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Ironing or smoothing is the work of using a heated tool to remove Wrinkle s from Washed Clothes . The common tools for this purpose are called "irons", though modern designs are no longer made of Iron . Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain Polymer Molecule s in the fibres of the material. While the molecules are hot, the fibres are straightened by the weight of the iron, and they hold their new shape as they cool. Some fabrics, such as cotton, require the addition of water to loosen the intermolecular bonds. Many Modern Fabrics (developed in or after the mid- Twentieth Century ) are advertised as needing little or no ironing. Ironing may also be used as a germ/parasite killing Hygienic operation. HISTORY Metal pans filled with charcoal were used for smoothing fabrics in China in the 1st century BC. From the 17th century, ''sadirons'' or ''sad irons'' (from an old word meaning ''solid'') began to be used. They were thick slabs of Cast Iron , delta-shaped and with a handle, heated in a fire. A later design consisted of an iron box which could be filled with hot Coal s, which had to be periodically aerated by attaching a bellows. This type was on sale in the USA until at least 1902. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were many irons in use which were heated by a fuel such as Kerosene , Alcohol , Whale Oil , Natural Gas , carbide gas ( Acetylene ) as with Carbide Lamps , or even Gasoline . Some houses were equipped with a system of pipes for distributing natural gas or carbide gas to different rooms in order to operate appliances such as irons, in addition to lights. Despite the risk of fire, liquid-fuel irons were sold in U.S. rural areas up through World War II . Pictures of these antique irons can be found through Internet searches. In the industrialized world, these designs have been superseded by the electric iron, which uses Resistive heating from an Electric Current . The hot plate, called the ''sole plate'', is no longer made of iron but of Aluminium or Stainless Steel . The heating element is controlled by a Thermostat which switches the current on and off to maintain the selected temperature. The invention of the resistively heated electric iron is credited to Henry W. Seeley of New York in 1882 . In the same year an iron heated by a carbon arc was introduced in France, but was too dangerous to be successful. The early electric irons had no easy way to control their temperature, and the first thermostatically controlled electric iron appeared in the 1920s . In recent years, a Leicester rock climber invented the sport of Extreme Ironing , which consists of ironing clothing under creatively difficult circumstances. |
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