IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING WHAT ARE CALLED ITALIAN IRONS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIZABETHI
COTTAM, the Wife of GEORGE COTTAN, of Winsley Street, Oxford Street, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirtieth day of July, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Elizabeth
Cottam, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Elizabeth Cottam, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Elizabeth Cottam, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATING WHAT ARE CALLED ITALIAN IRONS;” in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Elizabeth
Cottam, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Elizabeth Cottam, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say) -
:-
In constructing Italian irons used for ironing frills and other articles of
dress, it has heretofore been usual so to form them that they may be heated by
the introduction of iron heaters introduced into the interior of the hollow iron
constituting an Italian iron; and it is well known that great care required in
using such Italian irons, in consequence of the surfaces being too hot when
the heaters have been just introduced, and the same quickly becomes cooled
down, so as to require fresh heaters, the person using such Italian irons
requiring considerable skill and judgment in applying a frill or other article to
an Italian iron so heated, in order, on the one hand, not to burn the same
when the iron is very hot, and, on the other hand, to retain the fabric suffi-
ciently long on the heated surface of the iron as the heat goes off, so as to
obtain as uniform a result in the ironing a fabric as may be. Now the object
of my Invention is to heat Italian irons by means of heated fluid in place of
metal heaters; and I prefer hot water for this purpose, by means of which I
am enabled to apply heat more uniformly to Italian irons, and they will not
as heretofore be liable to be heated too much.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a vertical section of a vessel, having three Italian irons
fixed thereto at a, b, c. Figure 2 is a plan thereof in section; and Figure 3,
part of another vertical section, taken at right angles to that shewn at
Figure 1.
d is a vessel to contain water, and the vessel may be of any
suitable shape. This vessel is to be kept heated by means of a spirit lamp, or
by any convenient means; and the heated water in the vessel will heat the
irons a, b, c, and keep them hot, in a manner suitable for performing the
operation of ironing on the surfaces. The vessel d, of whatever shape, may
have any convenient number of Italian irons applied thereto, and they may be
permanently fixed or capable of movement, as shewn at the section Figure 4,
where an Italian iron is shewn to be capable of movement, so that irons of
different sizes may be applied at the same place at different times. When
carrying out my Invention for a laundry, where several persons are engaged at
the same time, then I recommend the Italian irons to be affixed to a common
pipe or tube in place of a vessel, as is shewn at Figure 5, and the water may
be caused to be heated by a fire, and by having a return pipe the water-will
be constantly circulating through the pipe or tube d from the vessel, where the

page_text: fire heats the water, and back to the vessel, as is well understood when fitting
up apparatus for circulating water; or the Italian iron may be heated by
steam or by other fluid, the object of my Invention being, as before stated, to
heat Italian irons with heated fluid, in place of using heaters of metal, as
before practised. It is well known that although such instruments are
universally called Italian irons, they are sometimes made of brass and other
metals or materials; and I would remark, that such is the case when making
Italian irons according to my Invention.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is, the mode of heating Italian irons, as herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elizabeth Cottam, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.