AU2007304122A1

AU2007304122A1 - Iron with an improved cord guiding device

Info

Publication number: AU2007304122A1
Application number: AU2007304122A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jerome Bonin; Christian Giovalle; Sylvain Maudhuit
Original assignee: SEB SA
Current assignee: SEB SA
Priority date: 2006-10-02
Filing date: 2007-09-06
Publication date: 2008-04-10
Anticipated expiration: 2027-09-06
Also published as: FR2906543A1; EP2087164A1; WO2008040858A1; CN101517153B; FR2906543B1; MX2009003554A; JP4945639B2; EP2087164B1; AU2007304122B2; CN101517153A; CA2664532A1; JP2010505485A; RU2417279C2; RU2009116610A

Description

AN IRON INCLUDING AN IMPROVED CORD GUIDE DEVICE The present invention relates to a smoothing iron comprising a body overlying a heatable soleplate powered with electricity or fed with steam via a cord, the top 5 portion of the body being provided with a handle connected via its back end to two arms extending substantially symmetrically apart from each other so as to form a heel on which the iron can be stood. The present invention relates more particularly to an iron 10 including a cord guide device making it possible to offset the cord outlet. Patent Document FR 05 09546 filed by the Applicant discloses an iron having a heel formed by two arms extending symmetrically apart from each other starting 15 from the handle, and including a telescopic cord guide that is disposed in the open space between the arms and that, when deployed, enables the cord to be offset over a long length, while also being retractable into a short length configuration for stowage purposes. 20 Unfortunately, such a solution suffers from the drawback of occupying the space provided between the arms of the heel so that such a solution is difficult to use on an iron having a reservoir whose filling orifice is disposed at the back of the iron in the middle of the 25 heel. An object of the present invention is to remedy those drawbacks by proposing an iron provided with a cord guide device that is compact, and, in particular, that does not obstruct the central portion of the iron. 30 To this end, the invention provides an iron having a body connected to a cord, such as an electrical power supply cord, provided with a cord guide device that imparts a preferred direction to the cord where it exits from the body, said iron being characterized in that said 35 cord guide device comprises an arch-shaped piece supporting the cord, said arch being hinged via its ends to the body of the iron.

2 Such a characteristic offers the advantage of procuring a robust structure supporting the cord outlet, it being possible for said cord outlet to be easily offset by pivoting the arch so as to prevent the cord 5 from hindering the user during ironing. Such a characteristic also offers the advantage of leaving a free space between the branches of the arch, in which space another element of the iron can be formed. According to another characteristic of the 10 invention, the arch is mounted to pivot between a retracted position in which said arch is substantially incorporated in the body of the iron and a deployed position in which the arch is spaced apart from the body of the iron. 15 According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the cord penetrates into the arch at the top thereof. According to another characteristic of the invention, the cord penetrates into the arch at an 20 opening receiving a flexible cord-guide element surrounding the cord where it exits from the arch. Such a characteristic makes it possible to increase the length over which the cord is held. According to another characteristic of the 25 invention, the flexible cord-guide element is hinged by means of a ball joint to the arch. Such a characteristic makes it possible to change the direction of the cord where it exits from the arch. According to another characteristic of the 30 invention, the body of the iron has a heel on which it can be stood during inactive stages of ironing, and the arch has a shape matching the outline of the top portion of the heel. Such a characteristic makes it possible for the arch 35 to be fully incorporated in the back portion of the iron. According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the iron is provided with a handle connected 3 via its back end to the heel of the iron, said heel including two arms extending substantially symmetrically about the midplane of the iron and apart from each other starting from the handle, the arch being hinged to the 5 arms of the heel. According to another characteristic of the invention, the arch is mounted to pivot on hinges disposed substantially half-way along the arms of the heel. 10 According to another characteristic of the invention, the two arms form a space between them in which a filling orifice is disposed for filling a reservoir incorporated in the body of the iron. According to another characteristic of the 15 invention, in the deployed position, the arch forms an angle relative to the plane of the heel that lies in the range 300 to 600. The objects, aspects, and advantages of the present invention can be understood more clearly from the 20 following description of a particular embodiment of the invention, given by way of non-limiting example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a side view of an iron including a cord guide device in a first particular embodiment of the 25 invention, the cord guide device being in its retracted position; - Figure 2 is a perspective view of the Figure 1 iron; - Figures 3 and 4 are perspective views of the 30 Figure 1 iron when the cord guide device is in the deployed position; - Figure 5 is a side view of the iron shown in Figures 3 and 4; and - Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view of the 35 Figure 1 iron. Only those elements that are necessary for understanding the invention are shown. In order to make 4 the drawings easier to understand, like elements bear like references from one figure to another. Figures 1 and 2 show an iron having a body 1 that is made of a plastics material, that encloses a water 5 reservoir in conventional manner, and that overlies a soleplate 2 heated by an electrical resistor that is electrically powered by means of a cord 3 whose end is provided with a connector (not shown in the figures) enabling it to be connected to the electricity network. 10 As shown in Figure 2, the body 1 is provided with a handle 10 that is connected to a heel on which the iron can be stood during inactive stages of ironing, the heel being made up of two arms 11 extending apart from each other starting from the handle 10 to a crosspiece 12 that 15 is substantially parallel to the plane of the soleplate so that the resulting structure is substantially triangular. The arms 11 define an open space between them in which a pivotally mounted flap 4 is mounted that masks a filing orifice 40 for filling the water 20 reservoir, which orifice is shown in dashed lines in Figure 2. More particularly, in accordance with the invention, the iron includes a cord guide device 5 that makes it possible to point the cord 3 in a preferred direction. 25 As shown in Figures 3 to 6, the cord guide device 5 comprises an arch 50 that supports the cord 3 and that is hinged at each of its ends to the arms 11 of the heel. As can be seen more clearly in Figure 6 that shows the iron with its back portion exploded, the arch 50 is 30 hinged on hinges, each of which is made up of a bearing bushing 60 that is carried by a respective end of the arch 50 and into which a pin 61 carried by the arms 11 of the heel penetrates. Preferably, the pins 61 of the hinges are disposed 35 substantially half-way along the arms 11 and the arch 59 matches the shape of the top portions of the arms 11, so that the arch 50 can pivot from a retracted position in 5 which it is incorporated in a recess 12 constituted by a setback formed in the top portions of the arm 11, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, to a deployed position in which the arch 50 is pivoted towards the back of the iron, as 5 shown in Figures 3 to 5. The back surface of the arch 50, on which surface the iron stands when it is stood on its heel, is plane and advantageously presents a non-slip coating 53 that continues a non-slip coating 70 of similar texture that 10 is carried by a U-shaped cover 7 that closes the bottom portions of the arm 11 and the crosspiece 12 forming the bottom portion of the heel of the iron. At each of its ends, the non-slip coating 53 has a beveled surface 53A that comes into abutment against a 15 corresponding beveled surface 70A formed at the adjacent end of the coating 70 carried by the cover 7, when the arch 50 is in the deployed position so that said arch is held stationary in a position in which said arch forms an angle a relative to the arm 11 that is close to 450, as 20 can be seen in Figure 5. Preferably, the recess 12 receiving the arch 50 is open at its top end and the cord 3 penetrates into an orifice formed at the top of the arch 50, the orifice lying substantially in alignment with the top surface of 25 the handle 10. The cord 3 is preferably provided with a flexible cord-reinforcement 8 surrounding the cord 3 where it exits from the arch 50 in a manner such as to limit bending of the cord, the bottom end of the cord 30 reinforcement 8 advantageously being provided with a ball joint 80 allowing the cord-reinforcement to pivot relative to the arch 50. By way of example, the arch 50 of the cord guide device is made of a hard plastics material, such as 35 polycarbonate, and the cord reinforcement 8 is molded in a flexible material, such as an elastomer material.

