JPH0533078B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a steam iron that can appropriately jet steam from the lower surface of a base.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Generally, in a steam iron, water is dripped into a vaporization chamber on the top surface of a base that has a heater to create steam, and this steam is sequentially jetted out from the jet holes on the bottom surface of the base. If it drips, the problem is that the water is not completely vaporized and flows out of the nozzle in the form of water droplets, or that the water remaining in the vaporization chamber corrodes the materials that form the vaporization chamber, such as the aluminum alloy. It was hot.

Therefore, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-79, for example, a lock mechanism is provided in the water passage that communicates the water tank and the vaporization chamber to lock the water passage in a normally closed state, and a recess is formed in the base. A reversible bimetal is housed in this recess, and when the base rises to an appropriate temperature for steam generation, the reversible bimetal is reversed to release the locking mechanism.
It has been proposed that this prevents water from dripping into the vaporization chamber when the base temperature is low.

By the way, when assembling such a steam iron, there are various steps to apply a fluid sealant. For example, a steam cover is provided at the top opening of the vaporizing chamber, and a sealant is applied around the periphery of the steam cover. This includes the process of maintaining the airtightness of the vaporization chamber. However, during such a step, the sealant may inadvertently spread along the inner wall surface of the recess and spread over the entire inner bottom surface of the recess. Almost the entire lower surface of the reversible bimetal is in contact with the inner bottom surface of the recess, and for this reason, the reversible bimetal is solidified to the inner bottom surface of the recess by the sealant, which may prevent normal operation or prevent it from operating. The problem was that in many cases it became completely impossible. This also applies to fluid adhesives.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made with attention to these points, and its purpose is to prevent thermally responsive members such as reversible bimetals from flowing into recesses even if sealants or adhesives flow into the recesses. To provide a steam iron which can always operate properly by preventing caking.

[Summary of the invention]

That is, the present invention provides a water passageway that leads water in a water tank to a vaporizing chamber in a base, a lock mechanism that locks this water passageway in a normally closed state, a recess formed in the base, and a water passageway that is housed in the recess and that is stored in the water tank. and a thermally responsive member that operates to release the locking mechanism when the base reaches an appropriate temperature for steam generation, wherein a stepped portion is formed on the inner wall surface of the recess, and the thermally responsive member , and a groove is formed at the periphery of the recess.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, 1 is a base made of, for example, an aluminum alloy, and a heater 2 is embedded within this base 1. The vaporization chamber 3 is on the top surface of the base 1, and the base 2
Ejection holes 4 communicating with the vaporization chamber 3 are formed on the lower surface of the vaporization chamber 3, and the upper surface of the vaporization chamber 3 is covered with a steam cover 5. A sealant is applied to the periphery of the steam cover 5. 3 airtightness is maintained.

A cover 6 is provided on the base 1, a heat shield plate 7 is attached to the upper part of the cover 6, and a handle 9 has a handle portion 8 integrally formed on the heat shield plate 7.
A cassette-type water tank 10 is detachably provided at the front of the handle 9.

A lock button 12 for the water tank 10 is provided in the front part of the handle part 8 at the upper part of the handle 9 with an operation piece 11 projecting upwardly, so as to be movable in the front and rear direction.
At the tip of this lock button 12, the water tank 1
A locking piece 14 is provided to lock and release the locking portion 13 provided at the lock button 12, and a spring 15 is provided at the rear of the lock button 12.
is constantly urged forward by the spring 15 to lock the water tank 10, and the lock button 12 is pushed backwards (to the right in the figure) against the spring 15.
By sliding the locking piece 14 from the locking portion 13 of the water tank 10, the water tank 10 can be attached or removed.

An outflow hole 16 is formed in the lower part of the water tank 10, and the water tank 10 is inserted into the outflow hole 16 through the handle 9.
A valve device 17 is provided which opens when mounted on the front part of the vehicle.

