GB648928A - Improvements in or relating to steam irons - Google Patents

Abstract

648,928. Hand-irons. NATIONAL PRESSURE COOKER CO. March 16, 1948, No. 7912. [Class 138 (ii)] In a steam iron having a sole-plate 3 provided with an opening 69, heating means 7, a boiler 25 for water, and passageways for conducting steam from the boiler to the sole-plate and to the material to be pressed, the boiler being disposed in spaced relation with respect to the heating means, the water in the boiler is heated to steam by a metallic hollow heat-conducting chamber 53 which is in heat-conducting relation with the heating means and which extends upwardly through the boiler from the opening 69. The amount of heat passing from the heating means directly to the base 43 of the boiler is limited by insulation or an air space 55. The chamber .53 also acts to superheat the steam. Steam generated in the boiler 25 enters the chamber 53 through passageways 103, 101 in a removable cap 95, and leaves by way of an aperture 83 in a pipe 79 mounted in a plug 73. It is then discharged through one or more openings 89 in a cup-shaped member 87 pressed into the opening 63, to the material underneath the iron and also to a forwardly-extending channel 91. Any drops of water collecting at the bottom of the chamber are broken up by means of an atomizer comprising a vertical tube 105 extending nearly to the base of the chamber and communicating at the top with a nozzle 107 adjacent and at right angles to the steam inlet passage 101. A heat conducting spacer ring 71 co-operates with plug 73 and the chamber 53 to hold the sole-plate 3 and the base 43 of the boiler in spaced relation and chamber 53 may be welded to the base 43. A baffle member 108 forming a pocket 109 collects most of the water to the rear of it if the front end of the iron is tipped downwardly, thereby preventing the remaining volume of water rising high enough to enter passageways 103. A heat indicator 19 has a dial 21 and pointer 23 positioned at the top of the handle and a knob 15 controls the setting of a thermostat 13. Water is supplied to the boiler through a filler tube 29 having at its upper end depending flanges 39 adapted to be engaged by lugs 37 carried on a closuremember 33. Fig. 3 shows a modified form of superheater chamber dispensing with the atomizer and with the plug 73. Steam enters through passageways 103a, 101a and leaves through a tubular conduit 79a which extends upwardly into a recess 72 in a cap 95a. An integral flange 67a of chamber 53a is welded to bottom wall 43a of the boiler and holds the boiler and sole-plate in spaced relation by means of screws 70. In Fig. 4 (not shown) the inlet passageway 101 of Fig. 1 has a tube connected to it and leading nearly to the bottom of the chamber and the outlet pipe leads to passageways arranged at right angles to one another in the plug, where the steam is further heated. In Fig. 5 (not shown) a channel is formed in the upper surface of the screw plug to provide additional surface area for transmitting heat to any water trapped thereon, and the inlet pipe discharges into this channel.