6 The cord 3 encloses the wires 30 that go through the arch 50 and then penetrate into the body of the iron via the bottom end of the arch 50, as can be seen in Figure 6, so as to supply electricity to the heatable 5 soleplate 2 of the iron. Such a cord guide device offers the advantage of leaving the back central portion of the iron totally free, so that it can then receive a filling orifice for filling the reservoir. 10 In the deployed position, the cord guide device makes it possible to offset the cord outlet towards the back of the iron, thereby making it possible, in particular, to prevent the cord from coming into contact with the user's arm when the user takes hold of the iron 15 by the handle, and also to prevent the cord from rubbing on the edge of the ironing board or on the ironing while ironing is taking place. Finally, such a cord guide offers the advantage of enabling the cord outlet to be on the longitudinal axis 20 of the iron, so that the iron is equally ergonomic when used by a right-hander or by a left-hander. In the retracted position, the arch offers the advantage of being fully incorporated in the body of the iron, thereby enabling the iron to remain compact for 25 ease of stowage. In addition, in this retracted position, the arch co-operates with the bottom portion of the heel to form a plane surface on which the iron can be stood stably. Naturally, the invention is in no way limited to the 30 embodiments described and shown that are given merely by way of example. Modifications remain possible, in particular from the point of view of how the various elements are made, or by using equivalent substitute techniques, without going beyond the domain of protection 35 of the invention.

7 Thus, in a variant embodiment of the invention, the arch supporting the cord can be made of a flexible material. In another variant embodiment, a lock or a latch can 5 be provided for holding the arch in the retracted position during stowage of the iron, or when the user does not want to make use of the cord offset feature.

Claims

1. An iron having a body (1) connected to a cord (3), such as an electrical power supply cord, provided with a cord guide device (5) that imparts a preferred direction 5 to the cord (3) where it exits from the body, said iron being characterized in that said cord guide device (5) comprises an arch-shaped piece (50) supporting the cord (3), said arch (50) being hinged via its ends to the body (1) of the iron. 10

2. An iron according to claim 1, characterized in that the arch (50) is mounted to pivot between a retracted position in which said arch (50) is substantially incorporated in the body (1) of the iron and a deployed 15 position in which the arch (50) is spaced apart from the body (1) of the iron.

3. An iron according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the cord penetrates into the arch (50) at the top 20 thereof.

4. An iron according to claim 3, characterized in that the cord penetrates into the arch (50) at an opening receiving a flexible cord-guide element (8) surrounding 25 the cord (3) where it exits from the arch (50).

5. An iron according to claim 4, characterized in that said flexible cord-guide element (8) is hinged by means of a ball joint (80) to the arch (50). 30

6. An iron according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the body (1) of the iron has a heel on which it can be stood during inactive stages of ironing, and in that said arch (50) has a shape matching 35 the outline of the top portion of the heel. 9

7. An iron according to claim 6, characterized in that the iron is provided with a handle (10) connected via its back end to the heel of the iron, said heel including two arms (11) extending substantially symmetrically about the 5 midplane of the iron and apart from each other starting from the handle (10), and in that said arch is hinged to the arms (11) of the heel.

8. An iron according to claim 7, characterized in that 10 the arch (50) is mounted to pivot on hinges (60, 61) disposed substantially half-way along the arms (11) of the heel.

9. An iron according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterized 15 in that the two arms (11) form a space between them in which a filling orifice (40) is disposed for filling a reservoir incorporated in the body (1) of the iron.

10. An iron according to any one of claims 6 to 9, 20 characterized in that, in the deployed position, the arch (50) forms an angle relative to the plane of the heel that lies in the range 300 to 60o.