Further, the water guide frame 1 has a water passage 18 in the cover 6 portion that communicates with the outflow hole 16 of the water tank 10.
A drip nozzle 20 communicating with the water passage 18 and facing the vaporization chamber 3 is provided at the rear of the water guiding frame 19, and a valve rod 21 is provided with respect to the drip nozzle 20 so as to be vertically movable. , this dialect 21
In other words, the valve rod 21 is always placed upward, that is, the drip nozzle 20
A spring 22 is attached to urge the valve in the opening direction, and an operation button 23 is provided at the upper end of the valve rod 21. This operation button 23 is
It is located on the upper surface of the handle 9 in front of the lock button 12. Then, by operating the operation button 23, the valve rod 21 is moved up and down to open and close the drip nozzle 20 at its lower end, thereby selecting the "steam" or "dry" state.

A reaction rod 24 is provided adjacent to the valve rod 21 so as to be movable up and down, and a spring 25 is attached to the reaction rod 24 to bias the reaction rod 24 downward. A regulating plate 26 is provided in the middle of the valve rod 21 and is engaged with the valve rod 21.
The spring 25 of No. 4 biases and supports the valve rod 21 downwardly overcoming the spring 22, that is, in the closing direction of the dripping nozzle 20, thereby keeping the water passage 18 normally closed with respect to the vaporization chamber 3. A locking mechanism 27 is configured to lock the state.

Further, a recess 28 is formed in the base 1 at a position below the reaction rod 24 and near the vaporization chamber 3, and a reversible bimetal 29 as a thermally responsive member is provided in the recess 28. This reversible bimetal 29 has a substantially rectangular projected shape and is arranged so that one long side thereof faces toward the vaporization chamber 3 side. A step 30 is formed on the inner wall surface at both ends of the recess 28 so as to protrude inwardly. An annular groove 31 is formed at the peripheral edge of the inner bottom surface.
Both ends of the reversible bimetal 29 are supported on the upper surface of the stepped portion 30.

Further, a storage groove 33 is formed adjacent to one side of the recess 28 of the base 1, and a temperature detection element 34 such as a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the base 1 is installed in the storage groove 33 with a heat-resistant filler. It is housed in such a way that heat conduction is good.

A plate-shaped heat transfer member 35 made of a good thermal conductor such as aluminum is disposed over the recess 28 and the storage groove 33 of the base 1 and is fixed with several screws 36, and the reversible bimetal 29 and the temperature sensing element 3
4 is held, and both ends 37 of the heat transfer member 35 are brought into contact with a portion of the base 1 corresponding to the heater 2. The inner bottom surface of the recess 28 and the inner upper surface of the heat transfer member 35 are formed of an inverted bimetal 2.
A reversible bimetal 29 facing 9 is curved to follow the shape of the reversible bimetal 9. The lower end of the response rod 24 slidably passes through the center of the heat transfer member 35 and corresponds to the upper center of the reversible bimetal 29.

A switch 38 for setting the temperature of the base 1 is provided on the top surface of the handle 9 in front of the operation button 23. ~3mm).

This switch 3 is located around the front of the switch 38.
A display device 39 is provided to display the temperature set by the operation in step 8. This display device 39 is
It is constructed by arranging a plurality of light emitting diodes 10 in a semicircular shape.

The temperature sensing element 3 is located at the rear of the handle 9.
4. A control device 41 connected to a switch 38 and a display device 39 is provided. This control device 41 includes an output switching circuit whose output state is sequentially switched each time the switch 38 is turned on and off, and an output of a comparison circuit including a resistor selected by the output of the temperature detection element 34 and the output switching circuit. and a power control circuit that controls the supply of electricity to the heater 2.

Next, the effect will be explained.

By turning the switch 38 on and off and setting it to a desired temperature, for example, steam temperature (150 to 200 degrees Celsius), the power supply to the heater 2 is controlled, and the temperature of the base 1 rises to the set temperature, and the state is maintained.

As the temperature of the base 1 rises, the temperature of the reversible bimetal 29 also rises, and when it reaches the appropriate temperature for steam generation (150 to 200°C), it is inverted and has a convex top surface, and the curved inner part of the heat transfer member 35 The shape approaches the upper surface, and pushes up the regulating plate 26 together with the response rod 24 against the spring 25. That is, the lock mechanism 27 is released.

By operating the operation button 23 in this state, the valve rod 21 moves upward to open the drip nozzle 20, and the water in the water tank 10 flows from the outflow hole 16 through the water passage 18 of the water guide frame 19 to the vaporization chamber. The dropped water immediately turns into steam and is ejected from the ejection hole 4.

