US2699004A - Electric steam iron - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 11, 1955 E. P. SCHREYER ELECTRIC STEAM IRON Filed July 2, '1952,

N rlll United States Patent O ELECTRIC STEAM IRON Edward P. Schreyer, Ridgefield, Conn.

Application July 2, 1952, Serial No. 296,871

17 Claims. (Cl. 38-77) The present invention relates to electric steam irons of the in-built boiler type.

A general object of the invention is to provide aii electric steam iron that can be made with economy of materials and workmanship, with a minimiuni number of parts, and in which access is had to the filling opening without resort to or manipulation of screw plugs or other hot parts, without resort to tools and without the need for a separate filling funnel or other auxiliary equipment, in which blanking operations for forming the steam dome apart from the boiler, or soldering, welding or brazing operations for installing such steam dome upon the boiler, are dispensed with as is also the need for any filling opening distinct from such steam dome.

As conductive to a clear understanding of a significant but more specific feature of the invention, it is noted that where such irons, including the boiler structure thereof, are of aluminum or aluminum alloy, it is important that any water remaining in the boiler after use be removed before the iron is put away as otherwise there is considerable likelihood of corrosion.

It is accordingly among the objects of the invention to provide an electric steam iron structure such as one of aluminum, which not only affords convenience in charging its boiler with water and doing so safely, ev en while the iron is hot, but which also affords facilities for readily pouring out any remaining water after use of the iron, without the likelihood of trapping water that subsequently could lead to corrosion within the boiler.

One of the important features of the invention is the incorporation of the boiler filling opening in the steam dome. To this end, the filling opening coacts with a movable closure to form the steam dome, so that upon opening of said closure, water may be poured through the region of the steam dome into the boiler. Means is provided to afford a vapor-tight seal between the filling opening and the closure in order to render the steam dome leak-tight.

insulating handle means, desirably the handle for manipulating the iron itself, may be hingedly mounted for raising the closure to permit filling, and means is provided for latching the handle to normal position after filling, in which the closure is in operative position. Resilient means carried by the handle retains the closure against its seat, not only to render the steam dome leak tight in use, but to permit it to vent whenever steam pressure tends to accumulate in the boiler.

While within the scope of a broader aspect of the invention, the filling opening of the electric steam iron could be in the form of a filling well such as shown in my prior Patent 2,475,572, granted July 5, 1949, with the closure for the steam dome releasably seated at a silicone plastic gasket, it is preferred, more especially where the boiler is of aluminum, so to form the boiler top that the filling opening will serve also as a discharge opening for pouring out therethrough any `remaining water after use, thereby to guard against the danger of corrosion of such boiler due to storing it away with water in it.

To this end the filling opening, according to one feature, instead of being a well extending downward into the boiler body, rises from the general area of the top of the boiler, preferably in the form of an upturned frusto-conical wall stamped as a unitary part of the boiler shell and presenting an opening through the circular rim at its top, so that it serves as the outlet of a funnel when the iron is inverted to permit emptying without the danger of any water-trapping as would be likely were it attempted to empty through a depressed well. Where the combined filling and discharge opening rises from the top of the boiler, as is preferred, the closure therefor which with the upstanding wall, forms the steam dome, may be in the form of a cap, the side wall of which carries and encompasses a ring, preferably of silicone plastic to afford the seal.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. l is a view in longitudinal cross section through a preferred embodiment of the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view on a somewhat larger scale, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. l,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan View of a detail of the steam iron on a smaller scale,

gig. 4 is a sectional detail taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 1, an

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the iron comprises a boiler B which may be of any suitable sheet metal but is desirably of aluminum and comprises a body shell 10, the rim 11 of which encompasses the downturned flange 12 of the floor plate 13. The body shell is laminated to present an inner brazing layer 10 for ovenwelding or brazing to the floor plate 13 in the assembly operation. Y

Preferably the floor plate 13 extends upward at its rear portion 14 to engage the side and top of the body shell 10. The body shell thus affords room to the rear of the floor plate 13 for accommodating the thermostat 15 mounted on the rear part of the sole plate 16, the operating rod 17 therefor rising through a cover plate 18 affixed at 19 to close an opening 2f) in the rear of the body shell 10. Rod 17 is controlled by a suitable knob 21 accessible from the rear part of the iron for adjusting the temperature to the fabric being ironed.

