AU2012200907B2

AU2012200907B2 - Steam iron

Info

Publication number: AU2012200907B2
Application number: AU2012200907A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Nick O'loughlin; Eric Rees
Original assignee: Newell Australia Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Newell Australia Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2011-02-22
Filing date: 2012-02-16
Publication date: 2017-05-25
Anticipated expiration: 2032-02-16
Also published as: AU2012200907A1; CN102644190A

Abstract

Described herein is a steam iron including an upper housing, a handle defined at an upper portion of the housing, and a soleplate assembly including a base heated by a heating assembly. The steam iron also includes a mounting arrangement for moveably 5 mounting the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly to allow movement therebetween. 112 Figure 3A 112 Figure 3B 112 Figure 3C

Description

2012200907 16 Feb 2012 P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 Australia

Patents Act 1990

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT

Invention Title:

Steam iron

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 2

Steam iron

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to steam irons.

Background of the invention 5 Many types of steam irons for ironing clothes and suchlike are known.

One broad category of steam irons includes so-called “steam station” irons. Steam station irons include an iron unit connected to a separate steam station. The iron unit includes a heating element located adjacent to a soleplate for ironing clothes and other laundry. The steam station includes a water reservoir which stores and heats water and 10 delivers water to the iron unit for use in ironing (e.g. as steam or a water spray).

Another broad category of irons includes stand-alone irons. As with a steam station iron unit a stand alone iron includes a sole plate and heating element, however stand alone-irons also include their own on-board water reservoir which stores water for use during ironing. 15 Both steam station iron units and stand-alone irons may be provided with controls for controlling the iron during use. Such controls may, for example, include a control for generating a shot of steam through the sole plate and a control for generating a spray of water mist.

It would be desirable to provide an ergonomically friendly iron. Alternatively, or in 20 addition, it would be desirable to provide an iron with improved control. Further alternatively, or additionally, it would be desirable to provide the public with a useful alternative to existing irons.

Reference to any prior art in the specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common 25 general knowledge in Australia or any other jurisdiction or that this prior art could 3 2012200907 04 May 2017 reasonably be expected to be ascertained, understood and regarded as relevant by a person skilled in the art.

Summary of the invention

In one aspect the present invention provides a steam iron including: an upper housing; 5 a handle defined at an upper portion of the housing; a soleplate assembly including a base heated by a heating assembly; and a mounting arrangement for moveably mounting the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly to allow movement therebetween, wherein the upper housing is moveable between a raised position and a lowered position, biasing means are provided for biasing the upper housing into the 0 raised position, movement of the upper housing from the raised position to the lowered position triggers a function of the iron via an actuator responsive to said movement, and adjustment means are provided for enabling the freedom of movement between the upper housing and the soleplate assembly to be adjusted such that the conditions under which the function of the iron is triggered can be varied. 5 The upper housing may be moveable between a raised position and a lowered position, and biasing means may be provided for biasing the upper housing into the raised position.

The upper housing may be pivotally mounted to the soleplate assembly. The upper housing may be mounted to the soleplate assembly via a plurality of resilient mounting 20 arrangements, each resilient mounting arrangement allowing movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly. Each resilient mounting arrangement may include a fastener having a shaft along which the upper housing can travel.

Movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly may trigger a function of the iron via an actuator responsive to said movement. The function of the 25 iron may include a water or steam delivery function.

The steam iron may further include a spray outlet; a water reservoir; and a first pump operable to pump water from the reservoir and deliver a shot of steam from the base of the soleplate assembly, and a second pump operable to pump water from the reservoir 1001797127 3a 2012200907 04 May 2017 and deliver a spray of water from the spray outlet. Movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly may trigger a first actuator which actuates the first pump to deliver a shot of steam from the base of the soleplate assembly. Movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly may trigger a second actuator 5 which actuates the second pump to deliver a spray of water from the spray outlet. 1001797127 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 4

The steam iron may also include a button operable to activate the second pump to deliver a spray of water from the spray outlet. The steam iron may also include a button operable to activate the first pump to deliver a shot of steam from the base of the soleplate assembly. The button/s may be situated atop the handle. The button/s may be 5 situated underneath the handle.

