EP2758584B1 - Clothes iron comprising a device for spraying droplets of liquid outside the surface covered by the sole plate - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an iron having a heating soleplate and a spraying device for projecting droplets of liquid, such as water, outside the surface covered by the sole.

It is known from the document EP 1 327 021 , an iron comprising a heating soleplate and a spraying device for projecting droplets of water outside the surface covered by the soleplate, the spraying device consisting of nozzles fed with water by an electric pump whose start is controlled by a button operable by the user.

Such iron has the advantage of allowing the laundry to unwind without using a vaporization chamber which is complex and expensive in energy, the user pressing the button to moisten the laundry on the periphery of the sole and then releasing the button in order to dry the wet areas of the laundry with the hot sole of the iron.

However, such an iron has the disadvantage of sending micro-droplets of water on the laundry that take time to penetrate inside the textile so that these micro-droplets remain, at first, to the laundry surface. Thus, if the hot sole of the iron reaches the spray area before the micro-droplets of water have had time to penetrate the textile, the micro-droplets are instantly vaporized in contact with the edge of the sole without there being a good humidification of the textile. However, the penetration of water droplets in the laundry is an important criterion to allow relaxation of the fiber and facilitate the unwinding.

A known solution to overcome this disadvantage is to increase the flow so that the concentration of droplets is greater, allowing faster penetration into the textile fibers. However, a such a solution has the disadvantage of moistening the textile too much, especially when the iron is slowly moved on the laundry so that there is a significant risk that the laundry is not sufficiently dried in a single passing the sole of the iron on the humidified area.

Also, an object of the present invention is to provide an iron comprising a device for spraying a liquid on a spraying zone located at the periphery of the sole and means facilitating the wetting of the textile to obtain a greater ironing efficiency, with low liquid flow.

For this purpose, the invention relates to an iron according to claim 1 comprising a heating soleplate and a spraying device for projecting liquid droplets on a spray zone P located outside the surface covered by the soleplate, characterized in that it comprises applicator means extending outside the soleplate and coming into contact with the droplets deposited on the laundry to be ironed by the spraying device to make it penetrate into the laundry before the sole reaches the spray zone P when the iron, resting on its sole, is moved in translation towards the spray zone P.

Such applicator means have the advantage of crushing the liquid droplets disposed on the surface of the laundry so as to penetrate the laundry before the sole reaches the spray zone P.

According to the invention, the applicator means comprise a scraper element extending at the periphery of the soleplate.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the scraper element extends between the sole and the spray zone P.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the scraper element has a shape matching the shape of the edge of the sole.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the scraper element and the edge of the sole are separated by a space.

Such a characteristic makes it possible to establish an air layer between the scraper element and the edge of the sole that participates in establishing thermal insulation between these two elements.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the heating sole has a front tip at which two lateral edges of the sole are joined and the scraper element extends in front of the front tip and along the lateral edges of the soleplate. .

According to another characteristic of the invention, the scraper element is constituted by a rigid wire.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the scraper element is held by elastically deformable tabs, the scraper element extending below the level of the soleplate when it is not subjected to mechanical stress and is brought back into the mold. the plane of the sole, by deformation of the legs, when the iron rests on its sole.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the scraper element is made of a hydrophobic material with a low heat capacity.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the spraying device comprises an atomizer, such as a piezoelectric atomizer.

According to yet another feature of the invention, the iron has a vaporization chamber sized to produce a maximum steam flow of the order of 20 gr / min.

• les figures 1 et 2 sont des vues en perspective d'un fer à repasser selon un mode particulier de réalisation de l'invention ;
• la figure 3 est une vue de dessous du fer de la figure 1 ;
• les figures 4 et 5 sont des vues en perspective d'un fer à repasser selon un deuxième mode particulier de réalisation de l'invention.

The aims, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the description given below of two particular embodiments of the invention presented by way of nonlimiting examples, with reference to the appended drawings in which: :

• the Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views of an iron according to a particular embodiment of the invention;
• the figure 3 is a bottom view of the iron of the figure 1 ;
• the Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views of an iron according to a second particular embodiment of the invention.

Only the elements necessary for understanding the invention have been represented. To facilitate the reading of the drawings, the same elements bear the same references from one figure to another.

The figure 1 represents a steam iron 1 having a sole 2 provided with steam outlet holes 20 and comprising a heel 3 on which the iron can stand vertically during the inactive ironing phases, the heel 3 being equipped with a connector , not visible in the figures, allowing the electrical connection of the iron to a charging base.

In a manner known per se, the sole 2 is in thermal contact with a heating body, not shown in the figures, enclosing an electrical resistance of a power of the order of 1600 W and having a vaporization chamber sized to produce a steam flow of the order of 20 gr / min, the temperature of the sole 2 being controlled by a thermostat whose set temperature can be modified by the user by means of a knob 5.

The heating body is surmounted by a body 4 made of plastic material incorporating a gripping handle 40, the body 4 enclosing a water tank supplying the vaporization chamber through a dropping plug.

In accordance with the figure 2 , the sole 2 has a pointed front end and the body 4 of the iron supports a spraying device consisting of two atomizers 6 arranged on the front face of the iron, on either side of its longitudinal axis, the atomizers 6 producing micro droplets of a size of the order of 40 to 50 microns in diameter for moistening a spray zone P located in front of the front tip of the sole. These atomizers 6 are advantageously piezoelectric type atomizers, using a technology known per se, described for example in the patent US 4,533,082 each atomizer 6 being fed by the integrated water reservoir in the body of the iron 1.

The iron comprises a control knob 7 advantageously located in front of the handle 40 and making it possible to control the operation of the atomizers 6 in order to send liquid to the spray zone P located in front of the front tip of the sole 2.

