JPS6031799A - Steam iron - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steam iron in which the supply of water is stopped unless the base temperature reaches a value suitable for vaporizing water.

Conventional configuration and its problems Currently, steam irons have a vaporizing chamber in the base, water is dripped into the vaporizing chamber from a water tank via a dripping nozzle, and the generated steam is guided directly to the steam outlet on the base surface. The so-called drip-type steam generation method is the mainstream, but its drawback is that if water is supplied to the vaporization chamber whose temperature has not risen sufficiently, hot water will gush out from the steam outlet without vaporizing all the water. Water may remain in the vaporization chamber after use, causing corrosion to the vaporization chamber and base. In order to solve this drawback, steam irons as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have been developed.

In the figure, 1 is a base in which a heater 2 is embedded;
A vaporization chamber 3 and a steam ejection hole 4 are formed. 5
6 is a base lid that covers the vaporization chamber 3, and 6 is a cover that covers the entire base 1. Reference numeral 7 denotes a handle installed above the base 1, and a water tank 8 is formed inside. Reference numeral 9 designates the bottom plate of the water tank 8, which is fixed to the lower surface of the handle 7. The bottom plate 9 is formed with an opening 10 and a cylindrical protrusion 11 that protrudes upward, and a watertight seal 12 is provided at the upper end of the protrusion cylindrical part 11. 13 is a water channel forming member fixed to the lower surface of the bottom plate 9, and has an opening 1° and a protrusion 1
1 and forms a water channel 14 between it and the bottom plate 9. Reference numeral 16 denotes a recess formed in the base 1 at a position close to the vaporization chamber 3, and a reversible bimetal 16 that senses the base temperature and performs reversal operation is disposed within the recess 15. Reference numeral 17 denotes a lid that covers the recess 15, and a guide hole 19 is formed in the center of the lid 17 to slidably hold a pin 18 that moves up and down as the bimetal 16 is reversed. Reference numeral 20 denotes a valve shaft integrally provided with an on-off valve 21 for opening and closing the opening 10, and an opening 22 of the water channel forming member 13 located below the opening 10 and this opening 1o.
The opening/closing valve 21 is biased downward by a spring 23 so as to close the opening 1o. 24 is the water channel forming member 1
This is a flexible backing that covers the lower surface of the opening 22 of No. 3. The valve stem 20 moves up and down in response to the up and down movement of the pin 18,
As the valve shaft 20 moves up and down, the on-off valve 21 opens and closes the opening 1o. Reference numeral 26 denotes a drip nozzle provided on the water channel forming member 13 facing the lower surface of the protruding cylindrical portion 11 . A dripping port 26 is formed in the base lid 5 located below the dripping nozzle 25, and water dripped from the dripping nozzle 25 passes through the dripping port 26 and enters the vaporizing chamber 3. 27
moves up and down inside the protruding cylindrical part 11, and the drip nozzle 25 is located at its lower end.
It is an opening/closing rod that opens and closes the opening of the drip nozzle 25, and is always pushed upward to open the opening of the drip nozzle 25. However, when the upper operation button 28 is depressed downward, the opening/closing rod 27 lowers and opens the drip nozzle 25. occlude.

That is, the on-off rod 27 constitutes a second on-off valve. 2
Reference numeral 9 denotes a backing that connects the drip nozzle 26 and the drip port 26.

In the above configuration, when ironing is performed using steam, the operation button 28 is released from the depression, the opening/closing rod 27 is raised, and the opening of the dripping nozzle 25 is opened. When the temperature of the base 1 is lower than the appropriate steam temperature, such as when the heater 2 is initially energized, the bimetal 16 is in the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, and the on-off valve 21 closes the opening 1o. Therefore, water does not flow into the water channel 14 and water does not drip into the vaporization chamber 3, so that no water accumulates in the vaporization chamber 3. After that, when the temperature of the base 1 is increased by the heater 2 and reaches the appropriate steam temperature, the bimetal 16 is reversed as shown in FIG. Then open the opening 1o. In this state, the water in the water tank 8 passes through the water channel 14 9 and drops into the vaporization chamber 3 from the drip nozzle 25, turns into steam in the vaporization chamber 3, and is ejected from the steam ejection hole 4.

