Wallpaper steamer

Abstract: The steamer for use in stripping wallpaper has a housing accommodating a water tank and a steam generator supplied with water from the tank by an electrically powered water pump. Steam from the generator passes into an open faced steam chamber formed in a base portion (4) of the steamer. The chamber has a peripheral wall (5) which is held against wallpaper to be stripped and the base portion has a groove (66) for collecting moisture.

Description: This invention relates to a hand-held wallpaper steamer for use in stripping wallpaper and other surface coverings secured to the surface by a heat and/or moisture softenable adhesive. Such steamers have been proposed for example in US Patent No. 1,518,454, in which steam from a steam generator exits into a steam chamber at the base of the steamer. The steam chamber has a peripheral wall and is open at one face and the open face is held for a short period of time against wallpaper to be stripped. During that time, some of the steam condenses and a little moisture forms on the surface of the wallpaper. On a wall, such moisture does not inconvenience a user of the steamer, but if the wallpaper is on a ceiling or other horizontal surface above the user, the moisture tends to drop into the steam chamber and collect there and may impair the passage of steam into the steam chamber from the generator. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wallpaper steamer in which the problem is overcome. According to the present invention, a hand-held, wallpaper steamer for use in stripping wallpaper comprises a housing with a base portion open at one face to form a steam chamber with a peripheral wall which is placed against wallpaper to be stripped, and in which the base portion has a peripheral channel adjacent to and inwardly of the wall, the channel being open in the direction of the one face. The hand-held wallpaper stripper preferably further comprises an electrically powered pump located with the housing for supplying water to a steam generator also located in the housing and having steam exits from which steam enters the steam chamber. The steam generator preferably has a water chamber for receiving water to be turned into steam, elongate passages leading from the chamber to the steam exits and an electrically powered heating element so disposed as to heat the water chamber and the passage. An embodiment of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view from the front, one side and above of the embodiment, Figures 2 and 3 are, respectively, a view from above and a view from below of a further part of the housing of the embodiment, and Figures 4 and 5 are, respectively, a section on the lines IV and V of Figure 2. The embodiment now to be described is suitable for steaming wallpaper prior to stripping the paper with a conventional stripping knife. However, the embodiment may also be used when stripping other surface coverings secured to the surface by heat and/or moisture softenable adhesives. The embodiment comprises a hand-held steamer with an "on-board" water supply that is replenishable by a user as necessary. As can be seen from Figure 1, the embodiment includes a housing 1 contoured to accommodate a detachable water tank 2, a steam generator 3 and a base portion 4 with a peripheral wall 5, thereby forming a downwardly-open (as viewed in Figure 1) chamber 6, hereinafter referred to as a steam chamber. Water from water tank 2 is pumped into a water chamber in the steam generator by an electrically powered pump. Energisation of the pump is controlled by an electric switch operated by a rocker arm 9. Steam from the steam generator 3 leaves the latter via exit holes in its lower face and emerges into the steam chamber via connectors described below. The housing 1 includes a central portion 10 which extends away from the base portion 4 and has a forward projection 11 beneath which the water tank 2 is located on a flat part 12 of the housing 1. Extending rearwardly from the uppermost part of portion 10 is a handle 13 of generally cylindrical shape and which terminates in a flat end 14 of triangular shape and which is part of the housing 1 thereby forming a handle of a closed loop configuration. The cross-sectional size of the handle 13 in a plane transverse to its length is much smaller than that rear face of portion 10 from which the handle 13 extends. As can be seen, the upper surface (as seen in Figure 1) of projection 11 is contoured as at 15 to accommodate the rocker arm 9 that operates the switch. Located in the forward projection 11 of the housing 1 is a catch 16 for retaining the water tank 2 in the position in which it is shown in Figure 1. As will be explained in more detail below, catch 16 can be actuated by a user to release the water tank 2 prior to detaching the tank from the housing. The catch 16 is so contoured that it is displaced by the tank 2 on initial movement of the latter into the position shown in Figure 1. On final movement of the tank 2, the catch 16 automatically returns to a tank retaining position. The housing 1 has, on both sides, air holes 17 which allow air to circulate within it so limiting heat transfer from the steam generator 3 to the housing 1. The water tank 2 is of generally cubic form but is contoured to blend in with the contours of the housing 1 when in position thereon. The housing 1 is of a clam shell construction and is formed by two clam shells which abut along a vertical fore and aft plane through the middle of the steamer. The line is indicated at 20 in Figure 1. The clam shells are moulded from a suitable plastics material for example talc filled polypropylene and are contoured on one face - the inner face - to support the components mounted inside the housing formed when the clam shells are placed together. The base portion 4 of the embodiment is shown in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 and is of generally rectangular form when seen in plan as in Figures 2 and 3. The base portion 4 which is of a plastics material, for example a glass fibre reinforced thermosetting polyester, or a thermoplastic polyester which is preferably glass fibre reinforced, has the peripheral wall 5 whose external shape is contoured as at 63 to merge smoothly with the lower surface of the clam shells when those parts are assembled together. The gutter 66 is of somewhat greater width at its open or lower face, as viewed in Figures 4 and 5, across the left-hand edge of the base portion 4 as viewed in Fig. 2, than it is along the side and rear edges of the base portion. This can be observed by comparing the width of the gutter 66 at the left-hand end of Fig. 4 with the width at the right-hand end and with the equal widths at both ends of the base portion as shown in Fig. 5 , and this is for aesthetic reasons. The interior contour of the gutter follows that of the wall 5 and the stepped portion 65 of the upturned edge of the floor 64. As can be seen from Figs. 4 and 5, the wall 5 extends downwardly beyond the lower face of the floor for a short distance to form side walls for the steam chamber 6, the lower ends of the walls being bevelled as shown. The extent of the extension is determined by the need to create a sufficient volume beneath the floor 64 to allow the steam emerging into the steam chamber to disperse evenly throughout the chamber whilst ensuring, at the same time, a concentration of steam that is effective to soften the wallpaper adhesive. In the steamer shown in the drawing, the extension is about 5mm. The base portion has a floor 64 whose periphery is upturned and stepped as at 65 to mate with the step 46 on the clam shells. The upturn is spaced from the wall 5 to form a recess or gutter 66 round the inside of the wall 5. The formation of the recess or gutter 66 strengthens the base portion at its periphery and also serves to collect water as will be described below. The capacity of the gutter 66 is sufficient to retain the condensation that normally occurs during a period of use equal to one filling of the water tank 2. The volume of the condensation is not large because a substantial proportion of the total condensation produced is absorbed by the wallpaper. Another factor bearing on the capacity of the gutter is the extent to which the gutter deleteriously affects the dispersal of steam within the steam chamber and clearly this extent must be small. In the steamer shown in the drawings, the maximum depth of the gutter through its length is about 26mm measured from the lower edge of the wall 5. The maximum width at the lower open end of the gutter is about 14 mm. That maximum occurs along the left-hand edge of the base portion as viewed in Fig. 4 . Elsewhere the gutter width at its open end is about 10mm. The face of floor 64, seen in Fig. 2 and referred to as the upper face, has a series of upstanding strengthening ribs of which rib 67 lies on the longitudinal centre line of the floor and extends almost the full length of the floor. The rib 67 bridges upstanding bosses 68 with stepped bores 69 and nozzles 70 with bores 71 that are of decreasing diameter in a downwward direction towards floor 64. Short transverse ribs 72 extending from rib 67 strengthen the floor 64 as do further transverse ribs 73 interspersed with ribs 72 and extending towards rib 67 from the sides of the floor. Further apertured bosses 74 extend upwardly from the floor 64 in positions that correspond with the bosses 49 on the clam shells 18, 19. The bores of the bosses 74 are also stepped internally but this is not shown in the drawings. The bosses 74 are strengthened by short radially extending ribs 75. In addition to the nozzles 70, the floor 64 has further nozzles 76 located in the positions shown in Fig. 13 and which are identical with the nozzles 70. Areas 77 in the sides or the base portion 4 are bearing areas on which the edges of the clam shells locate when they are assembled to the base portion. The right-hand (as seen in Figs. 2 and 4 ) end has an upstand 78 strengthened on its inside face with short ribs 79. At the end of the upstand 78 are slightly raised portions 80. Upstand 78 locates in the extension 46A in the clam shells and provides an area for the reception of a rating plate. Air holes 81 in the front part of the wall 62 assist in ventilating the interior of the housing. The lower face of the base portion 4 is shown in Fig. 3 , the lower end openings of the bosses 68, nozzles 70 and bosses 74 being correspondingly referenced. Areas in the lower face bounded by lines 82 are recessed slightly with respect to the remainder of the face, the nozzles 70 being located adjacent the inner ends of those areas in regions 83 which are recessed with respect to recesses 82. Raised areas 84 in the contour 63 provide weirs between adjacent sections of the gutter 66 that tend to restrain movement of condensate along the gutter. The steamer is normally used with the water tank 2 uppermost and in that position, the steam generator is located towards the lower end of the steam chamber and there is a greater distance between the upper side of the steam chamber and the upper of the nozzles 70 and 76 than between the lower edge of the steam chamber and the lower of the nozzles 70 and 76. This siting of the generator relative to the steam chamber improves the distribution of steam in the chamber. The steamer can also be used in the removal of paper from ceilings. In that case, the chamber 6 is uppermost. Any condensation that forms on wallpaper during the steaming of an area of wallpaper on a ceiling tends to fall into the steam chamber where it collects in the gutter 66. The condensation may be discharged from the gutter 66 by simply returning the steamer to an upright position and allowing the condensation to run away.

