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PUT THE BOOMTOWN SHOW ON YOUR CALENDAR! :-)

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Just what is a SAD Iron?

No, it's not just an iron that's sad because everyone hates it...

Sad irons - named from the Old English “said,” meaning “solid” — were cast entirely in solid metal. The invention of the cast-iron cook stove in the 1820s, which made it easier to heat irons, had helped popularize their use. As one iron cooled, another could be taken off the stove. However, these early irons cooled quickly, so it was necessary to own and heat several at once.

If you've never appreciated the age you live in consider the life of a housewife of the 1800's.

Things we take for granted such as washing clothes and ironing the few things that aren't permanent press would take entire days. Monday was usually wash day and those wash boards we see in antique stores were how it was done. The housewife could count on it taking all day to scrub the clothes and get them on the line to dry (in between making meals etc.). Then Tuesday would be ironing day. Another day long chore. While Mother did the family ironing, daughter was busy pressing dolls' clothes. Play was training for the child's adult responsibilities. Those toy irons are the focus of some of the most appealing collections. Little irons are four inches or less. Hundreds of different examples offer an opportunity for almost unlimited variety. They occupy a small space and are evocative of childhood innocence.

Asbestos Childs Iron Best-O #206

Childs Rope Handle Sad Iron

Childs Wood Handle Sad Iron

Primitive irons are in a class by themselves, exuding an air of innocence. They were shaped by blacksmiths. They cost little when first made, but the best examples are marvelous finds for today's collector. An iron still revealing the mark of a hammer speaks the drama of its creation in every line.

As foundries rose the manufacturing became more standardized. The early sad irons were heavy weighing from 5 to 10 pounds. Another disadvantage of standard sad irons was that the handle was attached to the base and would also become hot. Users needed to wear a heavy glove or use a potholder to handle the iron, and they often suffered burns and blisters. While an early improvement offered a lighter wooden handle, the handle often charred during the heating process, weakening its structure.

Mary Florence Potts invented an improved sad iron. She was 19 years old, married and raising a young son in Iowa when she began developing a series of improvements to the sad iron. Her hollow design could be filled with a substance that did not conduct heat, like plaster of Paris or cement. This resulted in a cooler, lighter iron. Her design was also pointed on both ends, making it easier to push back and forth. The bottom and ends of the iron were thicker, allowing the heat to radiate where it was needed most, and because Potts’ design held heat longer, it allowed users to iron more items without the need to reheat.

In 1870, Mary Potts patented a wooden-handled sad iron with each of these improvements. The following year, she patented a sad iron with a wooden handle that could detach from the iron as it sat on the stove. This allowed the user to work with a cool handle while additional iron bases were left to heat up on the stove. These improved irons were featured at the Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia — the first official World’s Fair held in the U.S.

Mary Potts lacked the financial resources to manufacture and sell her invention on her own, so she began working with third-party manufacturers. Marketing the invention as Mrs. Potts’ Cold Handle Sad Iron, the manufacturers promoted the fact that a woman had designed it.

The new sad irons were sold as a set including three irons, one handle and a stand. The cost was 70 cents, (about $21 today). One iron, suitable for light work, weighed 4 pounds and had one round end for polishing or glossing. The second, intended for general use, weighed 5 pounds. The third iron ,weighing 6 pounds, was designed for tablecloths, sheets and other large linens.

Mary Potts held a total of seven U.S. patents. When her patent rights expired in the 1890s, many ironworks began to copy Potts’ original sad iron design, and some advertised it as the Mrs. Potts Iron. They were commonly used well into the 1930s, at which point they were surpassed in popularity by electric irons. Today, Mrs. Potts Irons are sought after by antique collectors.

Another common iron you will find is the Asbestos iron. The Asbestos Sad Iron design really did use asbestos. It was under the handle, inside a “hood” or cover that fit over a heated “core”. It “bottled up” the heat, said an ad, so it was all channeled through the hot solid steel surface that pressed the clothes smooth. No heat rose upward to bother the woman ironing. The handle stayed 15 degrees cooler than blood temperature, claimed the Dover Manufacturing Company in early 1900, and the cores needed reheating less often than other flat irons. This brand flourished just before electric irons helped bring cooler, less fatiguing ironing days.

One more uncommon item to watch for is the sad iron heater. Made of cast iron it would fit over the burner of a gas stove and provide a place for the iron to rest. It is shown on the 1920's ad below.

A collection of irons can be color-infused with ancillary washday items: soap packages, bluing bottles, starch boxes and various patent products. Clothes sprinkler bottles are another way to introduce a bright spot. The colorful bottles are found in a marvelous congregation of figural characters. They happily coexist with irons.