At least one of the first and second pumps may be a manually operated mechanical pump. At least one of the first and second pumps may be an electric pump operated by triggering a microswitch.

The steam iron may further include adjustment means for enabling the freedom of 10 movement between the upper housing and the soleplate assembly to be adjusted. The adjustment means may be configured to adjust freedom of movement between a locked raised position and unlocked raised and lowered positions.

Brief description of the figures

Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings 15 in which:

Figure 1A shows a side view of an iron according to a first embodiment of the invention, the iron being in a raised or neutral configuration;

Figure 1B shows a side view of the iron of Figure 1A in a lowered configuration;

Figures 2A to 2D show a series of cutaway perspective views showing the assembly of 20 the iron of Figures 1A and 1B;

Figure 3A shows a front view of an iron according to a second embodiment of the invention, the iron being in a raised configuration;

Figure 3B shows a front view of the iron of Figure 3A in a first right tilted configuration; 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 5

Figure 3C shows a front view of the iron of Figure 3A in a second left tilted configuration;

Figure 4 shows a partial exploded perspective view of the iron of figures 3A to 3C;

Figure 5A shows a partial exploded perspective view of a pump assembly for use with 5 the iron of Figure 1 or Figure 3;

Figure 5B shows a partial assembled view of the pump assembly shown in Figure 5A;

Figure 5C shows a partial assembled view of further components of the pump assembly of Figures 5A and 5B;

Figures 6A and 6B show, respectively, a partial perspective view and a cut away view of 10 an iron including a control assembly for activating the pump assembly of figures 5A to 5C, the control assembly being in an inactive position;

Figures 6C and 6D show, respectively, a partial perspective view and a cut away view of an iron including a control assembly for activating the pump assembly of figures 5A to 5C, the control assembly being in an activated position; 15 Figure 7A shows a cut away perspective view of an iron including an alternative control assembly, the control assembly being in an inactive position; and

Figure 7B shows a cut away perspective view of the iron and control assembly of Figure 7A in an activated position.

Detailed description of the embodiments 20 General overview

Figures 1A and 1B provide side views of a steam iron 100 in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention. Generally speaking, the iron 100 includes an upper housing 102 in an upper portion of which a handle 104 is defined. The housing 102 includes a number of controls which, in this instance, include a trigger control 106 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 6 mounted on top and towards the front of the housing 102 and a dial control 108 situated underneath the handle 104. The housing 102 also includes a nozzle 110 through which, in use, a spray mist of water may be delivered.

The housing 102 is mounted to a soleplate assembly 112. As discussed in further detail 5 below, the upper housing 102 is mounted to the soleplate assembly 112 such that the upper housing 102 is movable relative to the soleplate assembly 112. In this embodiment the upper housing 102 is pivotally mounted to the soleplate assembly 112 and is pivotal relative to the soleplate assembly 112 about an axis 114.

The soleplate assembly 112 includes a soleplate base 116 having an underside surface 10 118 suitable for ironing. The underside surface 118 is provided with a plurality of apertures (not shown) though which, in use, steam may be vented to assist in ironing. As is known in the art the underside surface 118 may be provided with a non-stick/low friction coating such as Teflon® by DuPont, or a synthetic fluoropolymer such as polytetrafluoroethylene or polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE). The low friction coating allows 15 the base 116 to slide easily over the material being ironed. Alternatively, the base 116 may not be provided with a coating and, for example, the aluminium alloy (or other construction material) may simply be polished.

As shown in Figure 5A, the soleplate assembly 112 also includes a plurality of walls 120 extending from the base 116. A cover plate 122 is secured over the top of the walls 120 20 to seal the soleplate assembly 112, defining one or more steam chambers 124 therein. The base 116 and walls 120 of the present embodiment are of unitary construction and rigid along their entire length. The base 116 and walls 120 may, for example, be manufactured in a single Die casting from an aluminium alloy, though alternative manufacturing methods and/or materials may of course be used. 25 The soleplate assembly 112 may be the same or similar to the soleplate assembly described in Applicant’s Australian patent application AU 2010201868, titled “Steam Iron" and filed on 10 May 2010, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Alternative soleplate assemblies are, of course, possible. 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 7

