HANDHELD APPLIANCE FOR STEAMING GARMENTS WITH RETRACTABLE WATER RESERVOIR

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001]The present invention generally relates to appliances for steaming fabrics.

BACKGROUND

[0002]Wrinkled clothing is a problem that any consumer has spent a great deal of time remediating. For travelers, a steamer is often the appliance of choice to address wrinkles. A steamer typically includes a water reservoir, a pump, a heating chamber, and a plate with a number of small holes through which steam can escape and be directed toward a wrinkled garment. Because steamers are often used by travelers, size can be a concern, as a steamer may occupy a large amount of luggage space.

[0003]It may be desirable to provide an alternative steamer design based on the shortcomings described above.

SUMMARY

[0004]As a first aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a steaming appliance comprising: a housing; a steam generation unit mounted in the housing, the steam generation unit including a plate with at least one exhaust hole positioned to exhaust steam from the housing; a pump mounted in the housing and fluidly connected with the steam generation unit; and a water reservoir detachably mounted to the housing and fluidly connected with the pump. The steam generation unit is configured to convert water pumped from the water reservoir to the steam generation unit to steam that is expelled through the at least one exhaust hole. The water reservoir is mounted to the housing so as to be movable relative to the housing between an extended position, in which a lower end of the water reservoir extends a first distance from the housing, and a retracted position, in which the lower end of the water reservoir extends a second distance from the housing that is less than the first distance.

[0005]As a second aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a steaming appliance comprising: a housing; a steam generation unit mounted in the housing, the steam generation unit including a plate with at least one exhaust hole positioned to exhaust steam from the housing; a pump mounted in the housing and fluidly connected with the steam generation unit; and a water reservoir detachably mounted to the housing and fluidly connected with the pump. The steam generation unit is configured to convert water pumped from the water reservoir to the steam generation unit to steam that is expelled through the at least one exhaust hole. The water reservoir is mounted to the housing so as to be movable relative to the housing between an extended position, in which a first portion of the water reservoir overlies the housing, and a retracted position, in which a second portion of the water reservoir overlies the housing, the second portion being larger than the first portion.

[0006]As the third aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a steaming appliance comprising: a housing; a steam generation unit mounted in the housing, the steam generation unit including a plate with at least one exhaust hole positioned to exhaust steam from the housing; a pump mounted in the housing and fluidly connected with the steam generation unit; and a water reservoir detachably mounted to the housing and fluidly connected with the pump. The steam generation unit is configured to convert water pumped from the water reservoir to the steam generation unit to steam that is expelled through the at least one exhaust hole. The water reservoir is mounted to the housing so as to be rotatable relative to the housing between an extended position, in which a lower end of the water reservoir extends a first distance from the housing, and a retracted position, in which the lower end of the water reservoir extends a second distance from the housing that is less than the first position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0007]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a handheld steaming appliance according to embodiments of the invention, with the water reservoir shown in its extended position.

[0008]FIG. 2 is a reverse perspective view of the appliance of FIG. 1 with the water reservoir shown in its extended position.

[0009]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the appliance of FIG. 1 with the water reservoir and housing removed.

[0010]FIG. 4 is a reverse perspective view of the appliance of FIG. 1 with the water reservoir and housing removed.

[0011]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the water reservoir of the appliance of FIG. 1.

[0012]FIG. 6 is a perspective section view of the water reservoir of FIG. 5.

[0013]FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of the collar, pump and hoses leading to and from the pump in the appliance of FIG. 1.

[0014]FIG. 8 is a partial side perspective view of the water reservoir and collar of the appliance of FIG. 1 with the water reservoir in the extended and locked position, with arrows indicating how the water reservoir can be dissembled from the collar.

[0015]FIG. 9 is a partial side perspective view of the water reservoir and collar of the appliance of FIG. 1 with the water reservoir in the extended and locked position.

[0016]FIG. 10 is a partial side perspective view of the water reservoir and collar of the appliance of FIG. 1 with the water reservoir in the extended and locked position, with arrows indicating how the water reservoir can be moved to its retracted position.

[0017]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the appliance of FIG. 1 showing the water reservoir in its retracted position (with the water reservoir being shown as transparent).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018]The present invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

[0019]Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.

[0020]The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the specification and relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

[0021]As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and “between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. As used herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between about X and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean “from about X to about Y.”

[0022]It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”, “attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc., another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to, coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being, for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected” to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element, there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references to a structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.

[0023]Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper”, “lateral”, “left”, “right” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” the other elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors of relative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.

