# What is this



## sanepilot (Mar 11, 2012)

Hi,all..Has anyone ever seen something like this. If so ,what is it and what is the value????
The man I got it off of,said he`d had it for 50 yrs.Some kinda iron. I`ve seen sad irons but nothing like this.

Has a pic. of a horse or dog plus the W.


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View attachment 28344


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## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

It is an antique steam iron.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

A fancy waffle iron?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

It could be an old gasoline iron?

I found this,









copy and paste,

It was marked as a "steam" iron, which is a common mistake. It's actually a Comfort brand gasoline fueled iron. The tank on the back held fuel, and was pressurized with a hand pump like an old coleman stove. The burner inside would have been lit with a match, and the burning fuel would have heated the iron. Seems archaic to modern iron users, but it was a big improvement over sad irons. Sad irons were basically big hunks of metal that you had to heat and reheat over a kitchen stove or sad iron heater in order to iron your clothing. With a gas iron, you just lit the thing and ironed - no more reheating.


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## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

Gasoline? I am thinking lamp gas, coal oil, white gas or some such. You have to love the rack, they don't make stuff like that any more.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

What's this thing, that's not any kind of iron I'm familiar with?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

That heated up the iron and transferred the heat.
He is missing or not showing what would have been a smooth bottom piece that went over that.

I think Gasoline was just that brand name they sold them as, Dano is probably right about the type of fuel used.
I doubt if they used gasoline.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I'll just plug the iron in and set the temperature dial, thanks!


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

white gas is just gasoline. its amico gas. back in the day the cloman lanterns said to use white gas, its now unleaded gas.

and that second piece is its stand. it did take the place of the old stove iron that you needed to keep on a stove (or some other heating method.)


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

wingnut163 said:


> and that second piece is its stand. it did take the place of the old stove iron that you needed to keep on a stove (or some other heating method.)


That would make sense a siting/resting stand.
I thought maybe that is what heated up to iron with and there was a smoother plate over it.

The few photos I could find all didn't have a bottom picture, one showed what the bottom of the iron looked like.

John when I need something ironed I just plug in the old (young) lady.


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## Dano (Aug 26, 2012)

My missus ironed a uniform shirt for me once forty-five years ago and I have been ironing them ever since!(may have been a clever ploy on her part!) I am in the middle of polishing her boots because I can't stand the thought of her going on the job with scuffy boots. My grandmother, in fact both of them, used heavy flat irons that were left on the wood stove all the time.


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## sanepilot (Mar 11, 2012)

*Iron*

Thanks,people..All I could find out was,it is a kerosene or gas iron.I can`t imagine using gasoline in something like that. Gasoline won`t explode in liquid form but only in a vapor.It will make a good door stop or boat anchor. I picked it up at a local flea mkt. I`ll put it up for sale next weekend at the mkt.

I made out like a bandit yesterday at the flea mkt.Thanks to whoever put my photos on the thread.I`m still trying to master the computers,I guess. I`ve had a lot of things I didn`t know or have seen.I got a set of four tools I`ve had for quite a few years. I can`t find out what they`re use was. I`ve used one to bend wire Z bends for my airplanes. I`ll post them when I find time..


New week starting,everyone [I hope]has a good one..tnx,Everett:smilie_daumenpos:


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

They made 'em run off of gasoline so the Misses could drive to the market and get the ironing done at the same time. 

(dohh!!!)


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

sanepilot said:


> Thanks,people..All I could find out was,it is a kerosene or gas iron.I can`t imagine using gasoline in something like that. Gasoline won`t explode in liquid form but only in a vapor.It will make a good door stop or boat anchor. I picked it up at a local flea mkt. I`ll put it up for sale next weekend at the mkt.
> 
> I made out like a bandit yesterday at the flea mkt.Thanks to whoever put my photos on the thread.I`m still trying to master the computers,I guess. I`ve had a lot of things I didn`t know or have seen.I got a set of four tools I`ve had for quite a few years. I can`t find out what they`re use was. I`ve used one to bend wire Z bends for my airplanes. I`ll post them when I find time..
> 
> ...



gasoline is what fires the Coleman lanterns. they DO NOT blow up, if they did i would be dead 100 times all ready.


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## sanepilot (Mar 11, 2012)

*store*

Hi,T,I`m glad you said that. I`m sure my missus gets tired walkin to the store. I can`t understand why tho,it is only 12 miles.

luv it,sanepilot


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## Pfunmo (Feb 21, 2013)

While it is likely to be called a gas iron, I would guess that the fuel was more likely to be kerosene as it was more available, cheaper and somewhat safer. Kerosene stoves often got called gas stoves. Whether they were a big improvement depended on outlook and situation. For those living in bigger buildings that had central steam heat they were a big step up as they did heat themself. But for others like my mother, she would never touch one. Remember when stoves blowing up were pretty much common? If you got too fast with one of these, the fuel had ways of getting out and all over the place. Instant disaster! 
My folks lived in a house and almost always had a fire in the cook stove so their solution was to have a couple irons, one to use while the other heated. They did not spill fuel and burn the house down! We never had a kerosene stove for the same reason. 
Consider the pumping so the fuel was forced out to the burner and that there was not a very precise way to control it and you can see that there was often a bit too much fuel around the burner. The flat decorative plate functioned to hold the iron horizontal but up off the surface while it continued to burn. New irons can be tilted up off the surface but these were NOT something you wanted to tilt while they were full of fuel and burning.

Now does anybody REALLY want to go back to the "good ol' days"??


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

The cast stand is properly called a "trivet" BTW.


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