Textiles: ironing or smoothing – Smoothing implements – Flatirons
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-04
2001-04-17
Izaguirre, Ismael (Department: 3741)
Textiles: ironing or smoothing
Smoothing implements
Flatirons
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216369
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a steam iron with a water reservoir for the supply of water to an evaporation chamber in which the fed water is convertible into steam and which is connectable to at least one first and one second steam discharge port, with a heating element for heating both the evaporation chamber and a soleplate, said soleplate having an ironing surface and a nose at its forward end when viewed in the direction of movement, and said first steam discharge port being arranged in such close proximity to the iron's nose that the steam propagates in the area adjacent to the iron's nose.
It is generally known in the art that steam ironing is capable of producing a significantly better smoothing result on the material being ironed than dry ironing. Conventional steam irons include a plurality of steam discharge ports on the underside of the soleplate for dampening the material being ironed with steam directly underneath the soleplate. As a rule, however, steam applied in this manner is heated to a very high temperature, impinging on an article that is equally heated to a high temperature, so that the steam condenses poorly. Therefore, such types of steam iron are superior to those just described that provide for the steam to exit not under the soleplate but along the side thereof. This steam exiting along the side of the soleplate will be referred to as surface steam in the following because it propagates on the surface of the material being ironed, covering those areas of the material over which the steam iron does not pass at this particular moment. In known steam irons operating with surface steam, however, the major part of the steam escapes upwardly, moistening the operator's hand and face because the discharge orifice and/or the steam pressure are inconveniently selected. The surface steam strikes a portion of the material which, as a rule, is not ironed over and heated as yet. This enables a substantially more effective condensation of the surface steam on the material being ironed, so that when the prior steamed material is ironed over subsequently, the smoothing effect obtained is improved compared to conventional steam ironing.
From SU 1201376 A a steam iron is known which is supplied with steam from an external steam generator through a hose pipe and which has a second line for the supply of current to the heating element for heating the soleplate. Typically, such ironing systems are used as professional irons, the external steam generator typically producing a steam pressure of about 200 kPa which corresponds to a steam pressure about 1,000 times greater than a steam pressure in conventional domestic irons with integral water tank and drip valve. The soleplate of this steam iron has a groove extending essentially parallel to the outer contour of the soleplate and, immediately adjacent thereto, along all sides of the iron, as a result of which the steam escapes forwardly ahead of the ironing nose, rearwardly to the end remote from the nose, and towards either side. The steam is directed through the steam conduit into a feed channel whose direction of flow is nearly perpendicular to the material being ironed, terminating in the circumferential groove. From the groove the steam passes through a very thin slot between the material being ironed and the slightly raised outer periphery of the soleplate. Considering that the slightly raised outer periphery of the soleplate is approximately semi-circular in cross section on the side facing the material being ironed, the steam flow first experiences great acceleration at the narrowest point between the soleplate and the material being ironed as a result of the Venturi effect, subsequently escaping, due to the outer radius, to any angular direction including upwardly away from the side of the material being ironed.
Disadvantageously, however, it may happen that such a narrow slot is blocked by very thick fabric or a very soft material being ironed so that steam is prevented from striking the surface. Moreover, the soleplate's outer contour edge which is radiused in cross section, while exhibiting relatively favorable properties as regards the mechanical smoothing of creases, has very poor properties as regards the distribution of steam after exiting the slot. The steam is discharged in like manner in all directions including upwardly, so that all of the ambient air up to a height of at least 50 cm from the material being ironed is equally exposed to substantial amounts of steam. This is not only uncomfortable for the operator but also causes a severely increased water consumption necessitating a very large external water reservoir. Adding to inefficiency is the very large area covered by the pre-steaming of the material being ironed due to the extremely high steam pressure.
A substantially more compact steam iron intended for normal household use is known from DE-OS 4133295 A1. In this iron, a water tank is integrated into the iron, and a heating element heats both the soleplate and a first and a second evaporation chamber. By means of a drip valve a uniform supply of water is fed from the water tank into the first evaporation chamber, as a result of which the steam is discharged, essentially by the action of atmospheric pressure and the force of gravity, out of steam discharge ports under the steam iron at a steam pressure of 100 to 200 Pa, approximately. Further, by means of a control button a piston pump may be operated, drawing water from the water tank and injecting it into the second evaporation chamber so that this steam, due to the pump pressure, is discharged at a somewhat higher pressure from an orifice that is arranged at a height of about 1.3 cm above the ironing surface and adjacent to the nose of the iron. This burst of surface steam generated by a piston pump is usually referred to as “jet function”. While this “jet function” has proven to be eminently suitable for smoothing the wrinkles out of those areas where access is particularly difficult, particularly with the soleplate out of contact with the fabric, a continuous surface steam function is only possible with the pump in continuous operation. Moreover, only an area around the nose of the iron is exposed to steam, turbulences preventing the steam from dispersing close to the surface.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,117 a steam iron of the type initially referred to is known, which includes a heating element for heating both the soleplate and a steam chamber, and a drip valve metering water from the water tank integrated into the iron into the steam chamber. A second steam discharge port is provided in the soleplate for the conventional discharge of steam beneath the steam iron, and a first steam discharge port is provided above the soleplate adjacent to the nose of the iron. Through a valve control, communication is established either between the steam chamber and the second steam discharge port for steam beneath the iron, or between the steam chamber and the first steam discharge port for surface steam. In this known embodiment, accordingly, only one of the two steam functions, that is, either surface steam or steam beneath the iron, can be selected at a time. It is a further disadvantage of this embodiment that the valve mechanism requires the steam to travel along a very narrow tortuous path in the steam conduit until it reaches the first steam discharge port, so that the steam propagates only in an area immediately ahead of the nose of the iron. In this event, steam from the first steam discharge port strikes fabric that is only a few centimeters ahead of the iron's nose and is already in preheated condition by heat radiation emitted from the soleplate, so that the steam's condensation properties on the material being ironed are not optimal. This effect is further aggravated when a swift ironing motion is used, accompanied by a still further reduced steam propagation. Moreover, the narrow steam path and the valve mechanism to the first steam discharge port are prone to become clogged with mineral deposits accumulating gradua
Coronado Juan Carlos
Falco Desideri
Gili Sergi
Martinez Candelario
Pozo-Marin Remedios
Braun Aktiengesellschaft
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Izaguirre Ismael
LandOfFree
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