CN101864663A - steam iron - Google Patents

Abstract

A steam iron. The steam iron includes: a housing; a handle defined at an upper portion of the housing; a soleplate supported on the bottom portion of the housing; a heating assembly supported within the housing and in thermal communication with the soleplate; a spray outlet; a water storage tank defined within the housing; and a pump assembly. The pump assembly includes a first mechanical pump manually operable to draw water from the tank and provide a steam injection from the floor, and a second mechanical pump manually operable to draw water from the tank. Pumps water and provides a water spray from the spray outlet. The steam iron also includes: an under-handle trigger for manually operating one of the first mechanical pump and the second mechanical pump, the under-handle trigger located below the handle; and a trigger for manually operating the first mechanical pump and the second mechanical pump. The upper trigger of the other of the pumps is located in the upper part of the iron housing.

Description

steam iron

technical field

The present invention relates to a steam iron, and more particularly to a self-contained steam iron.

Background technique

Various types of steam irons for ironing clothes and the like are known.

A large class of steam irons includes so-called "steam boiler" irons. A steam boiler iron comprises an iron unit connected to a separate steam boiler. The iron unit includes a heating element disposed adjacent to the soleplate on which clothes and other garments are ironed. The steam boiler includes a water storage tank that stores and heats water, and supplies the water to the iron unit for use in ironing (eg, as steam or water spray).

Another broad category of irons includes freestanding irons. Like steam boiler iron units, self-contained irons include a soleplate and a heating element, but self-contained irons also include their own on-board water tank, which stores water for use during ironing.

Both steam boiler irons and stand-alone irons may be provided with a trigger for using water during ironing. For example, two triggering devices may be provided - one for generating a steam spray and one for generating a water mist spray. They are usually positioned next to each other within easy reach of the user's thumb during ironing.

It would be desirable to provide an ergonomic iron that can be manufactured in a cost-effective manner.

Contents of the invention

In one aspect, the present invention provides a steam iron comprising: a housing; a handle defined at an upper portion of the housing; a soleplate supported on the bottom portion of the housing; a heating assembly supported on within the housing and in thermal communication with the base plate; a spray outlet; a water storage tank defined within the housing; a pump assembly including a first mechanical pump and a second mechanical pump, the first mechanical pump being manually operable to draw water from the tank and provide a spray of steam from the soleplate, said second mechanical pump being manually operable to draw water from the tank and to provide a spray of water from the spray outlet; for use in manually operating the first mechanical pump and the second mechanical pump an under-handle trigger of one of the first and second mechanical pumps, which is located under the handle; and an upper trigger for manually operating the other of the first and second mechanical pumps, which is located in the upper portion of the iron housing middle.

The under-handle trigger may be operatively connected to the first mechanical pump for manually operating the first mechanical pump.

The upper trigger may be located at the front of the iron and be centrally located relative to the width of the handle.

The upper trigger basically occupies the width of the handle.

The upper trigger means and the trigger means below the handle may be arranged so that when in use the user holds the handle with his hand, the user's thumb rests naturally on the upper trigger means and the user's fingers other than the thumb rest naturally. On the trigger mechanism under the handle.

The upper trigger is slidably mounted in the iron housing.

The trigger under the handle is pivotally mounted in the housing of the iron.

The upper trigger device and the handle lower trigger device can be operated simultaneously by the user's thumb and forefinger.

The first mechanical pump may include: a first cylinder in fluid communication with the water storage tank via a first inlet; a first outlet conduit for providing water to the base plate; and a first piston operable to extract water from the The tank fills the first tank with water and drains water from the first tank to the floor. Whereas the second mechanical pump may comprise a second cylinder in fluid communication with the water tank via a second inlet and in fluid communication with the spray outlet via a second outlet; and a second piston operable to move from the tank to the spray outlet. Fill the second cylinder with water and drain the water from the second cylinder to the spray outlet.

The first cylinder and the second cylinder may be positioned adjacent to each other and defined by a unitary pump housing.

The upper trigger may include an upper piston actuator that transmits force applied to the upper trigger to one of the first piston and the second piston. The under-handle trigger may include an under-handle piston actuator that transmits force applied to the under-handle trigger to the other of the first piston and the second piston.

