question regarding laundry stoves and irons

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Fri. Mar. 20, 2020 1:33 pm

Fred,
That type are called "flat irons". Flatter in shape and usually all steel construction. FYI, they are also good for cooking hamburgers faster and the weight squeezes them so that they have less grease. ;)

The sad irons are taller and heavier to hold the heat longer. Plus they usually have a detachable wooden handle so that one iron can be heating while the other is in use. The wooden handle gives women's smaller hands a better grip without needing to wrap a towel or pot holder around the handle to keep getting burned your hand like the flat iron's metal handle will.

Pic is my Sad irons. I have used them and they work well. Just not as convenient as a modern electric iron.

My flat iron is out in the shop and it gets used for sheet metal work.

Paul

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Post by freetown fred » Fri. Mar. 20, 2020 7:56 pm

Yep,,I saw that G--hard to tell. Long as it holds the hopper flap tight, all is good!!!!!!!! :)
gardener wrote:
Fri. Mar. 20, 2020 1:27 pm
I don't know if its shape meant it had a particular function, but in the row of irons pictured in the photo I took at Myra Museum in Grand Forks ND (posted earlier in the thread) there is an iron of that shape in about the middle.

 
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Post by CoalHeat » Fri. Mar. 20, 2020 10:20 pm

Thanks for the explanation, Sunny. I now know what I have are flat irons.

 
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Post by NoSmoke » Sat. Mar. 21, 2020 4:14 am

My understanding was, the large flat areas were not so much for ironing as they were for putting big galvanized tubs of water on. They were then heated up, and then used as soap or rinse water for the washing machine.

Our kitchen range...although it is gas...is designed for this. Its top is 6 inches lower than a normal kitchen range top so that it was easier to lift the big galvanized tubs of water onto (or big stock pots). Its grated top is designed so all four burners can help heat all four corners of a galvanized tub. Those grates could be removed with a flat plate installed for ironing. It is not a dedicated laundry stove, but it would serve double-duty in an old farmhouse.

I have a "washing machine" here from 1901, and it folded up so it could be out of the way, but the way it worked was: a lady heated up water in tubs, and on one side was the soap tub, and then on the other side of the hand cranked wringer was the rinse tub. (I have a photo somewhere of it but could not find it. It is too bad, I have never seen a laundry machine like it).

Another application was in heating up bed warmer pans. They needed big flat heated surfaces too. They were warmed up, then ran between the sheets to help warm up a bed before getting inside it.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sat. Mar. 21, 2020 10:37 am

NS, I think you misunderstood. No one is saying these large topped laundry stoves are meant to be used as an ironing board. Way too hot !!! :D

They are small firepot stoves- only meant to run for a few hours yet be small enough to move - with a large top to spread the heat out for large containers of water. Very purpose built type of stoves that don't work as well for other chores - including doing the actual washing on the stove. Laundry stoves are a bit too tall for most women of the day to use a wash board set in a tub big enough for that purpose. They are almost as tall as kitchen ranges of the day. Likely why some people think they are just small cook stoves, instead of their small stove cousins, the lower height canning stoves.

The actual wash tubs would have been set up on a low bench that is more stable than the stoves. The sideways scrubbing action of using a wash board, and having water sloshing back and forth, would likely tip the narrow based laundry stoves over. And trying to use a clothes ringer hung on the side of a rinse tub sitting on a stove, would also be risky.

Paul

 
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Post by NoSmoke » Sat. Mar. 21, 2020 3:41 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Sat. Mar. 21, 2020 10:37 am
NS, I think you misunderstood. No one is saying these large topped laundry stoves are meant to be used as an ironing board. Way too hot !!! :D

They are small firepot stoves- only meant to run for a few hours yet be small enough to move - with a large top to spread the heat out for large containers of water. Very purpose built type of stoves that don't work as well for other chores - including doing the actual washing on the stove. Laundry stoves are a bit too tall for most women of the day to use a wash board set in a tub big enough for that purpose. They are almost as tall as kitchen ranges of the day. Likely why some people think they are just small cook stoves, instead of their small stove cousins, the lower height canning stoves.

