Vintage Homemaking

Box Irons Heated Internally by Patent Artificial Fuel

Today most of our clothing is wash and wear, wrinkle free, or dry clean only. In the past Tuesday was the day to take all that was washed up on Monday and iron it to a becoming crispness. There was no benefit of wrinkle free fabrics in these women’s day so ironing was a must.People took pride in looking their best and that meant smoothly ironed clothing and even bedsheets. A person knew how a women kept home based on the number of wrinkles in her husband’s clothing and a competent housekeeper knew how best to accomplish the task.This is from a household manual that described the work of a home with hired help nevertheless this treatise will give some idea of all that was involved on ironing day.

Ironing: The irons consist of the common flat-iron which is of different sizes, varying from 4 to 10 inches in length, triangular in form, and from 2-1/2 to 4-1/2 inches in width at the broad end; the oval iron, which is used for more delicate articles; and the box-iron, which is hollow, and heated by a red-hot iron inserted into the box. The Italian iron is a hollow tube, smooth on the outside, and raised on a slender pedestal with a footstalk. Into the hollow cylinder a red-hot iron is pushed, which heats it; and the smooth outside of the latter is used, on which articles such as frills, and plaited articles, are drawn.

Crimping- and gauffering-machines are used for a kind of plaiting where much regularity is required, the articles being passed through two iron rollers fluted so as to represent the kind of plait or fold required.

To be able to iron properly requires much practice and experience.
Strict cleanliness with all the ironing utensils must be observed, as,
if this is not the case, not the most expert ironer will be able to make her things look clear and free from smears, &c. After wiping down her ironing table, the laundry-maid should place a coarse cloth on it, and over that the ironing-blanket, with her stand and iron-rubber; and having ascertained that her irons are quite clean and of the right heat, she proceeds with her work.

It is a good plan to try the heat of the iron on a coarse cloth or apron before ironing anything fine: there is then no danger of scorching. For ironing fine things, such as collars, cuffs, muslins, and laces, there is nothing so clean and nice to use as the box-iron; the bottom being bright, and never placed near the fire, it is always
perfectly clean; it should, however, be kept in a dry place, for fear of its rusting. Gauffering-tongs or irons must be placed in a clear fire for a minute, then withdrawn, wiped with a coarse rubber, and the heat of them tried on a piece of paper, as, unless great care is taken, these will very soon scorch.

The skirts of muslin dresses should be ironed on a skirt-board covered with flannel, and the fronts of shirts on a smaller board, also covered with flannel; this board being placed between the back and front.

After things are mangled, they should also be ironed in the folds
and gathers; dinner-napkins smoothed over, as also table-cloths,
pillow-cases, and sometimes sheets. The bands of flannel petticoats, and shoulder-straps to flannel waistcoats, must also undergo the same process.

Mangle: Vintage item used to remove water from laundry before hanging to dry. It also proved to smooth the items enough that sometimes ironing could be omitted.

Gauffering Iron: Iron coated tong like things used to crisp frills and ruffles. This item was also heated.