More particularly according to the invention, the iron 1 comprises applicator means 8 extending outside the heating soleplate 2, these applicator means 8 having the purpose of mechanically penetrating the droplets of liquid inside the to be ironed before the heating soleplate 2 reaches the spray zone P moistened with the spray emitted by the atomizers 6.

In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated on the Figures 1 to 3 , the applicator means consist of a rigid scraping wire 8 which extends along the periphery of the sole 2, at a distance of the order of 3 mm from the edge of the latter, so that a space results between the edge of the sole 2 and the scraper wire 8 providing thermal insulation, the scraper wire 8 matching the shape of the front tip and the lateral edges of the sole 2.

Preferably, the scraper wire 8 has a low thermal inertia or a low heat capacity so that the droplets of liquid coming into contact with it evaporate as little as possible if the scraper wire has reached a temperature greater than 100 ° C. .

For example, the scraper wire 8 is made of stainless steel or plastic, such as polyamide, and has a diameter of about 4 mm, the scraper wire 8 being supported by tabs 80 elastically deformable fixed on the body 4 of the iron and providing a flexible holding of the scraper wire 8 along the periphery of the sole 2.

As can be seen on the figure 1 , the tabs 80 hold the scraper wire 8 in a plane extending below the level of the sole 2 when the iron does not rest on its sole 2, that is to say when no mechanical stress is applied on the scraper wire 8, the tabs 80 being dimensioned to deform elastically under the pressure exerted by the weight of the iron 1 so that the scraper wire 8 is substantially in the plane of the sole 2, exerting a slight pressure on the ironing cloth, when the sole 2 of the iron rests horizontally on the clothes to iron.

The iron thus produced has the advantage of providing a high ironing efficiency, the spraying device 6 allowing the user to project micro-droplets of water on a spray zone P located in front of the front tip of the sole and the scraper wire 8 to press the micro-droplets of water against the surface of the fabric to be ironed so as to penetrate into the upper layer of the textile before the hot sole of the iron comes in contact with the humidified area.

Such an iron equipped with a low flow rate steam chamber, of the order of 20 gr / min, also has the advantage of allowing the realization of ironing work with good efficiency without consuming too much energy. In particular, when the user is confronted with a textile that is more difficult to iron or wishes to iron a particular area of a garment for which the steam flow rate of 20 gr / min is insufficient to obtain a good ironing efficiency, he simply actuate the control button of the spray device to moisten the textile by means of the atomizers and get a good humidification of the laundry through the presence of the scraper element at the edge of the sole.

The Figures 4 and 5 illustrate a second embodiment of the invention in which the applicator means are constituted by a thermally inert bead 9, made for example of thermoplastic material of the PFA (perfluoroalkoxy) type, fixed directly on the periphery of the sole 2, the other characteristics iron remaining unchanged from the iron described in the first embodiment.

This bead 9 has a body having a cylindrical shape and is fixed so that the lower edge of the bead 9 comes flush with the plane of the sole 2. In this way, the bead 9 rubs on the cloth at the edge of the bead. sole 2 during the active ironing phases and allows, as the scraper wire 8 in the first embodiment to ensure the penetration of micro-droplets of water through the textile before the sole plate 2 hot iron arrives on the spray area P.

This prevents the microdroplets remain on the surface of the textile and are vaporized by touching the edge of the sole without having to enter the laundry to iron.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the described and illustrated embodiments which have been given only as examples. Modifications remain possible, especially from the point of view of the constitution of the various elements or by substitution of technical equivalents, without departing from the scope of protection of the invention.

Thus, in an alternative embodiment not shown, the iron spraying device may be constituted by a spray nozzle fed by a mechanical or electrical pump.

Thus, in an alternative embodiment not shown, the iron can be permanently connected to the electrical network by means of an electrical cord Thus, in a variant embodiment not shown, the scraper element can run around the entire periphery of the sole.

Claims (8)

1. Clothes iron (1) comprising a heated soleplate (2) and a spray device (6) for spraying droplets of liquid onto a spray zone (P) located outside the surface covered by the soleplate (2), characterised in that it comprises applicator means (8; 9) extending outside the soleplate (2) and coming into contact with the droplets sprayed on the clothes to be ironed by said spray device (6) to cause them to penetrate into the clothes before the soleplate (2) reaches the spray zone (P) when the clothes iron (1), while resting on its soleplate (2), is moved in a linear motion towards the spray zone (P), with these applicator means comprising a scraping element (8; 9) that extends to the periphery of the soleplate (2).
2. Clothes iron (1) as in claim 1, characterised in that said scraping element (8; 9) has a shape that follows the shape of the edge of the soleplate (2).
3. Clothes iron as in claim 2, characterised in that said scraping element (8; 9) and the edge of the soleplate (2) are separated by a gap.
4. Clothes iron (1) as in claim 3, characterised in that said heated soleplate (2) has a front point where two lateral edges of the soleplate (2) meet and that said scraping element (8; 9) extends in front of said front point and along the lateral edges of the soleplate (2).
5. Clothes iron (1) as in any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that said scraping element (8) consists of a rigid wire.
6. Clothes iron (1) as in any of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said scraping element (8) is held by elastically deformable lugs (80), wherein said scraping element (8) extends below the level of the soleplate (2) when the clothes iron (1) when the scraping element (8) is not subjected to a mechanical load and is brought back into the plane of the soleplate (2), through the deformation of the lugs (80), when the clothes iron (1) rests on its soleplate (2).
7. Clothes iron as in any of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that said spray device comprises an atomizer (6), such as a piezoelectric atomizer.
8. Clothes iron as in any of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the clothes iron (1) comprises a vaporisation chamber sized to produce a maximum flow of steam of approximately 20 g/min.

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