Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Flatiron |
Caption |
Flatiron |
Description |
Early box type flatiron with wooden handle & inner cavity. Lift gate on end opens the interior compartment where the heat retaining iron slug/bar was placed. Marked "1827" inside compartment. Brought from Germany by Gus Quade & loaned to the Society in 1931 by J. H. Eheim. Old number 39-C-a. [Gustave Quade was born in Germany to M/M Gottlieb Quade. He came to America in 1866 with his parents & made his home with them. He never married. Gustave operated a threshing machine for many years. He died March 1924.] or [Frederic August Quade was born November 21, 1853 in Birkenbruch, province of Posen, Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1871, coming to Hutchinson in 1872. He worked for a time in a saw mill and then settled on a farm in Hutchinson township, five miles north of the city. On November 24, 1875 he married Ulricke Roepke. They retired in 1926 and moved into Hutchinson. He died March 31, 1928.] 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 1870 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 |
1979-0662-001 |
Search Terms |
Irons (Pressing) |
Subjects |
Irons (Pressing) |
People |
Quade, Gus Quade, Gustave Quade, Frederic August |