IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOOTHING IRONS, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE SAME AND FOR LIGHTING IN CONNECTION THEREWITH
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Paris, of West Bromwich, in the County
of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SMOOTHING IRONS, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING THE SAME AND
FOR LIGHTING IN CONNECTION THEREWITH."
"
Sealed the 23rd April 1875, and dated the 12th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Paris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th November 1874.
I, JAMES PARIS, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOOTHING IRONS, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING
THE SAME AND FOR LIGHTING IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," to be as follows, that
is to say :-
This Invention relates in part to the construction or combination of
the parts of smoothing irons so that they may be heated in a better and
more economical manner than heretofore, and in part to apparatus for
providing the medium for beating smoothing irons and for affording

page_text: light in connection with their use, such apparatus being fitted to the
table on which the ironing or smoothing is to be done, so that the whole
may form a portable or self-contained piece of apparatus.
The improved smoothing iron comprises a base or body casting of a.
hollow form, to which a top plate is secured by screws. A compound
burner, or perforated block of earthenware or other suitable refractory
material is suspended beneath the top plate, being held by lateral pro-
jections fitting rebates made for them in the body casting. The top of
the burner block is slightly hollowed, so as to form a space under the
top plate by which the gaseous mixture used for heating, and herein-
after described, has access to the burner perforations, the gaseous
mixture reaching the said space by a pipe forming one of the pro-
jections, to which the handle is fixed, and which pipe is connected to a
flexible tube. A shield of fire-clay or other non-conducting material is
fixed outside the top plate to protect the hand from the heat. In the
internal space beneath the burner pieces of earthenware or other
refractory material are placed to prevent the flames from actually
touching the bottom of the iron, such pieces being made with points so
that they touch the iron to the least possible extent. Or a perforated
diaphragm of earthenware or other refractory material is interposed at a
little distance above the bottom, the outlets at the back end of the iron
being in that case made to communicate with the space beneath the
diaphragm.
The improved apparatus for supplying gaseous mixtures for heating
and lighting comprises any ordinary form of bellows with treadle for
being worked by the foot, and fitted beneath the ironing table. The air
from the bellows is led by a pipe to the top of a closed vessel containing
gasoline or other sufficiently volatile hydrocarbon, and also fitted beneath
the ironing table, the inlet pipe being directed to cause the air to blow
upon the surface of the liquid. The gaseous mixture or mixed air and
hydrocarbon vapor thus obtained is led by a pipe to a bracket, from
which may be supplied a gas-light branch placed above the table. This
mixture, whilst suitable for lighting, requires more air to be mixed with
it to render it available in the best manner for heating, and a branch
pipe is led from the bellows pipe to convey additional air to another
branch pipe, by which the gaseous mixture is led to the smoothing iron.
The proportions of air and hydrocarbon vapor are easily regulated by
means of stop-cocks on. the various branch pipes.

page_text: Where ordinary coal gas is available it may be used instead of the
mixture from the gasoline vessel, and where driving power is available
the air may be supplied by means of a fan, pump, or blower, instead of
the bellows.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Paris in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PARIS, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Paris, Her
special licence that I, the said James Paris, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Paris,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOOTHING IRONS, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR HEATING
THE SAME AND FOR LIGHTING IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Paris, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.

page_text: by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates in part to the construction or combination of
the parts of smoothing irons so that they may be heated in a better and
more economical manner than heretofore, and in part to apparatus for
providing the medium for heating smoothing irons and for affording
light in connection with their use, such apparatus being fitted to the
table on which the ironing or smoothing is to be done, so that the whole
may form a portable or self-contained piece of apparatus.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hercunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
my improved apparatus. In these Drawings the same reference numerals
are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a plan of my improved smoothing iron 1
as with the cover removed; Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section ;
and Figure 3 is an end elevation.
The iron comprises a base or body casting 1 of a hollow form, to which
a top plate 2 is secured by screws. A compound burner in the form of
a perforated block 3 of earthenware, fire-clay, or other suitable refrac- 2
tory material is suspended beneath the top plate 2, being held by a
laterally projecting rib 4 fitting rebates made for it in the body casting 1.
The top of the burner block 3 is slightly hollowed, so as to form a
space 5 under the top plate 2, by which the gaseous mixture used for
heating the iron, and herein-after described, has access to the burner 2
perforations, the gaseous mixture reaching the said space 5 by a pipe 6,
forming one of the projections 6, 7, to which the handle 8 is fixed, and
which pipe 6 is to be connected to a flexible tube (9, Figure 5). A piece
of wire gauze, shown by a red line in Figures 2 and 3, is fixed in
between the body 1 and top plate 2, and covers the end of the pipe 6, 3
so as to prevent flame from getting into that pipe. The gaseous mixture
passing down through the perforations in the burner block 3 is ignited
in the space 10 below, and in this space 10 pieces of earthenware or
other refractory material are placed to prevent the flames from actually
touching the bottom of the iron. These may be loose picces occupying 3
the space below the dotted line in Figure 2, and they are by preference
made with points, so that they touch the iron to the least possible

page_text: extent; or a thin perforated diaphragm of earthenware or other re-
fractory material is placed in the position of the dotted line in Figure 2.
The iron is formed with outlets 11 for the products of combustion, but
when a diaphragm is used the outlets or some of them should be
below it.
My improved apparatus for supplying gaseous mixtures for heating
and lighting is shewn according to one modification in Figures 4 and 5,
which are respectively a back elevation and a sectional side elevation.
This apparatus comprises bellows 12, 13, which may be of any ordinary.
form, and which are to be worked by the foot by means of a treadle 14
"connected to the feeding compartment 12. The bellows are fitted beneath
an ironing table 15, made by preference with cast-iron end standards,
and from the receiver 13 of the bellows the air is led by a pipe 16 to the
top of a closed vessel 17 containing gasoline or other sufficiently volatilė
hydrocarbon, and also fitted beneath the ironing table 15. The inlet
pipe into the vessel 17 is directed to cause the air to blow down upon the
surface of the liquid, and the gaseous mixture or mixed air and hydro-
carbon vapor thus obtained is led by a pipe 18 to a point 19 conveniently
over the table 15. This mixture requires more air to be mixed with it to
render it available in the best manner for heating, and a branch pipe 20
is led from the bellows' pipe 16 to convey additional air (which does not
pass through the vessel 17) to the pipe 18 conveying the mixture of air
and vapor or gas.
The proportions of air and hydrocarbon vapor or
other gas are easily regulated by means of stop-cocks 21 on the various
branch pipes.
The mixture as it leaves the vessel 17 (without the air added by the
pipe 20) may be used as illuminating gas, being led by a separate pipe 22,
as indicated by dotted lines, or by a branch connected to the pipe 18
below the stop-cock 21 on that pipe.
Where ordinary coal gas is available it may be used instead of the
mixture from the gasoline vessel 17, and where driving power is available
the air for admixture with the coal gas, or for acting on the gasoline or
other hydrocarbon, may be supplied by means of a fan, pump, or blower,
instead of the bellows.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the preciso details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe

page_text: to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The constructing of a smoothing iron to be heated by means of a
combustible gaseous mixture in the improved manner herein described
and delineated.
2. The fitting of a gas heated smoothing iron with a perforated
burner block (3), substantially such as is herein described and de-
lineated.
3. The leading of the gaseous mixture to the smoothing iron through
the pipe (6) forming one of the attachments for the handle (8) as herein-
before described.
4. The combining of the bellows (12, 13) with the vessel (17) con-
taining a volatile hydrocarbon and with the various pipes (16, 18, 20,
22) substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Paris, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
TAMLO DADTO