Rotating Flex Guide Tube for Taut Garment Care Cords
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cord guides for garment care appliances, such as irons and steamers, fail to effectively manage the movement of flexes or cords, leading to interference with the ironing process, fabric damage, and safety hazards due to friction, bulkiness, and limited mobility.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a guide tube with a passage for the flex, pivotally attached to the ironing board edge, allowing the flex to move freely in either direction while maintaining tension and minimizing friction, with a releasable clamp and optional slide rail for easy attachment and reduced bulkiness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a wand or antenna type cord guide is used to support the cord at an elevated position, then the cord is kept out of the way of the board and garments, but the cord cannot slide freely and must extend upwardly creating friction and wear
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tube is made rotatable about a horizontal axis to dynamically adjust its orientation. When the iron moves forward, the tube rotates to allow the cord to slide through easily; when the iron returns, the tube rotates to receive the cord back through the opening, preventing buckling on the board surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide tube extends across the board edge into the space below the board surface, utilizing the vertical dimension to guide the cord. This allows the cord to be supported at an elevated position while still allowing free sliding motion through the tube opening.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the guide tube opening is positioned above the ironing board surface, then the cord is supported at an elevated position, but the weight of the cord is insufficient to pull it back through the loop on the return stroke
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tube rotates about a horizontal axis to change its orientation dynamically. During the forward stroke, the tube orientation allows the cord to pass through easily. During the return stroke, the tube rotates to an orientation where the opening faces downward, allowing the cord to be pulled back through by the weight of the hanging cord portion without buckling on the board.
3Device complexity
If the guide tube is fixed in position, then the structure is simple, but the cord experiences high friction and wear due to the loop or opening configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tube is made rotatable about a horizontal axis rather than being fixed. This dynamic capability allows the tube to rotate and align with the cord movement direction during both forward and return strokes, significantly reducing friction and wear on the cord while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
4Shape
If a resiliently flexible antenna is used to bend in response to iron movement, then the cord is kept relatively straight or taut, but the device is bulky and requires frequent readjustment of cord length
Solution Approach 1:
The cord guidance function is segmented into two independent parts: a fixed attachment part and a rotatable guide tube. This segmentation allows the guide tube to rotate and maintain cord straightness without requiring a bulky resilient antenna structure, eliminating the need for frequent cord length readjustment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device keeps the flex taut and clear of the ironing board edge, reducing friction and preventing buckling, allowing smooth movement and safe operation by maintaining the flex's natural path, thus enhancing the ironing process and user safety.
Implementation Method 1
the guide tube being mounted to the attachment part for rotation about an axis parallel to the upper surface of the ironing board
Implementation Method 2
the weight of the flex hanging down from the antenna may not be sufficient to pull the cord back through the loop or opening
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4a~4b
AI summary
A device for guiding a Flex Extending from an Appliance The present application relates to a device 1 for guiding a flex 8 of a garment care appliance that, during use of the appliance 6, hangs downwardly from said appliance. The device comprises a guide tube 4 having a passage therethrough to slideably receive the flex of the garment care appliance, and an attachment part 5 for attachment of the guide tube to a support such that the guide tube is positioned in proximity to, or below, a height at which the appliance is being used. A lower part of the flex that hangs through and below the guide tube maintains an upper part of the flex, extending between the appliance and the guide tube, substantially straight or taut during movement of the appliance towards and away from the device.