Notice the hinged lid and the air holes to allow the charcoal to keep smouldering. These are sometimes called ironing boxes, or charcoal box irons, and may come with their own stand. For centuries charcoal irons have been used in many different countries. When they have a funnel to keep smokey smells away from the cloth, they may be called chimney irons. Antique charcoal irons are attractive to many collectors, while modern charcoal irons are manufactured in Asia and also used in much of Africa.
Some of these are sold to Westerners as reproductions or replica "antiques". Some irons were shallower boxes and had fitted "slugs" or "heaters" - slabs of metal - which were heated in the fire and inserted into the base instead of charcoal. It was easier to keep the ironing surface spotlessly clean, away from the fuel, than with flatirons or charcoal irons. Brick inserts could be used for a longer-lasting, less intense heat.
These are box or slug irons , once known as ironing boxes too. In some countries they are called ox-tongue irons after a particular shape of insert. Late 19th century iron designs experimented with heat-retaining fillings. Designs of this period became more and more ingenious and complicated, with reversible bases, gas jets and other innovations.
See some inventive US models here. By there were electric irons in use on both sides of the Atlantic. Ironing continued to be done with hot coals in open metal pans in China, the basic principles no different from an enclosed charcoal iron. Pan irons could be simple or highly decorative. Further west, clay smoothers were sometimes used.
Solid ones could be heated for pressing. Others were designed to hold hot embers like the North African terracotta iron on this page. The ladies preparing newly-woven silk in a 12th century Chinese painting are using a pan iron, in the same way as the ironers in the 19th century drawing at the top of this page.
Although that drawing comes from Korea, Koreans were traditionally known for smoothing their clothes with pairs of ironing sticks , beating cloth rhythmically on a stone support. A single club for beating clothes smooth was used in Japan, on a stand called a kinuta. In many parts of the world similar techniques were used in both cloth manufacturing and laundering: in Senegal , for example. Disclaimer : We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information provided on this website, even though it has been carefully researched.
You should not rely on it for making decisions which could affect you financially or in any other way. Photograph licensing as described here. The articles to be mangled were carefully wrapped round the pins and the box was, by a rope pulley, drawn back and forward over the pins which revolved under it.
The charge for mangling was one half-penny per pinfull! Robert S. Harriet Martineau, Household Education History of ironing No-one can say exactly when people started trying to press cloth smooth, but we know that the Chinese were using hot metal for ironing before anyone else.
Mangle boards, box mangles Even in modest homes with no presses, large items needed to be tackled with something bigger than a slickstone. Box irons, charcoal irons If you make the base of your iron into a container you can put glowing coals inside it and keep it hot a bit longer. To add a bit of style to your laundry room, there are ironing board covers in every design from basic grey to stripes to florals.
In addition to how it looks, there are some other things to consider. Teflon-coated cotton covers will not stick to your clothes and make it easy to clean away any build-up of starch or sizing from the pad. The best pad is one lined with heavy felt. It will hold its shape better than a foam-lined pad.
Even with a good steam iron, a spray bottle that will spray a fine mist will make your ironing task much more simple. For cotton, linens and most natural fiber fabrics, dampening the garment or linen will make ironing easier and quicker. When you iron a garment's sleeve on a traditional ironing board, it is almost impossible to remove all the wrinkles without adding a crease down the length of the sleeve.
For some shirts, like a starched business shirt , that's not a problem. However, for many garments like women's dresses or jackets, you don't want a crease detracting from the line of the garment. That's why you need a sleeve ironing board. It is essentially a miniature ironing board that has a raised pressing area so you can slip a long sleeve over the pressing surface. The pressing surface is narrow enough that you can iron the entire sleeve without causing a crease.
The sleeve ironing board is placed on top of a flat surface or your regular ironing board. The sturdy wood or metal board is padded and usually has a cotton cover. Some have two surfaces for different sized sleeves. Many folds flat for easy storage. If you don't wish to purchase a sleeve board, you use a padded seam roll to slip inside a sleeve during pressing.
The seam roll is a bit more awkward to use, but it will work to prevent creases. Take a look at the shoulders of a shirt or jacket. They are rounded to fit the curve of our bodies. No one likes a sharp crease across that seam.
That's why a pressing ham is essential to creating that creaseless look. The ham is slipped into the curved area to act as a support so that the heat and pressure from an iron won't create a crease. A pressing ham is quite important for smooth curved seams and darts in women's clothing. Mycenaean Greece collapsed. Greece entered a period of turmoil sometimes called the Greek Dark Ages.
Major cities with the exception of Athens were abandoned. As urban societies splintered, people moved toward smaller, more pastoral groups focused on raising livestock. Mycenaean Greece had been a literate society, but the Greeks of the early Iron Age left no written record, leading some scholars to believe they were illiterate. Few artifacts or ruins remain from the period, which lasted roughly years.
Classical Greece was an era of cultural achievements including the Parthenon , Greek drama and philosophers including Socrates. During the Iron Age in the Near East, nomadic pastoralists who raised sheep, goats and cattle on the Iranian plateau began to develop a state that would become known as Persia. The Persians established their empire at a time after humans had learned to make steel.
Steel weapons were sharper and stronger than earlier bronze or stone weapons. The ancient Persians also fought on horseback. They may have been the first civilization to develop an armored cavalry in which horses and riders were completely covered in steel armor. Celts lived across most of Europe during the Iron Age. The Celts were a collection of tribes with origins in central Europe. They lived in small communities or clans and shared a similar language, religious beliefs, traditions and culture.
Their legacy remains prominent in Ireland and Great Britain, where traces of their language and culture are still prominent today. People throughout much of Celtic Europe lived in hill forts during the Iron Age. Walls and ditches surrounded the forts, and warriors defended hill forts against attacks by rival clans. Inside the hill forts, families lived in simple, round houses made of mud and wood with thatched roofs. They grew crops and kept livestock, including goats, sheep, pigs, cows and geese.
Hundreds of bog bodies dating back to the Iron Age have been discovered across Northern Europe. Bog bodies are corpses that have been naturally mummified or preserved in peat bogs. The mysterious bog bodies appear to have at least one thing in common: They died brutal deaths.
For instance, Lindow Man, found near Manchester, England, appears to have been hit over the head, had his throat slit and was whipped with a rope made of animal sinew before being thrown into the watery bog. The Celtic tribes had no written language at the time, so they left no record of why these people were killed and thrown in bogs.
Some experts believe the bog bodies may have been ritually killed for religious reasons. Other Iron Age artifacts including swords, cups, and shields have also been found buried in peat bogs.
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