The upper housing 102 and soleplate assembly 112 house other typical steam iron componentry as is known in the art. Various components may include (by way of non-exhaustive illustration): a power source for powering the iron 100 and being connectable to an external power supply such as a wall socket via an electrical lead 126; a heating 5 assembly 132 (such as the sheath type heating element shown in Figure 5A) powered by the power assembly and in thermal communication with and incorporated within the base 116 of the sole plate assembly 112; a water reservoir 128 (see Figures 2C and 2D) for storing water to be used during ironing (e.g. as spray mist to sprayed through nozzle 110 or in the production of steam to be vented through apertures in the base 10 116); a controller such as a microprocessor for controlling the iron 100 in response to user input from the dial control 108 and/or other controls; and a pump assembly 130 for pumping water from the reservoir 112 to either generate a spray of mist or deliver water to the one or more steam chambers 124 in the soleplate assembly 112 to deliver a shot of steam. 15 During ironing a user may control various operating parameters of the iron 100 (via the dial 108) such as the heat of the soleplate and whether constant steam is required to be delivered from the soleplate. The user may also manually operate triggers such as trigger 106 to either deliver a shot of steam through the base 116 of the soleplate assembly 112 or to spray water from the nozzle 110 in the form of a spray mist used to 20 assist in ironing.

Pivot assembly

As noted above, in a first embodiment of the invention the upper housing 102 is pivotally mounted to the soleplate assembly 112. In Figure 1A the iron 100 is shown in a raised or neutral configuration. During ironing, however, the user may press down on the 25 handle 104 of the iron to pivot the housing 102 relative to the soleplate assembly 104 and move the iron to the lowered configuration shown in Figure 1B. It will be appreciated that the terms “raised" and “lowered” are relative. The upper housing, which in the specific embodiment moves from an upwardly inclined to a horizontal position relative to the nominally horizontal soleplate, could equally move from a more upwardly 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 8 inclined to a less upwardly inclined position, from an upwardly inclined to a downwardly inclined position, or from a downwardly inclined to a more downwardly inclined position.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3 the assembly of the iron of the first embodiment will be described. 5 As is seen in Figure 2A, a rear of the soleplate assembly 112 is provided with two pivot assembly mounting bores 202 which extend from the base 116 and are situated towards the outer edges of the base 116. Using bores 202 a pivot assembly 204 is secured to the soleplate assembly 112, the pivot assembly 204 defining the axis 114 about which the upper housing 102 pivots. 10 The pivot assembly 204 includes a central pin 206 journalled to two mounts 208. Each end of the central pin 206 includes an upper housing mounting aperture 210, and each mount 208 includes a soleplate assembly mounting aperture 212.

The pivot assembly 204 is secured to the soleplate assembly 112 by screws 214 (or other suitable fasteners) passing through the soleplate assembly mounting apertures 15 212 and into the pivot assembly mounting bores 202.

Referring to Figure 2B, the upper housing 102 is then secured to the central pin 206 by screws 216 (or other fasteners) passing through suitably placed apertures 218 in the housing 102 and into the upper housing mounting apertures 210 in the central pin 206.