In this way, when the base temperature is below the appropriate steam temperature, the opening 10 leading from the water tank 8 to the waterway is closed, so that the water in the water tank does not drip into the vaporization chamber 3 through the waterway. There isn't.

However, when attempting to use the bimetal 16 as a temperature sensing element as in this conventional example, the following two problems arise. The first problem is that if we try to increase the amount of displacement obtained by the movement of the bimetal by taking into account assembly variations during mass production, the bimetal is quite large and a large accommodation space must be provided. Therefore, in terms of the overall design of the iron, there is an unreasonable amount of space. For example, a disk-shaped inverted bimetal with approximately 1
．． If you want to obtain a displacement of 5 mm or more, the outer diameter must be 20 to 25 mm.
It is clear that a Noh play is required, and the space required to accommodate it is quite large.

The second problem is due to changes in the bimetal itself over time. In other words, in the case of a reversible bimetal like the conventional example, the operating temperature gradually changes with repeated use, so the operating temperature of the on-off valve changes with long-term use, and for example, the base temperature may struggle to reach the appropriate temperature. However, the problem arises that the on-off valve is closed and no steam is ejected.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The invention was made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and it is an object of the present invention to reduce the space occupied by the temperature sensing element that operates the on-off valve, simplify the overall design, and improve the operational reliability of the on-off valve during long-term use. The present invention provides an improved steam iron.

Structure of the Invention In order to achieve this object, the steam iron of the present invention uses a wax thermostat that is small and can obtain large displacement and force by using volumetric expansion when melting wax as a temperature sensing element to operate an on-off valve. By embedding the temperature-sensitive element in the base, the space occupied by the temperature-sensitive element is reduced, making the overall design easier.The operating temperature of the wax thermostat is determined by the melting point of the wax, and changes over time are reduced by 7.
By reducing the wax thermostat by 4%, the operating reliability of the on-off valve can be improved during long-term use, and in order to compensate for the parts where the wax thermostat requires a relatively large amount of heat during operation, it is buried in the base and thermally bonded with the base. I'm doing well.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the wax thermostat 3o. 31 is a wax whose melting point is set at a predetermined temperature in accordance with the operating temperature, and a rod-shaped piston 32 is covered with a flexible sleeve 33 and inserted into the wax, and is housed in a metal container 34. ing. The container 34 has a lid 3 having an opening in the center through which the piston 32 can slide.
5 is fixed. When the temperature of the wax 31 is below its melting point, that is, when it is in a solid state, the lower end of the piston 32 is near the bottom of the container 34, as shown in FIG. 3a.

When the container 34 is heated and the wax 31 reaches a temperature higher than its melting point and liquefies, it rapidly expands in volume, and as shown in FIG.

4 and 5 show the wax thermostat 30 installed in a steam iron, 13',
1 to 29 except for 14' have the same structure as in FIG. A water channel forming member 13' is fixed to the lower surface of the bottom plate 9, covers the lower part of the opening 10 and the protrusion 11, and forms a water channel 14' with the bottom plate 9. 36 is a fixed part for accommodating a wax thermostat 3o located near the outside of the vaporization chamber 3 of the base 1, and a Wanox thermostat 30 is buried here. 37 is a hole formed in a guy provided on an extension of the base lid 5, and slidably holds a piston 32 that moves up and down. 38 is an on-off valve that opens and closes the opening 1Q, and the lower part thereof is the water channel forming member 13'.
The opening 10 is forced downwardly by a spring 39 so as to normally close the opening 10. 40 is a water channel forming member 13
This is a ring seal that prevents water from leaking from the opening.

