Garment steamer

Abstract

A steam head for a garment steamer includes a handle, and a steam duct having an upstream end connectable to a steam hose and a downstream end that defines a steam ejection opening with a circumferential edge that forms a frontal contact surface. A surface area of the frontal contact surface is smaller than an area of the steam ejection opening. The steam head further includes a drainage tube extending between condensate inlet and outlet ends, where the condensate inlet end is disposed within a downstream portion of the steam duct while the condensate outlet end is disposed elsewhere, such as connected to a water reservoir or a boiler of the garment steamer, or to a dedicated condensate collector.

Claims

1. A steam head for a garment steamer, comprising: a handle; a steam duct, extending through or otherwise connected to the handle, having an upstream portion with an upstream end that is configured to be connected to a steam hose, and a downstream portion with a downstream end that defines a steam ejection opening for output of steam passing through a partition having at least one steam passage; and a frontal contact surface that is at least partially provided for by a circumferential edge of the steam ejection opening, and that is configured to be in grazing contact with a garment when, during use, steam is released from the steam ejection opening onto the garment, wherein a circumference of the circumferential edge is smaller than a circumference of the partition which is further away from the garment than the circumferential edge of the frontal contact surface, wherein the steam head further comprises a drainage tube extending apart from the steam duct between a condensate inlet end and a condensate outlet end, and wherein the condensate inlet end is disposed within the downstream portion of the steam duct.

2. The steam head according to claim 1, wherein the surface area of the frontal contact surface is less than 10% of the area of the steam ejection opening.

3. The steam head according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of the downstream portion of the steam duct has an inner cross-sectional area that decreases in a downstream direction, towards the steam ejection opening.

4. The steam head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one steam passage is disposed at least 2 cm upstream of the steam ejection opening at the downstream end of the steam duct.

5. The steam head according to claim 1, wherein the partition is made of a porous material defining a plurality of microscopic steam passages.

6. The steam head according to claim 1, wherein the condensate outlet end of the drainage tube is fluidly connectable to at least one of a water reservoir, a boiler and a dedicated condensate collector, such that any condensate in the downstream portion of the steam duct may drain back therein.

7. A garment steamer, comprising: a steam head including: a handle; a steam duct, extending through or otherwise connected to the handle, having an upstream portion with an upstream end that is configured to be connected to a steam hose, and a downstream portion with a downstream end that defines a steam ejection opening for output of steam passing through a partition having at least one steam passage; and a frontal contact surface that is at least partially provided for by a circumferential edge of the steam ejection opening, and that is configured to be in grazing contact with a garment when, during use, steam is released from the steam ejection opening onto the garment, wherein a circumference of the circumferential edge is smaller than a circumference of the partition which is further away from the garment than the circumferential edge of the frontal contact surface, wherein the steam head further comprises a drainage tube extending apart from the steam duct between a condensate inlet end and a condensate outlet end, and wherein the condensate inlet end is disposed within the downstream portion of the steam duct; a base, accommodating a water reservoir having a water supply opening and a water discharge opening; a boiler having a water supply opening and a steam discharge opening, wherein the water supply opening of the boiler is connected to the water discharge opening of the water reservoir; and a steam hose, having a first end connected to the steam discharge opening of the boiler and a second end connected to the steam head, wherein the condensate outlet end of the drainage tube is fluidly connected to at least one of the water reservoir and the boiler, such that condensate in the downstream portion of the steam duct may drain back therein.

8. The garment steamer according to claim 7, wherein the steam hose and the drainage tube run in parallel within a uni-strand cord that extends between the steam head and the base.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of a conventional garment steamer;

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a first exemplary embodiment of a steam head according to the present invention;

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of the steam head shown in FIG. 2;

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a second exemplary embodiment of a steam head according to the present invention, configured as a clip-on accessory for conventional garment steamers; and

