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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to steam irons, and, more particularly to steam
irons adapted for use with an external water/steam reservoir.
Steam irons that are connected to a large capacity, external water or steam
reservoir by a flexible hose are known in the art. The reservoir may
provide the iron with either water or steam, the latter being generated by
a heater associated with the external reservoir. This arrangement permits
a large capacity reservoir that is particularly useful in lengthy ironing
sessions. Unlike standard irons with incorporated internal water
reservoirs, the person using this iron does not have to fill the reservoir
several times while ironing.
In spite of the advantages of such external reservoir irons, they are also
inconvenient in that they are cumbersome and difficult to implement.
Moreover, external reservoirs adapted to supplying steam to the iron must
be heated quite a long time because of their large water storage capacity.
The above mentioned drawbacks are also a problem to a user wanting to iron
only a single garment in a short period. The time it takes to implement an
external reservoir iron is thus disproportionate to a very brief period of
use.
Some irons are known, notably those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,316,907,
U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,507, and DE 2,800,767, which have an internal
reservoir connected to an external supply. In these irons, however, the
external supply replenishes only water to the internal reservoir. At best,
this kind of arrangement is not suited to different kinds of ironing.
Indeed, when an external supply is used, the vapor pressure of the supply
is limited by the presence of the reservoir and drip regulation devices
which, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,316,907, connect the reservoir to
the vaporization chamber. Furthermore, the internal reservoir, located in
the path connecting the external reservoir to the vaporization chamber, is
not adapted to an external steam supply.
On the contrary, if, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,507, the internal
reservoir is joined to the vaporization chamber by an injection device,
such as a valve that is adapted to a highly-pressurized, large discharge
water supply, the injection device is not adapted to the use of the
internal reservoir alone because it cannot accommodate injection of water
only by gravity feed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and
has as an object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks. Notably, an
iron well suited to all types of ironing situations and to the needs of
the user is provided.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in
part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the
description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects
and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of
the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the
appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention,
as embodied and broadly described herein, the steam iron of the invention
has a vaporization chamber connected by a water or steam supply device to
a flexible hose extending to a large capacity external reservoir.
According to the invention, the iron also has a device to regulate the
discharge of water from an internal reservoir that is also connected to
the vaporization chamber, the regulation device being connected to the
internal reservoir incorporated in the iron and which is separate from the
supply device.
Thus, with the iron of this invention, the user can employ either the large
capacity external reservoir for lengthy ironing sessions or the
incorporated internal reservoir of lower capacity for short ironing
sessions. The iron thus enables a flexible response to the needs of a
user.
Moreover, when the external reservoir is not ready to supply steam, the
user can rely on the internal reservoir in order to start ironing. This is
particularly true for external reservoirs that supply steam and that need
advance heating time.
In a preferred version of the invention, the flexible hose is joined
detachably to the external reservoir. Implementation of the iron is thus
simplified because the user can employ the iron only for short ironing
sessions. Otherwise, one would further have to remove and replace the
external reservoir, which is relatively burdensome.
In a beneficial version of the invention, a mounting block carrying the
flexible hose is detachable from the iron, the flexible hose being
connected to a supply device when the mounting block is attached to the
iron.
The iron can thus be disconnected from the external reservoir by detaching
the mounting block connected to one end of the flexible hose, the latter
thus capable of being attached to the external reservoir in a definitive
way. When the user does not wish to use the external reservoir, one thus
avoids keeping the flexible hose attached to the iron and the attendant
hindrance to user when ironing.
Other distinctive features and advantages of the invention are found in the
subsequent description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part
of this specification illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and,
together with the description, serve to explain the objects, advantages
and principles of the invention. In the drawings,
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the iron of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a simplified view of a first embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a simplified view of a second embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In FIG. 1, iron (1) houses vaporization chamber (2) located above the sole
(3) of the iron. Iron (1) includes a device (8, 11) that supplies
vaporization chamber (2) and is connected to a flexible hose (9), which
extends from a large capacity external reservoir (13), seen in FIG. 3.
Supply device (8,11) consists of a conduit (8) having a first end (10)
connected to vaporization chamber (2) by a gravitational supply device,
such as a regulator valve (11), and a second end (12) connected to
flexible hose (9).
Iron (1) also has an internal water reservoir (4) connected to vaporization
chamber (2) by regulator device (5). The latter is, in conventional
fashion, a drip system (5) activated by control (6) on iron (1). Reservoir
(4) is supplied with water via opening (7), which is preferably located on
the front of the iron.
Internal reservoir (4) is separate from supply conduit (8) that joins the
external reservoir to the vaporization chamber (2).
