IMPROVEMENTS IN FLAT IRONS EMPLOYED IN THE PRESSING AND SMOOTHING OF LINEN & APPAREL
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Edward Yates, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FLAT IRONS EMPLOYED IN THE PRESSING AND SMOOTHING OF LINEN &
APPAREL."
Sealed the 2nd June 1871, and dated the 5th December 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Edward Yates
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th December 1870.
I, WALTER EDWARD YATES, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FLAT IRONS EMPLOYED IN THE PRESSING AND SMOOTHING OF
LINER AND APPAREL," to be as follows:--
My Invention relates to the flat irons employed in a heated state in
the smoothing of wearing apparel and other articles usually designated
as linen, and to the pressing and smoothing irons employed by tailors,
and generally to irons employed in a heated state in a similar manner
and for analagous purposes. The said flat irons as ordinarily used are

page_text: placed on or before a fire in order to become sufficiently heated, and
thereby are liable to become soiled, and without the exercise of great
care are liable to soil the linen or articles to be smoothed or pressed, and
before being used the said irons require to be cleaned, which cleaning
entails a loss of time. My said Invention is designed to remedy or
lessen the said defects of the ordinary flat iron, and to this end I make
the smoothing surface of the iron in the form of a shoe which can be
readily detached from or attached to the main body of the iron, that is
to say, to the portion of the iron on which the handle is formed or fixed,
and which main body I will herein-after call the heater. The said shoe
is heated only by contact with the said heater, the said heater being
heated by being placed on or before a fire or in any usual or suitable
manner. The smoothing surface or shoe may be attached to the heater
by various means, but I prefer to form a projecting shoulder on the said
heater, which shoulder enters a groove formed in the projecting sides
of the shoe when the said heater is slid into the said shoe, a latch at
the rear or broader end of the shoe retaining the said shoe on the said
heater. Two or more of the said heaters may be employed in connection
with one shoe, so that one heater may be in use whilst the other or
others is or are being heated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Walter Edward Yates in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
EDWARD YATES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Walter Edward Yates, Her special
license, that I, the said Walter Edward Yates, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Edward Yates,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during ;

page_text: "
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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN FLAT IRONS, AND IN IMPLEMENTS OF A LIKE NATURE,” upon the
condition, amongst others, that I, the said Walter Edward Yates, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter Edward Yates, do hereby
déclare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say :—
My Invention relates to the flat irons employed in a heated state in
the smoothing of wearing apparel and other articles usually designated
as linen, and to the pressing and smoothing irons employed by tailors,
and generally to irons employed in a heated state in a similar manner
and for analogous purposes. The said flat irons as ordinarily used are
placed on or before a fire in order to become sufficiently heated, and
thereby are liable to become soiled, and without the excrcise of great
care are liable to soil the linen or articles to be smoothed or pressed,
and before being used the said irons require to be cleaned, which
cleaning entails a loss of time. My said Invention is designed to
remedy or lessen the said defects of the ordinary flat iron, and to this
end I make the smoothing surface of the iron in the form of a shoe
which can be readily detached from or attached to the main body of
the iron, that is to say, to the portion of the iron on which the handle
is formed or fixed, and which main body I will herein-after call the
heater. The said shoe is heated only by contact with the said heater,
the said heater being heated by being placed on or before a fire or in
any usual or suitable manner. The smoothing surface or shoe may be
attached to the heater by various means, but I prefer to form a
projecting shoulder on the said heater which enters a groove formed in
the projecting sides of the shoe when the said heater is slid into the
shoe, a latch at the rear or broader end of the shoe retaining the said
shoe on the said heater. Two or more of the said heaters may be

page_text: employed in connection with one shoe, so that one heater may be in use
whilst the other or others is or are being heated.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood I will in this
place refer to the accompanying Drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan of
the said shoe shewn separately; Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; and
Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a flat iron with the said shoe in position
thereon.
The said shoe is formed with a projecting rib a extending from b
to c, and the flat iron or heater is formed with a projecting ledge which
enters below the said rib when the said heater is slid into the shoe, as
represented by the dotted lines in Fig. 3. When the heater is slid into
the said shoe the latch & which is hinged to the said shoe ate is moved
over until the end of the said latch enters. the groove f. formed in the
side of the said shoe, in which position the said latch retains the shoe in
position upon the heater.
]
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and illustrated
a method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would in con-
clusion have it to be distinctly understood that I claim as my Invention,
fitting such irons as herein mentioned and indicated with loose shoes
and suitably forming the said irons to receive and retain the said shoes 2
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described and set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Edward Yates, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 2
one.
WALTER EDWARD YATES. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the said
Walter Edward Yates, in the
presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent for the Patentee,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.