Abstract: An electric iron having a housing (1) and a soleplate (2) in which at least one outlet opening (10;15;34;45) is provided, means (8;19;28;39;43) for generating a fine liquid spray or foam or steam, and means (5) for delivering said generated fine liquid spray or foam or steam through said outlet opening. According to the invention, the iron is provided with detection means (12,14;22,23;35,36;49) for detecting the presence of a surface (7a) in the proximity of the sloplate (2) and for generating a detection signal in response to said detection, and with control means (6) for controlling the delivery of said fine liquid spray or foam or steam in response of said detection signal. For example, the detection means comprise a movable spring-loaded contact element (12) located in the soleplate (2), said element (12) activating a switch (14) for generating said signal when the soleplate is positioned against said surface (7a) and thus depresses said element (12).

Abstract: The invention relates to an iron having means for moistening fabric to be ironed. According to the invention, the moistening means comprise a device for generating foam and means for applying said generated foam to the fabric. For example, foam may be generated by means of a nozzle (21) having a first inlet (8) for a foaming liquid (6) and a second inlet (12) for supplying pressurized air to the nozzle so as to mix air with said liquid, thereby creating foam (42). Applying foam to the fabric (50) can be realized by means of a doctor blade (51) to break up the foam.

Abstract: An iron comprising a housing (1), a heatable soleplate (4) and means for generating very fine liquid droplets to be expelled from at least one discharge opening (9) of the iron, said means comprising at least one air passage (8) for pressurized air supply and at least one liquid passage (13) for pressurized liquid supply, said air passage (8) and said liquid passage (13) communicating with each other for mixing air and liquid, said mixture of air and liquid being supplied to the discharge opening (9). To improve the generation of fine liquid droplets (mist) an outlet of the liquid passage (8) ends into the air passage (13) upstream of the discharge opening (9) to introduce liquid into the air passage and an outlet of the air passage is provided with a nozzle (10) having said discharge opening (9). Preferably the pressurized air and liquid supply is obtained by means of electric pumps (6,7). The liquid may be water or a (diluted) additive liquid.