(5) FIG. 5 schematically illustrates two heat distribution thermographs, one for a conventional steam head (top), and one for a steam head according to the present invention (bottom).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of a conventional garment steamer 1. The garment steamer 1 includes a base 10, a hand-held steam head 30, and a flexible, thermally insulated steam hose 20 interconnecting the two. The base 10 accommodates a water reservoir 12 with a closeable water supply opening 12a via which the reservoir may be refilled. A water discharge opening 12b of the water reservoir 12 is fluidly connected to the water supply opening 14a of an open kettle-type boiler 14 that is also accommodated by the base 10, and powered by an electric heating element 14c. A steam discharge opening 14b of the boiler 14 is connected to a first end 20a of the steam hose 20, while a second end 20b thereof is connected to the steam head 30. The steam head includes a generally flat, front-facing head plate 36 that defines a plurality of spaced apart steam outlet passages 40. During operation, the water head in the water reservoir 12 causes the flow of water from the water reservoir into the boiler 14. The boiler 14 evaporates the supplied water and discharges it as steam via the steam hose 20 to the steam head 30, which subsequently releases it through the corresponding steam passages 40.

(7) It was already mentioned above that the pressure and temperature of steam generated in a garment steamer of the type depicted in FIG. 1 may be lower than those of steam from garment steamers with a closed, pressurized boiler, and that this may increase the chance of condensation (in particular in the steam hose 20 and steam head 30). Due to the lack of heating means in the steam head 30, condensate cannot be re-evaporated before reaching the steam passages 40. Consequently, the condensate may temporarily clog the steam passages 40 and, under the build-up of steam pressure upstream thereof, be spit out of onto a garment being treated, thereby causing wet spots. In addition, steam that bounces off the garment, back onto the steam head 30, cannot be kept from condensing on the relatively large external surface of the head plate 36. This brings the risk that accumulated condensate will be wiped off on the garment being treated, which could cause even larger wet spots.

(8) FIGS. 2 and 3 respectively illustrate a perspective view and a cross-sectional side view of a first exemplary embodiment of a steam head 130 according to the present invention that overcomes or at least mitigates the problem of wet spots associated with the conventional steam head 30 shown in FIG. 1. The steam head 130 may be used in combination with a conventional base 10, and if desired, a conventional steam hose 20. It is noted that both figures show the steam head 130 in its normal use orientation, i.e. the primary orientation in which the steam head is configured to be held during operation, in particular during plain up and down movement along a hanging garment. In the normal use orientation of the steam head 130, a steam hose 20 may typically connect to/extend from a lowest point of the steam head 130, while the average steam ejection direction T of the steam passages 140 (see below) may typically include an angle less than 45 degrees with the horizontal.

(9) As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the steam head 130 according to the present invention may have an at least partially double-tubed structure. The outer tube of the structure may provide for a generally elongate hollow handle 132 for gripping by a user, while the inner tube may provide for an upstream portion 134 of a steam duct. The upstream portion 134 of the steam duct may extend over an entire length of the handle 132, or over a portion thereof (as shown). A first, upstream end 134a of the upstream portion 134 of the steam duct may be dimensioned to be connectable to the second, downstream end 20b of a steam hose 20 of a garment steamer. A second, downstream end 134b of the upstream portion 134 of the steam duct may be defined by a partition 136 that extends generally radially to connect to the corresponding end of the handle 132, and that is provided with a plurality of spaced apart steam passages 140 in its center area. Each steam passage 140 may include a steam guide 142, for instance in the form of a relatively small-diameter tube, a first, upstream end 142a of which may reside in the upstream portion 134 of the steam duct and a second, downstream end 142b of which may coincide with a steam outlet opening 144 of the steam passage 140 in the partition 136. Each of the steam guides 142 of the plurality of steam passages 140 may be generally straight and extend in a respective steam ejection direction t. The respective steam guides 142 may preferably extend in parallel to define a common steam ejection direction, but at any rate their (vector) average defines an average steam ejection direction T.

