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Home: Laundry: Ironing
Adjustable Tension Ironing Board   (+2)  [vote for, against]
Ironing surface is made of large, flat, wide, curled springs and controlled with telescoping resistance poles.

This is an ironing board designed to fit a wide variety of clothing, stretching the fabrics out smoothly, to ensure an easier ironing session with fewer ironed-in wrinkles. (We've all done it, haven't we?)

This idea was inspired by Hairagami - a hairstyling tool that very closely resembles those kooky slap-bracelets from a few years back. (See link.) They are made of long, rigid material that curls back onto itself when not locked open. When locked open, there is a slight curve in the flat spring that is width-wise.

This ironing board, made with similar, but much wider curled springs (the width would be about the length of a typical adult-sized shirt), will adjust widths for ironing skirts, pants, sleeves, shirts, anything. The width would be adjustable from about 12 inches across to, I don't know, 36 inches? The range would be based on typical articles of clothing that could be fitted over them.

To use, place your garment around the cloth-covered "board" and adjust the tension controls accordingly. When your garment is in place and smoothed out, iron away.

This type of spring is very strong and would require a mechanical tension control. The tension control used would be several telescoping metal poles. The tension is manually adjustable via dials. Each tension pole would be separately adjustable, to allow for size graduation in most clothing. Also, fine-tuning of the tension poles would allow for delicate fabrics to remain undamaged by strains.

When finished ironing, the tension on the poles can be released underneath to their smallest length, allowing the "board" to curl its ends back under itself. In this position, it is its smallest size, and would allow for more versatile portability and storage.

*I would include smaller versions of this product, for use with sleeves and other, narrower areas of clothing.
-- XSarenkaX, Oct 10 2003

Hairagami http://shop.store.y...ngtv/hairagami.html
I own a couple of these - they are very simple, but great. [XSarenkaX, Oct 04 2004]

Hairagami product - from the company's own website http://www.hairagami.com/hairagami.html
[XSarenkaX, Oct 04 2004]

It reads well but I am having trouble visualizing this. My failing. To be more precise, I cannot see how the clothing attaches in such a way that the fabric doesn't wrinkle. How does the tension get transferred to the fabric?

I like ironing as it is a sort of mindless activity that's productive. It's the only time I watch any TV, really. Anything to make it more mindless is a Good Thing.
-- bristolz, Oct 10 2003


I knew it would be hard to picture, but if you look at one of the links I posted, just imagine a rigid stick on the inside of the curled spring, holding it at varying widths. The ends would curl under at all times, as the spring "wants" to be curled.
-- XSarenkaX, Oct 10 2003


As soon as I got to the word "Hairagami", I knew this was you, [XSarenk] :)
-- phundug, Oct 10 2003


Thanks, I guess.

Hey, [phundug], on your profile you list: "- Correct use of apostrophe's " as one of your likes....is that use of the apostrophe meant to be ironic and funny? I just KNOW you know it doesn't belong there.
-- XSarenkaX, Oct 10 2003


Oh my god, how embarrassing!
-- phundug, Oct 10 2003


One imagines that one of the first applications of self-shaping nano-machines, when they finally arrive, will not be for unstoppable killer robots, but for marvellously mundane items like self-shaping ironing boards.
-- DrCurry, Oct 10 2003


have the ironing board shape itself into a gently countoured slope, apply fake grass, use as putting green ... never the same twice
-- Letsbuildafort, Oct 10 2003


If you arrange the springs and poles right, then you can arrange it to match the rythm of your strokes. This would increase the effect of the "push" stroke" and reduce the resistance of the "pull" stroke, making it easier overall.
-- Harry Mudd, Oct 16 2003



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