Steam Iron

This invention relates generally to pressing irons and more specifically to lightweight irons having spray and instant extra steam features.

Although lightweight irons have recently become available to the ironing public, none of same are known to provide spray and instant extra steam features wherein the controls for these features are conveniently located at the front of the handle for ready thumb actuation by one ironing without the necessity of releasing or changing one's grip on the iron.

The present invention is directed to lightweight irons having spray and/or instant extra steam features in addition to a normal steaming function, both of which features are usable in both the horizontal and vertical positions of the iron whereby same may be used not only for the more ordinary ironing tasks but also for ironing hanging fabrics such as curtains and drapes with both the spray and instant extra steam features being available for these more unusual ironing jobs. For maximum convenience, the spray and instant extra steam controls are located on the handle at the forward end thereof for ready thumb actuation without releasing or changing one's grip on the iron handle.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pressing iron embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged scale side elevational view partially in vertical section as viewed generally along line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged scale partial vertical sectional view taken generally along line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged scale partial horizontal sectional view taken generally along line 4--4 of FIG. 1;

and

FIG. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view taken generally along line 5--5 of FIG. 4.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a lightweight pressing iron 10 embodying the invention is characterized by a soleplate 12, a first plastic housing member 14 mounted on the soleplate 12 by suitable fastening means such as fastener 16 (FIG. 2) and having a peripheral skirt portion 18, a second main plastic housing member 20 mounted on the first housing member 14, and a third plastic member 22 defining the top wall of a handle 24 defined in part by the second housing member 20. As will be discussed in greater detail hereinafter and as best shown in FIG. 1, a spray button 26, an instant extra steam button 28, a temperature setting control lever 30, and a steam/dry control knob 32 are all located adjacent the forward portion of the handle 24 for maximum convenience of thumb actuation without release or change of one's normal grip of the handle 24 during ironing.

As best shown in FIG. 2, the soleplate 12 has a heating element 34 provided therein as well as an opentop labyrinth of steam passages 36 including a first steam generator 38 and a plurality of steam vents 37 (only one of which is shown) in the bottom surface of the soleplate 12 which communicate with said steam passage 36 in a manner well known in the art. The open top of the steam passages 36 is closed by a cover plate 40 which is secured to the soleplate 12 by suitable fastening means such as the fastener 42.

The portion of the first plastic housing member 14, which is preferably formed of a phenolic, disposed inwardly of the peripheral skirt portion 18 thereof defines a bottom wall 44 of a water reservoir 46. The side walls 48 and top wall 50 of the reservoir 46 are defined by the second plastic housing member 20, which is preferably formed of a thermal-plastic polyester. The second plastic housing member 20 also defines a tower-like structure 52 at the front end of the iron 10 and a portion of the handle 24 which extends rearwardly from the upper end of the tower-like structure 52. A plastic rear cover member 54, also preferably formed of a thermal-plastic polyester, is fastened by suitable means to the rear of the iron 10 and has a heel rest 56 provided at the upper end thereof.

In a manner well known in the art, an adjustable thermostat 58 is mounted on the cover plate 40 with a rotatable control rod 60 therefor extending upwardly through a centrally bored raised formation 62 formed in the bottom wall 44 of the reservoir and a vertical sleeve formation 64 formed in the tower-like structure 52. The temperature control lever 30 is connected to the upper end of the control rod 60 and is rotatable, to adjust the temperature setting of the thermostat 58, in a horizontal plane through an arc of approximately 180.degree. on a slot 66 defined between the upper forward portions of the second plastic housing member 20 and the third plastic handle cover member 22. Suitable temperature indicia is provided at 68 on handle cover member 22. Also associated with the thermostat 58 are terminals 70, an electrical lead 72 and a fuse 74.

The first and second plastic housing members 14 and 20 are mechanically connected together by mounting bosses 76 formed on the second housing member 20 and fasteners 78 which extend through the bottom wall portion 44 of the first housing member 14. However, the two plastic housing members 14 and 20 defining the reservoir 46 are sealingly connected together around their entire peripheral meeting edges and at certain other locations by a suitable adhesive sealant, such as RTV. The sealing locations visible in FIG. 2 are at 80 at the front of the iron 10, at 82 at the rear thereof, and at 84 where the lower end of the sleeve structure 64 of the housing member 20 fits over the bored raised formation of the housing member 14.

A depression 86, defined in part by a part of the sleeve structure 64, is formed in the front of the tower-like structure 52 and includes a horizontally disposed shelf-like structure 88. An angular bracket 90 has a lower leg 92 secured on said shelf-like surface 88 by a fastener 94. A known type spray nozzle 96 is mounted on an upper leg 98 of said bracket 90 so that spray therefrom is directed forwardly and downwardly in front of the iron 10.

To fill the reservoir 46, the iron 10 is supported vertically on its heel rest 56 and water is poured into the depression 86 from which it passes through open passages 100 (FIG. 1) defined on opposite sides of the sleeve structure 64 directly into the reservoir 46. An inlet conduit 102 of the nozzle 96 extends inwardly of one of the passages 100 as will be discussed further hereinafter.

Although the lightweight iron 10 of the subject disclosure is primarily intended for use as a steam iron, occasions sometimes arise when it is necessary or desirable that the iron 10 be used for dry ironing. Therefore, a steam/dry control feature is provided. As is best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5, an offset opening 104 is provided in the front of the reservoir bottom wall portion 44 of the first housing member 14 with a valve seat assembly 106 sealingly mounted therein and having a central bore 108 formed therein which is connected to a generally horizontally disposed conduit 110 which in turn is connected to a vertically disposed conduit 112 having a sized outlet 114 at its lower end for discharging water from the reservoir 46 at a measured rate into the steam generator 38 whereby to normally provide a continuous gentle discharge of steam from the soleplate steam vents 37.

