Ironing boards of the above cited kind are largely known in the art. For instance, as described in EP-A-0531 207, such ironing boards are usually provided with an elongated, substantially rigid worktop supported by at least a pair of folding support legs that are articulated in a scissors-like manner, one of which is also adapted to slide longitudinally, in correspondence of the upper end portion thereof, so as to enable the height of the worktop to be adjusted with respect to the floor. In particular, the support legs themselves are capable to be fully folded up against the worktop, so as to be completely aligned therewith, in such a manner as to minimize the overall space taken up by the ironing board when it is put away, ie. stored after having been used.

This is particularly important, also for economical reasons, in view of the handling and transport, ie. shipping requirements.

On the other hand, the overall size or space requirement of an ironing board is undesirably aggravated by the need for an auxiliary support

surface or shelf to be provided, particularly in the case in which the ironing board id of the ventilated type and/or of the type provided with its own steam-generation boiler, for a smoothing iron to be capable of being temporarily put to rest thereupon. Now, such an auxiliary support surface, which lies substantially parallel to the worktop of the ironing board, just cannot be so provided as to simply correspond to a portion of the worktop itself, since this would practically limit its effective ironing surface available for ironing. As a result, such a support surface is usually attached to the ironing top surface on a side thereof, so as to protrude from it, preferably longitudinally, in correspondence of an end portion thereof. However, this causes the overall longitudinal (or, anyway, lateral) size of the entire ironing board assembly to be undesirably increased, and this can be readily appreciated to bring about obvious problems as far as the storage and the transportation of the ironing boards themselves are concerned. In particular, with such a solution it may actually prove quite difficult, and therefore quite expensive, to try to have an ironing board sized to standard dimensions completely accommodated and contained on a transport pallet, or the like, which is also sized to definite standard dimensions, such as for example a European-type pallet.

It therefore is a main purpose of the present invention to provide an ironing board which not only has a structure that is particularly simple, convenient and versatile in use, but is also capable of being advantageously compact for storage purposes, ie. when the ironing board is not being used, as well as for general handling and transport purposes.

According to the present invention such an aim is reached in a compact ironing board embodying the features as recited in the appended claims.

Anyway, features and advantages of the present invention may be more readily understood from the description that is given below by way of non- limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

-Figures 1 and 2 are a schematical side view of a preferred embodiment of the ironing board according to the present invention, under respective conditions of use thereof.

With reference to the Figures, the ironing board is preferably of the steam-assisted type and comprises mainly an elongated, substantially rigid worktop 1 of perforated sheet-metal or metal net, to the lower side of which there is attached an appropriately shaped casing 2 that defines, jointly with the worktop 1 itself, a chamber for the steam to flow therethrough.

The chamber is ventilated by a motor-operated fan 4 of the suction type and/or blowing type, which is adapted to promote the circulation, through the worktop 1, of the steam ejected by a smoothing iron 3. In an inherently known manner, such a steam may be generated by a boiler 5 that is mounted on the rear side of the ironing worktop 1 and is connected to the smoothing iron 3 via an appropriate conduit 6.

The ironing board is of the type that is capable of being adjusted in its height by means of at least a pair of folding support legs 7,8 that are articulated in a scissors-like manner.

Preferably, the upper end portion of one of these legs (indicated at 7) is hinged on to the worktop 1 at 9, in correspondence of a zone of the lower surface thereof that extends rearwards beyond the casing 2 in the form of a rigid bracket 10 firmly joined to the worktop 1.

The ironing board is further provided with a longitudinal runner 11, preferably provided with adjustment ratchets or detents, along which the upper end portion of the other leg (indicated at 8) is capable of sliding. In a preferred manner, both legs 7 and 8 extend in correspondence of a single side of the ironing board and are provided with respective transversal floor-resting bases 12 and 13.

In an inherently known manner, the longitudinal sliding motion of the upper portion of the leg 8 with respect to said runner 11, along with the scissors-like articulation of the legs 7,8, enables the worktop 1 to be adjusted in its working height, as well as the legs themselves to be fully folded up against the same worktop in such a position as to enable the ironing board to be conveniently stored under minimum space requirements.

The ironing board is further provided with an auxiliary support surface or shelf 14 adapted to support the smoothing iron 3 during ironing pauses.

The support surface 14 is substantially adjacent and parallel to the worktop 1, on to which, according to a feature of the present invention, it is attached so as to be capable of being switched from a position in which the ironing board is in an all-out lateral extension condition (as illustrated in Figure 1), to a resting position (as illustrated in Figure 2) in which the overall lateral size of the ironing board is reduced to a minimum, since substantially determined only by the dimensions of the sole worktop 1 (inclusive of the bracket 10, in the example being described).

In a preferred manner, the overall lateral size cited above corresponds to the size of the ironing board in the longitudinal direction thereof, which is actually the all-out or largest dimension thereof.

In the preferred example of embodiment of the present invention being described here, this is obtained by eccentrically hinging the support surface 14, in correspondence of an end portion 15 thereof, on to a substantially vertical pin 16 which is in turn mounted on the ironing worktop 1 (in particular on the bracket 10 thereof, in the described example) in correspondence of an end portion 17 thereof. According to the needs or requirements, the support surface 14 may be provided so as to be capable of turning freely with respect to the pin 16, or this pin 16 may

itself be provided integral with the support surface 14 and be capable of turning freely with respect to the ironing worktop 1. As a further alternative, said pin 16 may again be provided so as to be capable of turning freely with respect to both the worktop 1 and the support surface 14.

In any case, the support surface 14 is capable of being most easily and quickly oriented by 360°, by rotating about said pin 16, into any angular position comprised between said all-out extension condition and said all- in minimum size condition of the ironing board.

This most advantageously enables the support surface 14 to be positioned, during ironing, in the most convenient angular position desired by the user and, most of all, enables the overall space required by the ironing board, when the latter is not being used, to be minimized by positioning the support surface 14 as illustrated in Figure 2 and folding the legs 7 and 8 fully up against the worktop 1.

At this point, the advantages deriving from the present invention in handling and transporting ironing boards made in accordance with the present invention are fully apparent.

It will of course be also readily appreciated that the above described ironing board may be the subject of a number of modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention.

So, by mere way of example, the ironing board may be of the traditional, ie. non-ventilated and not steam-assisted type, so that a steam generator 5 and a casing 2 may in this case be plainly omitted.

Furthermore, the bracket 10 may be provided as an integral portion of the ironing worktop 1.