Textiles: ironing or smoothing – Smoothing machines – Electric control
Patent
1987-02-27
1991-01-01
Nerbun, Peter
Textiles: ironing or smoothing
Smoothing machines
Electric control
38 7, 38 46, 38 82, 38144, 223 57, 223 70, D06F 6102
Patent
active
049809814
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to an ironing machine for ironing articles such as garments and textile piece goods including sheets, towels, handkerchiefs, tablecloths, place mats, curtains and the like.
The term "ironing" as used herein shall be taken to mean a treatment performed on an article for the purpose of removing wrinkles from the article, particularly after laundering, wearing or otherwise using the article. The ironing process may involve the application of heat, pressure, steam or a combination of one or more of such treatments to the article.
Ironing is a labour intensive task which some people find rather tedious. At present, ironing is generally performed either with a hand-held, heated iron, or with a manually operated ironing machine having a pair of pressing surfaces which are moved together so as to press an article therebetween with heat being applied to at least one of the pressing surfaces. In both cases, an operator is required to perform the ironing task.
There is a need for an ironing machine which operates automatically. In the Australian patent application Ser. No. 23391/83 there is disclosed an apparatus for automatically ironing articles. The apparatus has a pair of co-operating pressing rollers which are adapted to be disposed one on each side of a article to be ironed. The rollers are movable between a spaced position in which the rollers are clear of the article and a pressing position in which the rollers are in pressing contact with the article. The rollers are further movable in unison over the article while in the pressing position and means are provided for applying steam to the article as the rollers traverse the article. While this apparatus has performed satisfactorily on articles which are of uniform thickness, it has not proved altogether satisfactory on articles which have surface irregularities or are of varying thickness owing to, for example, the presence of padded sections, pockets, buttons and zips. For the most part, the difficiency arises because the rollers move apart as they encounter areas of increasing thickness and, in doing so, may leave adjacent areas inadequately pressed.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ironing machine which is capable of accommodating irregularities in the surfaces of articles to be ironed.
In one form the invention resides in an ironing machine comprising an ironing zone to receive an article to be ironed, a heat applying means for applying heat to an article received at the ironing zone, the heat applying means being movable relative to the ironing zone for traversing the ironing zone, the heat applying means including two opposed heat applying surfaces one disposed on each side of the ironing zone for contacting a surface of an article at the ironing zone and conforming to the surface contour thereof while traversing the ironing zone.
In one arrangement the heat applying surfaces may each be defined by a plurality of movable elements.
The movable elements may be in the form of fingers of heat conductive material, said fingers being urged into a contacting position for contacting an article at the ironing zone. The fingers effectively float on the surface of the article so as to accommodate any irregularities in the surface thereof.
In addition to applying heat to an article at the ironing zone, the fingers or other movable elements may apply pressure thereto so as to enhance the ironing process.
The fingers may mounted for angular movement about an axis transverse to the direction of traverse of the ironing zone. In the preferred arrangement, the fingers are of resilient sheet material (such as stainless steel) and fixed at one end only so as to extend therefrom in cantilever fashion. Each finger is shaped to slidingly contact the article at the ironing zone. The resilient nature of the sheet material permits angular movement of the finger to accommodate irregularities in the surface of the article.
The fingers or other movable elements may be in heat conductive relationship with a heat source, or may be remote from the
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Aim Industries Australia Limited
Nerbun Peter
LandOfFree
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