In Figure 2C a front mounting plate 220 can be seen, which is secured to the soleplate 20 assembly 112 by fasteners (not shown) passing through apertures 221 in the mounting plate 220 and into respective bores in the soleplate assembly 112. Although cut away for clarity purposes, the front of the upper housing 102 is secured to the mounting plate 220 (and thereby the soleplate assembly 112) by an adjustable screw 222 which passes through an aperture in the mounting plate and into a bore in the soleplate assembly 112 25 located below that aperture. (This mounting is similar to the front mounting of the second embodiment of the invention, and can be more clearly seen at Figure 4.) The housing 102 is mounted so as to be able to travel up and down the shaft of screw 222 as the housing 120 pivots on the pivot assembly 204, with the head of the screw limiting 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 9 further upward movement. A biasing means 224 (in this instance a coil spring) is interposed between the underside of the upper housing 102 and the mounting plate 220, and may be located around the shaft of the screw. The spring 224 urges the upper housing 102 into the raised configuration shown in Figure 1A. 5 Finally, and as shown in Figure 2D, further components of the upper housing 102 can then be assembled as required. For example, in the illustrated embodiment the water reservoir 128 is provided as a separate component and is secured in place by screws 226 (or other fasteners) passing through mounting apertures 228 in the water reservoir 128 and into mounting bores 230 provided in the outer shell of the upper housing 102. 10 When a user applies downward pressure to the handle 104, the upper housing 102 pivots about the pivot assembly 204 against the bias of the spring 224, pushing the iron into the lowered configuration of Figure 1B. When a user releases the pressure on the handle the spring 224 returns the upper housing 120 to the raised configuration of Figure 1A. The spring is selected to have a resilience that allows a user to iron normally 15 should they wish (i.e. sufficient resilience that the iron is not pushed to the lowered configuration under “normal” ironing forces), but can relatively easily press the iron to the lowered configuration if and when desired.

This relative movement between the upper housing 102 and the soleplate assembly 112 provides for a more responsive ironing experience which, in its own right, is considered 20 an advantage over known irons, in that there is physical movement of the iron in direct response to an increase in downward pressure. Further, however, and as described in more detail below, the iron may advantageously be further configured such that the relative movement of the upper housing 102 controls or activates a function of the iron.

If a user wishes to adjust and/or disable the pivotal action of the iron 100 this may be 25 done by loosening or tightening the adjustable screw 222. As will be appreciated, this effectively lengthens or shortens the length of the shaft along which the upper housing 102 can travel. To facilitate such an adjustment an appropriately placed access aperture may be formed in the upper housing 102 which allows a user to insert a screw-driver (or Allen key or other suitable tool) to adjust screw 222. In order to retain the housing in an 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 10 upright position in which it is permanently raised, the screw is turned down fully so that the end of the screw abuts against a portion of the soleplate assembly.

In one embodiment, a manual control having a similar steam jet or water spray function may be provided, which could be enabled on the screw being fully tightened into the 5 downward position in which the iron housing is raised.

In still a further embodiment, the microswitch may be pressure- rather than movement-activated. For example, the adjustable screw 222 can be located adjacent a piezoelectric transducer when retracted into the fully down position, so that when downward pressure is applied to the upper housing of the iron, the pressure of the end of the 10 screw against the transducer generates a current which in turn can be used to activate an electronic switch. As a result, a user may have the choice of relying on pressure rather than movement to activate a shot of steam or a spray of water.

As a still further alternative, the iron may be fitted with transducer which is entirely pressure-activated. 15 Spring assembly

Referring to Figures 3 and 4, an iron 300 according to a second embodiment of the invention will be described. Iron 300 is largely similar to iron 100 of the previous embodiment, with the exception of the mounting of the upper housing 302 to the soleplate assembly 312. In this embodiment the upper housing 302 of the iron 100 is 20 mounted to the soleplate assembly 312 via a plurality of resilient mounting arrangements so as to allow relative movement between the soleplate upper housing 102 and soleplate assembly with multiple degrees of freedom (as opposed to the single degree of freedom of the pivot assembly described above).

In Figure 3A the iron 300 is shown in a raised configuration. In Figure 3B iron 300 is 25 shown in one possible lowered configuration, the upper housing 302 being tilted to the left. In Figure 3C iron 300 is shown in an alternative lowered configuration, with the upper housing 302 being tilted to the right. 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 11

Figure 4 shows a partial exploded view illustrating the assembly of iron 300. The rear of the soleplate assembly 312 is provided with a pair of mounting bores 320 (one at either side of the base 316 of the soleplate assembly 312). The front of the soleplate assembly 312 is provided with a mounting plate 322 having a plurality of apertures which are 5 aligned with further mounting bores in the soleplate assembly 312.

The upper housing 302 is provided with two rear mounts 324 (one of which is obscured) which align with mounting bores 320, and one front mount 326 which aligns with the relevant aperture in the mounting plate 322 (and underlying bore). (Mounting plate 322 and the mounting of the front of the upper housing 302 to the soleplate assembly 312 is 10 similar to the mounting of the front of the upper housing 102 in the first embodiment).

