Garland

The Michigan Stove Company of Detroit Michigan, from 1880-1920 one of the largest manufacturers of cast iron stoves, made at least two different electric irons. One, pictured, has been found. The other, seen in a magazine ad of 1916 has not, and by its design appears to be of later vintage than the one above. This iron shows a then common solution to temperature control, an on/off switch in the handle of the iron, seen here at the front of the iron. (Successful thermostats were not developed until the mid-twenties).

Community

I began collecting irons sometime in the early 80's. I didn't discover that I had company in this interest until 1987 and in 1997 I found the Midwestern Sad Iron Collectors Club (MSICC).

Fortunately, the folks I met from MSICC collected electric irons. They were a minority, as many iron collectors do not collect electrics, preferring irons before the age of electricity. After ten years I find more and more are collecting electric irons (or are admitting to it).

If your visit to this site is because you collect electric irons, please consider sending an email, telling me a bit about yourself and your irons. I am at electricirons@mac.com.

I am anonymous here but will drop that facade for anyone who writes.

Steem Electric Co.

Many of the early steam irons were made in St. Louis by the Steem Electric Company. Some its products are still around in good numbers while some are not.

The top photo is a less common product, the "Miss Steem" as it says on the badge on the front of the handle. It is marked as Model 411.

The bottom photo is one-of-a-kind, so far, their "Steemx Automatic" model C-7. The red is painted on a smooth aluminum body. I've heard a claim, yet to be proven true, that this iron was made in at least one other color. This iron also has a temperature control, (the knob at the back end of the handle), also unusual for this period.

Ownership

The irons seen on this blog come from several collections. It is my intent to visit and photograph vintage electric irons in other collections. If you would like your irons to be included in my research, be in touch.

In the interest of preserving privacy I won't be providing attribution of an iron to a collection.

(Perhaps) The Earliest Hot Point

I believe this to be the earliest style of the Hot Point iron, made by the Pacific Electric Heating Co. (P.E.C) of Ontario, California. I say this for several reasons: first, it doesn't say "Hot Point" on it, as others do, and according to Earl Lifshey, in his book "The Housewares Story"
the name Hot Point was not adopted right away and other irons, presumably made later, have that name imprinted on the top. My second reason is that later irons had patent numbers on them: this one does not. My last reason: later irons did not have the layer of asbestos between the top of the body of the iron and the handle. I have seen irons made by P.E.C which have one, two or all three of these characteristics. So, in my mind, since this has none, it must precede them.

I'll track down photos of the later irons and post them soon. I'll also copy the text of Lifshey's account of the origins of P.E.C onto this blog.

Left Leaning?

One might ask why all the irons appearing on this blog point to the left? Why don't all of them point to the right, which is, after all, how we English-reading people read something?

The answer does not lie in politics but in the reality that most irons are for right-handed users, which means the cord exits on the right side of the iron. In order to hide the cord in a photograph, I point the iron to the left which puts the cord on the side away from the camera, and I position the cord in such a way as to make it unseen by the camera (in most cases).

Of all the irons I have bought, meaning 600 irons or so, I have seen only one iron with the cord on the left, for a left-handed user. There were a number of irons made so that the cord could swing from left side to right side, depending on the user. I'll post pics of some of those ... later.

Snap Stands

The earliest electric irons, like their non-electric predecessors, were meant to sit on a trivet when not in use. Then came the idea of resting the iron on its heel: see the C.F.S. iron below as an early example.

At Proctor & Schwartz Electric Company, of Philadelphia, someone got the idea that the trivet could be built into the iron. Thus, the "Snap Stand" was invented. The two thick wire supports nested along each side of the iron while in use. When the user desired to stop ironing, the iron was lifted from the work, the user's thumb pushed back on the small lever at the top front of the handle forcing the wire supports down and under the iron. The iron was then set down on these supports. When the iron was lifted again for use, the spring-loaded supports automatically swung up and out of the way!

The top iron is the "Snap Stand Speed Iron No. 930". The one below it was made by Proctor for the department chain, Montgomery Ward, and incorporated the Snap Stand feature.