Household iron with lift mechanism
A household iron assembly has a mechanism for lifting and supporting an iron above a supporting surface when the iron is not in use. The lift mechanism includes a stand having support arms which are pivoted away from the iron by a lift spring. A hold-down spring is placed under tension by manually moving the iron downwardly until the soleplate of the iron engages the supporting surface. The hold-down spring also draws the support arms upwardly above the bottom surface of the soleplate so as not to interfere with the movement of the iron along a piece of fabric being ironed.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/069,425, filed Mar. 15, 2008, and provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/069,776, filed Mar. 17, 2008.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCEThe entirety of each of the following United States Patents is hereby incorporated by reference herein:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,019,431, issued Oct. 29, 1935, to Myers et al.;
U.S. Pat. No. 2,308,941, issued Jan. 19, 1943, to Stevenson; and
U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,071, issued Jan. 29, 1952, to Wallis, Jr.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a household iron having a mechanism for lifting and supporting the iron above a supporting surface when the iron is not in use.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONSeveral embodiments of household irons with lift mechanisms have been suggested in prior patents and at least some such irons have been marketed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA household iron assembly has a mechanism for lifting and supporting an iron above a supporting surface when the iron is not in use. The lift mechanism includes a stand having support arms which are pivoted away from the iron by a lift spring. A hold-down spring is placed under tension by manually moving the iron downwardly until the soleplate of the iron engages the supporting surface. The hold-down spring also draws the support arms upwardly above the bottom surface of the soleplate so as not to interfere with the movement of the iron along a fabric material being ironed.
Definition: The phrase “iron assembly” as used in the following description and the claims refers to a construction including a fully functional iron and also including a support stand assembly which supports the iron above a supporting surface. The term “iron” refers to a fully functional iron which can be supported by the support stand assembly above the supporting surface.
The operating parts of the iron required for ironing may be of conventional construction.
Objects, advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from the following description and the drawings.
With reference to
The lift mechanism 14 includes support stand assembly 30 which includes a generally horizontal iron support stand 32 two support arms 36 and an upright arm assembly 38 fixedly mounted on the support member 34, the stand assembly 30 being pivotally mounted on the mounting assembly 22 for movement relative to the soleplate 16 about a first, lift axis 40 which is parallel to the plane of the bottom surface of the soleplate 16 and transverse to the longitudinal axis of the soleplate 16.
A torsion spring 42 acts between the stand assembly 30 and the mounting assembly 22 to bias the iron 11 to move upwardly away from the stand 32 about the first axis 40.
A contact roller 44 is supported at the upper end of the upright arm assembly 38. Note in
In the position of parts illustrated in
In order to retain the iron 11 in the ironing orientation, a hold-down spring 54, which may comprise a compression spring that, when compressed in the position thereof shown in
With regard to compressing the compression spring 54, a spring-compressing lever 56 is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin 58 for pivotal movement about a second axis 60 parallel to the first axis 40. The spring-compressing lever 56 has an upper surface 62 with a transversely extending rounded ridge 64 that supports the compression spring 54. The compression spring 54 is also confined between a pair of side walls 66 of a support bracket 68 that extends rearwardly of the water reservoir wall 26, and partly confined by a pair of bracket wall members 70 and 72 which are parallel to the reservoir wall 26 and span between the side walls 66.
A spring cap member 74 positioned on the upper end of the compression spring 54 has a top plate 76 with upwardly and downwardly projecting guiding tabs 78 slidably engaged with the bracket wall members 70 and 72. In addition, a pair of side plates 80 having vertical slots 82 depend from the side edges of the top plate 78. The side plates 80 are confined between the support bracket side walls 66. The spring cap member 74 is pivotally mounted on the sides of the spring-compressing lever 56 by short pivot pins 84 projecting therefrom into the vertical slots 82.
A spring-compressing stop roller 88 is engaged with the cap top plate 76 and has a small diameter axle 90 slidable in a pair of mutually aligned slots 92 in the support bracket side plates 66.
