There is a job interview or a party to attend! The one piece to makes that first good impression is a nicely-pressed, neat set of clothes. Hence, ironing or pressing of clothes after they are washed and dried has been a routine activity for people, especially students and professionals. The activity is humble, and almost insignificantly overlooked, as it happens, but it’s something that is as everyday as keeping oneself clean or eating timely meals.
Technically, ironing is the use of a heated tool (an iron) to remove wrinkles from clothes. The heating commonly reaches temperatures of 180-220 degrees Celsius, depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between long-chain polymer molecules in the fibres of the cloth. The fibres are straightened by the weight of the iron, while the molecules are hot, and they retain their new shape as they cool. Meanwhile, some fabrics, such as cotton, require the addition of water to loosen the intermolecular bonds. Many modern fabrics (developed in or after the mid-20th century) are advertised as requiring little or no ironing.
The object that defines the activity of ironing is an iron itself, also called clothes iron, flat iron, smoothing iron, or the most familiar -- ‘iron box’. This simple, yet essential hand-held appliance, was invented by American mathematician Henry W Seeley in 1882. On June 6 of that year, Seeley patented his “electric flatiron”, which weighed almost 15 pounds and took a long time to heat. The early electric irons had no easy way to control their temperature, and the first thermostatically controlled electric iron appeared only in the 1920s. Later, steam was used to iron clothing.
Today’s irons are more energy-efficient and heat up in a jiffy. The primary activity of an electric iron is to heat up, and it achieves this through the principle of the heating effect of current. This states that when an electric current passes through a conductor, it generates heat because of the resistance present in it. The resistance converts electrical energy into heat, and it is a similar principle that commands the functioning of toasters, hair-dryers and heaters that all have a coil (mostly made of Nichrome - an alloy of nickel and chromium - with a high melting point of 1400 degrees Celsius), whose resistance is much higher, which in turn converts electricity into heat energy. This heat is distributed to the base of the iron through conduction, which is pressed against the fabric to make it wrinkle-free. A thermostat, made of a bimetallic strip, inside helps it control the temperature of the base plate. There are more traditional irons that are composed of a large box-like structure, which can hold hot coal or charcoal that act as a heating agent. But this contraption is equally effective as an electric iron. End of the day, or the beginning, ironing is a perfect blend of technology and skill.