three sections namely the blast path 80 a central vaporization section 92 and an outer steam vent section 94 all of the steam vents 13 are located in the steam vent section in the soleplate design illustrated in the drawings there are four sets of steam vents 13 a set of rear vents in back of the rear baffle 90 two sets of side vents which are located outside the margins of the heating element 15 and the outer rib 82 and a set of front vents located between the nose of the outer rib 82 and the nose of the steam chamber 14 for ordinary steam operation water is introduced through the drip valve seal 35 into the front end of the vaporization section 92 as the water is vaporized to produce steam the steam travels toward the back of the vaporization section 92 and follows a tortuous paths indicated by arrows in fig5 around the baffle 90 to the rear steam vents 13 or around the rearward ends of the outer ribs 82 to the side and front vents 13 as explained above the baffle 90 tends to direct vapor toward the center and the front of the vaporization section 92 so that water particles striking the baffle 90 will tend to accumulate and puddle in front of the baffle 90 and not reach the steam vent section 94 when a blast of steam is produced by operation of the piston 38 the steam is formed along the length of the blast path 80 and exits the rearward end of the blast path 80 in a stream directed at the concave front face of the baffle 90 accordingly as with vapor created in the vaporization.