Electric pressing iron with ready light and pop-up power switch

Abstract

An iron includes a soleplate heated by a heating element, a temperature sensor disposed to measure the temperature of the soleplate, mechanical user controls for adjusting the current temperature selection, and a ready lamp adapted to indicate when the soleplate is at the currently selected temperature.

1 . A user interface for an iron, comprising: 
 a mechanical control for adjusting the current temperature selection; and    a ready lamp adapted to indicate when the iron is at the currently selected temperature.    
   
   
       2 . The user interface of  claim 1 , wherein the ready lamp is a dual-color LED.  
   
   
       3 . The user interface of  claim 1 , wherein the ready lamp comprises a pair of miniature lamps.  
   
   
       4 . An iron, comprising: 
 a soleplate heated by a heating element;    a temperature sensor disposed to measure the temperature of the soleplate;    mechanical user controls for adjusting the current temperature selection; and    a ready lamp adapted to indicate when the soleplate is at the currently selected temperature.    
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 4  wherein the ready lamp is a dual-color LED.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising: 
 a motion sensor; and    a power indicator adapted to indicate that power to the heating element has been shut off after the motion detector detects no movement of the iron for a preselected period of time.    
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , further comprising: 
 a microcontroller in electronic communication with the temperature sensor, the user controls, and the ready lamp; and    wherein the microcontroller is programmed to control the ready lamp to indicate when the soleplate is at the currently selected temperature.    
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 7  further comprising a pop-up switch in electronic communication with the microcontroller and wherein the pop-up switch controls power to the iron.  
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 a motion detector in electronic communication with the microcontroller; and    wherein the microcontroller is programmed to shut off the heating element after the motion detector detects no movement of the iron for a preselected period of time.    
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 7  further comprising a pop-up switch in electronic communication with the microcontroller and wherein the microcontroller is programmed to activate the pop-up switch to pop up after the motion detector detects no movement of the iron for a preselected period of time.  
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 7  wherein the ready lamp is a dual-color light emitting diode (LED) and wherein the microcontroller is programmed to control the ready lamp to indicate when the soleplate is in a first state of being at the currently selected temperature or in a second state of not being at the currently selected temperature by controlling the dual-color LED to emit at different colors for the first state and the second state.  
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the ready lamp comprises a pair of differently colored miniature lamps.