(10) The steam head 130 according to the present invention may comprise a steam ejection sleeve 150. The steam ejection sleeve 150 may include a sleeve wall 152 that is connected to a peripheral area of the external surface 138 of the partition 136 and that protrudes therefrom, such that it circumferentially encloses the plurality of steam passage openings 144 in its center area. Seen in the average steam ejection direction T, the sleeve wall 152 may extend beyond the steam passage openings 144 of the steam passages 140 in the partition 136, preferably by at least 2 cm, and more preferably at least 3 cm. The sleeve wall 152 may thus define a downstream portion of the steam duct of the steam head 130; accordingly, the terms steam ejection sleeve and downstream portion of the steam duct may be used interchangeably. The sleeve wall 152 may extend between a fixed first end 154a that is proximal to the steam passage openings 144 of the steam passages 140 and a free second end 154b that is distal to the steam passage openings 144. The second end 154b may define a steam ejection opening 157 from which steam may ultimately be released. The thickness of the sleeve wall 152 may be small, e.g. less than 5 mm and preferably less than 2.5 mm, such that the circumferential edge of the sleeve wall 152 defining the steam ejection opening 157 at the second end 154b of the steam duct 154 forms a protruding frontal contact surface 156 with a significantly smaller surface area than that of the recessed, external partition surface 138 in which the steam passages 140 are provided. Compared to the conventional steam head of FIG. 1, the presently disclosed steam head 130 thus offers less opportunity for condensation of reflected steam due to the fact that the area of the frontal contact surface 156 is significantly smaller than that of the head plate 36 (which is structurally comparable to the partition 136 in the illustrated embodiment). In general, the surface area of the frontal contact surface 156 may be smaller than an area of the steam ejection opening 157, and preferably amount to less than 10% thereof, to minimize the formation of wet spots via the transfer of condensate off the frontal contact surface 156 onto the garment. Reflected steam may, of course, re-enter the steam ejection sleeve 150, i.e. the upstream portion of the steam duct, to condense on the inner surface of the sleeve wall 152, but this presents no wet spot risk; such condensate may be drained from the upstream portion of the steam duct in a manner to be described below. The same applies to condensate that is spit out from the steam passages 140 and caught or intercepted by the steam ejection sleeve 150.

(11) As regards its shape, the sleeve wall 152 may have a central extrusion axis, for example parallel to the average steam ejection direction T, along which its cross-sectional profile is projected. Alternatively, the cross-sectional profile of the sleeve wall 152 may vary along the average steam ejection direction T. In the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example, the steam ejection sleeve 150 has a gradually narrowing inner cross-section in the average steam ejection direction T, much like a nozzle. At least near the free second end 154b of the steam ejection sleeve 150, the lower and upper sleeve wall portions 152a, 152b bend somewhat towards each other. In the depicted normal use orientation this entails that the lower sleeve wall portion 152a curves upwards to provide a drainage slope that traps condensate at the fixed end of the lower sleeve wall portion 152a, which defines the normally lowest point 158 of the upstream portion of the steam duct.

(12) In order to prevent the unrestrained accumulation of condensate in the upstream portion of the steam duct up to the point of running over, the partition 136 may be made of a porous material. The porous material may, for instance, take the form of a mesh, an open cell sponge structure, or a fabric (woven or non-woven), so as to enable the backflow of condensate from the downstream portion 150 of the steam duct into the upstream portion 134 thereof. Alternatively, the steam head 130 may be provided with a drainage tube 160. The drainage tube 160 may extend between a condensate inlet end 160a and a condensate outlet end 160b, shown in FIG. 4. The condensate inlet end 160a may be provided inside the steam ejection sleeve 150, preferably at the normally lowest point 158 of the steam duct, which may typically be located adjacent the lower sleeve wall portion 152a and adjacent the first end 154a of steam ejection sleeve 150. The condensate outlet end 160b may be connected to a water reservoir 12 or boiler 14 (not shown; cf. FIG. 1) that feeds, respectively powers the steaming process, or to a separate, dedicated condensate collector (see the discussion of the embodiment of FIG. 4).

