Patent ID: 8528240

Claim:
A steam iron comprising: a handle, moveable between a first handle position and a second handle position, whereby a biasing mechanism is provided to bias the handle into the first handle position; a user-control adjustable between a first state and a second state; and a steam rate control assembly, operatively connected to the handle and the user-control, the steam rate controller comprising: an adjuster moveable between a first adjuster position and a second adjuster position and operatively connected to the handle, whose position determines the position of the adjuster; a switch body—moveable between a first switch body position and a second switch body position and operatively connected to the user-control that determines the position of the switch body; a spring-loaded steam shaft moveable between a first steam shaft position and a second steam shaft position, the steam shaft being biased towards the second steam shaft position, and the first steam shaft position being associated with a lower steam rate than a stream rate associated with the second steam shaft position wherein: movement of the steam shaft—towards the second steam shaft position is restricted by the switch body—when the user-control is in its first state; and movement of the steam shaft—towards the second steam shaft position is restricted by the adjuster when the user-control is in its second state, and a steam rate of said steam iron is set based on the user-control when the user-control is in the first state; and the steam rate of the steam iron is set based on at least a position of the handle when the user-control is in the second state.