Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Crimping Iron for Collars and Cuffs, c. late 1880s |
Object Name |
Iron, Fluting |
Description |
Crimping Iron for Collars and Cuffs, c. late 1880s. Small hand-cranked machine for ironing crimps. Machine is composed of a heavy iron base and standing brackets in which two fluted rollers are affixed horizontally. The two rollers sit one on top of the other, and the fabric is fed through the space between by turning the wooden handle on the bottom roller. The bottom roller is removable so it can be exchanged for another one with a different interval to its crimp. Both of the rollers are hollow - this space is for heated iron rods to be inserted to provide the heat source that sets the crimp. The bottom roller is held by two standing brackets that are part of the base. The upper roller is held by a pair of brackets that are suspended as a hinged arm from a single upright support bolted to the base. The arm holding the upper brackets is held in place by a screw that creates tension over a thin bent piece of iron, the ends of which press down on the hinges of the brackets. The bottom roller may be removed by loosening the tension screw at the top of the machine and removing the metal holding piece, then using a small lever attached to the support piece to tilt up the upper brackets and upper roller, and lifting out the bottom roller. The base is a 1.5" thick solid sheet of iron stamped into a box shape with steeply tapered sides. Yee 1.2 is currently in machine. |
Date |
c. late 1880s |
Creator |
Unknown |
Role |
Manufacturer |
Catalog Number |
2019.088.001.1 |
Dimensions |
H-8.5 W-13 D-7 inches |
Collection |
3D - Maintenance Tools & Equipment |
Inscription Text |
None. |
Provenance |
Used at Ching Lee Laundrey in San Mateo. |
Notes |
"In the 1870s dressmakers were using pleated frills, also called fluting, lavishly. Dressmakers and classy laundries offering "fancy" ironing services both had plenty of use for a fluting machine. Fluters were sold for home use too. Classified ads from the 1860s to the end of the century show employers looking for a laundress who "thoroughly understands fluting", or women claiming they could "do all kinds of fine laundry work, pleating, French fluting, starching, and polishing"." [http://www.homethingspast.com/dudley-fluting-machine/ 10/24/2019] "By the mid-19th century crimping machines - fluted rollers turned by a handle - were in use. Also called fluting irons, or fluters, many slightly different models were designed for creating rows of narrow, neat and even frilling. 19th century inventors thought of more and more ways of tackling specialist ironing tasks and a combined fluting and sad-iron was patented in the USA in 1870. As well as the two ridged rollers way of making frills, fluting could be done between hinged sections, which would swing shut to create a general-purpose iron for pressing the flatter parts of garments." [http://www.oldandinteresting.com/fluting-goffering-irons.aspx 10/24/2019] |
Search Terms |
Chinese in California Laundry Machine San Mateo Tools |
Subjects |
Laundry |
Credit line |
Courtesy of Jacque Yee |