In a second aspect, the invention provides a pump assembly for a steam iron, the pump assembly comprising: a first mechanical pump operable manually to draw water from a tank and provide a jet of steam from the iron, the first mechanical pump The pump comprises a first cylinder in fluid communication with the water tank via a first inlet conduit for supplying water to the soleplate of the iron, a first outlet conduit, and a first piston. a second piston operable to fill the first cylinder with water from the tank and to drain water from the first cylinder to the floor; a second mechanical pump operable to draw water from the tank and provide a spray of water from the iron, the The second mechanical pump includes a second cylinder in fluid communication with the water storage tank via a second inlet conduit and a spray outlet via a second outlet, and a second piston operable to extract from The tank fills and discharges water from the second cylinder to the spray outlet, and wherein the first cylinder and the second cylinder are disposed adjacent to each other and defined by the unitary pump housing.

The first mechanical pump may be operatively connected to the upper trigger of the iron, and the second mechanical pump may be operatively connected to the lower handle trigger of the iron.

Alternatively, the first mechanical pump may be operatively connected to the iron's under-handle trigger, while the second mechanical pump may be operatively connected to the iron's upper trigger.

Description of drawings

Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings, in which:

Figure 1 provides a perspective view of an iron according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 provides an exploded view of the pump assembly for the iron of Figure 1;

Figure 3 provides a partial front perspective view of the iron of Figure 1 with the pump assembly of Figure 2;

Figure 4 provides a partial rear perspective view of the iron of Figure 1 with the pump assembly of Figure 2;

Figure 5 provides a cross-sectional view of the iron of Figure 1 with the pump assembly of Figure 2;

Figure 6 provides a partial front view of the pump assembly of Figure 2 with the trigger under the handle in the rest position; and

FIG. 7 provides a partial front view of the pump assembly of FIG. 2 with the trigger under the handle in a compressed position.

Detailed ways

FIG. 1 provides a perspective view of a steam iron 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The iron 100 includes a housing 102 with a handle 104 defined in an upper portion of the housing. The bottom of the housing 102 supports a base plate 104 . The iron 100 also includes a spray outlet 106 in the form of a nozzle, an upper trigger 108 is slidably mounted in the upper part of the housing 102 and an under-handle trigger 110 is pivotally mounted to the housing 102 such that the under-handle trigger 110 is located below the handle 104 . A dial 112 is also provided for controlling the operation of the iron.

The housing 102 of the iron also houses typical steam iron components as known in the art. These various components may include (not exhaustive): a heating assembly (eg, heating element 103 shown partially in FIG. 5 ) in thermal communication with soleplate 104; a power supply for powering the iron, which can be An electrical lead 114 is connected to an external power source such as a wall socket; a water storage tank 116 for storing water to be used during ironing (eg, as a spray or to generate steam); a controller, such as a microprocessor, for Iron 100 is controlled in response to user input from dial 112 .

During ironing, the user can control (via the dial 112) various operating parameters of the iron 100, such as heating of the soleplate and whether a constant supply of steam from the soleplate is required. The user can also manually operate the upper trigger 108 and the lower handle trigger 110 to provide a jet of steam through the soleplate 104 or a spray of water in the form of a spray from the spray outlet 110 to aid in ironing. In the particular embodiment described and illustrated below, the upper trigger 108 is operable to provide a spray of steam, while the underhand trigger 110 is operable to spray water. It should be noted, however, that the pump assembly 200 (described below) may alternatively be arranged such that the upper trigger 108 is operable to spray water, while the lower handle trigger 110 is operable to provide a spray of steam.

The iron 100 also includes a pump assembly 200 that can be manually operated by the user (via the upper trigger 108 and the lower handle trigger 110) to provide a spray of steam and water. Figure 2 provides an exploded view of the pump assembly 200, while Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the assembly with the housing 102 removed, respectively in partial front perspective view, partial rear perspective view and cross-sectional view of the iron 100. The pump assembly 200.

The pump assembly 200 includes a first mechanical pump 202 for use in providing a spray of steam and a second mechanical pump 204 for spraying water. The first mechanical pump 202 and the second mechanical pump 204 will be described in sequence.

The first mechanical pump 202 includes a first pump cylinder 206 defined in a dual pump housing 208 . A first pump biasing device 210 (here a coil spring) is housed within a first pump cylinder 206, and the first pump cylinder 206 is sealed by a first pump piston 212, which is slidably received in the first pump cylinder. Inside.

