US1231056A - Electric iron. - Google Patents

Description

C. S. & D. PALMER.

ELECTRIC IRON.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 18, I916.

1,231,056., Patented June 26,1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

h L 41, (am, (vhf-4 I y A ATM 5- C. S. & D. PALMER.

ELECTRIC IRON.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 18. 1.9!6.

1 ,23 1 ,056 Patented June 26, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 E- INVENTUYS' and DEAN PALMER,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES S. PALMER AND DEAN PALMER, SARANAC LAKE, NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC IRON.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 18, 1916. Serial No. 187,550.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLnsS. PALMER citizens of the United States, residing at Saranac Lake, in the counties of Essex and Franklin, respectively, and State of New vented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electric Irons, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention relates to electrically heated fiat irons or devices of a similar nature and has for its object to provide improved automatic means for controlling the supply of current to the heating element of the iron so that the iron is particularly adapted to perform the services required of it in an efi'ective and efiicient manner without danger of scorching or setting fire to inflammable material owing to the negliof the user. The iron gence or inadvertence embodying our invention is designed to be automatically supplied with heat when in use or when placed on end in a position in which the ironing surface is out of contact with surroundin objects so that the necessary heat may Fe maintained in the iron between ironing operations without the necessity of using a stand or the like, and is further designed the heat from the heating element when the iron is left on its ironing surface in a position in which it would otherwise do injury to inflammable objects such as fabrics or the like.

A further object of our invention is to provide a very simple and inexpensive device which may be readily and cheaply produeed and which is efficient and positive in its operation.

Our invention will be fully understood from the following description taken in York, have into automatically out 01f mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation partly in section of a modified form of device embodying our invention.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing the switch lever pressed down against the handle as when in use.

Fig. 8 is an elevation showing the device resting on end.

Fig; 9 is a side elevation of another modifie form of device embodying our invention.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 showing the position taken by the switch lever when the iron is in use.

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the device shown in igs. 9 and 10 resting on end.

F ig 12 is a section on line 12-12 of aving reference to the drawings there is shown a fiat iron A provided with a base or ironing surface B which is heated by any well known means, not shown, such as one or more electric coils of usual form. At C is shown'a handle with which the iron A is provided. Between the iron A and its handle C is a connecting brace D, by which one end of the handle is secured o the iron, and a connecting brace E, which serves to secure the other end of the handle to the iron and also as a receptacle for the switchmechanism to be hereinafter described. The base B is provided at its rear end with amember 11 which is of non-heat conducting material .and preferably extends from the lower end of the base B to the upper as shown.

At the lower end of the member 11 amember 12 is pivotally connected, as shown at 13, which extends about the rear end of the iron A and over the top of the handle as shown, having arear portion 14 and a forwardly projectingportion 15. Themember 12 serves both as a lever for operating the switch mechanism, in a manner to be described, and also as a support upon which the iron may rest when it is desired that it should be heated when not in use. For this purpose theportion 14 of themember 12 is relatively broad, being shown in Fig. 2, and the forwardly projectingportion 15 or hand member of the lever is provided with lips or flanges which are preferably curved to fit about the handle C end of the handle Patented June 26, 1917. v

preferably shaped as so that the lever may be readily grasped by the operator together with the handle C when the device is in use. Between thehand member 15 of themember 12 and the handle C is aspring 16 which tends normally to hold theportion 15 away from the handle, astop 17 being provided to limit the action of said spring. Themember 12 thus forms a lever which is pressed downwardly against the handle by the hand of the user when the necessary lroning pressure is exerted and which is moved away fromthe handle about thepivot 13 by thespring 16 when the handle is released by the operator and the device is not in use. Themember 12 also operates as a lever when the iron is turned on end on the rear portion of the lever orrest 14, in which casethe weight of theiron causes thespring 16 to be compressed and theportion 15 to be moved toward the handle as shown in Fig. 4. At 18 is shown a sto secured tothe rear end of the handle C an adapted to contact with theportion 14 of themember 12 so as to limit the inward movement of the member.