Claims: A hand-held, wallpaper steamer for use in wallpaper stripping comprising a housing (1) which accommodates a base portion (4) open at one face to form a steam chamber (6) with a peripheral wall (5) which is placed against wallpaper to be stripped, characterised in that the base portion (4) has a peripheral channel (66) adjacent to and inwardly of the wall (5), the channel (66) being open in the direction of the one face. A steamer according to claim 1 characterised in that the base portion (4) includes a floor (64) round which the wall (5) is situated, the wall (5) depending downwardly away from the floor (64) and, in use, contacting the wallpaper to be stripped and in which the channel (66) is located at a junction between the floor (64) and the wall (5). A steamer according to claim 2 characterised in that the wall (5) is integral with the floor (64). A steamer according to claim 1 further characterised in that it comprises an electrically powered pump (7) located within the housing (1) for supplying water to a steam generator (3) also located in the housing and having steam exits from which steam enters the steam chamber (6). A steamer according to claim 4 characterised in that the steam generator (3) has a water chamber for receiving water to be turned into steam; elongate passages leading from the chamber to the steam exits and an electrically powered heating element so disposed as to heat the water chamber and the passage.

Inventors: WILKINS PETER RAVENSCROFT, WILKINS, PETER RAVENSCROFT
Applicants: BLACK & DECKER INC, BLACK & DECKER INC.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B44C7
IPC codes: B44C7, D06F75, F22B1