We will never truly know how the idea of using heat to press our clothing was discovered. It may have begun with a large, flat rock that a prehistoric housewife pulled out of the fire and dropped onto a saber tooth tiger skin to smooth out the wrinkles. Regardless of how the process began, it is still an integral part of our culture.
The first irons were not much more sophisticated than the rock in the fire. This iron was heated by setting it on a wood burning stove.
A housewife would lift the iron off the stove using a towel or cloth. The iron was heavy and very hot which led to many burned fingers and hands.
In an effort to avoid burned fingers, a new type of iron was introduced. This iron has a wooden-handled outer cover that fit over a separate flatiron.
The removable flatiron solved the finger burning problem, but did not alleviate the weight problem.
In an effort to lessen the total weight of the iron, wooden handles that attached directly to the flatiron were developed.
During these various style changes, the method by which the irons were heated remained constant. As in our first example, the flatiron, whether the handle was detachable or not, was placed on the flat surface of the wood burning stove until it was hot enough to press cloth. However, at the turn of the century, the advent of the gas stove and the design changes in the burner surfaces made it no longer practical to try and heat the irons on the stove. Thus, fuel irons, which burned alcohol, kerosene or gasoline were developed.
These forerunners of the modern iron were not on the market for very long because they had a tendency to explode. Electricity as a power source worked out much better.
Despite the many attempts to improve upon the iron with whatever technology was available, the basics still remain the same to this day. An iron is a heavy, flat, hard surface that when heated is used to flatten wrinkles out of fabric. The purpose has not changed over the years, and neither has the basic form and function. People still want their clothes to look nice and wrinkle-free.
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