The present invention relates to a combination arrangement of a wall mirror and an ironing board where the wall mirror becomes an ironing board at a suitable working height when it is let down.

There are many places such as over-night locations of the hotel and motel room type, where the guest desires to have his or her clothes in the best possible condition and freshness, for different reasons such as some kind of representation. It is both difficult and expensive to get clothes pressed and ironed quickly, if at all possible. In certain hotels and the like it has become more common to have an iron available for the guest in each room, but the problem of the ironing board remains.

Every room of the kind in question must be provided with a proper mirror. By combining this mirror with an ironing board, in accordance with the invention, looking after his/her clothes is facilitated for the guest and there is no notable difficulty in bringing the ironing board out, and moving it out of the ^' way after use. It hardly needs to be mentioned that the arrangement also saves space.

At first glance, the combination appears merely to comprise a mirror hanging on a wall and having a conventional frame of normal size. However, with a simple hand movement the mirror is changed into an ironing board where the back of the mirror is padded and provided with a specially suited cover to form an ironing board.

Similar structures are known from such as the French patent specifications 77 12880 and 78 27312, as well as the US patent specification 3641947. Compared with these known structures the one in accordance with the present invention is both simpler and

cheaper, however, without departing from the functional and aesthetic advantages.

The combined mirror and ironing board in accordance with this application further has the advantage that it can be readily used by handicapped persons, since it is so easy to handle and does not have any notable obstacles on the underside, which would prevent a person in a wheelchair from coming into position for proper work on the ironing board.

The invention will now be described in more detail below in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, exemplifying preferred embodiments and in no way restricting the scope of the invention, which is clearly defined in the following claims.

On the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a retracted unit in the mirror position on a wall,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a lowered unit set up ready on the floor in the ironing board position,

Figure 3 schematically illustrates in a fragmentary section the roller and rail system of the unit, when it is being retracted and raised,

Figure 4 schematically illustrates a cross section at the wall end of the unit, as well as the rest of the lowered unit in a perspective view,

Figure 5 is a schematic view of an alternative embodiment of the invention showing it retracted against a wall in its mirror position,

Figure 6 is a schematic, partially sectioned side view of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 5 at the start of the lowering movement, and

Figure 7 is a schematic, fragmentary and partially sectioned side view illustrating the implementation of the latching means.

The unit according to figures 1-4 includes a generally flat part, which in turn comprises four parts: mirror 1, stiff backing board 2, felt 3 and fireproof ironing sheet 4. In addition, the unit includes a holder or frame part 6, which surrounds at least the mirror and the stiff backing board and possibly also the felt and/or ironing sheet, there also being included two support legs 7, 7' for the ironing board, and these legs can be swung out from the frame parts. The legs are pivotally mounted on the mirror side, e.g. with the aid of conventional hinges at the upper/for¬ ward portion of the frame and on the lefthand and righthand side, respectively. In the mirror position of the unit they constitute decorative parts of the mirror frame 6.

A roller and rail system 8-12 is also included in the unit, see figures 3 and 4. The roller pair 8, 10 is arranged at the lower/rear portion of the unit, preferably projecting downward on the long side end surface of the backing board 2.

Two rails 9, 11 are fastened to the wall, and the pair of rollers are intended to roll along them as the unit is lowered into the ironing board position, as well as when the unit is returned into the mirror position.

The attachment of the flat part to the rails has an optional, conventionally formed implementation suitable to the purpose. This implementation is advantageously of a kind such that there is coaction between the roller pair 8, 10 moving along the rails 9, 11 and a latching means 12, which includes at least one hook element. This is adapted for latching or snapping in at a height

agreeing with the length of the support legs, so that the plane of the ironing board will be horizontal.

The support legs 7, 7' may optionally be extendable, and the latching means 12 will then have several latching elements, each providing a stop position. This would then enable the ironing board to be adjustable in height.

When it is desired to use the unit for ironing, the wall mirror is loosened from its upward magnetic latching means 13, and the unit is pulled a distance upwards. The rollers then run on the rails. The mirror is then pulled outwards and downwards such that it faces horizontally downwards towards the floor and the back of the mirror, i.e. the ironing board side faces upwards in its horizontal position. Simultaneously as the unit is pulled down from the wall the two support legs 7, 7' are pivoted out from the upper, forward portion of the unit. The unit will then have its forward portion carried by these support legs so that a substan¬ tially horizontal surface is obtained for ironing, and so that the wall part of the unit rests against the latching means 12.

When ironing is finished, the unit is returned to the mirror position with the operations in the opposite order to what has been described above. The support legs are repositioned, the ironing board is moved back against the wall so that the mirror surface will be parallel with the wall and generally vertical. Finally, the upper portion of the unit is retained against the wall with the aid of the magnetic latching means 13.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in figures 5-7, the combination 21 per se has in principle the same configuration as the previously described embodiment, with a mirror side and an ironing side with board and insulation placed therebetween. A preferably rectangular board 22 is screwed to the wall, and the lower end of the combination 21 is attached to the board by a hinge 23. A U-shaped part 24 of the frame 25 surrounding the mirror forms the support legs for the combination lowered to form

the ironing position. The appearance in the lowered position will be seen from figure 2.

The U-shaped part 24 is pivotally fastened to the frame 25 at its upper end, the length of the leg portions of the part 24 suitably corresponding to the working height of 80 cm. Swinging out the U-shaped part 24 and lowering the combination 21 takes place without any particular measures after the latches have been released.

At the lower end of either leg there is a latch 26, which keeps the U-shaped part 24 in position against the wall, i.e. in the same plane as the remaining part of the frame 25. At the upper ends of the leg portions where they are pivotally mounted to the frame 25 there is a hook latch 27, one part of which consists of a downwardly open hook 28 attached to the board 22, and the other part of which consists of an upwardly open hook 29 attached to the upper end of the respective leg portion. When the combination 21 is retracted against the wall, i.e. in the mirror position, the hooks 28, 29 are in engagement, as are the latches 26, which means that unintentional lowering of the combination 21 is not possible.

When it is desired to lower the combination 21 into the ironing position, both latches 26 must be simultaneously released and the U-shaped part 24 swung out. The hooks 29 then come out of engagement with the hooks 28 and lowering of the combination 21 to the ironing position can be carried out, the U-shaped part 24 then constituting its support legs at the outer end.

When the combination 21 is swung up against the wall, the operations are carried out in reverse order. The unit 21 is first swung up so that it rests against the board 22, then the U-shaped part 24 is swung inwards so that the hooks 28, 29 come into engagement, and the lower portions of the legs are finally pressed inwards so that the latches 26 come into engagement. This

locking of the combination 21 against the wall is both simple and reliable.

The present invention is of course not restricted to the described embodiments of a combination of wall mirror and ironing board. Modifications and amendments resulting in similar embodiments of this combination unit may be carried out by one skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the following claims.