My mother owns a laundry business and she owns about six of these! Well not the portable kind but the free standing kind. She uses them for ironing pants and sometimes even shirts!

We too had on at our home - I learned how to iron with it (ours was not that small - it was a huge self contained box). Absolutely wonderful on everything that needed pressing. Ours was an Ironrite - here is a neat link

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ironrite_Mangle_Ironer

This is what ours looked like - do not know the age of yours but may be "younger" that the one we had. My Mom got hers in the 40's.

Williams Sonoma sells a modern version- over $1000!!!

My parents were married in 1939, so I suspect that's when their's was born! Ours was freestanding, though not so big as the one in the link ... I remember there was a cardboard roll that went over the pressing roll between usage.

And typical of Mom, she'd made a cover of old sugar sacks to go over the whole unit between uses.

When I've had miles of fabric to be pressed, I'll fess up, I've contemplated taking it to my local dry cleaner!!! .... note only contemplation yet! :)

My mom had one like that in the basement for years. I got my hair caught in it once.

Edited to add: Yeah, I can finally reply to topics again!

I'm sure it was called a "Mangle" and don't know if that was a brand name or some washer woman's version of what it did to her fingers. Some of the "rich" homes had it for their maids, or at least that was the tale told in my childhood.
Seems that it would be good right now since I'm still washing masses of fabric bought at a quilting guild's yard sale yesterday and today. My feet hurt, I've stood on them so long ironing each piece of fabric. I'm sure that later I'll love them again, after I put my feet up and rest!

What a great idea! :D:D:D