First pump cylinder 206 has a first pump inlet 214 in fluid communication with water storage tank 116 via conduit 216 , elbow 218 , and conduit 220 . It can be seen that the duct 220 extends to the rear of the iron 110 (or rather, the rear of the water tank 116 ) so as to allow A first mechanical pump 202 draws water from the tank.

First pump cylinder 206 also includes a first pump outlet (blocked) that is in fluid communication with first pump outlet conduit 222 via elbow 224 , conduit 226 , and second elbow 228 . The first pump outlet conduit 222 terminates in a chamber (not shown) in which water supplied from the first pump outlet conduit 222 is vaporized by the iron element to generate steam, which is then pumped from the outlet hole at the bottom of the soleplate 104 lead out.

In this embodiment, the upper trigger 108 is provided with a shaft 230 which bears on the first pump piston 212 and is arranged to reciprocate within the cylinder 206 . When the user depresses the upper trigger 108, the shaft 230 forces the piston 212 in the first pump cylinder 206, thereby expelling the water in the first pump cylinder 206 out of the first pump outlet conduit 222 (via elbow 224, conduit 226 and elbow 228) for steam injection. When the upper trigger 108 is released, the biasing means 210 acts on the first pump piston 212 to return the piston 212 and the upper trigger 108 to their rest positions. Suction created by the return motion of piston 212 within first cylinder 206 draws water from tank 116 (via first pump inlet conduit 216 , elbow 220 and conduit 218 ) to fill first pump cylinder 206 .

The second mechanical pump 204 is similar in operation to the first mechanical pump 202 . The second mechanical pump 204 includes a second pump cylinder 240 defined in the pump housing 208 . A second pump biasing coil spring 242 is received within a second pump cylinder 240 and the second pump cylinder 206 is sealed by a second pump piston 244 slidingly received within the second pump cylinder.

The second pump cylinder 240 has a second cylinder inlet 246 in fluid communication with a second pump inlet conduit 248 extending into the water storage tank 116 for drawing water from the water storage tank.

Second pump cylinder 240 also includes a second pump outlet (blocked) that is in fluid communication with spray outlet 106 via elbow 250 . In this case, the spray outlet 106 includes an outlet nozzle 252 , an outlet tube 254 , an outlet atomizer 256 and an outlet cap 258 . It can be seen that the spray outlet 106 is arranged such that the water sprayed from the spray outlet is inclined downwardly and outwardly relative to the iron 100 when the iron is in the ironing orientation (ie the soleplate 104 is substantially parallel to the ground).

The underhandle trigger 110 is provided with an underhandle trigger shaft 260 and an underhandle trigger actuator 262 . As mentioned above, the under-handle trigger 110 is pivotally mounted in the iron housing 102 by the under-handle trigger shaft 260 . When the user presses in the under-handle trigger 110 (as shown in FIG. 7 ), the trigger 110 pivots about the axis 260, causing the under-handle trigger actuator 262 to press on the second pump cover 264, the second The pump cover in turn (in this embodiment) presses against the second pump piston 244 . This forces the piston 244 in the second pump cylinder 240, thereby forcing the water within the second pump cylinder 240 out of the spray outlet 106 (via the elbow 250) to generate a mist spray. When the under-handle trigger 110 is released (as shown in FIG. 6 ), the second pump biasing means 242 acts on the second pump piston 244 and the second pump cover 264 to cause the piston 244, cover 264 and under-handle trigger 110 return to their resting position. The suction created by the return movement of the second pump piston 244 within the second pump cylinder 240 draws water from the tank 116 (via the second pump inlet conduit 248 ) to fill the second pump cylinder 240 .

It should be noted that the above-described embodiment can be easily modified simply by changing the relative positions of the under-handle trigger actuator 262 and the upper trigger shaft 230 such that the under-handle trigger actuator 262 is in the first pump position. Piston 212 exerts pressure on (and thus is operable to provide a spray of steam), while upper trigger shaft 230 exerts pressure on second pump piston 244 (and thus is operable to provide a spray of water).

