US Patent 9961939 Electronic cigarette

An electronic cigarette has a vaporizer to produce vapor to be delivered to its mouth end. The vaporizer includes a tube having inlet and outlet ends. A porous matrix containing a vaporizable liquid, extends around the tube. Wicking fibers extend through side openings in the tube and are configured to wick the vaporizable liquid from the porous matrix into the tube, and electrical heater coil is powered by a battery to vaporize liquid on the wicking fibers in the tube, so that vapor is supplied along the tube end when the user draws on mouth end. The wicking diverge from the openings into fan shaped spread regions around outer surface of the tube so as to contact and receive the vaporizable liquid by capillary action from the matrix.