(13) The drainage tube 160 may be neatly and conveniently routed to the water reservoir in the base of the garment steamer by incorporating an upstream length portion thereof into the steam head's handle 132, and/or incorporating a downstream length portion thereof into a uni-strand cord 162 that also accommodates the steam hose 20. Hence, the steam head's handle 132 may accommodate, in parallel, both the upstream portion 134 of the steam duct (plus, optionally, its extension in the form of a downstream length portion of the steam hose 20) and the upstream length portion of the drainage tube 160. In between the steam head 130 and the base of the garment steamer, the drainage tube 160 and the steam hose 20 may run in parallel within the uni-strand cord 162, from a base end of which both may sprout again to connect to the (water supply opening of) the water reservoir and the steam discharge opening of the boiler, respectively.

(14) Although the steam ejection sleeve 150 described above may be integrated with a steam head 130 upon manufacture, it is contemplated that it may alternatively be applied to conventional steam heads 30 as an accessory with corresponding effects. FIG. 4 schematically illustrates such an accessory 170, comprising a steam ejection sleeve 150, a drainage tube 160, and a condensate collector 176.

(15) The steam ejection sleeve 150 of the accessory 170 may have a generally similar construction as that of the integrated steam ejection sleeve described above. In addition, it may be provided with at least one attachment provision 172, for example in the form of a suitable clip or clasp, that enables it to be detachably connected to a conventional steam head 30. The steam ejection sleeve 150 may also include a grip tab 174 to facilitate mounting of the steam ejection sleeve 150.

(16) A condensate inlet end 160a of the drainage tube 160 may be connected to the steam ejection sleeve 150, such that it is in fluid communication with the interior of the steam ejection duct 154. A condensate outlet end 160b of the drainage tube 160 may in turn be connected to the condensate collector 176, such that it is in fluid communication with an internal condensate reservoir thereof. The condensate collector 176 may be provided with an attachment provision 176, for example in the form of a clip or clasp, that enables it to be detachably connected to a steam hose 20 of the conventional garment steamer that is being retrofitted with the accessory 170.

(17) FIG. 5 schematically illustrates an additional advantage of the presently disclosed steam head. Tests have revealed that the steam ejection sleeve enables a more even application of heat and steam to a garment, resulting in better wrinkle removal. The graph on the top of FIG. 5 shows the heat distribution in a garment after it had been stroked with a conventional steam head including five spaced apart steam passages. The contribution of each of the steam passages is clearly traceable in the Figure, which indicates that in particular the areas in the garment corresponding to the areas in between the steam passages during the stroke may have been insufficiently treated. The graph on the bottom of FIG. 5 shows the heat distribution in a garment after it had been stroked with the same steam head, now provided with the above-described steam ejection sleeve accessory. The heat distribution is clearly smoother as no separate steam tracks associated with individual steam passages are visible.

(18) It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word comprising does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The word a or an preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. In a device claim enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

LIST OF ELEMENTS

(19) 1 conventional garment steamer 10 base 12 water reservoir 12a water supply opening 12b water discharge opening 14 boiler 14a water supply opening 14b steam discharge opening 14c electrically powered heating element 20 steam hose 20a first end 20b second end 30 conventional hand-held steam head 36 head plate of steam head 40 steam passage in head plate 130 hand-held steam head according to present invention 132 handle 134 upstream portion of steam duct 134a first, upstream end of upstream portion of steam duct 134b second, downstream end of upstream portion of steam duct 136 partition 138 external or outward facing surface of partition 140 steam passage (in partition) 142 steam guide 142a first, upstream end of steam guide 142b second, downstream end of steam guide 144 steam passage opening 150 steam ejection sleeve/downstream portion of steam duct 152 sleeve wall 152a lower portion of sleeve wall 152b upper portion of sleeve wall 154a first, upstream end of steam ejection duct 154b second, downstream end of steam ejection duct 155 circumferential edge 156 frontal contact surface 157 steam ejection opening 158 normally lowest point of upstream portion of steam duct 160 drainage tube 160a condensate inlet end 160b condensate outlet end 162 uni-strand cord 170 accessory 172 attachment provision 174 grip tab 176 condensate collector 178 attachment provision t steam ejection direction of respective steam passage T common or average steam ejection direction