The operation of the steam eye D7 configured as above will be explained below. First, the pressure on the operation button 28 is released, and the opening/closing rod 27 is raised to open the opening of the dripping nozzle 25. When the temperature of the base 1 is lower than the appropriate steam temperature, such as when the heater 2 is initially energized, the wax 31 inside the wax thermostat 30 is in a solid state below its melting point, and the piston 32 is at the position shown in FIG. The on-off valve 38 closes the opening 1o.

Therefore, water does not flow into the water channel 14' and water does not drip into the vaporization chamber 3, so that no water accumulates in the vaporization chamber 3. After that, when the temperature of the base 1 is increased by the heater 2 and the vaporization chamber 3 reaches the appropriate steam temperature, the wax thermostat 3o buried in the base 1 near the vaporization chamber 3 is heated, and the wax 31 inside reaches the melting point. When the liquid reaches liquefaction, volumetric expansion begins, and the piston 32 is pushed upward as shown in FIG. This movement of the piston 32 causes the on-off valve 38 to rise and the opening 10 to open. In this state, water in the water tank 8 passes through the water channel 14' as indicated by arrow a, drops from the drip nozzle 25 into the vaporization chamber 3, becomes steam in the vaporization chamber 3, and is discharged from the steam jet hole 4.

As described above, when the base temperature is below the appropriate steam temperature, the opening leading from the water tank 8 to the waterway is closed, so water in the water tank will not drip into the vaporization chamber 3 through the waterway. Hana〈Performs the same function as the conventional example.

However, in the present invention, the wax thermostat 30 that utilizes the volume change during melting and solidification of the wax 31 is used to operate the on-off valve 38, so a large displacement amount can be obtained with a small size. For example, it has been found that a wax thermostat 30 with an outer diameter of about 7 mm and a height of about 10 m can obtain a displacement of 2 wn or more, and the space it occupies can be significantly smaller than that of a bimetal.

Further, regarding the opening/closing temperature of the opening/closing valve 38, the operating temperature of the wax thermostat 30 is determined by the melting point of the wax 31, which is an inherent characteristic of the material of the wax 31, and hardly changes over time even during long-term use. The melting point of the wax 31 can be arbitrarily set depending on the amount of additives or the combination of a plurality of waxes.

In this embodiment, the opening 10, the water channel 14', the drip nozzle 25, the backing 29, and the drip port 26 constitute a water passage that communicates the water tank 8 with the vaporization chamber 3. The opening 10 communicating with the piston 32 is opened and closed by an on-off valve 38 biased in the closing direction.
is extended upward and connected to the opening/closing frame 27 within the tank 8,
The same effect can be obtained even if the wax thermostat 3o is configured to open and close the opening of the dripping nozzle 25 by vertically moving the opening/closing frame 27 constituting the second opening/closing valve.
not.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention embeds a wax thermostand as a temperature sensing element in the base, and uses the change in volume when the wax melts and solidifies to open and close the on-off valve. As a result, the space occupied by the temperature-sensitive element can be reduced compared to bimetals, etc., and the overall design of the steam iron can be simplified. In addition, since the operating temperature of the on-off valve is determined by the unique characteristics of the wax, there is little change over time, and the on-off valve does not malfunction even during long-term use, resulting in excellent operational reliability, and its practical effects are great. It is what it is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of the main parts of a conventional steam eye opening, and Figures 3 (a) and (b) illustrate the operation of a wax thermostat installed in a steam iron according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of essential parts of a steam iron according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1...base, 3...vaporization chamber, 8...
...Water tank, 14'...Waterway, 25...
Dripping nozzle, 30... Wasokus thermostat)
, 32...piston, 38...open/close valve. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 4
Figure 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A base having a vaporization chamber, a water tank installed on the base, and an on-off valve that controls water supply from the water tank to the vaporization chamber, and the base has a valve that is operated by the heat of the base. A steam iron with a wax thermostat embedded in it to open and close the on-off valve. (2) The on-off valve operated by the wax thermostat is
The steam iron according to claim 1, wherein an opening leading from a water tank to a water passage is opened and closed. (3) The steam iron according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the wax thermostat is embedded in the base near the outside of the vaporizing chamber.