[0024]It will also be understood that, as used herein, the terms “example,” “exemplary,” and derivatives thereof are intended to refer to non-limiting examples and/or variants embodiments discussed herein, and are not intended to indicate preference for one or more embodiments discussed herein compared to one or more other embodiments.

[0025]Referring now to the drawings, a handheld steaming appliance, designated broadly at 10, is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The appliance 10 includes an angled housing 12 and a water reservoir 14. The components and operation of the appliance 10 are described in greater detail below.

[0026]Referring first to FIGS. 3 and 4, the reservoir 14 is generally cylindrical and open at its upper end. Two recessed tracks 16 are present on opposite sides of the inner surface of the reservoir 14. Each of the tracks 16 includes an upper run 18 and a lower run 20 (seen best in FIG. 8). It can be seen in FIG. 4 that the upper run 18 is routed horizontally and circumferentially. At its closed end, the upper run 18 may include a detent or recess. The lower run 20 extends along a helical path downwardly and circumferentially from one end of the upper run 18. In addition, ramped notches 22a, 22b extend to form a discontinuous path from the center of each upper run 18 to the upper edge of the reservoir 14.

[0027]Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5-7, the housing 12 includes two generally L-shaped mating halves 26, 28 and a collar 30 that form a cavity within many of the operative components of the appliance 10 reside. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, two spring-loaded buttons 32 are mounted on opposite sides of the collar 30. A fitting 33 is mounted to the floor 34 of the collar 30. At its lower end, the fitting 33 is attached to a soft tube 35 that extends downwardly and into the reservoir 14. An ingress bulb 37 is attached at the lower end of the tube 35. The fitting 33 is also attached to a hose 36 that extends first upwardly, then downwardly into the entry port 38 of a pump 40 (see FIG. 7). A hose 42 leads from the exit port 44 of the pump 40 to a steam generation unit 60.

[0028]Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the steam generation unit 60 includes a heating element 62. At one end, the steam generation unit 60 has an exhaust manifold that feeds onto a heating plate 66 mounted between the edges of the mating halves 16, 18. The outer surface of the heating plate 66 is exposed to the atmosphere. Exhaust holes 68 are present in the heating plate 66 and are separated from each other by baffles in the exhaust manifold. Thus, steam produced by the steam generation unit 60 can be expelled through the exhaust manifold and the exhaust holes 68 in the heating plate 66. The steam is expelled in a direction that is approximately 60 degrees from an axis formed by the reservoir 14.

[0029]An activation button 70 is mounted on the housing 12 between the upper edge of the reservoir 14 and the portion of the housing that houses the steam generation unit 60. Also, a power cord 76 is mounted to the housing 12 opposite of and above the activation button 70. In the illustrated embodiment, the power cord 76 can pivot approximately 180 degrees about the axis defined by the reservoir 14 to provide the user with greater freedom and flexibility.

[0030]The power cord 76, the activation button 70, the pump 40 and the steam generation unit 60 are connected with a controller 78 (typically a printed circuit board—see FIG. 5) that can direct activities of these components. In some embodiments, the controller 78 operatively connects the power cord 76 and the steam generation unit 60, such that the heating element 62 of the steam generation unit 60 begins to heat up as the power cord 76 is plugged into an electrical outlet. Also, in some embodiments the controller 78 operatively connects the activation button 70 and the pump 40, such that pressing the activation button 70 causes the pump 40 to pump water from the reservoir 14 to the steam generation unit 60.

[0031]In operation, the user first fills the reservoir 14 with water. The reservoir 14 can be removed from the collar 30 by rotating the reservoir 14 about its longitudinal axis until the ramped notches 22a, 22b are aligned with the spring-loaded buttons 32 (see FIG. 8). The user then pulls the reservoir 14 away from the housing 12 to separate these components; the spring-loaded buttons 32 retract when they engage the ramped notches 22a, which allows the reservoir 14 to disengage from the collar 30. (The soft tube 35 and ingress bulb 37 remain attached to the collar 30).

[0032]After the reservoir 14 is filled, the user replaces the reservoir 14 on the housing 12 by aligning the ramped notches 22a, 22b with the spring-loaded buttons 32 and forcing the reservoir 14 toward the housing 12. The spring-loaded buttons 32 retract as they engage the ramped notches 22b, which enables the reservoir 14 to slip back onto the collar 30. The reservoir 14 is then rotated relative to the housing 12 so that the spring-loaded buttons 32 are positioned at the closed ends of the upper runs 18 (see FIG. 9); if detents or recesses are present in the upper runs 18, they can help to maintain the relative rotative positions of the housing 12 and the reservoir 14. In this position, the reservoir 14 is “locked” into place on the housing 12.

