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Irons
"I wonder how many
people remember using the old flat iron for ironing their clothes.
- Delta shaped
irons, as we know them,
have evolved since their first use in the 17th century.
- Next came
the gas-heated iron. A flexible tube
linked the iron to a nozzle on your gas cooker, or wall skirting.
You then lit the gas in the body of the iron
- Electric irons were
invented around the late-1800s,
but were not in common use in British households
until the 1950s
I remember the old flat iron being heated on
the top of the gas stove. To test for
appropriate temperature, you just spat
on it's face. If the spittle bounced
off, it was ready for use.
This type of iron was
used in my household right up to the late-
1940s . Most
tenement properties had no electricity then.
Many a shirt collar was scorched if the you
got the temperature wrong, especially if you had
substituted milk for starch on the collar, whilst ironing.
Ah,
we never had it so good!"
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