Electric iron stand with time delay safety switch arrangement

Claim 1

An automatic iron safety switch device and support stand, comprising, in combination, a platform of insulating material for supporting an electric iron, a normally open switch secured in said platform and arranged to be closed by the weight of an electric iron placed on said platform, a manually resettable relay secured to the surface of said platform, an outlet socket on the surface of said platform into which the cord of an iron can be plugged for energization, said manually resettable relay including a switch device having a first position connecting said outlet socket to a power supply source and a second position disconnecting the outlet socket from the power source, said manually resettable relay further including an operating coil arranged to move the switch device from the first position to the second position when the coil is energized, a manually resettable latch means for holding the switch device in the second position when moved thereto until manually reset and a manual reset button for returning the switch device to its first position, a standard time-delay relay mounted on the surface of said platform, said time-delay relay including an electrically operated timing means and a normally open switch means, said timing means arranged to automatically close said normally open switch means after the lapse of a predetermined time period, said electrically operated timing means being connected to said power source for energization through said platform switch and said switch device in said first position thereof, whereby the timing means will be operative only when an iron is positioned on said platform switch and the switch device of said manually resettable relay is in its first position, the normally open switch means of said time-delay relay being connected to the operating coil of said resettable relay and arranged to energize the operating coil when closed after the lapse of said predetermined time period by said timing means to move the switch device of said manually resettable relay to its second position, thereby deenergizing the outlet socket and timing means and latching the switch device in its second position, said time delay relay being so constructed that should the iron be removed from said platform before the lapse of said predetermined time period to open the platform switch, the timing means will be deenerzied and the time-delay relay reset, and movement of said switch device to its second position likewise deenergizing said timing means and resetting said time-delay relay.