Sarah Boone, Pioneer of the Hinged Ironing Board
The story of the Black Victorian dressmaker who engineered the prototype for an object we still use today.
Fiber-wearing humans have been pressing creases out of their clothing for hundreds of years. In the 18th and 19th centuries, flat pieces of iron forged with a handle — originally known as “sadirons,” and then, quite creatively, as “flatirons” — would be heated in a fire and then used to flatten wrinkles in freshly washed and dried clothes.
A flat surface was required for this work, and women who needed to iron clothes would do so either on an existing table — risking scorch marks or dirt on clean clothes — or on a flat board placed between two chairs. This set-up worked reasonably well if all components were sturdy, but allowed very little maneuvering room or ergonomic turning of difficult curves and corners.
Today, those who iron their own clothes or press fabric for sewing (I confess to being the latter, only) tend to use a collapsible ironing board that can be purchased in any home goods store. You probably know what it looks like, but here is a link just to refresh your memory. (No, of course that is not an affiliate link. It’s WALMART.) And if you clicked on this article, there’s a good chance you’re wondering about the connecting…