The contact roller 44 engages the lower surface 86 of the spring-compressing lever 56. When the iron 11 is lifted and supported as illustrated in
In order for the user easily to cause the iron 11 to transition from the operating position to the supported position, the user merely actuates upwardly a finger engageable trigger 96 depending from the handle 20, which rotates the trigger 96 about a trigger axis 98, which causes the trigger arm 100 to move toward the nose 19 of the iron 11. Trigger mount 102 is located at the upper end of the trigger arm 100. The trigger 96 is used to pull a wire actuator 104 that extends through the handle 20 and that is connected to the trigger mount 102 by a wire hook 104A formed at the front end of the wire actuator 104. At its rear or distal end, the wire actuator 104 is connected to the top portion of the yoke 94 by a wire loop 104B encircling a mounting pin 106 projecting rearwardly from the top portion of the yoke 94. By pulling the trigger 96 upward, the wire actuator 104 is pulled toward the iron nose 19 and consequently pulls the top of the yoke 94 toward the nose 19. Because the distal end loop 104B of the wire actuator 104 is attached to the top portion of the yoke 94, movement of the wire loop 104B as described causes the yoke 94 to rotate about the yoke axis 110. The yoke 94 is biased by yoke spring 112 located between the rear face of the wall extension 26A and the front face of the yoke 94. The wire actuator 104, it may be noted, may be extended through a slot in the upper end of the wall extension 26A and through the yoke spring 112.
With reference to
With reference to
The conact roller 44 is held down by the lower surfacee 86 of the spring-compressing lever 56 except when the trigger 96 is pulled to initiate the lifting of the iron 11 and fross long as the iron is in its elevated position. At such times, the hold down spring 54 is relaxed and not bearing down on the spring-compressing lever 56. Accordingly, there is a tendency for the spring-compressing lever 56 to “float” up and down under these conditions. This tendency is minimized the provision of stop arms 114 depending from the sides of the spring-compressing lever 56 which are engaged by the ends of the axle 116 of the contact roller 44.
Connecting members 118 may be mounted on the outside surfaces of the bracket side walls 66 for connection to other elements (not shown) to add stiffness to the bracket 68.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various alterations in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A household iron assembly comprising an iron and a lift mechanism, said lift mechanism comprising:
- a mounting assembly fixed in relation to said soleplate;
- a support stand assembly comprising a stand having an generally horizontal iron support member and an upright arm assembly fixedly mounted on said support member, said stand assembly being pivotally mounted on said mounting assembly for movement relative to said soleplate about a first axis which is parallel to the plane of the bottom surface of said soleplate and transverse to the longitudinal axis of said soleplate;
- a lift spring acting between said stand assembly and said mounting assembly to bias said soleplate to move upwardly away from said stand about said axis; a contact member supported at the upper end of said upright arm assembly; and
- a stand control assembly comprising:
- a compression spring which, when compressed, biases said iron downwardly about said axis;
- a spring-compressing lever supported by said mounting assembly for pivotal movement about a second axis parallel to said first axis, said spring-compressing lever having an upper surface engaged with the bottom of said compression spring and having a lower surface engaged by said contact member;
- a spring stop member movably connected to said spring-compressing lever and having a top plate supported by the upper end of said compression spring so that said compression spring is confined between the top surface of said lever and the bottom surface of said top plate;
- a hold-down member on top of said top plate normally resisting upward movement of said compression spring so that upward movement of the spring-compressing lever causes said compression spring to be placed under tension; and
- an actuating assembly comprising: comprising an actuating lever pivotally mounted on said mounting assembly and connected to said hold-down member; an actuating spring biasing said actuating lever toward said hold-down member; a manual actuating member accessible by a user of the iron; an actuating connector connecting said actuating member to said actuating lever and operable to overcome said actuating spring and move said hold-down member off of said top plate.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 13, 2009
Publication Date: Nov 19, 2009
Inventor: Brandon S. Song (Midlothian, VA)
Application Number: 12/381,672