A snap-over switch is preferably located Within the member E and consists of an actuatingplunger 19 of non-conducting material such as vulcaniteor the like, ofamovable contact lever 20,-aspring contact 21, and a fixed contact 22, the last mentioned member being connected to suitable heating coils not shown by a wire 9. Thespring contact 21 and the heating coils are connected with the supply bywires 7 and 8 respectively. The plunger 19 projects through a hole in themember 11 into the switch box or member E, and is pivotally connected at its outer end with the portion 1 1 of themember 12. Theplunger 19 also passes through an elongated opening 27 in thelever 20, which is pivotally mounted at 28, and is provided'at each side of thelever 20 with enlargedportions 25 and 26. A pair oflight springs 29 and 30 surround theplunger 19 and are interposed between the enlarged portions 25 and 26' respectively and thecontact lever 20. The contact 22 is fixedly mounted in the switch box-or member E and is so arranged that the lower end of thelever 20 makes contact with it when theplunger 19 is pressed inwardly and thelever 20 is thrown into the position shown in dotted lines in'Fig. 5. Thespring contact 21 is curved as shown in Fig. 5 and is secured at one end at 31 to the switch box IE, and projects'over the upper end of the lever 20in a position to always be engagedby the same. The springs 29 and .30 andthespring contact 21 are so arranged that when theplunger 19 is pressed inwardly by; thelever 12 thespring 30 will'b'e compressed until the pressure exerted by it overcomes the pressure exerted bythespring 21 against the end of thelever 20. Thelever v 20 will then be snapped past the lowermost portion of thecurved spring 21 into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. When in this position the spring 29 operates to hold thelever 20 in contact with thespring 21. When thelever 12 is moved outwardly by thespring 16, which is stronger thansprings 29, 30 and 31, the reverse operation to that described above takes place and the lever is snapped back into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 5 and out of contact with the member 22. While we have shown the form of snap-over switch preferred we do not desire to limit ourselves tothis particular form of construction.

We regard this as one of the important features of our invention for a snap-over switch used in combination with thelever 12 as shown enables a quick break of the circuit to be affected, and furthermore insures 85 a constant contact and consequent steady supply of current to the heating element at all times while the iron is in use regardless of slight variations in pressure occasioned by varying the weight ofthe hand in ironing. The device is preferably adjusted so that the contact is broken, only when practically the entire pressure is removed from the handle. In this way a continual making and breaking of the connection is prevented, the resulting wear and tear on the parts is eliminated, and a constant heating current is obtained. 1'

It will be seen that the device hereinabove described may be used without danger of 100 overheating, scorching or setting fire to inflammable materials, for whenever the operator lets go of the handle the current is automatically cut ofi in the manner described. If on the other hand it is desired to maintain heat in the iron when not in use it is merely necessary to place 1l7 )n end on the rest 14 as shown in Fig. 4 and the weight of the iron will move themeii ber 12 inwardly against thespring 16 and threw the switch into engagement with the fixed contact 22 thereby supplying current to the heating element when the ironing surface is free from contact with surrounding objects.

Having reference now particularly tolius Figs. 6 7 and 8 there is thereshown a modified forin of device embodylng our inven tion. The iron F is similar to the iron A described above but is provided with a different form of automatic mechanism for controlling the supply of current to the heating element. The mechanism is also so arranged that current is supplied to the heatria connected awire 39 leading end of which consists of non-conducting material, passes loosely through a hole in the handle G and projects downwardly through a hole in the upper surface'of acontainer 37. The plunger makes a snug sliding fit in the hole ed to extend well down into the container as shown in Fig. 7 when pressure is placed on thelever 33 by the user of the iron.

The container or. switchbox 37 consists of suitable non-conducting material such as vulcanite or the like and 1s provided, at its lower end, preferably at the place shown in the. drawings, with a terminal 38 to which is to the heating element from which awire 61 leads to the source of supply. Awire 40 also leading from the current supply passes through therest 41, provided at the back of the iron, and is secured to the non-insulated portion of theplunger 34. Within thecontainer 37 is a quantity of mercury 42, or 'other'suitable current conducting liquid, into which theplunger 34 is pressed down by the user of the iron and out of Which the plunger is liftedspring 35 whenthe iron 1s-not in use. the iron is in use and thelever 33 is pressed downwardly, current passes between thewires 40 and 39 by way of the plunger, mercury, and terminal 38 thereby supplying current to the heating element, and when the plunger is raised the circuit is broken and the heat cut off. The plunger fits suf ficiently snugly in the hole in the container to substantially seal the container and prevent the escape of the mercury or mercury gas occasioned by the passage of current.

