EP4071294B1

EP4071294B1 - Cord-winding iron

Info

Publication number: EP4071294B1
Application number: EP20902348.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Yiyun ZHOU
Original assignee: Xiamen Youo Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Xiamen Youo Intelligent Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-12-18
Filing date: 2020-12-04
Publication date: 2024-02-07
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-04
Also published as: EP4071294A4; EP4071294A1; PL4071294T3; JP3240073U; ES2974498T3; KR20220002151U; CN211471902U; EP4071294C0; WO2021120973A1; US20230036100A1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to small electric appliance, in particular to an iron with power cord winded up.

BACKGROUND

Electric iron is commonly used in people's daily life, but how to roll back the power cord is a great problem that perplexes people. There are various technical solutions disclosed in the prior art to solve the problem of winding the power cord. For example, Chinese patent application No. CN200410036534.6 discloses an electric flatiron with power cord easily winded up which includes a flatiron body which has a base plate. An electric heater is provided inside the flatiron body to heat up the base plate, and the electric heater is connected with a power cord which extends out of the flatiron body. A hand grip portion is formed upon the flatiron body, the space between the hand grip portion and the flatiron body is used for winding up the power cord. The disclosure provides a winding portion between the handle and the flatiron body, which makes the handle and the winding up apparatus an integral part and fully utilizes the space between the handle and the flatiron body. Hence, the winding apparatus in this design may be easily used and hardly deteriorate.
However, this design has the following drawbacks: a clip used for locking the plug of the power cord is fixedly set on the front portion of the flatiron body, while the number of the turns that the power cord is going to be winded up is uncertain, so that the plug of the power cord is unlikely to perfectly reach the right place to be locked by the clip at the end, which may lead to a failure to fasten the plug.
JPS5849200A discloses a compact iron having a iron body accommodated in a detachable handle main body. JPS57132699U discloses an iron body having a extension cord windable around a detachable cord winder. JPS5799700U discloses an iron having a detachable cord fastener provided at its rear stand. DE3825501A discloses an electric steam iron having a detachable water tank to which an electrical cable is winded around.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides an iron with power cord winded up, the main purpose of which is to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks.
In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides the following technical solutions.
An iron with power cord winded up includes a main body and an electric heater arranged inside the main body. The electric heater is connected with a power cord extending out of the main body, an outer surface of an upper portion of the main body is depressed inward to form a handle portion, the power cord is arranged to be winded around the handle portion, an engagement part is provided around an outer periphery of the main body, an engagement counterpart is engaged with the engagement part, and the power cord is detachably fastened by the engagement counterpart. The engagement counterpart is arranged to be driven to move relative to the engagement part after the power cord is winded up on the handle portion to change a position where the power cord is to be fastened by the engagement counterpart.
Further, the engagement part is a groove that goes once around the outer periphery of the main body, and the engagement counterpart is a wire fastener detachably engaged with the groove at any position.
Further, the groove is horizontally arranged below the handle portion.
Further, the wire fastener includes an elastic C-shaped part, two transverse parts, and two snap-fit hooks. Two ends of the elastic C-shaped part are each connected to one of the two snap-fit hooks through one of the two transverse parts. The elastic C-shaped part is arranged to hold a wire part of the power cord, and a plug part of the power cord is unable to pass through the elastic C-shaped part. After the wire fastener is engaged with the groove, the two transverse parts respectively abut against an upper sidewall and a lower sidewall of the groove, and the two snap-fit hooks catch the groove. The wire fastener is arranged to be pressed to be released from the groove.
Alternatively, the engagement counterpart is an annular engagement element rotatably arranged on the main body, and the annular engagement element has engagement positions to be fitted with the engagement part. The engagement position or the engagement part has elasticity, so that the annular engagement element is arranged to be rotated relative to the engagement part and fixed at different positions.
Further, positioning grooves are formed on an outer periphery of the main body, the engagement part includes positioning posts and springs, the positioning posts are movably arranged in the positioning grooves via the springs, and the engagement positions are a plurality of engagement holes provided in a circular array on a bottom surface of the annular engagement element. The positioning posts each have an arc-shaped head that is arranged to be inserted into any one of the engagement holes. By rotating the annular engagement element, the positioning posts are pressed downward, so that the arc-shaped heads are retracted and separated with the engagement holes.
Further, the annular engagement element includes an annular disk and a wire fastener connected to the annular disk. The annular disk is rotatably attached on an outer surface of a lower portion of the handle portion, and the wire portion of the power cord is arranged to be clamped by the wire fastener, while the plug portion of the power cord is unable to pass through the wire fastener.
The present invention has a simple structure and strong practicability. By providing an engagement part and an engagement counterpart that can move on the engagement part, after the power cord is winded up on the handle portion, user can adjust the position of the engagement counterpart on the engagement part to ensure that the engagement counterpart is in the right place to fit with the plug of the power cord. Compared with the current iron with power cord winded up, the present disclosure greatly facilitates operation of rolling back the power cord. In addition, when the user doesn't want to pull out the power cord by its full length in practice, it is also possible to pull out the power cord only with a desired length, and then fasten the power cord by the engagement counterpart, which to some extent realizes another form of retractable power cord.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of the first embodiment which is the best mode of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view at a-a in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a side view of the second embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view at A-A in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a front view of the second embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view at B-B in FIG. 6.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a bottom surface of the engagement counterpart in the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 8, the present disclosure provides an iron with power cord winded up, which includes a main body 1 and an electric heater arranged inside the main body 1. The electric heater is connected with a power cord extending out of the main body 1, an outer surface of an upper portion of the main body 1 is depressed inward to form a handle portion 11, and the power cord can be winded around the handle portion 11. An engagement part 2 is provided around an outer periphery of the main body 1, an engagement counterpart 3 is engaged with the engagement part 2, and the power cord is detachably fastened by the engagement counterpart 3. The engagement counterpart 3 can be driven to move relative to the engagement part 2 to change a position where the power cord is to be fastened by the engagement counterpart. A sidewall of the main body 1 is provided with a power cord sleeve 4, one end of the power cord is connected to the electric heater, another end of the power cord passes through the power cord sleeve 4 and extends out of the main body 1.
In the present invention, by providing an engagement part 2 and an engagement counterpart 3 that can move on the engagement part 2, after the power cord is winded up on the handle portion 11, user can adjust the position of the engagement counterpart 3 on the engagement part 2 to ensure that the engagement counterpart 3 is in the right place to fit with the plug of the power cord. Compared with the current iron with power cord winded up, the present disclosure greatly facilitates operation of rolling back the power cord. In addition, when the user doesn't want to pull out the power cord by its full length in practice, it is also possible to pull out the power cord only with a desired length, and then fasten the power cord by the engagement counterpart, which to some extent realizes another form of retractable power cord.
Specifically, the present invention provides the following two embodiments.

