EP0104048A2

EP0104048A2 - Electrically operated, water-fillable apparatus

Info

Publication number: EP0104048A2
Application number: EP83305379A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alan Roger Griffiths; David Driscoll
Original assignee: PRIMELINE (IMPORTS) Ltd
Current assignee: PRIMELINE (IMPORTS) Ltd
Priority date: 1982-09-22
Filing date: 1983-09-14
Publication date: 1984-03-28
Also published as: EP0104048A3; ES8406599A1; AU1933483A; JPS5982898A; ES525791A0

Abstract

Electrically operated water-containing apparatus, for example steam smoothers are described. A particular geometrical construction provides inherent electrical safety features and additionally prevents overfilling. In one embodiment the electrical members (19, 15) are at one end of the device while a filling chamber (12) is located at the other.

Description

This invention relates to electrically operated, water-fillable apparatus. It is of particular value in the area of hand-held steamers.
The usefulness of steam as a treating agent, particularly for treating fabrics, has long been appreciated. In order to produce steam it is necessary to heat water and a very convenient way of heating water is using electrical heating. However, the energy required for electrical heating is substantial and battery powered electrical steaming devices are impractical due to the limited electricity storage ability of most batteries. There is accordingly a need for mains operation but this gives rise to the difficulty of ensuring electrical safety. Water,as generally used,is highly electrically conductive and in addition the surface resistance of damp or wet skin is very substantially less than that of dry skin. Accordingly, great care must be taken when designing electrical apparatus for use in or near water to build in safety features. This adds to the expense of such apparatus.
One particular area of application to which attention has been directed in recent years consists in electrically operated steam irons or steam smoothers. The former tend to be substantial, heavy pieces of equipment due to the use of the heavy sole plate for smoothing, the sole plate having a number of apertures through which steam may be expelled on to fabric being pressed or ironed. Steamers do not operate by applied pressure but rather by simple steam treatment and accordingly they tend to be somewhat lighter in construction and consist of a body, including steam generating means and some sort of steam outlet aperture.
United States Patent Specification No. 4,366,367 describes hand-held steaming apparatus and lays stress on the necessity of preserving electrical safety. This is particularly important in apparatus where,in use, the steam is generated by direct electrical heating rather than by thermal conduction from an electrically insulated heating element. In the apparatus described in that United States Patent Specification, and in other known apparatus of the type, steam may be produced by the direct passage of an electrical current between two electrodes immersed in water, to which, preferably, a small quantity of salt has been added.
In the apparatus described in that United States. Specification, a number of safety features are described which are designed to minimise the risk of electrical shock. Thus, the electrical supply - connection to the device must be removed before a handle can be twisted away from its normal operating position to reveal a filling aperture through which water may be charged to the device. Additionally, there is a captive ball in a housing adjacent the steam exit aperture which ball blocks the steam exit aperture if.the aperture is facing upwardly so that any attempt to fill water into the device through the steam exit aperture is frustrated by the ball blocking the aperture. The apparatus described in this specification is not invariably safe. Despite the presence of the ball it is possible to effect a certain amount of filling of water through the steam exit aperture, particularly if the steamer is hot and the water is cold. In addition, although it might be considered an unlikely activity, once the handle has been removed for filling, the electrical connection can be re-made without the handle being re-positioned, thus enabling the device to be filled with the electric mains connected thereto.
We have now found that by the careful design of such apparatus, electrical safety and accordingly user safety may be substantially enhanced. At the same time it is possible to design apparatus which can be easily and reliably filled but which cannot be overfilled.
According to the present invention there is provided electrically heated steamer apparatus comprising an elongate housing, a water-receiving chamber -in the housing, a steam outlet aperture towards one end of the housing a pair of electrodes located in the chamber and at an end thereof remote from the steam outlet aperture, a mains electrical connector connected to . the electrodes and located at or near the end of the elongate housing remote from the steam outlet aperture, the electrical mains connector having a plug/socket configuration complementary to a socket/ plug termination to a mains supply lead, a filling aperture located at or near the end of the body -remote from the electrical connector and a captive handle extending between the two ends-of the elongate housing and movable between a position in which one end of the handle acts to seal the filling opening and the other end of the handle acts to allow access to the mains connector by an electrical mains supply lead and a second position in which the filling aperture is open and access to the electrical mains connector by the electrical supply lead is prevented.
Preferably the end of the housing remote from the electrical connection means has a defined volume filling chamber-into which the filling aperture opens and which has in addition to the filling aperture an outlet port closely adjacent the filling aperture and communicating with the steam outlet opening. The orientation of the filling aperture is preferably such that when the filling aperture is open and upwardly directed, the filling chamber and steam exit aperture lie substantially below the level of the electrodes and the electrical connection means. In that position, the filling chamber preferably has an upwards extension rising above the level of the filling aperture and communicating with the electrode-containing chamber.
By virtue of this construction, when the apparatus is being filled with water, overfilling is simply prevented by the fact that the outlet port between the filling chamber and the steam outlet aperture acts as an overflow,thus precisely limiting the quantity of water which may be introduced into the electrode containing chamber at any one time. That introduction takes place when the orientation of the whole apparatus is changed allowing the water in the filling chamber to pass via the upwards extension noted (no longer at a higher level than the rest of the chamber due to the change in orientation) into the electrode-containing chamber.
It will be seen from the above, and it will appear more clearly from the specific description of a preferred embodiment of a steaming apparatus which follows, that by virtue of the arrangement of the filling and electrode-containing chambers relative to the filling aperture and the electrical connection means and the electrodes, inherently safe apparatus is provided which additionally gives automatic filling by a predetermined amount with ease and simplicity. In the specific description which follows, a hand steamer for removing creases from fabrics is described in some detail but it will be obvious that the general constructional approach the subject of the present invention may be applied to other steamer apparatus for hand use, for example, steam wallpaper strippers.
In what follows, a specific embodiment of the invention is described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. In these drawings

