a liquefied-gas lighter of the type having at least one compressible element traversed by the gas, and means of compressing this element to a greater or lesser degree depending on the desired flowrate. This device is characterized by having a permeable disk 12, the periphery of which is in contact with a coaxial permeable crown 7, by the gas passage in disk 12 and crown 7 being substantially radial, and by essentially the total surface area of each of the outer surfaces of said disk 12 and said crown 7 being in contact with some element of the device or lighter.

Abstract: The invention relates to a gas lighter with a flat flame widened in its median part, of the type comprising a burner (22) having two gas exit nozzles (23, 24) with diverging axes. According to the invention, said nozzles have a shape or are disposed such that, at their lower parts, they terminate at a tangent to an adjacent surface of the burner or body of the lighter, licked by the gas flow they emit.

Abstract: The invention relates to a watch or the like equipped with a display device of the date type, wherein the symbols to be displayed are located on a mobile support (44) and are perceived by an observer through a window (36).According to the invention, a bundle (38) of coherent optical fibers is mounted in said window such that one end of said bundle is disposed near the mobile support (44) while its other end is flush with a visible surface of an element of the watch.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for regulating the flowrate of a liquefied-gas lighter of the type having an elastic permeable disk (11) through which the gas passes and two compression elements able to compress respectively two different zones of this disk, an annular zone and a central zone, one of the compression elements (5) being composed of an annular compression screw rotationally integral with a control element (7) while the second compression element (17) passes through said annular compression screw to ensure compression of the central zone of the disk and is translationally integral with a control element (19). According to the invention, each of these control elements is accessible independently, from the outside of the lighter.

Abstract: This device is of the type having a permeable elastic disk (13) disposed in a circuit supplying the burner with gas and subjected to compression by two elements activated by the same control element, an annular compression element (17) and a central compression element (20). According to the invention, control element (31) is mounted to slide between two positions, a presetting position wherein it is coupled rotationally with annular compression element (17) and a setting position where it is decoupled therefrom.

Abstract: An improvement in a ballpoint pen having an ink cartridge with a writing nib slidably mounted in the body of the pen and translatable between a resting position wherein the nib is retracted within the body of the pen and a writing position wherein the nib is disposed outside of the pen body, the ink cartridge being provided in the vicinity of the nib with at least one orifice for supplying the ink cartridge with air, the improvement including a chamber sealed from the ambient atmosphere in both the resting and writing positions, the orifice being disposed within the chamber, and an interruptable sealing mechanism for establishing communication between the chamber and the ambient atmosphere whenever the ink cartridge is translated between the resting and writing positions.