Year: 1886

page_text: I GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the General Patent Office, No 4, South
Street, Finsbury, in the county of Middlesex, Patent Agent do hereby declare the
nature of this invention (a communication from abroad by Pierre de Mol of
27 Rue de l'Ascension, Brussels in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineer) and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for object the construction. of a smoothing iron provided
with means for heating the same and carrying a supply of spirit or other liquid
for this purpose. The invention also has for object the construction of an iron as
above described all the smoothing or polishing surfaces of which can be exposed to
the source of heat.
In carrying out the invention the iron is constructed of a body carried by one
or two uprights connected together at their upper part by a handle by which the
apparatus is held when required for use. The body of the smoothing iron consists
of two parallel horizontal surfaces connected by two vertical sides and is movable
upon the two above mentioned uprights in such a manner as to allow of its
pivoting upon its own axis in order to present its two surfaces successively when
working. Within this iron body which is hollow projects the elongated burner of
a spirit lamp whose reservoir is formed integrally therewith and which is.
suspended by a hook or by other suitable means at the rear part of the said iron
body.
In order to enable the invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 is a side
view of a smoothing iron constructed according to my invention and carrying a
lamp for heating the same and provided with two uprights; figure 2 is a front.
elevation, figure 3 a back elevation and figure 4 a plan of the same; figure 5 is a
side elevation of a tailor's smoothing iron or goose having a single upright.;:
figure 6 is a front view of the same. Similar letters in all the figures represent.
similar parts.

page_text: A, A¹ is the body of the apparatus. As shewn its vertical sides are provided
with small openings K, K, which allow a free passage to the air required for
feeding the flame of the burner placed inside the said iron body; this burner is
shewn in dotted lines. It will be understood that when the lamp burner is lighted
the smoothing or polishing surface A¹ being situated above, it will become rapidly
heated, while the surface A is still in use. When this surface A ceases to be warm
enough for use the iron is rotated and the surface A¹ will occupy the place of the
former surface and vice versa as required. In order to enable the iron body to be
rotated it moves in front upon a pivot arranged in a frame at the bottom of the
front upright. This pivot formed with the iron as shewn at D¹ is made in two
parts and is provided with a flat piece E hinged thereto at one of its extremities
and capable of being lowered and raised when required. This piece E is provided
centrally with an opening forming a passage for a key movable in the centre of
the front upright or thereabouts, so that when the piece E is raised against it the
key is passed through the latter and turned so that its flat head assuming a
horizontal position will lock the said piece E, and the iron will be thereby fixed in
its working position. When it is required to rotate the iron body the key F is
turned so that its head will assume a vertical position, thus releasing the piece E
which being jointed to the pivot D is brought into a vertical position by the
person using the iron who then exerts a slight horizontal pressure to the right or
to the left of the iron upon the piece "E which acting as a lever moves in a
horizontal direction and causes the iron body to rotate. When half a revolution
has been made by the body the piece E is brought back to its first position and
fixed therein by a turn of the key and the iron will be again ready for use. The
iron body is as hereinbefore described mounted in front upon a pivot fixed in the
front upright acting as a clamp or 'frame; the said body is mounted at its rear end
upon a friction roller that is to say, its rear end is provided with an annular
projection which enters a ring forming the lower extremity of the upright C, the
whole being closed by an annular plate B, screwed onto the face of the projection
which serves as a pivot.
In the case of a tailors smoothing iron or goose as shewn in figures 5 and 6 the
front upright is omitted, the handle being only held by a single rear upright. The
projection D' is elongated and encloses an annular iron projection movable therein
and upon the periphery of which are formed two openings parallel to one another
and traversed by a vertical rod provided with a spring on its exterior serving to
engage or disengage the said projection so that when it is required to rotate the
iron it is only necessary to push the small handle x', upwards in order to disengage
the iron, and after the latter has been rotated upon its axis, the handle x¹, is
released and the iron is held in position by the rod x, passing. through the iron
projection. The iron is rotated by inserting a flat key into an opening y, formed
in front of the said iron, which key operates in a similar manner to the piece F in
the hereinbefore described iron having two uprights.
The spirit lamp for heating the iron' and which is carried by the iron is shewn in
side view in figure 1, in front view in figure 3 and in plan in figure 4. It is
constructed of a casing of copper, bronze or other suitable metal and is divided into
two compartments or chambers by a horizontal partition P made preferably of lead
and which separates the reservoir from the wick chamber. This partition P is
provided centrally with an inverted conical opening Q into which fits the conical
end of a rod N which projects outside the top of the lamp and serves to regulate
the admission of the liquid into the wick chamber R. The said wick shewn at V,
is conducted through a copper tube S which can be opened at its end the said tube
projecting within the iron body. The wick is regulated by a suitable key T. The
said lamp is fitted as above described to the rear end of the smoothing iron by
means of small projections formed upon the rear upright C, upon which fits a
small plate O arranged in front of the lamp and secured in notches in the said
projections. The top of the lamp is covered over by a small dome passing over the

page_text: screw threaded portion of the rod N. Upon the head of this dome suitable
divisions may be marked for regulating the admission of the spirit or other liquid
into the wick chamber. For this purpose the head N¹ of the rod may be provided
with a needle like projection serving as a pointer. The liquid is introduced into
the reservoir through the neck or opening M, closed by a screw threaded stopper.
The inner sides of the smoothing surfaces of the iron are formed serrated or rack
shaped as shewn at J, J, in order that the flame shall be better distributed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A. box smoothing iron, having a movable body which can pivot upon its own
axis for the purpose of successively submitting the smoothing surfaces of the iron
to the heat of a lamp adapted to the said iron, the whole substantially as described
and shewn in the accompanying drawing,
2. The application of a spirit lamp as above described to a smoothing iron
constructed as described or to other smoothing irons the whole as herein before
described and shewn in the accompanying drawing.
3. The body of the smoothing iron mounted as above described and made hollow
internally for the purpose of containing the burner of a lamp for heating the same
substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. The general arrangement of smoothing iron as described and shewn in the
drawing in combination with a lamp for burning spirit or other combustible liquid
as described.