1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to a specific stacked adjustable thermostat assembly used alone or preferably on an iron soleplate mount and integrally incorporates therewith an overtemperature control structure closely adjacent the thermostat as an integral part so the overtemperature control is subject to the same heat as the thermostat in a unitary assembly that uses fewer parts with faster and more accurate heat response.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Appliances, such as irons, provide a mount for a temperature controlling variably adjustable thermostat where the mount comprises a boss on the soleplate creating a heat sink or a collecting conductor for the thermostat which is mounted in close contact on the boss reacting to adjustably set temperatures. Generally, in an iron, the thermostat is mounted centrally or in the forward portion of the soleplate at the hottest part to react accordingly. It is known to use an overtemperature control in series with the thermostat to protect the iron against overheating if the thermostat malfunctions. Such an arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,152 of common assignment showing a separate overtemperature control located at the rear of the iron removed from the thermostat.
Recently developments have produced lightweight plastic irons requiring rearrangement of otherwise conventional thermostats and combining many functions in the molded plastic that eliminates many parts of previous metallic irons. Generally, a forward thermostat location is advantageous in irons which provide extra steam capacity whereby an extra slug of water is pumped into a steam boiler, usually a separate chamber, to generate an extra surge of steam which is fed into the distribution system to exit soleplate ports as extra capacity steam. Many types of surge steam irons exist and a typical one is U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,793 of common assignment. Also, the general stacked thermostat is known and used in many appliances such as irons, cookers, and other appliances where temperature is automatically set usually by a bimetal thermostat. The thermostat controls the heating element to maintain the selected temperature. For such an iron, a typical adjustable thermostat controls the heating element and is simple, inexpensive, and reliable, using fewer parts easier assembled as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,655 of common assignment. With such thermostat it is desired to provide a more efficient overtemperature control that may be used in an iron requiring fewer parts and faster and more accurate response by generally exposing the overtemperature control to the same temperature as the thermostat and integrating it as part of the thermostat.