Active ironing board

Details Active ironing board Active ironing board

2002-02-25

2003-12-02

Izaguirre, Ismael (Department: 3765)

Textiles: ironing or smoothing

Ironing tables

Single pressing surface

Reexamination Certificate

active

06655055

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention deals with domestic appliances and professional equipment, and more specifically equipment used for ironing, and involves an active ironing board, of simple construction, which is more efficient than current active ironing boards.
Ironing techniques, like the domestic and professional appliances used for this type of work, have greatly evolved over recent years.
In fact, in the past, all ironing was actually done using only dry irons.
These were followed by steam irons, and nowadays, the market is oriented towards steam generated ironing units.
The release of steam produced by this new generation of appliances has become increasingly important: from the 30 g/min produced in the past to the over 100 g/min of some appliances produced today. The result is better quality ironing. In return however, the ironing board must release an increasing volume of steam.
In order to adapt to steam ironing, industries initially came up with ironing boards that enabled steam to easily pass through (passive board called “steam special”).
A more common solution is the use of a perforated surface made of flat metal. A cover made of thick flannel in placed over this surface to offer more comfortable ironing.
This is inexpensive technology and the steam can easily pass through the cover and the table.
However, after passing through the table, the steam rises up towards the user which can be very unpleasant. Furthermore, the steam condenses over the metal parts of the board and the drops that form under the table fall onto the floor. Furthermore, the cover remains damp, and this makes it difficult to keep the ironing dry.
In an attempt to temporarily resolve this inconvenience and in particular, prevent steam condensation, new technical solutions have been developed. This new technology has been applied to those products available on the market as “active board”.
These existing active boards are equipped with ventilators that serve to suck in and blow out air and steam through the cover.
A watertight compartment has been built under the surface of the board which, by creating a closed compartment, makes it possible to channel air and steam from the board to the ventilator and back to avoid drops of condensation from falling below (water retention). This fully watertight compartment situated below is usually bounded by at least one continuous bulkhead make of steel or plastic material.
Furthermore, the movement of air through the cover ensures that it is kept dry.
Some at times are equipped with a heating system made up of a peripheral heating element that makes it possible to heat the board from below. This supplementary system helps to maintain the cover dry, especially when the ventilation is not switched on.
There are many advantages to these active boards, in particular: the cover is always dry, which improves the quality and comfort of ironing; the steam does not rise towards the user; the air suction and release function prevents fabric creasing, reduced temperature and makes ironing easier.
However, this is a costly solution due to the presence of an integrated ventilating unit and heating system. Furthermore, the watertight compartment situated under the board is currently built with a steel or plastic support frame that needs to hold heavy equipment. This continuous and massive frame is cold and causes steam to condense. In this manner, the water stays in this compartment and when the board is folded for storage this water flows to the bottom of the frame and comes into contact with the cover. Consequently, when it dries up, the tip of the cover has a rust-colored stain.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The particular scope of this invention is to at least partially resolve some of the inconveniences of active boards mentioned above, and prevent condensate from forming in the compartment underneath the board.
For this purpose, this invention involves an ironing or active ironing board with a perforated plane support formed for example, by a metal grill, covered over with a covering material that is permeable to gases, usually a cover, that forms the ironing surface under which there is a suction compartment delimited by a lower support panel where at least one ventilating unit or similar suction unit is mounted to expel gasses present in the suction compartment to the outside, with the lower support panel also permeable to gases.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2029856 (1936-02-01), Collette
patent: 2495468 (1950-01-01), Mueller
patent: 2645046 (1953-07-01), Frej
patent: 4442616 (1984-04-01), Hauser et al.
patent: 5669164 (1997-09-01), Voitchovsky
patent: 6151817 (2000-11-01), Eiben

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