In a corresponding groove or depression 22 in the upper face of the sole plate 16 rests the electric heating element'23 which is preferably staked in position as at 24. The boiler floor may be secured to the sole plate by screws 19 and bolt 25, the latter accessible through a corresponding aperture in the bottom of the sole plate 16 and threaded into associated nut 26. Thus the heater 23 is in heat conducting relation to both the sole plate and .the boiler.

Rising from near the forward end of the boiler is the steam tube 2.7, the reduced lower end 28 of which is oven-b razed into a corresponding hublet 29 formed in the boiler floor and which affords a leak tight seal with the sole plate 16 by means of a silicone plastic ring 39 about the lower end of the steam tube and against the top face of the sole plate. Since the boiler is charged with water at the opening 31 about the upper part of the steam tube 27, means are provided to prevent such water passing into the open upper end of the steam tube. This may be accomplished by the simple expedient of seating a closure cap 32 upon the top of the steam tube, said cap having a stepped flange 33 to seat at shoulder 34 upon the upper rim of tube 27, the upper and reduced part 35 of the cap flange having a number of small apertures 36 therein.

The sole plate has a circular depression 38 in the lower face thereof that has communication with the lower end of the steam tube 27, and discharges the steam to the fabric being ironed, by way of ports or slits 39 in closure plate 40 for the depression, which is detachably secured in place as by an upstanding screw 41 threaded into the bottom of the sole plate 16.

The steam tube 27 may be positioned within a sleeve 42 .rising from the boiler floor, over the upper end of which is a bathe plate 43 extending across the entire area of the forward half of the boiler and having a bordering fiange 44 oven-heat soldered or brazed to the body shell by means of the inner flowable lamination 10 thereof.

ln the embodiment shown, the boiler filiing conformation performs also the function of an effective emptying conformation. To this end the filling conformation constitutes a frusto-conical Wall 45 rising from the upper part of the boiler as an integral part of the boiler shell stamping, the upper rim 31 of said shell rising wall being the filling and emptying opening.

The closure 46 for the opening 31 is carried by a movable arm with an insulating handle, preferably movable in an are. The handle H of the iron itself is preferably hinged to serve that purpose.

Effectively to mount the closure and for convenience and economy of construction, the iron handle is made of two matching hollow moldings 47 of plastic which are in face-to-face abutment along the median longitudinal line of the handle assembly and are assembled together by appropriate fastener rods 48 transversely through corresponding openings therefor, each handle half being a unitary part of a corresponding base plate 49. The handle structure may be mounted by means of a hinge or trunnion 50 at its rear, bearing in a bracket 51 constituting part of the boiler. The handle has a beveled rear end, as shown, hollowed out, so that when tilted back to rest upon the heel h of the iron, it will accommodate the protruding knob 21.

The mount for the closure of the filling structure may be a disk or plate 52 lodged at its periphery in corresponding grooves 53 in the interior of the hollow handle structure in which it is slidably positioned a rod, desirably a hollow rivet 54, axially of the closure and welded thereto. A spiral spring 55 interposed between said holder plate 52 and a corresponding peripheral circular shoulder 56 urges the closure to seated position. The closure is desirably a sheet metal cap that carries a yielding ring 58, preferably of silicone plastic, lodged within its peripheral depending bead 57 resilieiitly to seat against the outer surface of the frusto-conieal wall 45 under the pressure of spring 55.