Antique irons of surprising beauty and diversity are still available at affordable prices. Places to look: flea markets, antique shows, dealers and garage sales. Wonderful finds are coming out of attics and basements. Sad irons may be the starting point of any collection, but learn the different types: charcoal, box, sleeve, polishers, fuel, fluters and others. After getting a core collection of common irons, acquire a hunger for rare and special irons. As an example, the Geneva rocking fluter patented in 1866 is usually an early acquisition. But, instead of being satisfied with the most common rocking fluter, add the more desirable Improved Geneva Fluter. Then look for other rocking fluters: The Star, The Lady Friend, Elgin, and The Erie with its detachable handle. Don't neglect the other types of fluters. The rolling fluter uses a roller instead of a rocker. Two common names are American Machine, Doty, Sundry and Shepard. The machine fluter accomplishes the same task with the turn of a crank. Collectors know the names of Knox, Osborne, American, Royal, Manville and Star.

The same in-depth spectrum can be realized with fuel irons, detachable handles, or any antique iron category. Look for the rare, different and the unusual. Even the basic sad iron has examples of fascinating attempts to keep the hand cool. Some handles were slotted for ventilation and air flow. Watch for spiral uprights, coiled handles, and folded uprights. These are rare and desirable. Combination irons, capable of doing more than one type of ironing job, reflect the nineteenth century's fascination with inventions and gadgets. They are found as sad/ fluters and charcoal /fluters. Watch for these hybrids. They are loved by collectors.

Gasoline and kerosene irons arrived early in this century and were welcomed because they were a vast improvement over earlier irons. Some Coleman irons, in particular, have beautiful colored porcelain bodies and matching grips.

While you can still use them to iron your clothes, alternative uses come to mind... They make great doorstops or paperweights or with colorful painting intriguing decorative items.

Maybe the best thing about collecting them is they can be found for very little money. Even a very nice one can be found for under $50 :-)

SOME HISTORY:

The electric iron has been around since the 1880s, but as is the case with many modern inventions, it has its roots in ancient history. Circa 400 B.C., Greeks would heat a round bar – known as a goffering iron – and use it to produce pleats on robes. The ancient Romans used devices more similar to the irons of today. One was a level metal paddle in which the user would beat the clothes in the hope the pounding would remove the wrinkles. The ancient Chinese used a scoop that was heated with hot coal or sand and would rub it over clothing to smooth wrinkles. 

What modern customers would identify as an iron first appeared in Europe in the 1300s. The flatiron, as it was called, was simply a smooth piece of metal affixed to a handle. The iron would be heated over flames until sufficiently hot, at which time it would be picked up with an insulated glove. A layer of cloth would cover the article of clothing to prevent soot from the iron from staining the finished garment. Once the flatiron cooled, it would be reheated and the process repeated. Besides smoothing wrinkles, ironing served another important function, killing germs in clothing and reducing mildew.

It took about two centuries for the next significant improvement to the flatiron. The "box iron" was composed of a flat-bottom box and a handle. Hot coals, bricks or other heating elements were placed inside. Such a design removed the need for a protective layer of clothing between the garment and iron because the iron retained a clean surface. The box iron remained the standard for several hundred years.

Gas irons were patented in the 1870s, making the devices even easier to use. A gas line would carry fuel to the appliance, which contained a burner to provide the heat. These irons were much lighter than their predecessors, which often weighed up to 15 pounds.

The invention of the electric iron coincided with the widespread electrification of American homes in the 1880s. Sometimes salesmen would follow the newly-strung wires looking for customers. The oldest electric irons have porcelain connections and two-wire twisted cord. In 1882, Henry W. Seeley of New York City received a patent for the electric flatiron. His model had built-in coils and was heated on a rack. The problem was that it took a long time to heat and cooled rapidly once in use.

Happy Collecting :-)

Jokes :-)

What did the ocean say to the beach? 

Nothing. It just waved.

Why aren’t lobsters generous? 

Because they’re shellfish

Where do birds stay when they go on vacation? 

Someplace cheep.

Did you hear about the ice cream truck accident? 

It crashed on a rocky road.

Why don’t seashells take baths? 

Because they wash up on the beach.

What happens when ice cream gets angry? 

It has a meltdown.

What do you call an anxious mosquito? 

A jitterbug.

How many blueberries can you grow on a bush? 

All of them.

What did the tree say when summer finally arrived? 

What a re-leaf.

What can cause dry skin after being in a swimming pool? 

A towel.

What sits on the seabed and has anxiety? 

A nervous wreck.

What kind of sandals do frogs wear? 

Open-toad.

Why do bananas wear sunscreen? 

Because they peel.

Why did the watch go on vacation? 

To unwind.

Why did the baseball player get arrested? 

He stole third base.

Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants to the course? 

In case he got a hole in one.

Somewhere in Time

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