IMPROVE MENTS IN SMOOTHING IRONS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City
of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN SMOOTHING IRONS."-A Communication from abroad by Charles
Jean Baptiste Eugène Caillouè, of Paris, in the Empire of France.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 11th February 1862, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HENRY
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and of
166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I have this day presented my Petition to Her most Excellent
Majesty Queen Victoria, for a grant to me, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, in respect of an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMOOTHING IRONS,"
a communication from abroad by Charles Jean Baptiste Eugene Cailloue,
of Paris, in the Empire of France.
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The said Invention relates to smoothing irons having two faces, and made
reversible so that one face may be heated whilst the other is in use. According
to this Invention the iron is heated by gas jets issuing from a pipe inside the
iron, such pipe being secured to an end plate which allows the iron to be
reversed, and enables it to be locked in its proper position by a spring catch.
The jets are surmounted or enclosed by a small chamber covered with wire
guaze whereby the prevention of smoke is effected. A gas cock in connection
with a flexible tube is soldered to the outside of the loose end plate above
referred to or a small nozzle only may be soldered thereon, over which the end
of the flexible tube is passed and secured; the gas cock in that case being at
the other end of the tube or in any convenient part thereof.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a longitudinal
vertical section of the improved double-faced smoothing iron. Figure 2 is an
elevation of the back or hinder end of the same, and Figure 3 represents one
of the modes of fixing or attaching the flexible gas tube to the iron. The
combination of mechanism for enabling the body of the iron to be reversed
or turned upon its own axis, according as one or the other face is required to
be brought into use, forms no part separately of the present Invention. I may
remark, however, that it consists of a handle a, to which are secured the two
arms b and c, one of which terminates at its lower end in the stud or pivot d,
round which the iron turns, whilst the other which forms part of the ring e
carries a second arm or lever e¹, provided at its lower end with a projecting
tongue or catch f. This catch passes through an opening in the upper part
of the ring, and engages into a corresponding notch g, made in the back end
of the iron itself so as to hold the iron fixed with one or the other face down-
wards, and to release the same on the withdrawal of the catch by pressing in
the upper end of the arm e', whereupon the body of the iron is free to be
reversed or turned over. The arm e' has formed upon it a lug k, and two
other lugs m, m; are formed on opposite sides of the ring e for the purpose of
receiving and supporting the plate 1. To this plate are soldered on the inner
side the tube p of the gas burner, and on the outer side the gas cock q, which

page_text: regulates the supply of gas to the burner. A projecting lug r is soldered to
the top of the tube p, to which is screwed a box or casing of copper s, having
its top side covered with wire guaze u retained in its place by the metal frame
v. The gas which is supplied through the flexible tube w is ignited at the
orifices or jets z, z2, made in the upper side of the tube p, and as the flame
impinges against the wire guaze above it the production of smoke is prevented,
and the heat is more equally dispersed over the surface of the iron. In lieu
of soldering a cock to the plate 1, a small nozzle u only need be soldered
thereto as shown in Figure 3, whilst the other end of the flexible tube is con-
nected with a gas cock in any convenient locality.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,—
1st, the general construction, and arrangement of reversible smoothing
irons, and the mode of heating the same by gas jets as herein-before described.
2nd, the application and use of the wire guaze placed over the gas jets,
in the manner, and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
'my Specification hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)