JPH0465720B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Technical field of invention] The present invention relates to a steam iron.

[Technical background of the invention]

Generally, in a steam iron, water is dripped into a vaporization chamber on the top surface of a base that has a heater, and the steam is ejected from the jet hole on the bottom surface of the base. However, if water is dripped when the base is cold, There are problems in that the water is not completely vaporized and is ejected as water droplets from the nozzle or the water remaining in the vaporization chamber corrodes the material such as aluminum alloy that forms the vaporization chamber.

Therefore, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-79, a switch device operated by a reversible bimetal provided near the vaporization chamber is provided in the water passage communicating the water tank and the vaporization chamber. It has been proposed to prevent water from dripping when the base is cold.

[Problems with background technology]

The above-mentioned conventional reversible bimetal uses a disc-shaped bimetal squeezed into a hemispherical shape.

By the way, according to experiments, the reversal temperature of the reversible bimetal is about 140 to 160℃, and the return temperature is about 120 to 140℃.
℃ is preferable, and the reversal stroke is preferably larger.

However, the relationship between the reversal stroke (displacement before and after operation) of the reversible bimetal, reversal temperature, and return temperature is as shown in Fig. 10.
If the reversal stroke is increased, the reversal temperature increases and the return temperature decreases, so in the conventional disc-shaped reversible bimetal (FIG. 10a), there is a limit to how much the reversal stroke can be increased.

Therefore, in order to effectively use the small reversal stroke, it is necessary to highly improve the accuracy of the base and moving parts, and in some cases, it is necessary to provide an adjustment mechanism to adjust the positional relationship between the reversible bimetal and interlocking parts. There is.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention attempts to solve the above-mentioned problems by making it possible to increase the reversing stroke while keeping the reversing temperature and return temperature of the reversible thermally responsive member within the required conditions, thereby improving component accuracy. The objective is to be able to provide it at low cost without requiring a high altitude or adjustment mechanism.

[Summary of the invention]

The steam iron of the present invention includes a base having a heater and having a vaporizing chamber on the upper surface and an ejection hole communicating with the vaporizing chamber on the lower surface, a water tank provided on the upper part of the base, and a water tank in the water tank. a water passageway for supplying water to the vaporization chamber, a switching device for opening and closing the water passageway, and a reversible thermally responsive member that operates the opening/closing device so as not to supply water when the temperature of the base is below a predetermined temperature; The reversible thermally responsive member has a main body having a substantially rectangular projected shape, and legs extending in the long side direction are provided on the short sides of the main body.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

1 is a base, and a heater 2 is embedded within this base 1. Further, a vaporizing chamber 3 is formed on the upper surface of the base 1, and a hollow hole 4 communicating with the vaporizing chamber 3 is formed on the lower surface of the base 1,
Moreover, the vaporization chamber 3 is covered with a steam cover 5.

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 always urged forward by a spring 15 to lock the water tank 10, and by sliding the lock button 12 backward (to the right in the figure) against the spring 15, the locking piece 14 locks the water tank 10. The water tank 10 comes off from the stop 13.
It is designed to be removable.

An outflow hole 16 is formed in the lower part of the water tank 10, and a valve device 17 that opens when the water tank 10 is attached to the front part of the handle 9 is provided in the outflow hole 16.

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 facing the vaporization chamber 3 is provided at the rear of the water guiding frame 19, and a valve rod 21 is provided to be movable up and down with respect to the drip nozzle 20. A spring 22 is attached that always urges the valve rod 21 upward, that is, in the opening direction of the drip nozzle 20, and the valve rod 2
An operation button 23 is provided at the upper end of the device.
This operation button 23 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 for biasing 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 by overcoming the spring 22, that is, in the closing direction of the drip nozzle 20, thereby opening and closing the water passage 18 with respect to the vaporization chamber 3. An opening/closing device 27 is formed.

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 reversible thermally responsive member is provided in the recess 28. This reversible bimetal 29 has legs 31 extending in the long side direction on both sides of both short sides of a main body 30 whose projected shape is approximately rectangular, and the base of each leg 31 is connected to the main body. 30 by a gentle curve 32. The main body 30 is arranged such that one long side faces the vaporization chamber 3 side.

Further, a recessed groove 33 is formed adjacent to one side of the recessed portion 28 of the base 1, and a temperature sensing element 34 such as a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the base 1 is installed in the recessed groove 33 with a heat-resistant filler. It is installed so that heat conduction is good through it.

