Ironing Board Pad

Abstract

An ironing board pad is provided having a cover portion, shaped and sized to cover the upper surface of an ironing board, and a skirt portion to attach the pad to an ironing board. The cover portion comprises an underlying resilient supporting layer, a portion of which is covered by layers to provide a good ironing surface and a portion of which is covered by layers to permit a hot iron to stand thereon for extended periods without a trivet. The layers of the ironing surface comprise an outermost stretchable knit material and an intermediate resilient flexible foam, the knit material being made of a blend of yarns, plated so that a heat-resistant yarn is predominant on its outer surface and a yarn of lesser heat resistance is predominant on its inner surface.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an ironing board pad having a combination of desirable features.

The pad comprises a cover portion, sized and shaped to at least partially cover the upper surface of an ironing board, and a skirt portion attached to the periphery of the cover portion and containing means, such as a drawstring, to attach the pad to the ironing board.

The cover portion of the ironing board pad consists of several layers including an underlying resilient supporting layer which comes into direct contact with the upper surface of the ironing board when the pad is in use. The resilient supporting layer is preferably a needle punched non-woven nylon material having a thickness from about one-eighth to about three-eighths inches.

Overlying the resilient supporting layer over most of the length of the ironing board, there is an outermost layer comprising a stretchable knit material and an intermediate layer comprising a resilient flexible foam.

The outermost knit layer contains two different yarns, one of which is a heat-resistant yarn, and the knit pattern of the material is a plated pattern, such that the heat-resistant yarn predominates on the outer surface of the material and the other yarn, which has lesser heat resistance, predominates on its inner surface. The preferred heat-resistant yarn is a yarn of heat resistant nylon, such as the nylon sold under the trademark Nomex. The preferred yarn of lesser heat resistance is a cotton yarn.

The intermediate flexible foam layer is preferably a layer of flexible polyether polyurethane foam and is preferably laminated to the flexible knit material as by flame lamination.

The head end of the ironing board pad has a small area designed as an iron rest in addition to being useful for ironing operations. In this area, the resilient support layer is covered by an outermost layer of woven fabric made of a heat-resistant yarn and an intermediate layer of heavy flannel made of heat-resistant nylon. The combined thickness of the woven fabric and the flannel in this portion of the ironing board pad is substantially equal to the combined thickness of the stretchable knit material and the flexible foam layer in the remainder of the pad so that the upper surface of the pad is relatively level.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention may be better understood by reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective of the ironing board pad of the invention, partially broken away to reveal underlying layers;

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective of the ironing board pad;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view along plane 3--3 of FIG. 1, somewhat exaggerated for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view along plane 4--4 of FIG. 1, somewhat exaggerated for clarity of illustration; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view along plane 5--5 of FIG. 1, somewhat exaggerated for clarity of illustration.

As shown in the figures, the ironing board pad of this invention comprises an outer skirt portion 11 and an inner cover portion 12 designed to cover the upper surface of an ironing board.

Skirt portion 11 extends around cover portion 12; and hem 13, containing drawstring 14, extends around the outer edge of the skirt. When the ironing board pad is put over an ironing board, drawing and tying drawstring 14 holds it securely in place.

Resilient layer 16 is the underlying layer throughout the cover portion area. It is a needle punched non-woven nylon having a weight of about 28 oz. per square yard and a thickness of about one-fourth inch.

The major portion of the upper surface of the cover portion comprises double stretch knit material 17 made of cotton yarn and high temperature-resistant nylon yarn and plated so that the nylon yarn predominates on the outer surface which comes into direct contact with the hot sole plate of an iron during the ironing operation.

Flexible, resilient polyurethane foam 18 is made from a polyester polyol. It is flame laminated to knit material 17 so that they stretch and recover as a unit under iron pressure during the ironing operation. The coaction of the stretch knit material and the flexible resilient foam, particularly when laminated to each other, provides an important advantage in that these materials, together, provide the proper combination of resilience and stiffness so that garment accessories, such as, buttons and zippers, are absorbed into the pad during ironing and leave no marks on the garment being pressed. If a woven material were used in place of stretch knit material 17, this effect would not be achieved.

The remainder of the upper surface of the cover portion, a small area at the head end of the pad, comprises woven fabric 19 made of temperature-resistant nylon. Fabric 19 is stitched to the knit material-polyurethane laminate by stitching 21, as shown in FIG. 5.

Flannel layer 22, made of temperature-resistant nylon, is between fabric 19 and resilient layer 16. It is about three-sixteenths inch in thickness and weighs approximately 14 oz. per square yard. Fabric 19 and flannel layer 22 together provide heat resistance to a substantial depth, so that a hot iron may stand indefinitely on fabric 19 without damage to the pad and without scorching, or otherwise damaging fabric 19.

Stitching 23 around the entire periphery of cover portion 12 and through resilient layer 16 and its overlying layers holds the skirt portion to the cover portion of the pad.

An important feature of this invention is in the use of a stretch knit material which is plated to have a preponderance of high temperature-resistant yarn on its outer surface which is in direct contact with the hot sole plate of an iron. Where the temperature-resistant yarn is a high-priced yarn, such as temperature-resistant nylon, the use of a plated knit permits lowered cost by reserving the high-priced yarn only for the location which requires it. In any case, the combination in the stretch knit material of a temperature-resistant yarn with another yarn of lower temperature resistance makes available to the material some of the properties of the latter yarn which may be desirable. Cotton, for example, has better water absorption than nylon and improves the water absorption capacity of the knit material. This property is useful for maintaining sufficient wetness in the cover fabric to provide a steaming effect through the fabric being ironed.

The invention has been described with respect to a specific embodiment thereof, but modifications thereof may be employed without departing from the invention, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

Claims

I claim:

1. An ironing board pad comprising a cover portion and a skirt portion, said cover portion being shaped and sized to at least partially cover the upper surface of an ironing board and comprising an underlying resilient supporting layer, an overlying outermost layer comprising a stretchable knit material and an intermediate layer of resilient flexible foam, said stretchable knit material comprising a blend of yarns of a heat resistant nylon fiber and of a cotton fiber of lesser heat resistance and being plated to provide a predominant proportion of said heat-resistant yarn on its outer surface thereof and a predominant proportion of said yarns of said fiber of lesser heat resistance on its inner surface, and said skirt portion being attached to the periphery of said cover portion and providing means to attach said pad to an ironing board.

2. The ironing board pad of claim 1 wherein said flexible foam is a flexible polyurethane laminated to said stretchable knit material.

3. The ironing board pad of claim 1 wherein said underlying resilient supporting layer is a needle punched nonwoven nylon material having a thickness from about one-eighth to about three-eighths inches.

4. An ironing board pad comprising a cover portion and a skirt portion, said cover portion being shaped and sized to at least partially cover the upper surface of an ironing board and comprising an underlying resilient supporting layer, an overlying outermost layer comprising a stretchable knit material and an intermediate layer of resilient flexible foam, said stretchable knit material comprising a blend of yarns of a heat resistant fiber and of a fiber of lesser heat resistance and being plated to provide a predominant proportion of said heat-resistant yarn on its outer surface thereof and a predominant proportion of said yarns of said fiber of lesser heat resistance on its inner surface, and said skirt portion being attached to the periphery of said cover portion and providing means to attach said pad to an ironing board, and wherein said underlying support layer is coextensive in area with said cover portion, said stretchable knit material and said resilient flexible foam cover only a portion of said support layer and the remaining portion thereof is covered by a series of layers comprising an outermost layer of tightly woven fabric of temperature resistant nylon and an intermediate layer of nylon flannel.