Soldering iron holder with ready indicator and safety shutoff

Abstract

A soldering iron holder includes a box-shaped housing having mounted thereon a support supporting an electric soldering iron while not in use. A manually actuated power switch on the housing applies electric power to a soldering iron supported by the support means to heat the iron to operating temperature. An indicator arrangement carried by the housing is controlled by a first timing circuit in the housing and activated concurrently with operation of the power switch. The indicator arrangement includes an "iron heating" LED which is extinguished and an "iron ready" LED which is illuminated and an audible alarm which is sounded by the first timing circuit after lapse of a preset, predetermined time duration, e.g., five minutes, sufficient for the soldering iron to reach operational temperature. A second resettable timing circuit is provided in the housing and activated concurrently with operation of the power switch to deactivate the power switch if the soldering iron remains idle on the support for a predetermined extended time period, e.g., two hours, after the power switch is activated, to prevent the soldering iron from being inadvertently left on. The support is provided with a soldering iron use sensor, such as a photosensor, magnetic switch, or weight switch, for sensing the removal of the soldering iron from the support and automatically resetting the second timing circuit each time the soldering iron is removed from the support.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.