Returning to FIG. 1 , when using the iron 100 , a user grips a handle portion 104 in the form of a pistol grip. The upper trigger 108 and under-handle trigger 110 are arranged so that when the iron 100 is so held, the user's thumb rests naturally on the upper trigger 108 and the user's index finger rests naturally on the under-handle trigger 110 superior. If desired, the user can simultaneously actuate the upper trigger 108 and the lower handle trigger 110 by depressing the thumb and pressing in the index finger.

It can be seen that the upper trigger 108 is centrally located relative to the width of the handle 104 . This is ergonomic since the user can actuate the upper trigger 108 (to provide a spray of steam or water, depending on the configuration of the pump assembly 200) without having to change their handle grip or the angle of their thumb. of. This is in contrast to conventional irons that provide two buttons at the top of the iron, which force the user to change their grip and/or their thumb angle in order to actuate one or the other of the buttons.

The upper trigger is also provided with a large surface area 118 for the user to press with their thumb. By providing a large surface area 118, the user is able to efficiently transfer force to the pump. This again differs from traditional irons, which provide buttons with a small surface area, making it difficult to efficiently transfer force to the buttons. The under-handle trigger 110 is also ergonomically shaped to allow comfortable manipulation by the user and provides a relatively large surface area for efficiently transferring force from the trigger 110 to the pump.

It shall be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

Claims (11)

1. steam iron comprises:

Shell;

Handle, this handle are limited to the part place, top of described shell;

Base plate, this bearing plate is on the base section of described shell;

Heating component, this heating component be bearing in the described shell and with described base plate thermal communication;

Spray outlet;

The water storage tank, this water storage tank is limited in the described shell;

The pump assembly, this pump assembly comprises first mechanical pump and second mechanical pump, described first mechanical pump can manual operation in order to drawing water from described storage tank and to provide steam jet from described base plate, described second mechanical pump can manual operation in order to draw water from described storage tank and to provide water to spray from described sprinkling outlet;

Be used for one handle below flip flop equipment of described first mechanical pump of manual operation and described second mechanical pump, this handle below flip flop equipment is positioned at described handle below; And

Be used for another top flip flop equipment of described first mechanical pump of manual operation and described second mechanical pump, this top flip flop equipment is arranged in the top part of described iron housing.

2. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein, described handle below flip flop equipment functionally is connected in described first mechanical pump in order to described first mechanical pump of manual operation.

3. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein, described top flip flop equipment is positioned at the front portion place of described flatiron and medially is provided with respect to the width of described handle.

4. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein, described top flip flop equipment occupies the width of described handle basically.

5. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein, described top flip flop equipment and described handle below flip flop equipment is arranged to: when in use the user grasps described handle, user's thumb places on the flip flop equipment of described top naturally, and the finger beyond user's the thumb places on the flip flop equipment of described handle below naturally.

6. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein, described top flip flop equipment is slidably mounted in the described iron housing.

7. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein, described handle below flip flop equipment is installed in the described iron housing pivotally.

8. steam iron according to claim 1 wherein, can be operated described top flip flop equipment and described handle below flip flop equipment simultaneously by user's thumb and forefinger.

9. steam iron according to claim 1, wherein,

Described first mechanical pump comprises: first cylinder, and this first cylinder is communicated with described water storage tank fluid via first import; First delivery channel, this first delivery channel is used for water is provided to described base plate; And first piston, this first piston can be operated in order to from described storage tank toward the described first cylinder water-filling and water is discharged to described base plate from described first cylinder, and wherein,

Described second mechanical pump comprises: second cylinder, this second cylinder are communicated with described water storage tank fluid via second import and are communicated with described sprinkling outlet fluid via second outlet; And second piston, this second piston can be operated in order to be discharged to described sprinkling outlet from described storage tank toward the described second cylinder water-filling and with water from described second cylinder.

10. steam iron according to claim 9, wherein, described first cylinder and the setting adjacent one another are of described second cylinder are also limited by the pump case of integral body.

11. steam iron according to claim 10, wherein, described top flip flop equipment comprises the upper piston actuator, the power that this upper piston actuator will put on described top flip flop equipment passes in described first piston and described second piston, and wherein, described handle below flip flop equipment comprises handle below piston actuater, and the power that this handle below piston actuater will put on described handle below flip flop equipment passes to another in described first piston and described second piston.

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