Iron sole plate
AssigneeMorphy Richards Limited
InventorsGeorge Ralph Adkins, Michael James, Jamie Michael Sellors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sole plate assembly for an electric hand iron, said sole plate assembly comprises a metal outer frame member; a metal retaining ring member shaped to fit inside said metal outer frame member; a flat sole glass or ceramic plate member shaped to fit in said metal retaining ring member; and a flexible seal member arranged to locate in said metal retaining ring member. The construction provides for improved ease of assembly, and a robust sole plate construction.
Claims32
A sole plate assembly for an electric hand iron, said sole plate assembly comprising:
- a metal outer frame member;
- a metal retaining ring member shaped to fit inside said metal outer frame member;
- a flat sole plate member shaped to fit in said metal retaining ring member;
- and
- a flexible seal member arranged to locate in said metal retaining ring member.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said cover plate locates on top of said seal member.
The sole plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said metal retaining strip member forms a ring of a shape configured to surround said flat sole plate member.
The sole plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said metal retaining strip comprises:
- a first substantially flat portion;
- a second substantially flat portion spaced apart from said first substantially flat portion;
- and
- an up right portion joining said first and second substantially flat portions together and extending there between.
The sole plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein, a lower face of said sole plate is recessed relative to a lower face of said outer frame.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein a lower face of said sole plate is recessed relative to a lower face of said outer frame by a distance in the range 0.3 mm to 1.0 mm.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said metal retaining ring member is configured to fit between said seal member and said outer metal frame member.
The sole plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said seal member locates between said retaining ring and said sole plate member.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said seal member comprises a flexible heat resistant material.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said seal comprises a silicone rubber material.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said seal member has a cross sectional shape comprising:
- a first portion, extending in a direction transverse to a main plane of said sole plate;
- and
- a second portion extending in direction transverse to said first portion.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said seal member has a substantially “T” shaped cross section.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate member comprises a plurality of thin film heating elements for directly heating said sole plate member.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate member has a thickness in the range 3.5 mm to 4.5 mm.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate comprises a glass plate.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate comprises a ceramic material.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate member comprises a plurality of thin film heating elements having dimensions in the range:
- width:
- 0.1 mm to 15.0 mm;
- and
- thickness:
- 300 μm to 400 μm.
The sole plate as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate member comprises a plurality of thin film heating elements having a width dimension in the range 1.0 mm to 5.0 mm.
The sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said sole plate member comprises a plurality of substantially transparent heating elements.
An electric hand iron comprising a sole plate assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.
A method of construction of a sole plate assembly for an iron, said method comprising:
- inserting a metal retaining strip member into an outer metal frame member;
- inserting a flat sole plate member into said metal retaining ring;
- and
- inserting a seal member into said outer metal frame member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.