The Clamp-On Ironing Table: A Board, a Leg and a Sleeve Board

"The object of this invention is to furnish an improved ironing-table, which shall be so constructed that it may be attached to a table or other convenient support, may be supported at any desired height, may have a shirt-board and a sleeve-board attached to it, and shall be provided with a clothes-rack and a stand for the sad-irons." Hand-nuts on two bolts clamp the front end "to the edge of a table, a stand, a sewing-machine table, a chair-board, a window-ledge, or other convenient support." The rear end is supported by a leg "hinged to the said table A, so that it may be turned up against the under side of the table, when not required for use", made in two sliding parts to adjust its length. "The forward ends of the shirt-board E and of the sleeve-board F are made thicker, and are beveled off upon the lower side, so that the rear parts of the said boards may stand up a little from the table A, to allow shirts and sleeves to be placed upon them readily."

Cut a board about a metre long and a narrow sleeve board with one end rounded. Fix two bolts with wing nuts and a batten under the front end so it clamps to a table edge, and hinge a leg near the far end with a peg to set its length. Pad both boards with cloth. Clamp it to a table, first without the leg: press down near the far end with the force meter and feel it flex. Put the leg down and press again. Then slip a shirt sleeve over the sleeve board and iron it without a crease along its edge.

The **Rev. Edward H. Caylor** of West Elkton, Ohio, filed US 187,254 on 18 November 1876; it is dated 13 February 1877. His table also swings out pivoted arms as a clothes-airing rack. **Honest limits.** The notebook treats the board as a rigid beam with point supports; a real clamp and board flex. Forces and lengths are examples. What you feel with the force meter is the measurement.