Ironing board covers

Description

[0001] The invention relates to ironing board covers and to methods of covering ironing boards.

[0002] Ironing boards comprise rigid surfaces of wood, or metal provided with a fabric cover to provide a clean smooth surface. Suitable covers are often inherently heat reflective or coated with heat reflective material. The covers may also be springy to some extent or be provided with foam backing. Covers normally have to be replaced from time to time due to wear or damage so ironing board covers are preferably readily replaceable. This introduces the problem of providing releasable attaching arrangements for the cover. Because the ironing boards are usually an irregular shape and there are very many different sizes and shapes on the market, replacement of covers has proved difficult over many years.

[0003] According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a cover for an ironing board comprising a foam backed fabric and a layer of adhesive on the lower surface of said foam, arranged such that on application of heat and pressure to said upper surface the adhesive bonds the cover to the ironing board.

[0004] According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of attaching a cover, comprising a foam backed fabric, to an ironing board, comprising applying an adhesive to said foam backing, placing the cover on the board, and applying heat and pressure to bind the cover to the board.

[0005] An ironing board cover according to the invention and method of attaching a cover to an ironing board will now be described, by way of example.

[0006] The cover comprises a foam backed fabric which is coated on its upper surface with heat reflective material. This material may be NITEX (Trade Mark) which is a metallised 100% rayon fabric to which polyetherfoam, about 3 mm thick, is applied by a heat lamination process. Alternatively the material may be MILIUM (Trade Mark) which is a metallised 100% cotton calico fabric to which polyester foam, also about 3 mm thick, is laminated. An ethylene vinyl acetate base hot melt adhesive is sprayed onto the exposed surface of the resilient foam layer. The adhesive is non-tacky at ambient temperatures but serves to bond the cover to the ironing board on application of dry heat and pressure.

[0007] The method of covering an ironing board is as follows:

An ironing board is normally supplied initially with a tailor-made fabric cover on top of a metal surface. Any other covers are stripped off the board leaving the tailor-made cover in situ. If there is no tailor-made cover, the board is stripped completely to expose its metal surface. Any metal strip surround or other similar fastening means is removed.

[0008] A piece of the new cover is placed over the full ironing surface and its edges trimmed to leave approximately 7 cm surplus all round the ironing surface. A dry hot iron is applied to the new cover and pressured firmly down against the board (generally in the manner used to press heavy gauge material). The new cover is initially held firmly in position as the pressing starts.

[0009] The ironing board is then turned on its side and the cover moulded around the edges of the ironing board with the iron. The board is then upturned and the new cover "ironed" against the underside of the ironing board. Any surplus cover material not bonded to the board may then be trimmed off. The metal strip surround or similar, if any, is then replaced.

[0010] Apart from the simplicity of attaching the new cover by heat bonding another significant advantage of the new cover and the method of fixing it is that new covers can be provided which can be fitted to any size and shape of ironing board. In the past each size and shape of board , required a specially prepared and shaped replacement cover to be available which caused excessive varied stocks to be required and considerable frustration by ordering or obtaining incorrect sized and shaped replacement covers.

[0011] It will be appreciated that the invention may be carried out with covers in which the foam backing is fixed to the fabric by adhesive or by other means such as stitching.

[0012] Further, the fabric may not necessarily be provided as heat reflective material or with a heat reflective surface.

[0013] In a laundry or for commercial ironing boards, the cover may be bonded to the top surface of the board or its cover by a commercial iron which is pressed down firmly over the whole surface at once, the commercial iron being in situ and used otherwise for normal material pressing procedures.

[0014] Further, whereas as it has been mentioned that all covers are'normally removed, a new cover according to the present invention may be added on top of a used cover if desired and bonded to that used cover by the method described above. In this context it has been found, for example, that four covers may be added with satisfactory results.

[0015] Whereas in the described embodiment, a metal board is used, the board may be made of wood.

Claims

1. A cover for an ironing board comprising a foam backed fabric characterised by a layer of adhesive on the lower surface of said foam, such that application of heat and pressure to said upper surface causes the cover to bond to the ironing board.

2. A cover according to claim 1, characterised in that said fabric is a heat reflective fabric or a fabric coated on its upper surface with heat reflective material.

3. A cover according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that said foam backing is bonded to said fabric by adhesive.

4. A method of attaching a cover, comprising a foam backed fabric, to an ironing board, characterised by applying an adhesive to said foam backing, placing the cover on the board, and applying heat and pressure to bond the cover to the board.

5. A method according to claim 4, characterised in that said heat and pressure are applied by a hand held domestic iron.

6. An ironing board having a foam backed heat reflective coated fabric cover characterised in that an adhesive on its lower surface has been bonded to the board by application of heat and pressure.