Embodiment 1

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the engagement part 2 is a groove 21 that goes once around the outer periphery of the main body 1, and the engagement counterpart 3 is a wire fastener detachably engaged with the groove 21 at any position.
The groove 21 is horizontally arranged below the handle portion 11.
The wire fastener includes an elastic C-shaped part 31, two transverse parts 32, and two snap-fit hooks 33. Two ends of the elastic C-shaped part 31 are each connected to one of the two snap-fit hooks 33 through one of the two transverse parts 32. The elastic C-shaped part 31 can hold a wire part of the power cord, and a plug part of the power cord is unable to pass through the elastic C-shaped part 31. After the wire fastener is engaged with the groove 21, the two transverse parts 32 respectively abut against an upper sidewall and a lower sidewall 22 of the groove 21, and the two snap-fit hooks 33 catch the groove 21. The wire fastener can be pressed to release the wire fastener from the groove 21. In practice, the wire part near the plug part of the power cord is inserted into the space between the two transverse parts 32, then pushed into the elastic C-shaped part 31. Afterwards, the two snap-fit hooks 33 are oriented to face the groove 21 and engaged with the groove 21 in a snap-fit manner, so that the two snap-fit hooks 33 are attached on the groove by catching on an inner sidewall of the main body. Meanwhile, the two transverse parts 32 abut against the upper and lower sidewalls 22 of the groove 21 to complete the engagement. By pressing the elastic C-shaped part 31, the snap-fit hooks 33 would release the inner sidewall of the main body, so that the wire fastener can be removed from the main body.