If it is desired to maintain heat in the iron while not in use and when it is ina position in which it can do no injury to inflammable materials the iron is placed on end on thesupport 41, which is of non-heat conducting material, and theplunger 34 and the terminal 38 are both submerged in the mercury thereby making the circuit and permitting the current to pass to the heating element.

Still another modified form of device is shown in Figs. 9, 10, .11 and 12 in which the automatic mechanism consists ofalever 43 pivoted at one end of the handle, a spring mountedplunger 44 slidably mounted through the handle and to a sealed L-shapedcontainer 45, provided withtrunnions 46, mounted in suitable brackets of non-conducting material secured in thecontainer 37 and is adapt adapted to dip whenb tittsupport secured to the pivotally connected to the handle of the iron. Thetrunnions 46 form terminals one of which is connected to the source of supply by a wire 50 and the other of Which is connected to the heating coils not shown, and thence with the supply bywires 49 and 62 respectively. When the spring mountedplunger 44 is pressed down by the lever thecontainer 45 is swung about its pivot from the position shown in Fig. 9 to the osition shown in Fig. 10. The container is partially filled with mercury, or likeliquid 63 which remains in the lower end of the container when the iron is resting on its base or ironing surface and not in use.

position shown in Fig. 10 which causes the mercury to flow into the opposite end of the container and submerge theterminals 46 thereby allowin current to pass to the heating element. When the iron is placed on end on the rest 48 the mercury in the container submerges theterminals 46 and thus affords a supply of current to the heating element. In this way the heating element of the iron is supplied with current when in use and when resting on one end, but the current supply is cut off if the iron is allowed to remain on its base when not in use so that all danger of scorching or setting fire to inflammable materials is eliminated.

What we claim is:: I

1. The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a support secured to said iron, and automatic means arranged to permit the supply of current to the iron when in use and when on its support.

2. The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a iron, a switch by which the supply circuit is normally broken, and means operated to complete the circuit when the iron is in use when on its support.

3. The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a support secured to said iron, said support being arranged to hold said iron with its operating surface free from contact, and automatic means arranged to permit the supply of current to the iron when in use and when on its support.

4. The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a portion of said iron being arranged to form a support, and automatic means arranged to permit the supply of current to the iron when in use and when on its support.

5. The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a support movably mounted on said iron, and means operated by said support for supplying current to the iron when in use and when on said support.

6. The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a lever pivotally mounted on said iron one portion of which forms a support therefor and another portion of which forms a band member, said lever being adapted to be moved about its pivot b oth by the hand member portion and the support portion, and means operated by said lever for supplying current to the iron.

7 The improved electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a pivoted lever mounted on said iron, a portion of which forms a support for the iron and a portion of'which forms a hand member adapted to be grasped by the operator when using the iron, a spring by which said lever is'actuated in one direction, and means operated by said'lever for supplying current to'the iron when'said spring is compressed.

8. The 'improved' electric iron having an operating surface and a heating element, a lever 'formingij'a upp rt and a hand member, the 'support" being jpivotally mounted at one end to said iron and the hand member.

being adjacent thefharidle of the iron, a

away from the iron, and means operated by operating surface and a heating element, a

lever pivoted at one end to the rear of the iron and forming both a support and a hand member, a spring engaging said lever, a switch for cont-rolling the supply of current to the heating element, and a member by which said lever and switch are connected.

10. In an electric iron, the combination of a lever movable in.on e direction by hand, a spring which moves the lever in the reverse direction, and a snap-over. switch having a movable member operated by said lever which breaks the circuit when the lever is in its normal position and which closes the circuit when the lever .actuatingspring j is compressed, the parts being so arranged that the switch is snapped into circuit breaking position only after the first part of the movement of the lever against its spring has been completed.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signa-- 'tures. spring tending normally to hold the lever CHARLES s. PALMER. DEAN PALMER.

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