US2666998A

US2666998A - Steam iron with movable heating element

Info

Publication number: US2666998A
Application number: US150862A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kenneth B Dafforn; Russell I Huffman
Original assignee: Knapp Monarch Co
Current assignee: Knapp Monarch Co
Priority date: 1946-09-26
Filing date: 1950-03-21
Publication date: 1954-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 1971-01-26

Description

Jan. 26, 1954 K. B. DAFFORN ET STEAM IRON WITH MOVABLE HEATING ELEMENT Original Filed Sept. 26, 1946 $7 7M 4 a! QM w WM: aiv

Patented Jan. 26, 1954 STEAM IRON WITH MOVABLE HEATING ELEMENT Kenneth B. Dafforn and Russell I. Huffman,

Dover, Ohio,

assignors to Knapp-Monarch Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Delaware Original application S eptember 26, 1946, Serial No. 699,494, now Patent No. 2,512,054, dated June 20, 1950. Div

ided and this application March 21, 1950, Serial No. 150,862

4 Claims.

Our present invention relates to a steam iron wherein means is provided for stopping promptly the generation of steam whenever desired, whereupon the iron may be used as a dry iron, the present application being a division of our copending application,

One object of the invention is to provide a steam iron having a sole plate provided with a heating element, and a boiler in th steam iron provided with a second heating element, the sec ond heating element being movable relative to the boiler for quick cessation Or commencement of the generation of steam when desired.

Another object is to provide a heating element for the boiler in a steam iron, the heating element being movable so that the heating element is either in engagement or out of engagement with the boiler as desired by the user.

A further object is to provide manually operable means for moving the heating element relative to the boiler and looking it in a position of engagement or disengagement as desired.

Still a further object is to provide means for simultaneously de-energizing the boiler heating element as it and the heating element is moved away from the boiler and for energizing the boiler heating element when the heating element is moved toward the boiler.

With these and other objects in view, our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of our device whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a steam iron embodying our invention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

On the accompanying drawings, we have used the reference numeral ID to indicate a sole plate and I2 a casing thereabove. The casing I2 is surmounted by a handle I4 in the usual manner and the casing may be supported on the sole plate as by brackets l6 and It. The lower ends of the brackets are attached to a heat insulating partition provided for retaining the heat of a sole plate heating element 22 in the sole plate or to reflect the heat toward the surface being ironed.

Within the casing l2 we provide 'a boiler 24 which may be mounted on the brackets l6 and I8 as by brazing illustrated at 26. A boiler heating element 28 is provided which may be of any suitable construction and provided with a boss 30 slidable on a stationary stud 32 projecting upwardly from the partition 20.

For sliding the heating element 28 on the stud 32, we provide a yoke 34 pivoted at 36 to the boss 30 and connected with a lever 38. The lever 38 is pivoted at 48 and has its rear end connected to an operating lever 42 which projects upwardly through a slot 44 of the casing [2. The operating lever has a manually engageable portion 46 of heat insulating material and is adapted to assume either the full line position or the dotted line position of Figure 1. In the full line position, the heating element 28 is held in good thermal-conducting relation to the bottom of the boiler 24 under the action of a spring 48.

The lever extension 46 may be manually eng'aged and lifted to the dotted position with a hook 50 of the lever 42 engaged on a lip 52 of the casing l2 when it is desired to lower the heating element 28 away from the bottom of boiler 24 thus stopping the generation of steam and permitting the iron to be used as a dry iron with the sole plate heated by the element 22 and no steam issuing from the steam discharge openings 54 in the bottom of the sole plate.

When it is desirable heating element 28 can be lifted against the botdischarged through a tube 58 to a manifold passageway 60 in the sole plate, A plurality of steam discharge openings 54 in the sole plate It communicate with the manifold opening 601 operations to prevent oversteaming the fabric and when it is desirable to dry-iron finish the fabric after steaming.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of our device without departing from the real spirit and purpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

1. A steam iron structure comprising a sole plate having discharge ports, a casing mounted thereon, means forming a boiler disposed within said casing, a heating element for said boiler positioned between the boiler and said sole plate, a steam connection from said boiler to said discharge ports for supplying steam therethrough and means for moving said heating element into and out of engagement with said boiler, said means comprising a yoke, pivot means mounting said yoke on said sole plate, said heating element being pivotally carried by said yoke on one side of said pivot means, an arm mounted on said yoke and extending from pivot means toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted to said arm and extending upwardly to project from said casing, a spring normally lowering said arm and thereby raising said yoke to resiliently engage said heating element with said boiler, and means cooperating with said link to lock said arm in raised position against the bias of said spring.

2. A steam iron structure comprising a sole plate, a casing mounted thereon having a boiler disposed therein above said sole plate, a steam conduit from said boiler to said sole plate for discharging steam through said sole plate, a heating element for said boiler, said heating element being positioned between said sole plate and said boiler, and means for moving said heating element into and out of engagement with said boiler, said means comprising a yoke, pivot means mounting said yoke on said sole plate, said heating element being pivotally carried by said yoke on one side of said pivot means, an arm mounted on said yoke and extending from the other side of said pivot means toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted to said arm and extending upwardly to normally lowering said arm and raising said yoketo resiliently engage said heating element with said boiler, said link having a locking lug thereon, and a companion locking lug on said casing for holding said arm in a raised position against the bias of said spring and thereby retaining said heating element spaced from said o a y, .l

3. A steam iron structure comprising a pivoted sole plate, a casing mounted thereon having a boiler disposed therein above said sole plate, a steam conducting connection from saidboiler to the perforations of said sole plate, a heating element for said boiler located between the boiler and said sole plate, means for moving said heating element into and out of engagement with the other side of said project from said casing, a Spring 6 said boiler, said means comprising a yoke, pivot means mounting said yoke on said sole plate, said heating element being pivotally carried by said yoke on one side of said pivot means, an arm mounted on said yoke and extending from the other side of said pivot means toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted to said arm and extending upwardly to project from said casing, wiring means for operatively connecting said heating element to a source of electric current, and an enclosed switch operatively connected to said wiring means for conducting and interrupting the flow of current to said heating element, said switch having an operating lever projecting therefrom which is operatively connected with said link, whereby said link and switch cooperate to energize and de-energize said heating element as said heating element is moved into and out of engagement with said boiler.

4. A steam iron structure comprising a sole plate having steam discharge openings, a casing mounted thereon having a boiler disposed therein above said sole plate, a heating element for said boiler located intermediate the boiler and said sole plate, a conduit leading from said boiler to said steam discharge openings to supply steam generated by said boiler to said steam discharge openings, means for moving said heating element into and out of engagement with said boiler comprising a yoke, pivot means mounting said yoke on said sole plate, said heating element being pivotally carried by said yoke on one side of said pivot means, an arm mounted on said yoke and extending from the other side of said pivot mean toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted to said arm and extending upwardly to project from said casing, a spring normally raising said yoke to resiliently engage said heating element with said boiler, latch means on said link and said casing cooperating to releasably fix said yoke in lowered position against the action of said spring, wiring means 'for operatively connecting said heating element to a source of electric current, and an enclosed switch operatively connected to said wiring means for conducting and interrupting the flow of current'to saidheating element, said switch having an operating lever projecting therefrom which is operatively connected with said link, whereby said link and switch cooperate to energize and de-energize said heating element as said heating element is moved into and out of engagement with said boiler.

KENNETH B. DAFFORN. RUSSELL I. HUFFMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS