A hand-held garment steamer with scale collection chamber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018371684-A1
Application number	US-201616060598-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 9, 2016
Priority date	Dec 24, 2015
Publication date	Dec 27, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present application relates to a hand-held garment steamer ( 1 ) comprising a steam generating chamber ( 5 ) having a surface ( 9 ) and a heater ( 10 ) to heat the surface ( 9 ) such that water fed onto the surface ( 9 ) is converted into steam. The hand-held garment steamer ( 1 ) further comprises a scale collection chamber ( 14 ) having an opening ( 25 ). The surface ( 9 ) and opening ( 25 ) are positioned relative to each other and configured so that when the garment steamer ( 1 ) is in a first orientation (A) in which the surface ( 9 ) extends downwardly away from the opening ( 25 ), water fed onto the surface ( 9 ) flows away from the opening ( 25 ) to be evaporated from the surface ( 9 ). When the garment steamer ( 1 ) is in a second orientation (B) in which the surface ( 9 ) extends downwardly towards the opening ( 25 ), scale dislodged from the surface ( 9 ) falls into the scale collection chamber ( 14 ) through the opening ( 25 ). The scale collection chamber ( 14 ) is located below the steam generating chamber ( 5 ) in both the first orientation (A) and the second orientation (B). The present application also relates to a garment steaming system ( 40 ) comprising the hand-held garment steamer ( 1 ).

First claim

1 . A hand-held garment steamer comprising:
a steam generating chamber including a surface; a heater to heat the surface such that water fed onto the surface is converted into steam, and a scale collection chamber having an opening, the surface and the opening being positioned relative to each other and configured so that: a) when the garment steamer is in a first orientation (A) in which the surface extends downwardly away from the opening, water fed onto the surface flows away from the opening to be evaporated from the surface, and b) when the garment steamer is in a second orientation (B) in which the surface extends downwardly towards the opening, scale dislodged from the surface falls into the scale collection chamber through the opening wherein said scale collection chamber is located below the steam generating chamber in both the first orientation (A) and the second orientation (B).

2 . The hand-held steamer according to claim 1 , comprises a treatment surface for treating a garment, wherein the treatment surface is at any angle between about 45 to 165 degrees from the surface.

3 . The hand-held steamer according to claim 1 , comprising a steam vent for the ejection of steam towards a garment, and a steam channel connecting the steam generating chamber and the steam vent.

4 . The hand-held steamer according to claim 3 , wherein the steam channel is tortuous.

5 . The hand-held steamer according to claim 3 , further comprising an intermediate section coupling the heater and walls of the steam channel, said intermediate section being configured to transmit heat from the heater to the walls of the steam channel.

6 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 2 , wherein the steam channel comprises an aperture for the passage of steam out of the steam generating chamber, the aperture being spaced above the opening to the scale collection chamber in the first orientation (A) and in the second orientation (B).

7 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 6 , wherein the steam channel protrudes into the steam generating chamber over the opening to the scale collection chamber, the channel terminating in an end face in which the aperture is provided.

8 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 1 , wherein the scale collection chamber is located at one end of the surface.

9 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 1 , wherein the scale collection chamber is configured to trap scale collected in the scale collection chamber to prevent it from escaping the scale collection chamber as the garment steamer is tilted between the first orientation (A) and the second orientation (B).

10 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 9 , wherein the scale collection chamber comprises a barrier element to prevent scale collected in the scale collection chamber from escaping the scale collection chamber.

11 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 1 , wherein the scale collection chamber is removable.

12 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 1 , comprising a water inlet to feed water onto the surface.

13 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 12 , comprising an in-built water reservoir.

14 . The hand-held garment steamer according to claim 13 , comprises a pump to direct water from the water reservoir to the water inlet.

15 . A garment steaming system comprising:
the hand-held garment steamer according to claim 1 ; a stand on which to hang a garment to be steamed; and a water reservoir for supplying water to the hand-held garment steamer for conversion into steam.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Ong Chee Keong
• Xu Zhifeng

Classifications

• D06F87/00 Primary

  Apparatus for moistening or otherwise conditioning the article to be ironed or pressed (apparatus for smoothing or removing creases from garments or other textile articles by formers, cores, stretchers or internal frames, with the application of heat or steam D06F73/00 {; devices used in combination with a laundry dryer D06F58/203}) · CPC title

• D06F75/18

  the water being fed slowly, e.g. drop by drop, from the reservoir to a steam generator · CPC title

• D06F75/12

  the steam being produced from water supplied to the iron from an external source · CPC title

• D06F75/10 Primary

  with means for supplying steam to the article being ironed (D06F75/32 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B08B2230/01

  Cleaning with steam · CPC title