[0033]Once the reservoir 14 is filled and mounted back onto the housing 12, the user plugs the power cord 76 into an electrical outlet, which (via the controller 78) activates the heating element 62 in the steam generation unit 60. When the user is prepared to steam a garment, the user presses the activation button 70, which (via the controller 78) activates the pump 40. The pump 40 draws water through ingress bulb 37, the tube 35, the fitting 33, and the hose 36 and into the entry port 38 of the pump 40. The pump 40 then forces the water out of the outlet port 44 into the hose 42 and to the steam generation unit 60. There the water is converted to steam by the heating element 62, then is expelled as steam through the exhaust holes 68 of the heating plate 66.

[0034]Many of the details of generating and expelling steam is conventional and need not be discussed in further detail. More discussion of the operation of steaming appliances can be found in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 11,655,585 and 11,959,223, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in full.

[0035]One potential drawback of steamers, particularly for travel, can be their size. As storage space can often be an issue when travelling, particularly as airlines become less tolerant of baggage size, even for carry-on bags, often travelers that wish to take a steamer along to de-wrinkle clothing at their destination may struggle to find available space in their luggage.

[0036]To address this, the steaming appliance 10 is configured so that the reservoir 14 can be retracted relative to the housing 12 for storage purposes. As described above, when the steaming appliance 10 is in use, the reservoir 14 is attached to the collar 30 via the spring-loaded buttons 32 residing at the closed end of the upper run 18 of the track 16. However, when the steaming appliance 10 is not in use, the reservoir 14 can be emptied of water (either through use or via disengagement of the reservoir 14 from the housing 12 and pouring out the excess water). In either event, when the reservoir 14 is engaged with the collar, the reservoir 14 can be rotated relative to the housing 12 so that the spring-loaded buttons 32 are positioned at the intersection of the upper run 18 and the lower run 20, then pushed toward the housing 12. The pushing action causes the spring-loaded buttons 32 to enter the upper end of the lower run 20. As the user continues to push the reservoir 14 toward the housing 12, the reservoir 14 both retracts and rotates relative to the housing 12, with the movement being guided by the spring-loaded buttons 32 within the lower run 20 of the track 16. Retraction and rotation cease when the spring-loaded buttons 32 reach the lower, closed end of the lower run 20. This action is indicated in FIG. 10, with full retraction shown in FIG. 11.

[0037]When the reservoir 14 is fully retracted, more than half of the reservoir 14 may overlie the collar 30 and the lower end of the housing 12 (i.e., as much as 30 to 60 percent of the reservoir 14 may overlie the collar 30 and the lower end of the housing 12). As such, the overall length of the steaming appliance 10 may be reduced between approximately 1 to 3 inches. In some embodiments, this reduction in overall length can be as much as 10 to 30 percent of the extended length of the steaming appliance. This reduction in length can significantly save on packing space for travelers and may even enable them to use smaller bags for a trip.

[0038]Those of skill in this art will appreciate that the steaming appliance may take other forms. For example, when moving between the retracted and extended positions, the reservoir 14 need not rotate relative to the housing 12, but instead can simply translate along its axis. This can be achieved by deploying the lower run 18 of the track 16 so that it is parallel to the axis of the reservoir 14.

[0039]It will also be understood that the extent to which the reservoir 14 overlaps the collar 30 and housing 12 in the retracted and extended positions may vary in some embodiments, although the portion of the reservoir 14 that overlaps the collar 30 and/or housing 12 is always greater in the retracted position. Similarly, the distance that the reservoir 14 extends from the housing 12 in the extended vs. the retracted position can also vary between embodiments.

[0040]It should also be understood that the reservoir 14 may be attached to the housing 12 differently. For example, rather than spring-loaded buttons 32, some other type of projection (i.e., a simple bump or nub) may fit within the track 16. Such a projection can both maintain the reservoir 14 in place on the housing 12 and can help to guide the reservoir 14 as it retracts and extends relative to the housing 12.

[0041]As other examples of variations, the steaming appliance 10 may employ a steam generation unit of a different variety, a pump of a different construction, and/or even a housing that is not generally L-shaped.

[0042]The foregoing is illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting thereof. Although exemplary embodiments of this invention have been described, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. The invention is defined by the following claims, with equivalents of the claims to be included therein.