The two lay-on circuits for water or steam are thus entirely separate from
each other depending on whether they originate from the external reservoir
(13) or from the internal reservoir (4). Thus, vaporization chamber (2)
can be supplied either by water reservoir (4) integrated in iron (1), or
by the external reservoir (13).
The external reservoir can be a water reservoir including a pump (not
shown) adapted to supply flexible hose (9) with water. The water thus
passes through flexible hose (9) and conduit (8) so it is subsequently
supplied to vaporization chamber (2) according to a discharge regulated by
valve (11).
The external reservoir can also include heating means adapted to vaporizing
water in the external reservoir. The latter thus directly supplies the
water in the external reservoir as steam to the iron.
As shown in FIG. 2, and according to a first embodiment of the invention,
flexible hose (9) is connected detachably to external reservoir (13) by a
tubular detent fitting (14) fastened in exit opening (15) in the external
reservoir (13). The detent fitting (14) makes it possible to plug and
unplug iron (1) very easily to and from external reservoir (13).
When the user wants to iron a small amount of clothing, the user can unplug
iron (1) from external reservoir (13) and use the internal reservoir (4),
which greatly simplifies implementation and installation of iron (1).
As shown in FIG. 1, iron (1) also has a control means (21) connected by a
cord and connector (22) to external reservoir (13). The control means (21)
thus controls the external reservoir for the supply of water or steam
through the flexible hose (9).
Control means (21) is preferably located on the handle of iron (1) so that
when the user grabs iron (1) to iron clothes, he automatically controls
the distribution of water or steam from the external reservoir. This
supply is interrupted as soon as the iron is at rest and when the user no
longer holds the handle of iron (1). As in FIG. 2, connector (22) is
connected detachably to external reservoir (13), which includes a
connection receptacle (23) and associated valve means (not shown).
Preferably, flexible hose (9), cord and connector (22), and the electric
supply cord (18) of the electric circuit of iron (1) enter the iron within
a single cord (24) in which they are all bound. This makes it possible to
have only one cord (24) extend from iron (1) and to thus avoid the
hindrance created by multiple, separate conduits and/or cords.
Preferably, external reservoir (13) includes an electric supply plug of the
sort whereby flexible hose (9), connector (22), and electric supply cord
(18) are all plugged into external reservoir (13).
According to another embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3, a
mounting block (16), carrying flexible hose (9) together with the control
cord from the control means (21) and an electric power cord in a common
cable (24), is releasably attached to the iron (1). Flexible hose (9) is
connected to supply device (8, 11) when mounting block (16) is attached to
the iron. A second mounting block (17) can be substituted for the first
mounting block (16).
During short ironing sessions, then, flexible hose (9) can be eliminated
from iron (1), thus avoiding the hose impeding the iron's movements.
The first and second mounting blocks (16, 17) preferably include an
electric supply cord, such a cord (18) being part of the second mounting
block (17) and connected to an electric circuit of iron (1) when the
second mounting block (17) is attached to the iron. The cable (24)
includes a similar power cord extending to the first mounting block (16).
This electric supply cord (18) makes it possible, in a known manner, to
furnish the energy necessary for the elements of iron (1) that equip
vaporization chamber (2).
As in FIG. 3, the first and second mounting blocks (16, 17) comprise heel
(19) of the iron. The two detachable mounting blocks (16,17) thus fit onto
the rear of iron (1) and are kept on iron (1) by detent means (20).
In the second embodiment in FIG. 3, the first detachable mount (16)
includes the cord and connector (22) which is connected to external
reservoir (13) and is connected to control (21) of the iron when the first
mounting block (16) is attached to the iron. Mounting block (16) also
includes flexible hose (9).
During long ironing sessions with a steam-generating external reservoir
(13), the user can plug in only electric supply cord (18) to plug (25) of
the external reservoir (13) and start his ironing owing to the extra
reservoir (4) integrated in the iron while waiting until the steam
generator is hot enough to use.
Iron (1) of this invention, when used with a heating external reservoir
(13), allows immediate ironing without waiting for the generator to
preheat.
During short ironing sessions, one may, in the first embodiment of the
invention shown in FIG. 2, plug supply (18) to a standard sector plug,
avoiding a cumbersome extensions of hoses and cables from external
reservoir (13).
Similarly, in the second embodiment in FIG. 3, during brief ironing
sessions, mounting block (16) is replaced by mounting block (17), which
only has electric supply cord (18) that is plugged into a standard sector
plug. Installation of the iron by the user is thus simplified for short
ironing sessions.
The examples of plugging in the iron to external reservoirs are
non-limiting.
The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the invention has
been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not
intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form
disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the
above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. The
embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles
of the invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in
the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various
modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is
intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended
hereto, and their equivalents.
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