Figure 1 is a general perspective arrangement showing a hand steaming device according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a median longitudinal section through the device shown in Figure 1, shown in the filling position.
Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 2 but showing the device in its heating position.
Figure 4 is a section along the line X-X in Figure_'2, and
Figure 5 is a section along the lines Y-Y in Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings it will be seen that the steamer consists basically of an elongate housing 1, having a handle 2, intermediate its ends. An electrical mains lead 3 plugs into one end of the device from the top as shown in Figure 1 while underneath the end of the device remote from mains lead 3 is a steam outlet aperture 4.
The housing 1 is constructed fundamentally of two integrally moulded-portions, viz. a top half 5 and a bottom half 6 welded together for example by ultrasonic welding or solvent welding, at a line 7. Held captive between them above steam exit aperture 4 when the device is-in the orientation shown in Figure 1, is a conical funnel member 9 having an aperture 10 adjacent its narrower end as shown in Figure 3. The various walls and baffles formed by members 5 and 6 define in the interior of the body 1 a filling chamber 12 and a electrode-containing chamber 13. Mounted on one wall of the chamber 13 is a pair of bent wire electrodes 15 each of which passes through the wall of chamber 13 remote from chamber 12 and terminates in a threaded portion 16 to which is attached a short wire link 17 attached via an electrical tag 18 to a connector blade 19 which fits into the termination on mains lead 3.
Handle 2 pivots around a pair of lugs 21 between the position shown in Figures 1 and 3 on the one hand and the open position indicated in dashed lines in Figure 2. As appears most clearly from Figure 3, the rear end of the handle 2 has a pair of wall portions 24, 25 which cover blades 19 when handle 2 is pivoted away from the position shown in Figures 1 and 3. The presence of mains lead 3 engaged on tags 19 prevents handle 2 being moved pivotally by inter-engagement between the end of mains lead 3 and wall 24.
The forward end of handle 2 contains a slidable closure member 30 which is biased upwardly as shown in Figure 3 by a compression spring 31 which keeps a forward projection 32 on member 30 firmly engaged in a filling aperture 33 formed in the wall of chamber .12. Sealing is effected by means of an 0-ring 35 mounted on member 30 and a ridged portion 37 moulded on member 30 enables that member to be moved e.g. using a thumb to disengage projection 32 from the filling aperture when it is desired to fill the device with water.
Adjacent the filling aperture 33 and moulded into the casing section 5 is a hollow depression 40 of a size predetermined by the amount of salt necessary to give,in the amount of water which will fill chamber 12 as explained below,a salt solution of substantially optimum concentration for steam generation. Also moulded into upper casing section 5 is a downwardly extending baffle 42 which is shaped to leave a gap 43 between its lower edge and the upper surface of conical member 9.
Moulded into the base portion 6 is an elongate socket 50 e.g. for the receipt of a brush if desired by the user of the device which can assist in smoothing fabric from which creases are to be removed.
The apparatus of the invention is used as follows: first, the apparatus must be charged with water and salt. With the mains lead not plugged in, the user pulls back member 30 and swings the handle about lugs 21 thus giving access to filling aperture 33 and the moulded depression 40. With the device in the orientation shown in Figure 1, a quantity of salt grains is placed in depression sufficient to fill the depression and the device is then moved to the position shown in Figure 2. The salt grains fall out of depression 40 and drop into aperture 33, when this happens. Water is then charged through aperture 33 either from a tap or as shown in Figure 2 from a beaker 55. Chamber 12 fills to the level of filling aperture 33. Any attempt at filling further will result either in spillage around aperture 33 or in water flowing via aperture 10 into funnel-shaped member 9 and out of the bottom of the steam outlet opening 4. Accordingly, Figure 2 shows chamber 12 filled effectively to its defined maximum level. At this point filling is stopped and the handle 2 pivoted back and member 13 engaged in filling aperture 33. 0-ring 35 seals the aperture and the device is then turned back to the position shown in Figure 1. At this stage the water in chamber 12 flows via gap 43 into chamber 13. The electrical lead 3 can now be inserted into the position shown in Figures 1 and 3 and the device stood up on its end in the orientation shown in Figure 3. The water in chamber 13 flows to the position shown and in this position it can be seen that the electrodes are totally immersed. The mains current is now switched on and the passage of electrical current through the water in chamber 13 heats the water up and causes it to boil. Steam moves upward through gap 43 as shown by the arrows in Figure 3, around through gap 10 and out through funnel 9 and steam exit aperture 4. The steam can be seen by the user who then knows that the device is ready for use whereupon the user grasps the handle and moves the steamer across the fabric from which it is desired to remove the creases. This may be continued until steam generation slows down or stops due to insufficient water remaining in chamber 13 to provide a conductive path between the electrodes, whereon the user simply switches off the device, unplugs lead 3 and,if it is desired to do further steaming, refills the device as before.