The handle is releasably retained in closed position by a latch, preferably comprising an upstanding rod 59 slightly rearward of the front leg of the handle and bearing in a bushing 6G within the base 49 of the handle H. The latch has an operating thumb piece 61 mounted upon red 59. Rod 59 has an elongated rounded head 62 at its lower end which enters a keyway opening in steel plate 63 that is retained in a closed depression 64 within the top of the boiler by means of an aluminum disk 65 welded peripherally Within depression 64. A coil spring 66' about the stem 59 and about the protruding end of bushing 6l), is interposed between the base 49 and a washer 67 against which it reacts to urge it through the opening of washer 65 against steel plate 63.

The steam tube 27 is desirably not axially of the filling opening 31, but its upper end is near the rim of said opening at one side as shown, to afford a wide space with respect to the opposite side of the rim for adequate room in filling. Desirably also a bafe wall 69 of width little greater than that of the steam tube extends downward slightly from the top of the boiler shell to intercept any water that might otherwise splash through apertures into the steam tube.

In the handling of the iron, some persons have a tendency to slam the hinged handle H down so forcefully as to distort or break the boiler if made of thin stock, as is ordinarily preferred. Such distortion or breakage would occur at the region of the latch where the impact in forceful closure is substantially uncushioned. To remedy this diificully, a sheet metal tube 72 is interposed as a strut between the door 13 of the boiler and the floor of the depression 64 to take the thrust of such impact. That tube may be positioned at a corresponding indentation 73 in the floor of the boiler, extends through a corresponding aperture in bafiie 43, and is preferably ovenwelded in place at both ends. For economy and convenience, the tube 72 may be bent from a flat sheet with its longitudinal slit or opening 74 preferably extending forwardly, as shown, for ready expulsion of water in emptying the iron.

The strut 72 and the floor 13 of the iron are preferably electropositive with respect to the lamination 10 of the boiler shell, so as to localize thereat any minor corrosion that might occur while the boiler is Water charged and especially while hot and in use.

The strut 72 has a further advantage of correctly positioning the oor plate within the boiler shell so that the flange 12 is properly registered with respect to the rim of the shell.

A free passage is provided to convey downward from baffle plate 43 any water that might otherwise remain trapped above that baffle plate and thus give a false indication of water level at the washer 71 around the steam tube 27, which washer serves as a marker readily visible through the filler opening 31 to indicate when to stop filling. This result is attained by providing an upstanding ledge 7S along the width of the rear end of baille plate 43 and providing a longitudinal groove '76 extending horizontally or inclined slightly downward from the steam tube 27 to strut 72 so that water upon bafe plate 43 and dammed by ledge 75, will flow along groove 76 for escape through slot 74 to combine with the water lodged on the floor of the boiler.

The operation of the iron will be readily understood. The steam generated within the boiler during use, collects in the steam dome D made up of the rising wall 45 and the closure cap 46 thereof, from which steam passes through lateral apertures 35 in the steam tube 27 down to the steam chamber 38 for escape through the steam holes 39 in the sole plate 16.

When it is desired to re-fill the boiler, say while the boiler is hot in the course of use, the operator simply presses the thumb piece 61 with the same hand that grasps the handle H, thereby to open the latch and tilts the handle backward for its heel to rest upon the heel piece lz of the iron base, the parts being shown only partly tilted back in dash lines in Fig. l. Thus the closure 46 with its resilient ring 58 is lifted to clear the filling opening 31 and water may readily be poured into the boiler. Such admission occurs without ejection of hot water or steam that might injure the user. For, the filling opening 31 is of wide area and the upper end of the steam tube being near one portion only of the rim 3l, affords ample admission space. The baffle plate 43 has no effective heat storing capacity comparable to that of the sole plate so that any cold water impinging on it will not evolve steam. ln this filling operation, no water from the filling opening 31 will enter the small lateral openings 35 of the steam tube and the bale wall 69 would intercept any water tending to enter laterally from the front part of the iron.

After filling, the handle is pivotcd back to closed position and the latch re-closed by thumb pressure, thereby pressing the closure cap 46 to seat about the i'illing wall 45, as shown in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, under compression of the coil spring 55.