The actual wash tubs would have been set up on a low bench that is more stable than the stoves. The sideways scrubbing action of using a wash board, and having water sloshing back and forth, would likely tip the narrow based laundry stoves over. And trying to use a clothes ringer hung on the side of a rinse tub sitting on a stove, would also be risky.

Paul
I had a picture of that "washing machine" but unfortunately I cannot find it. If I could, you would understand what I mean. It is nothing like you describe, but then again, I have never seen anything like it before.

I talked to the Maine State Museum because they had never seen anything like it before either and wanted it in their collection.

 
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Post by gardener » Tue. Mar. 24, 2020 2:06 pm

laundryRaven_stove.png

From the 1908 catalogue and price list for Henry N. Clark Co.

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I moved the images around to create a condensed screen capture.
I assume "camp use" translates to 'portable'.
What would have been different between the No 18 and No 8 that they both have 8 inch covers yet cost different?


 
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Post by mntbugy » Tue. Mar. 24, 2020 3:23 pm

Nosmoke, is this close to what you were saying earlier.

A wash/butcher tub on either side of the wringer. This one will fold up on both sides towards the wringer.

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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Mar. 24, 2020 3:47 pm

gardener wrote:
Tue. Mar. 24, 2020 2:06 pm
laundryRaven_stove.png

I moved the images around to create a condensed screen capture.
I assume "camp use" translates to 'portable'.
What would have been different between the No 18 and No 8 that they both have 8 inch covers yet cost different?
You can still get the tubs originally made to fit such stoves.
Two burner stove tub.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/king-me ... _vc=-10005

Four burner stove tub.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/behrens ... _vc=-10005

And you can still find antique "water boilers" on eBay that fit over the two burner canning stoves, or the two burners over the firebox end of a range cooktop.

A lot of this has been covered in the Cookin' With Coal thread.

paul

 
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Post by gardener » Fri. Apr. 10, 2020 3:00 pm

delete9.png
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Saw this one, wow! 32 and 40 iron variants.
How many hotel staff could work from that at a time?
one person per 3 or 4 irons?
Hmmm, wonder what a tailors' geese iron looks like.

 
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Post by gardener » Fri. Apr. 10, 2020 3:06 pm

tailor's goose - sad iron used by tailor; 'goose' description derived from handle resemblance to goose neck

looks like a slightly different shape

Image

 
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Post by gardener » Mon. May. 18, 2020 2:26 pm

Saw this on Craigslist, is this some sort of laundry stove?
It looks like a shelf at the midsection.

https://vermont.craigslist.org/atq/d/vintage-pot- ... 13314.html

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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. May. 18, 2020 5:45 pm

gardener wrote:
Mon. May. 18, 2020 2:26 pm
Saw this on Craigslist, is this some sort of laundry stove?
It looks like a shelf at the midsection.

https://vermont.craigslist.org/atq/d/vintage-pot- ... 13314.html


deleteme.jpg
The top surface is the shape of common "water boiler" tanks.

The shelf that close to the firebed is likely for heating irons when used for laundry. It would not be needed if that were just a canning stove

Paul

 
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Post by mntbugy » Thu. May. 21, 2020 6:01 pm


 
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Post by gardener » Fri. May. 22, 2020 8:13 am

That was an interesting article. I was surprised that there were natural gas fired irons, I hadn't read or seen that before.
I wonder how they got kerosene to burn inside an iron, maybe with a tiny wick?
It sort of trails off at the end, suggesting the gasoline heated irons are still in use, so does that mean that someone is still manufacturing them?

I had seen a number of antique kerosene ranges, only to find somewhere in Indiana still manufactures those, mostly for the Amish.


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