Embodiment 2

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, the engagement counterpart 3 is an annular engagement element rotatably arranged on the main body 1, and the annular engagement element has engagement positions to be fitted with the engagement part 2. The engagement position 34 or the engagement part 2 has elasticity, so that the annular engagement element can be rotated relative to the engagement part 2 and fixed at different positions.
Positioning grooves 12 are formed on an outer periphery of the main body 1, the engagement part 2 includes positioning posts 23 and springs 24, the positioning posts 23 are movably arranged in the positioning grooves 12 via the springs 24, and the engagement positions are a plurality of engagement holes 34 provided in a circular array on a bottom surface of the annular engagement element. The positioning posts 23 each have an arc-shaped head that can be inserted into any one of the engagement holes 34. By rotating the annular engagement element, the positioning posts 23 are pressed downward, so that the arc-shaped heads are retracted and separated with the engagement holes 34.
The annular engagement element includes an annular disk 35 and a wire fastener 36 connected to the annular disk 35. The annular disk 35 is rotatably attached on an outer surface of a lower portion of the handle portion 11, and the wire portion of the power cord can be clamped by the wire fastener 36, while the plug portion of the power cord is unable to pass through the wire fastener 36.
In practice, after the power cord is winded up on the handle portion 11, the annular disk 35 is rotated to a position where the wire fastener 36 is close to the plug portion of the power cord. Then, the wire portion near the plug portion of the power cord is inserted into the wire fastener 36 and the annular disk 35 is rotated again until the power cord is set tight.

Claims

An iron with power cord winded up, comprising a main body (1) and an electric heater arranged inside the main body (1), wherein, the electric heater is connected with a power cord extending out of the main body (1), an outer surface of an upper portion of the main body (1) is depressed inward to form a handle portion (11), the power cord is arranged to be winded around the handle portion (11), an engagement part (2) is provided around an outer periphery of the main body (1), an engagement counterpart (3) is engaged with the engagement part (2), and the power cord is detachably fastened by the engagement counterpart (3), characterised in that the engagement counterpart (3) is arranged to be driven to move relative to the engagement part (2) after the power cord is winded up on the handle portion (11) to change a position where the power cord is to be fastened by the engagement counterpart (3).
The iron with power cord winded up according to claim 1, wherein the engagement part (2) is a groove (21), that goes once around the outer periphery of the main body (1), and the engagement counterpart (3) is a wire fastener detachably engaged with the groove (21) at any position.
The iron with power cord winded up according to claim 2, wherein the groove (21) is horizontally arranged below the handle portion (11).
The iron with power cord winded up according to claim 2, wherein the wire fastener comprises an elastic C-shaped part (31), two transverse parts (32), and two snap-fit hooks (33), two ends of the elastic C-shaped part (31) are each connected to one of the two snap-fit hooks (33) through one of the two transverse parts (32), the elastic C-shaped part (31) is arranged to hold a wire part of the power cord, and a plug part of the power cord is unable to pass through the elastic C-shaped part (31), after the wire fastener is engaged with the groove (21), the two transverse parts (32) respectively abut against an upper sidewall (22) and a lower sidewall (22) of the groove (21), and the two snap-fit hooks (33) catch the groove (21), the wire fastener is arranged to be pressed to be released from the groove (21).
The iron with power cord winded up according to claim 1, wherein the engagement counterpart (3) is an annular engagement element rotatably arranged on the main body (1), and the annular engagement element has engagement positions (34) to be fitted with the engagement part (2), each engagement position (34) or the engagement part (2) has elasticity, so that the annular engagement element is arranged to be rotated relative to the engagement part (2) and fixed at different positions.
The iron with power cord winded up according to claim 5, wherein positioning grooves (12) are formed on an outer periphery of the main body (1), the engagement part (2) comprises positioning posts (23) and springs (24), wherein the positioning posts (23) are movably arranged in the positioning grooves (12) via the springs (24), and the engagement positions (34) are a plurality of engagement holes (34) provided in a circular array on a bottom surface of the annular engagement element, the positioning posts (23) each have an arc-shaped head that is arranged to be inserted into any one of the engagement holes (34); by rotating the annular engagement element, the positioning posts (23) are pressed downward, so that the arc-shaped heads are retracted and separated with the engagement holes (34).
The iron with power cord winded up according to claim 5, wherein the annular engagement element comprises an annular disk (35) and a wire fastener connected to the annular disk (35), the annular disk (35) is rotatably attached on an outer surface of a lower portion of the handle portion (11), and the wire portion of the power cord is arranged to be clamped by the wire fastener, while the plug portion of the power cord is unable to pass through the wire fastener.