Parts of an Electric Flat Iron

How Flat Irons Work

o

A flat iron temporarily straightens the hair by applying heat to the hair shaft. The flat iron is allowed to get hot. The flat iron is guided from the scalp to the ends of the hair in order to straighten the hair. The process is repeated until the flat iron has been applied to all the sections of the hair. The hair remains straight until the next shampoo or unless it becomes wet--for instance, in the rain.

Heating Elements
o

Flat irons are constructed with heating elements that become hot when the flat iron is plugged into an electrical source and the power switched on. Some flat irons are battery powered, in which case they heat up simply by being switched on. The electrical current from the cord or the battery is converted to heat by the heating element, and this heat is then applied to the hair.

Straightening Plates
o

The parts of the flat iron that come into contact with the hair are called the plates. There are two plates on a flat iron. The plates are located at each end of the two straight elements that make up the body of the flat iron. The plates receive the heat which is collected by the heating element, and transfer the heat to the hair shaft.

Clamp and Body

o

Flat irons usually do not have a separate handle. Instead, they are made up of two straight elements joined together at one end by a flexible clamp. The other end of each straight element has the plates attached. The flat iron is grasped by the clamp end with each section of hair pressed between the two plates as it is being straightened.

Considerations
o

Flat irons vary in cost depending on the features included. Flat irons with uncoated metal plates are generally the least expensive. However, most flat irons have ceramic or another form of coating on the metal plates to minimize hair damage. Flat irons also often feature a swivel cord to make it easier to maneuver the appliance. Most flat irons are designed for use with dry hair, although some flat irons may also be used on damp hair.

Early electric irons

Electrical self-heating flat-irons, electric sad-irons

The search for a foolproof "self-heating flat iron" was under way by the mid-19th century. In 1852 a patent was issued in the US for a new, improved charcoal-burning iron which would make "practicable the permanent heating of smoothing irons". By 1860 there were gas irons available in several countries, with rubber tubing to connect them to gas light fittings or to canisters, and then there were numerous designs for irons with internal burners and little piggyback tanks of liquid fuel.

Any inventor who had ever been near the room where ironing was done knew it was a hot, tiring job. Whatever the weather, the housewife/laundress would work beside a hot stove or hearth, with at least two irons, probably three, moving them from stove to ironing table and back again in a cycle of heating, pressing and re-heating. Meanwhile she must keep the irons spotlessly clean with no trace of ash to soil the clean linen. As we now know, the electric iron solved these problems better than any other selfheating apparatus, while charcoal-filled irons remain popular today in many lesselectrified parts of the world. By the early 1880s more than one person had considered powering ironing with electricity, but Henry W. Seely of New York was the first inventor to make this idea workable and patent it too. Seely developed a design in 1881, got a patent in 1882, and then worked with his partner, Dyer, to patent a different "electric flat

iron" in 1883. Seely and Dyer had doubts about having the iron continuously plugged in, as "connecting [it] permanently with the circuit [...] may be inconvenient in some cases". They invented a sort of "cordless" iron, on a stand heated by electricity. (Lower picture left) This echoed developments in using gas for ironing, where gas-fed iron-heaters or ironing-stoves were serious rivals to irons on lengths of rubber tubing.

Uncertain claims that there was an even earlier electric iron in France seem to be connected with two different dates given to an early French iron in London's Science Museum. However, this French museum expert is sceptical about such claims. By the early 20th century enthusiasm was building for the new electric smoothing irons: clean, powerful, adjustable, and labour-saving.