To mount the upper housing 302 to the soleplate assembly 312, screws 328 (or other fasteners) are passed through the relevant mounts in the upper housing (324, 326) and into the corresponding mounting bores in the soleplate assembly 312 (320, 322). Each screw 328 also passes through a biasing means 330 (in this case a coil spring), which is 15 interposed between the underside of the upper housing 302 and the relevant mounting bore 320 or mounting plate 322. Screws 328 are of sufficient length to allow some travel of the upper housing 302 up and down their respective shafts.

The compression springs 330 act to hold the iron 300 in the raised/neutral configuration shown in Figure 3A. During use, however, a user may apply pressure to the handle 304 20 to move the upper housing 302 relative to the soleplate assembly 312. As will be appreciated, the direction in which pressure is applied by the user will depend which of the springs 330 is/are acted against, the force with which they are acted against, and ultimately the orientation of the upper housing 302 relative to the soleplate assembly 312. Figures 3A and 3B show two possible orientations, however further orientations 25 are of course possible - such as the upper housing 102 being tilted forwards or backwards.

Iron control

As noted above, while the relative movement of the upper housing of the iron relative to the soleplate assembly may be advantageous in itself, the iron may be configured such 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 12 that this movement controls functionality of the iron. One such controllable function which will be described in detail below is triggering activation of a pump in order, for example, to deliver a shot of steam through the soleplate assembly.

Although this control functionality could be applied to the iron of either of the 5 embodiments described above, the first embodiment (depicted in Figures 1 and 2) and, where appropriate, the reference numerals used in describing that embodiment will be adopted for convenience.

Figures 5A and 5B show, respectively, a partial exploded and assembled view of a pump assembly 500 which may be used with iron 100 (or iron 300) as described above. 10 The pump assembly 500 includes a first mechanical pump 502 for use in delivering a shot of steam and a second mechanical pump 504 for spraying water. The second mechanical pump 504 is only partially depicted in Figure 5A for clarity, with a more complete depiction provided in Figure 5C.

The first mechanical pump 502 includes a first pump cylinder 506 defined in a dual 15 pump housing 508. A biasing means 510 (in this case a coil spring) is received in the first pump cylinder 506, and the first pump cylinder 506 is sealed by a piston 512 slidingly received therein. The first pump cylinder 506 also receives a ball bearing 514 and mesh insert 516, both of which are typically stainless steel, the ball bearing acting as a ball valve. 20 The first pump cylinder 506 has a pump inlet 518 in fluid communication with the water reservoir 128 via conduit 520, elbow 522, and further conduit 524. The first pump cylinder 506 also includes a first pump outlet 526 in fluid communication with a steam chamber outlet 528 via a junction 530, conduit 532, and flexible conduit 534. Junction 530 houses a ball valve assembly including ball bearing 536 and spring 538 and is 25 closed by a cover 540. Steam chamber outlet 520 is received in an aperture 542 in the soleplate assembly cover 122, via which water pumped by the first pump 502 is delivered to a steam chamber 124 in the soleplate assembly 112. Water so delivered to the steam chamber 124 is heated by the heating assembly 132 to create steam which is vented through apertures in the base 116. 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 13

In Figure 5C an assembled view of the second mechanical pump 504 is provided. The second pump 504 is similar to the first pump 502, however operates to pump water from the water reservoir 128 and deliver a spray of water mist via nozzle 110.

The second mechanical pump 504 includes a second pump cylinder 508 which, as with 5 the first pump cylinder 506 described above, houses a biasing means, ball bearing, and mesh insert, and is sealed by a piston slidingly received therein.

The second pump cylinder 508 has an inlet connected to an inlet conduit 544 which is located in the water reservoir 128 and through which water is pumped. The second pump cylinder 508 also includes an outlet 546 which is connected to the nozzle 110 via 10 a flexible conduit 548.