As this steam gushing state continues,
Although the temperature in the vicinity of the vaporization chamber 3 decreases, the inversion type bimetal 29 is well supplied with heat to the area where the heater 2 is arranged by the heat transfer member 35, so that the inversion state can be maintained as it is. At this time, since the reversible bimetal 29 and the temperature detection element 34 are covered with the same heat transfer member 35, the thermal response of both becomes the same, and stable characteristics can be obtained. Furthermore, since the surface of the heat transfer member 35 facing the reversible bimetal 29 has a curved shape along the reversible bimetal 29, heat is efficiently transferred between the two. Therefore, the steam does not stop during use.

In this state, operate the operation button 23 again,
When the valve rod 21 is moved downward, the dripping nozzle 20 is closed and dripping stops.

In addition, even in the steam state described above,
By turning off the power, the heat is no longer supplied from the heat transfer member 35 to the reversible bimetal 29, so the temperature of the reversible bimetal 29 decreases rapidly, reaching a temperature below the return temperature and returning to its original shape. The response lever 24 is moved downward by the spring 25, pushing down the valve lever 21 and opening the drip nozzle 20.
The dripping will stop.

By the way, during the process of assembling the steam iron, for example, a sealant for sealing the periphery of the steam cover 5 may flow from the upper surface of the base 1 through the inner wall surface of the recess 28 and into the inside of the recess 28 . However, the reversible bimetal 29
The recess 28 is supported via a step 30 formed on the inner wall surface of the recess 28 , and a groove 31 is formed on the peripheral edge of the inner bottom surface of the recess 28 .
is formed, so that even if the sealant from the top surface of the base 1 flows along the inner wall surface of the recess 28 and flows into the inside of the recess 28, the sealant will not be transmitted along the inner wall surface of the recess 28. The reversible bimetal 2 is prevented from accumulating in the groove 31 below and spreading to the inner bottom surface of the recess 28.
It is possible to reliably prevent caking caused by the sealing agent 9, and thereby the reversible bimetal 29 can always operate properly during actual use of the steam iron. When the sealant flows along the inner wall surface of the recess 28, a portion of the sealant flows into the stepped portion 30.
However, since the area of the upper surface of this stepped portion 30 is small and the upper surface of the stepped portion 30 is slanted downward toward the inner side of the recess 28, the amount of sealant remaining adhered to it is also small. The amount is very small, and therefore the adhesive force of the sealant is very weak, and does not interfere with the smooth operation of the reversible bimetal 29.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention, in which the recess 28
A pair of step portions 30a are formed on the inner wall surfaces of both ends of the
The reversible bimetal 29 is supported in a bridge-like manner on the upper surface. In such a configuration, the area of the upper surface of the stepped portion 30a becomes even smaller, so it is difficult to apply sealant to the reversible bimetal 29. This has the advantage of further reducing the impact.

In the above embodiment, a reversible bimetal was used as the thermally responsive member to be housed in the recess, but it may also be made of a shape memory alloy, and its shape may be rectangular, circular, or other shapes. The water tank may be of any shape, and the water tank is not limited to a cassette type, but may also be of a fixed type. Further, in the above embodiments, the effects of the present invention have been described with respect to sealants, but the same applies to fluid adhesives and the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, even if sealant or adhesive flows into the recess, it is always possible to prevent the solidification of the thermally responsive member disposed within the recess. This has the effect of allowing proper operation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an overall sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the main parts, Fig. 3 is a sectional view, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the invention. It is a diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Base, 10... Water tank, 18... Water passage, 27... Lock mechanism, 28... Recess, 29
...Reversible bimetal (thermally responsive member), 30,3
0a...Step part, 31...Concave groove.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A water passage that guides water in the water tank to the vaporization chamber of the base, a lock mechanism that locks this water passage in a normally closed state, a recess formed in the base, and a recess that is stored in the recess. and a heat-responsive member that operates to release the locking mechanism when the base reaches an appropriate temperature for steel generation, wherein a stepped portion is formed on the inner wall surface of the recessed portion, and the upper surface of the stepped portion A steam iron that supports a thermally responsive member and has a groove formed in a peripheral portion of the recess. 2. The steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the stepped portion is inclined downwardly toward the inner side of the recess.