A plate-shaped heat transfer member 35 made of a good thermal conductor such as aluminum is placed over the recess 28 and the groove 33 of the base 1 and 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 in contact with the heater 2 section.
In addition, the inner bottom surface of the recess 28 and the heat transfer member 35
The inner upper surface is curved to face the reversible bimetal 29 and follow the shape of the reversible bimetal 29 when the reversible bimetal 29 is inverted vertically. The lower end of the response rod 24 passes through the center of the heat transfer member 35 and faces the upper center of the reversible bimetal 29.

A switch 38 for setting the temperature of the base 1 is provided on the upper 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 of step 8. This display device 39 is
A plurality of light emitting diodes 40 are arranged in a semicircle.

The temperature sensing element 3 is located at the rear of the handle 9.
4. A control device 41 to which a switch 38 and a display device 39 are connected 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 comparator 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 operation will be explained.

By turning on and off the switch 38 and setting it to an arbitrary temperature, for example, steam temperature (150 to 200°C), the power supply to the heater 2 is controlled, and the base 1
The temperature rises to the set temperature and remains there.

As the temperature of the base 1 rises, the temperature of the reversible bimetal 29 also rises, and when it reaches a temperature suitable for steam (150 to 200°C), it is reversed and has a convex top surface, forming a curved surface 35a of the heat transfer member 35. , and pushes the response rod 24 upward against the spring 25. At this time, since the reversible bimetal 29 has legs 31, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 10b, the reversal stroke is ( Figure 4 α) increases.

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,
The temperature near the vaporization chamber 3 decreases to the return temperature of the reversible bimetal 29;
Heat is supplied to the heater 2 by the heat transfer member 35, and the inverted state can be maintained. Also,
Since the surface of the heat transfer member 35 facing the reversible bimetal 29 has a curved shape along the reversible bimetal 29, heat can be transferred efficiently 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,
When the power is turned off, 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 drops 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.
is blocked and dripping stops.

Therefore, since the dripping stops when the base 1 has sufficient vaporization ability, the water that cannot be vaporized becomes hot water and is spouted from the spout hole 4, and the water remaining in the vaporization chamber 3 flows into the base 1. will not corrode.

Further, since the base of the leg portion 31 of the reversible bimetal 29 is connected to the main body portion 30 by a gentle curve 32, there is no cracking even during repeated operations, and a long life can be achieved.

In addition, when implementing the inversion type bimetal 29
In order to reinforce the leg part 31, the leg part 31 is provided with a bead 31a as shown in FIG. 6, a bent part 31b is provided in the leg part 31 as shown in FIG. A separate reinforcing member may be attached to the leg portion 31, and in addition to forming the leg portion 31 integrally with the main body portion 30, as shown in FIG. 8, a separate member having rigidity may be attached by resistance welding or the like. may be formed. Further, the legs 31 may be provided on both sides of the short side of the main body 30, or may be provided at the center of the short side as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the reversible thermally responsive member is made of a reversible bimetal, but a shape memory alloy may be used as the thermally responsive member. Furthermore, the water tank may be of a fixed type, in addition to a removable cassette type.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, by providing the legs in the reversing type thermally responsive member, it is possible to increase the reversing stroke while keeping the reversing temperature and the return temperature within the required range without changing the reversing temperature and the return temperature much. , it is possible to provide a low-cost and highly reliable steam iron without requiring a high degree of component precision or an adjustment mechanism.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing an embodiment of the steam iron of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion thereof, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the portion shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the part shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the reversible type thermally responsive member, FIGS. Figure 10 is a characteristic diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...base, 2...heater, 3...vaporization chamber, 4...spout hole, 10...water tank, 18...water passage, 27...opening/closing device, 29...reversible bimetal as a reversible thermally responsive member, 30...main body , 31...leg, 31a
...Bead, 31b...Bending portion, 32...Curve.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A base having a heater and having a vaporizing chamber formed on its upper surface and an ejection hole communicating with the vaporizing chamber formed on its lower surface, a water tank provided at the upper part of this base, and water in this water tank. a water passage for supplying water to the vaporization chamber; a switching device for opening and closing the water passage; and a reversible thermally responsive member that operates the switching device so as not to supply water when the temperature of the base is below a predetermined temperature. The steam iron is characterized in that the reversible heat-responsive member is provided with legs extending in the long side direction on the short sides of the main body having a substantially rectangular projected shape. 2. The steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the leg portion of the reversible thermally responsive member has a base portion connected to the main body portion in a gentle curve. 3. The steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the legs of the reversible thermally responsive member have reinforcing beads. 4. The steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the legs of the reversible thermally responsive member have bent portions for reinforcement. 5. The steam iron according to claim 1, wherein the legs of the reversible thermally responsive member are formed by attaching separate members to the main body.