Foldable stand

#This invention relates to a foldable stand for a soldering iron, especially an electrical one. Stands of this kind, as is known, serve the purpose of making it possible to set down a hot soldering iron without exposing people or pieces of equipment to dangerous heat. There have already become known stands of this kind wherein the actual holder for the soldering iron is swivelably connected to a base component, so that the stand can be folded, for example for transport purposes, thus taking up less space.

#The the object of my invention is to provide an improved foldable stand of this kind.

#A foldable stand according to my invention comprises a holder articulated at its rear end to a supporting bracket therefor, its front end forming a seat for the handle of a soldering iron. The bracket has a pair of forwardly converging flexible arms shiftably engaged by a slider which is pivotally connected, via a suitable link, with the front end of the holder for drawing the seat of the soldering-iron handle toward the bracket upon a rearward shifting of the slider from an advanced position, in which that seat is separated from the bracket by a distance approximating the length of the link, into a rearwardly retracted position. The arms of the bracket have three ends which are spread apart in the advanced position but are closely juxtaposed in the rearwardly retracted position of the slider. Thus, the bracket forms a broad base for the holder in an unfolded position of the stand in which it supports that holder at three points; in the folded position, however, the width of the base is significantly reduced.

#The above and other features of my invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a foldable stand according to the invention;

#FIG. 2 is a side view of a slider of the stand in its folded or closed-up position;

#As shown in the drawing, the foldable stand according to the invention includes a holder 10 and a supporting bracket or base 20. The holder 10 is shown to comprise an expanding coil 10a, which offers protection against contact but does not hinder the cooling down of a soldering iron 15 with a feeder cable 16 pushed into the holder and shown in broken lines. The handle of soldering iron 15 is inserted into a receiving socket 10b. There is disposed alongside the coil 10a trough 10c designed to catch pieces of tin or the like possibly dropping off the iron.

#The holder 10 is provided at its rearward end with at least one eye 11 articulatedly connected with a middle part or bight portion 23 of the yoke-shaped bracket 20. In an analogous manner at least one eye 12 is arranged at the forward part of the holder 10 is articulated to a link 13 having preferably the form of an inverted "U".

#The bracket 20, consisting for example of steel wire, has essentially the U-shape seen in FIG. 3 with arms 21, 22 converging forwardly. At the transition between the middle part 23 and the arms 21, 22 the wire is bent into parallel downward loops 21a, 22a which act as feet in the unfolded condition of the stand (FIG. 1).