Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Sadiron |
Caption |
Flat Iron |
Description |
Flat iron (sadiron); cast iron with removable metal handle with wooden grip. Marked "Best on Earth; Potts Size 3". Mary F. Potts endeared herself to countless women when she patented a sad iron with a detachable wooden handle in 1871. This is a later edition. April 4, 1871: Mary Florence Potts of Ottumwa, Iowa receives a United States patent # 113,448 for a detachable handled sad iron. The iron was originally sold as a set of three hollow bases with one handle and a stand with Mrs. Potts’s picture on the box. The extra bases were to be left on the stove to heat while the rushed housewife ironed and then switched the handle to an already heated base when the present one cooled. Eventually, the hollow bases were filled with plaster of Paris, cement, or clay in order to sustain the length of time that the iron was hot. By 1894 Montgomery Ward Catalog was carrying Mrs. Potts’s invention. The set of three nickel plated bases were 70¢ while the handle cost 15¢ and the base was an additional 5¢. The iron did have some problems. It heated unevenly making it possible to scorch portions of cloth in one area while not having enough heat available to actually get rid of wrinkles in another. [wordpress.com] Flat irons were also called sad irons or smoothing irons. Metal handles had to be gripped in a pad or thick rag. Some irons had cool wooden handles and in 1871 a detachable handle was patented in the US. This stayed cool while the metal bases were heated and the idea was widely imitated. Cool handles stayed even cooler in "asbestos sad irons". The sad in sad iron (or sadiron) is an old word for solid. Goose or tailor's goose was another iron name, and this came from the goose-neck curve in some handles. A person needed at least two irons on the go together for an effective system: one in use, and one re-heating. Large households with servants had a special ironing-stove for this purpose. Some were fitted with slots for several irons, and a water-jug on top. At home, ironing traditional fabrics without the benefit of electricity was a hot, arduous job. Irons had to be kept immaculately clean, sand-papered and polished. They must be kept away from burning fuel, and be regularly but lightly greased to avoid rusting. Beeswax prevented irons sticking to starched cloth. Constant care was needed over temperature. Experience would help decide when the iron was hot enough, but not so hot that it would scorch the cloth. A well-known test was spitting on the hot metal, but Charles Dickens describes someone with a more genteel technique in The Old Curiosity Shop. She held "the iron at an alarmingly short distance from her cheek, to test its temperature..." [Notes from oldandinteresting.com] |
Catalog Number |
1988-0824-003 |
Search Terms |
Irons (Pressing) |
Subjects |
Irons (Pressing) |