The closure being self aligning with the frusto-conical wall and its yielding ring 58 being of inner diameter larger than that of rim 3l, the seating of thc closure is accurate and effective, without the danger of said ring striking the sharp edge of the rim 31, and the expansion of ring 58 is limited by the side wall of the closure cap, thus assuring a tight seal during use.

Should steam pressure tend to develop within the boiler, it is manifest that it will cause the closure cap 46 to rise slightly for venting and for ready escape laterally beyond the front and sides of the base plate 49 of the handle.

Upon completion of the ironing, it is desirable to empty out any remaining water, especially `where the boiler is of aluminum which may be subject to corrosion should water remain stagnant therein for any prolonged period. While the water could be ejected by continuing the heating of the iron in inverted position, tilted slightly forward, and allowing the steam to force the water out through the apertures 39, that operation is slow and somewhat hazardous.

According to the present invention, the handle need merely be moved to open position and the iron inverted after it has cooled, in order to allow the remaining water to escape through the opening 31, which escape occurs completely without any danger of trapping water as would be likely were the filling opening in the form of a depressed filling Well. Thus even though the heating element be burned out and the iron dead, the water remaining in the boiler may be readily discharged therefrom, which is all but impossible with familiary types of electric steam irons.

Thus according to the invention, a rugged electric steam iron is provided with a minimum number of parts that are easily assembled, without the need for elaborate Welding operations, and in fact that requires merely ovenwelding for affording the leak-tight boiler construction, which affords facilities for ready and safe filling, even when hot, without the need for separate filling funnels or other auxiliary equipment or tools, which inherently precludes building up hazardous steam pressure therein, and which may readily and completely be emptied after conclusion of the ironing operation, and without hazard.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An electric steam iron of the type comprising a sole plate, a boiler affixed thereon and having a filling opening in the upper part thereof, a steam tube rising from the sole plate, electric heating means in heat conductive relation with both the sole plate and the boiler and a steam dome at the top of the boiler and extending over the upper end of the steam tube; the combination in which said steam dome comprises a removable closure and a seat therefor peripherally of said filling opening, a carrier for said closure having a hand hold in heat insulated relation to said iron for manually displacing said closure to permit filling of the boiler through said opening, and a gasket ring afixed peripherally of one of the coacting elements that constitute the steam dome closure and the seat therefor, and means upon said boiler releasably to latch said closure carrier for maintaining a leaktight seal between the closure of said steam dome and the seat therefor.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 in which resilient means is interposed between the carrier and the closure to permit venting rise of the closure under steam pressure in the boiler.

3. The combination recited in claim l in which the hand hold for the closure carrier constitutes the insulating handle of the iron and in which said handle is trans versely hinged near the rear end thereof to the iron structure.

4. The combination recited in claim 3 in which the handle constitutes two substantially identical elements in face-to-face engagement along the longitudinal mid-section of the assembled handle, means releasably assembling said handle parts into a unitary structure, the forward part of said handle being hollow and in which the carrier for said closure comprises a plate peripherally retained in corresponding internal depressions within said hollow portion of the handle.

5. The combination recited in claim 3 in which the handle constitutes two substantially identical elements in face-to-face engagement along the longitudinal midsection of the assembled handle, means releasably assembling said handle parts into a unitary structure, the forward part of said handle being hollow and in which said carrier comprises an axial rod rising from said closure, slidably extending through a disk peripherally retained in corresponding internal depressions within said hollow portion of the handle, and the resilient means constitutes a coil spring encompassing said rod and nterposed between said plate and said closure.

The combination recited in claim 1 in which the rim of the filling opening extends above the main area of the boiler top and in which the closure constitutes a cap encompassing said rim and said gasket ring is affixed within said cap closure near the rim thereof.

7. The combination recited in claim l in which the boiler top has a frusto-conical wall portion extending upward from the main area of the boiler top and presenting a circular filler opening rim for convenience in emptying water from the boiler when the steam dome closure is in open position.

8. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the upper end of the steam tube is adjacent one part of the rim of the filler opening and substantially spaced from the diametrically opposite part thereof, and in which the upper extremity of said steam tube is closed and said steam tube presents one or more lateral openings below said closed upper extremity thereof.

9. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the upper end of the steam tube is adjacent one part of the rim of the filler opening and substantially spaced from the diametrically opposite part thereof, and in which a cap closes the upper extremity of the tube, said cap having lateral openings between its closed end and the end of the steam tube.

10. An electric steam iron comprising a sole plate, a boiler affixed thereto, electric heating means carried by said sole plate and in heat conducting relation to both said sole plate and said boiler, said boiler having an upturned wall portion integral therewith, rising therefrom and presenting a filling opening above the main upper area of said boiler, a steam tube rising from said sole plate to said opening, an iron handle structure hinged near its rear end to the rear part of the iron, a closure for the filling opening resiliently mounted in the forward part of said handle and carrying a resilient peripheral ring for coaction with the rim area of the filling opening, and a latch carried by the handle structure for releasably securing the latter in operative position with the closure resiliently urged into seating position about the filling opening to form a steam dome.

11. The combination recited in claim 10 in which the upturned portion at the top of the boiler is of frustoconical form converging upward to the filling rim, and in which the closure is a sheet metal cap having therein a ring of silicone plastic affixed near its rim and resiliently pressed in closed position about the frusto-conical filling portion.

12, In an electric steam iron, a sole plate having a steam outlet port in its lower surface, a boiler mounted on the upper surface of the sole plate and having in its upper wall a filler opening, a steam tube communicating at its lower end with said steam outlet port and extending upwardly through the boiler, the upper part of said tube being encompassed by said filler opening, an arm above the boiler pivoted at one end to the rear part of the iron structure to swing up and down in an arc relative to said boiler, a latch operable when the arm is in its lowermost position releasably to secure the free end of the arm against upward movement away from the boiler, the forward portion of said arm being disposed over the ller opening when the arm is thus latched down, and an inverted cup-shaped member carried by said portion of the arm, said member constructed and arranged so that it encompasses the upper end of said tube and has its lower rim in sealing engagement with the boiler around the margin of said opening when said arm is latched down, thereby to close said opening and provide an enclosed steam passageway from the boiler to the upper end of the steam tube.

13. An electric steam iron comprising a sole plate, a boiler afxed thereon, electric heating means in heat conductive relation with both said sole plate and said boiler, said boiler having a frusto-conical structure unitary therewith, rising from its top and open at the reduced upper rim thereof, a steam tube rising from the sole plate and encompassed near its upper end by said open rim, a closure cap having a silicone plastic ring secured within the rim thereof and releasably seated about said open rim, and means affording a heat insulated hand hold movably aflixed to the steam iron and resiliently mounting and serving for displacement of said closure cap from said opening for facility of charging and discharging Water.

14. The combination recited in claim 3 in which a strut is interposed between the region of the latch at the top of the boiler and the floor of the boiler and is permanently secured in place at both ends thereof.

15. The combination recited in claim 1 in which a baflie plate extends across the forward part of the boiler, spaced from the boiler floor, a marker about the steam tube and above the baflie plate shows the filling level and the baflie plate affords a channel for escape of otherwise trapped water downward under the baie plate.

16. The combination recited in claim 15 in which the baffle plate has an upstanding ledge across its rear end, the channel is a longitudinal groove along the baffle from the region of the marker rearward and a hollow strut rising from the floor plate to the boiler top presents a longitudinal slot through which the groove conveys otherwise trapped water from above the baffle plate.

17. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the lling opening is at the rim of a frusto-conical wall rising from the top of the boiler, in which the closure is a cap mounted for self alignment with said wall, and in which the gasket ring is mounted within the cap and is of larger inner diameter than said rim to seat about the frustoconical wall.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,475,572 Schreyer July 5, 1949

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