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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 2:45 pm   #1
G6Tanuki
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Default Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Seen in the Telegraph ....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...ldest-working/

I'm sure someone here has an older one.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 3:07 pm   #2
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

I've got one of them here in Yellow if anyone want's it, still works including the indicator lamps. It was my iron of choice at my Grans as it had a nice weight to it and as she has passed and we are clearing out her place I couldn't just bin it.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 8:48 pm   #3
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Yeah, that's a nonsense report for sure. I remember my Mum buying one of those when her previous electric iron failed, and is much more modern than it might look.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 8:56 pm   #4
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

My wife thought ours was the oldest(1977) it started arcing and sparking and she thought new iron.
No,! a new lead sorted it. Then while walking around the village, we came across a modern iron outside a gate FOC, that is now sat here in original box just in case my 1977 one goes terminal.

Then I do have an fire iron!!
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 8:57 pm   #5
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

These irons were still being made in the mid 1980s, albeit with a rather fetching orange cowl. There are so many around both pre and post war. The early ones had a porcelain cowl.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 10:18 pm   #6
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

I used one of the older, heavier ones this morning to do the ironing. I heard about this and assumed it was one of those without a thermostat that you plugged in until it got hot then unplugged again. I remember my mother using one of those.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 10:21 pm   #7
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Was a very well made iron and very easy to dismantle and service. They were made to be repaired not like today’s junk. Every bit was available as spares.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 10:27 pm   #8
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

To quote The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band:-

Quote:
In September, 1937
I bought my wife a new electric iron for eight and sixpence
She's still using it everyday and it's never needed repair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJNFjU6edg8
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 11:22 pm   #9
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Got a Morphy Richards iron here from my Grandfather's house, it has had the lint cleaned out and is safe to use, it's possibly 1970's but can't be sure on that.
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Old 3rd Dec 2021, 11:48 pm   #10
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

This seems to happen quite frequently with 'oldest working x'. Obviously there are older irons by far, but are they in regular daily use as the default choice of iron in a household? I think that is the drift of these things but the criteria and the definition of 'working' are sometimes unclear.

I have a 1930s vacuum cleaner here on the landing ready to use, but I don't use it by default, so it's a museum handling collection piece rather than our 'household cleaner.'
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 1:04 am   #11
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Yes, a trivial article to be sure and I for one am certainly not tempted to read further than the first glimpse offered before the Telegraph's paywall kicks in!

Steve.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 3:27 am   #12
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

I have seen gas clothes irons at our local flea market on the antiques days.
The older ones had to be heated in the fire or over a gas ring.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 10:26 am   #13
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

I have a chrome one in my workshop, great for reflow soldering when upside down in the vice. I had (now in a museum) a paraffin iron, Tilley pressure fed.
 
Old 4th Dec 2021, 10:37 am   #14
Laurence Smith
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

This was also featured on R4's Today programme yesterday morning - they interviewed the owner.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 10:48 am   #15
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

It's only a bit of fun but I don't think the Morphy Richards CA75 iron was available in the 1940s. I used to be a MR service agent and still have their master manual somewhere that included all the models produced up to around 1965.
The date can be worked out by the two letters that precede the serial number. The letters started just after the war, one the month and the other for year but I can't remember which way round!
I repaired hundreds of the CA75 iron and it's lightweight LA75 with the embedded soleplate. Genuine spares were very cheap. Their were still a number of TA1D toasters around from 1948. They looked identical to the TU1D but had 240V elements. For better life later models were fitted with 120v elements wired in series.
There was a lot of MR around! John.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 11:00 am   #16
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refugee View Post
I have seen gas clothes irons at our local flea market on the antiques days.
The older ones had to be heated in the fire or over a gas ring.
I have a "heat over a gas ring" iron which was my gran's ( d. 1950 )

I makes a great door stop or general purpose weighty object.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 11:09 am   #17
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Or a nice anvil when held upside down in the vice.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 11:32 am   #18
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

A number of irons here in 'junk' corner. The green handled one is a popular pre war model. Non of these had thermostats but the mains could be broken with a switch on the input socket. The lady of the house became an expert at judging the temperature. My Gran had an iron that sat on a grate that could be swung over the hot embers of the cooking range fire. It was heavy with a thick cloth wrapped around the handle. She still used it when she had the 'electric' connected in 1946.
The fat cream one is a Tilley paraffin powered, rather like a mini blow lamp. The rest are mainly travel irons the earliest dating from around the end of the first World war. John.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 12:08 pm   #19
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

That green handled iron is rather pretty, it's the kind of thing I would gladly put on a shelf rather than keep it in a cupboard.
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Old 4th Dec 2021, 2:43 pm   #20
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Default Re: Britain's oldest working electric iron.

Quote:
A number of irons here in 'junk' corner.
I am running out of corners!
 
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