In this instance the trigger control 106 is arranged so as to operate the second pump 504 and deliver a spray of mist. Trigger control 106 is provided with a shaft 550 which bears on the piston of the second pump 504 and is arranged to reciprocate within the second pump cylinder 508. When a user depresses the trigger control 106 the shaft 550 15 urges the piston in the cylinder 508 downward, discharging any water therein out the nozzle 110 (via the outlet 546 and flexible conduit 548). When the trigger control 106 is released the biasing means acts against the piston to return it and the trigger control 106 to their rest positions. The suction created by the return movement of the piston in the cylinder 508 draws up water from the reservoir 128 (via the inlet conduit 544) to 20 charge the second pump cylinder 508.

Turning to Figures 6A to 6D, control of the first pump 502 to deliver a shot of steam by moving the upper housing 102 relative to the soleplate assembly 112 will be described.

In this embodiment, pump 502 is triggered by a trigger assembly 600 which includes a rocker lever 602 and a shaft 604. The rocker lever pivots centrally on stub axles 612, 25 which are pivotally mounted to the upper housing, and includes a shaft bearing portion 606 which bears on an upper end of the shaft 604, and an opposed piston bearing portion 608 which bears on the piston 512 of the pump 502. 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 14 A lower end of the shaft 604 is provided with a flange 614, on top of which a biasing means 616 (in the form of a spring) rests. A lower end 618 of the shaft 604 extends below the flange 614 and through an aperture in the upper housing 102 so as to bear on the soleplate assembly. 5 When the upper housing 102 is moved downwards relative to the soleplate assembly 112, the lower end 618 of the shaft 604 bears on the soleplate assembly 112 which prevents the shaft 604 from moving downwards with the housing. The shaft bearing portion 606 of the lever 602 (which is moving with the upper housing 102) then bears down on the upper end of the shaft 604 which is now moving upwards relative to the 10 housing, causing the lever 602 to pivot about stub axles 612. The pivoting of the lever 602 causes the piston bearing portion 606 of the lever 602 to bear down on the piston 512 of the pump 502. The cylinder 506 is provided with a notch 620 to accommodate the lever 602 during this movement.

As the piston 512 is pressed downward (shown in Figures 6C and 6D), water in the 15 cylinder 506 is pumped into the steam chamber 124 (via the pump outlet 526, junction 530, conduit 532, flexible conduit 534, and outlet 528). The water is then heated and a shot of steam delivered though apertures in the base 116 of the soleplate assembly 112.

When the upper housing 102 is released and returned to the raised position (e.g. shown 20 in Figure 1A), the lever 602 pivots back into the neutral position as shown in Figures 6A and 6B, releasing the piston 512. When the piston 512 is released the spring 510 acts to return the piston 512 to its rest position. The suction created by the return movement of the piston 512 in the first cylinder 506 draws up water from the reservoir 128 (via the pump inlet 518, conduit 520, elbow 522, and further conduit 524) to charge the cylinder 25 506.

As will be appreciated, this arrangement allows a user to actuate pump 502 by simply pressing with slightly more downward force than normal on the iron handle and causing the upper housing 102 to pivot or otherwise move relative to the soleplate assembly 112. While the above has been described with the steam shot being activated by this 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 15 movement (and having the spray mist being activated by trigger control 106) it would, of course, be possible to configure the pump assembly 500 and/or trigger assembly 600 such that the relative movement of the upper housing triggers the spray mist (and have the steam shot triggered by the trigger control 106). 5 In the illustrated embodiments the trigger assembly 600 is positioned towards the front of the iron and relatively distal to the pivot assembly 204. In alternative embodiments the trigger assembly 600 (and in particular the shaft 604) could be positioned closer to the pivot assembly 204 in order to adjust the force required (i.e. by a user pressing down on the handle) to activate the trigger assembly 600. Similarly, the resilience of the 10 biasing means 224 (or 330, depending on the embodiment) and/or 616 may be increased/decreased in order to adjust the force required to activate the trigger assembly 600.

Figures 7A and 7B illustrate an alternative embodiment of the invention. This embodiment is largely the same as the preceding embodiments, however instead of a 15 manually actuated pump 502 for delivering a shot of steam, a microswitch 702 is provided. Such an arrangement may, for example, be used in a steam-station type iron, with activation of the micro-switch causing the iron controller to switch on an electric pump to pump water from the remote water reservoir to the steam chamber.