Claims

1. Electrically heated steamer apparatus comprising an elongate housing (1), a water receiving chamber (13) in the housing, a steam outlet aperture (4) towards one end of the housing, a pair of electrodes (15) located in the chamber (13) and at an end thereof remote from the steam outlet aperture (4), a mains electrical connector (19) connected to the electrodes and located at or near the end of the elongate housing remote from the steam outlet aperture, the electrical mains connector (19) having a plug/socket configuration complementary to a socket/plug termination (3) to a mains supply lead, and characterised by a filling aperture (33) located at or near the end of the body remote from the electrical connector (19) and a captive handle (2) extending between the two ends of the elongate housing and movable between a position in which one end of the handle acts to seal the filling opening (33) and the other end of the handle acts to allow access to the mains connector (19) by an electrical mains supply lead (3) and a second position in which the filling aperture (33) is open and access to the electrical mains connector (19) by the electrical supply lead (3) is prevented.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterised-in that the end of the housing (1) remote from the electrical connection means (19) has a defined volume filling chamber (12) into which the filling aperture (33) opens and which has in addition to the filling aperture an outlet port (10) closely adjacent the filling aperture and communicating with the steam outlet opening (4).

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the orientation of the filling aperture (33) is such that when the filling aperture is open and upwardly directed, the filling chamber (12) and steam exit aperture (14) lie substantially below the level of the electrodes (15) and the electrical connection means (19).

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein in the position noted the filling chamber (12) has an upward extension rising above the level of the filling aperture and communicating (43) with the electrode-containing chamber (13).