Flexible support for an ironing press hinge

The frame of an ironing press has flexible abutments made of steel against which a support for roller tracks rests in order to assure a stable position for a lever arm of the press when the press is in an open or closed position. The flexibility of the abutments of the frame make it possible to maintain stable positions of the lever arm during the ironing of fabrics of usual thickness or fabrics of greater than usual thickness.

An electric ironing press is known by Swiss patent No. 508,087 in which the 
opening and closing of the press is assured by a lever hinged on the 
support arm of a heating plate, at a point distant from the hinge pin of 
the arm on the support frame of the ironing board, this lever extending 
beyond its hinge point with the arm and having at its free end rollers 
held by a spring in contact with a roller track curved inward so as to 
make possible the transfer of the heating plate from a stable open 
position of the press to a stable closed position as a result of a 
variable radius roller track of the press and vice-versa. 
However, because the roller track is made rigidly solid with the frame, the 
heating plate is kept in a stable closed position of the press only within 
narrow limits of thickness of the fabric to be ironed. 
To eliminate this drawback, the ironing press according to the invention is 
characterized in that its frame comprises flexible abutments against which 
a support for the roller track rests.

The ironing press represented in the drawing comprises a frame 1 that 
serves as a support for an ironing board 2 covered with fabric. An arm 3, 
on which a heating plate 4 is suspended, is connected to the frame 1 on 
pivot pins 14 engaged in lug holes 15 solid with the abutments 1a that it 
is provided with in its rear part. A manual control lever 5 is hinged on 
the arm 3 at a point 6 in front of these abutments 1a. The lever 5 has an 
extension 7 beyond its hinge point 6 that has a slide 8 equipped with two 
rollers 9. A spring 10 tends to keep the rollers in contact with two 
roller tracks 11 consisting of rolled piano wires applied against a 
support 12, cast in one piece, mounted to rotate on the pivot pins 14 
solid with standards 1a of the frame 1. The roller tracks 11 have a 
constant radius whose center coincides with the hinged point 6 of the 
lever 5 and two cams 13 mounted on the abutments 1a of the frame 1, in 
contact with the support 12 provide their off-centering. 
Represented in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 are the cams 13 in contact with the support 
12 of the roller tracks 11 in their most off-centered position 
corresponding to a usual ironing fabric thickness. Under these conditions, 
the spring 10 is compressed during the closing and the opening of the 
press in stable positions, the hinge point 6 of the lever being moved 
upward in the open position of the press. 
However, the stable position of the closed press can be maintained for a 
greater fabric thickness because the abutments 1a of the frame, which are 
made of steel are flexible and absorb the additional force exerted on them 
by the spring 10 of the lever 5. 
By reducing the radius of the cams 13 in contact with the support 12 of the 
roller tracks 11, a stable position for closing the press dring the 
ironing of fabrics of greater thickness can be found, as shown in dot and 
dash lines in FIG. 5. 
The adjustment of the position of the cams 13 as a function of the 
thickness of the fabric to be ironed can be done manually or 
automatically. In the latter case, an electrical control mounted in the 
ironing board could assure the off-centering of the cams 13 as a function 
of the thickness of the fabric resting on the board 2. 
In a simpler press, the cams 13 could be eliminated and the support 12 for 
the roller track could be attached to the abutments 1a of the frame 1 
whose flexibility would now certainly make possible the ironing of fabrics 
with usual thickness without the help of a variable radius roller track.