As can be seen, the trigger assembly 704 of the embodiment of Figures 7A and 7B is 20 similar to trigger assembly 600 of the previous embodiment, however the upper end of the shaft 706 the of trigger assembly 704 directly bears on and activates the microswitch 702 when the upper housing 102 is moved relative to the soleplate assembly 112. Figure 7A shows the microswitch in an open configuration (i.e. when the iron 100 is in the raised/neutral configuration), and Figure 7B shows the microswitch in 25 a closed configuration (i.e. when the iron is in a lowered configuration). The microswitch may also trigger a power or heat surge to the soleplate assembly.

The triggering action described above is an intuitive action and, for many users, may be a more comfortable/ergonomic action than using a button or similar. Further, controlling the shot of steam (or the spray mist depending on configuration) in this manner allows 13338597 2012200907 16 Feb 2012 16 the iron to carry one less manual trigger button. This means that the remaining button can be centrally positioned at the front of the iron and occupy a substantial width of the handle 104, making the trigger more easily and comfortably actuated. One example of such a centrally located trigger is described in Applicant’s Australian patent application 5 AU 2010201411, titled “Steam Iron" and filed on 8 April 2010, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

By way of further alternative, instead of providing the trigger control 106 atop the handle 104 as is illustrated, the trigger could be provided as an underhandle trigger located beneath the iron handle 104. Such a trigger arrangement is also described in Australian 10 patent application AU 2010201411.

In embodiments of the invention where relative movement of the upper housing and soleplate assembly cause activation of a pump or other iron function, the adjustable screw (e.g. 222 or 328) may be made inaccessible to a user. This is to prevent the user from setting the iron in a configuration in which the pump/other control is permanently 15 triggered and cannot be properly used.

It will be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A steam iron including: an upper housing; a handle defined at an upper portion of the housing; a soleplate assembly including a base heated by a heating assembly; and a mounting arrangement for moveably mounting the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly to allow movement therebetween, wherein the upper housing is moveable between a raised position and a lowered position, biasing means are provided for biasing the upper housing into the raised position, movement of the upper housing from the raised position to the lowered position triggers a function of the iron via an actuator responsive to said movement, and adjustment means are provided for enabling the freedom of movement between the upper housing and the soleplate assembly to be adjusted such that the conditions under which the function of the iron is triggered can be varied.
2. A steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the upper housing is pivotally mounted to the soleplate assembly.
3. A steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the upper housing is mounted to the soleplate assembly via a plurality of resilient mounting arrangements, each resilient mounting arrangement allowing movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly.
4. A steam iron according to claim 3, wherein each resilient mounting arrangement includes a fastener having a shaft along which the upper housing can travel.
5. A steam iron according to claim 1 wherein the function of the iron includes a water or steam delivery function.
6. A steam iron according to any preceding claim, further including a spray outlet; a water reservoir; and a first pump operable to pump water from the reservoir and deliver a shot of steam from the base of the soleplate assembly, and a second pump operable to pump water from the reservoir and deliver a spray of water from the spray outlet.
7. A steam iron according to claim 6, wherein movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly triggers a first actuator which actuates the first pump to deliver a shot of steam from the base of the soleplate assembly.
8. A steam iron according to claim 7, wherein movement of the upper housing relative to the soleplate assembly triggers a second actuator which actuates the second pump to deliver a spray of water from the spray outlet.
9. A steam iron according to claim 7, further including a button operable to activate the second pump to deliver a spray of water from the spray outlet.
10. A steam iron according to claim 8, further including a button operable to activate the first pump to deliver a shot of steam from the base of the soleplate assembly.
11. A steam iron according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the button is situated atop the handle.
12. A steam iron according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the button is situated underneath the handle.
13. A steam iron according to any one of claims 6 to 12, wherein at least one of the first and second pumps is a manually operated mechanical pump.
14. A steam iron according to any one of claims 6 to 12, wherein at least one of the first and second pumps is an electric pump operated by triggering a microswitch.
15. A steam iron according to any one of the preceding claims in which the adjustment means is configured to adjust freedom of movement between a locked raised position and unlocked raised and lowered positions.