However, to provide the option of dry ironing, a valve seat 116 is provided in the upper end of the valve seat assembly bore 108 and a conical valve pilot 118 is provided for selective engagement therewith to prevent the passage of water from the reservoir 46 into the steam generator 38. The valve pilot 118 depends from a radial arm 120 carried on the lower end of a vertically disposed valve stem 122 which extends upwardly through an opening 124 provided in the shelf-like surface 88. The upper end of the valve stem 122 is provided with a reduced-in-diameter neck portion 126 which is engaged in a slot 128 (FIG. 4) formed in a rectangular flat plate member 130 which extends across the opening 124. The plate member 130 has an upwardly bent edge 132 which is provided with a lever-like extension 134 which extends outwardly through openings 136 and 138 formed in an upper portion of the side wall structure of the housing member 20 not forming a part of the reservoir 46 with the steam/dry knob 32 mounted on the outer end thereof. A spring 140 disposed about the valve stem 122 between the shelf-like surface 88 and the radial arm 120 biases the valve pilot 118 downwardly into its downwardly into its valve-closing or dry ironing position. However, manual downward force applied to the knob 32 pivots the flat plate 130 about its edge 142 whereby to raise the valve stem 122, the radial arm 120, and the valve pilot 118 out of engagement with the valve seat 116 so as to permit normal steam iron operation. The opening 138 is J-shaped so that the lever 134 is swingable forward or to the left (as viewed in FIG. 1) to trap the lever 134 in the short leg of the J-shaped slot 138 during steam iron operation. The width of the opening 136 and the nature of the connection of the flat plate 130 to the valve stem 122 permits the foregoing forward movement of the lever 134 in the J-shaped opening 138. Suitable right-angled double arrowheaded indicia 144 (FIG. 1) is provided on the housing member 20 adjacent the steam/dry knob 32.

As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the second housing member 20 is characterized by a horizontally disposed wall portion 146 rearwardly of the sleeve structure 64 adapted to accommodate bellows pumps 148 and 150, the wall portion 146 being provided for each pump with centrally bored inlet and outlet nipples 152 and 154, respectively, which each project above and below the wall portion 146. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the pump 148 providing a spray feature and the pump 150 providing an instant extra steam feature are positioned side by side with the actuating buttons 26 and 28 therefor projecting upwardly through the handle cover member 22 at the forward end thereof for maximum convenience for the one ironing. As best shown in FIG. 3, each bellows pump 148, 150, which is formed of a rubber-like material, is characterized by a central bellows portion 160, by an upper portion 162 upon which the activating buttons 26, 28 are fitted, and by a lower sleeve-like portion 164 which is fitted over the upwardly projecting portions of the inlet and outlet nipples 152,154. The upper bore portion of each inlet nipple 152 has a ball check valve 166 biased downwardly into a normally closed position by a spring 168 and the upper bore portion of each outlet nipple 154 has a ball check valve 170 which is biased upwardly into a normally closed position against a valve seat 172 by a spring 174.

As is best illustrated in FIG. 2, the depending portion 176 of the outlet nipple or port 154 of the bellows pump 148 providing the spray feature is connected by a tube 178 to the inlet conduit 102 of the spray nozzle 96 and the depending portion 180 of the inlet nipple or port 152 of the bellows pump 148 providing the spray feature is connected to an inlet tube 182 which extends into the lower rear portion of the reservoir 46. Also, the depending portion 184 of the outlet nipple or port 154 of the bellows pump 150 providing the instant extra steam feature is connected by a tube 186 to an upwardly projecting bored boss 188 provided on the bottom wall portion 44 of the housing member 14 which leads to a second steam generator provided in the soleplate 12 which is not visible in FIG. 2 as same is located behind the steam generator 38. Actuation of the instant extra steam bellows pump 150 therefore pumps water from the reservoir 46 into this second steam generator to provide instant extra steam from the soleplate steam vents 37 when needed for particular ironing situations in a manner well known in the art. This instant extra steam feature also serves a second purpose of self-cleaning of the soleplate steam vents 37. The depending portion 190 of the inlet nipple or port 152 of the bellows pump 150 providing the instant extra steam feature is connected to an inlet tube 192 which also extends into the lower rear portion of the reservoir 46 alongside the inlet tube 182. The rearward ends of the inlet tubes 182 and 192 are retained in position in the lower rear portion of the reservoir 46 by a tube loom 194 (FIG. 2) which depends integrally from the top wall 50 of the reservoir 46 and has a pair of semi-circular recesses 196 provided in its bottom edge for retaining engagement with the rearward ends of the inlet tubes 182 and 192. With the ends of the inlet tubes 182 and 192 retained in the lower rear portion of the reservoir 46, the spray and instant extra steam features are usable not only when the iron 10 is in its normal horizontal position but also when the iron 10 is in a vertical position to permit full feature ironing of hanging fabrics such as curtains and drapes. The tube loom 194 is perforated, as at 198, to insure that the water level in the reservoir 46 is the same both forwardly and rearwardly of the tube loom 194.

As it could be desirable to provide a steam iron having only a spray feature or only an instant extra steam feature, it is noted that minor changes to the handle cover member 22 and the pump support wall 146 whereby to accommodate a single bellows pump is contemplated and possible within the scope of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a water level gauge 200 formed of a clear polycarbonate is sealingly mounted in a suitable elongated opening formed in the plastic housing member 20 and has a level indicator 202 associated therewith.

While there have been shown and/or described several alternative embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects and it is, therefore, contemplated in the appended claims to cover all such additions, changes and modifications that fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention.