We had a mangle(that is what we called it) and many of our neighbors did too. I miss the wonderful feel or ironed sheets. In the summer they were hung on the line outside and smelled wonderful(I do that in the summer), but in the winter because they were hung in the basement, they were ironed. I still iron my pillowcases, but not the sheeets.

Margie

I got one from my Husband's grandmother. I ironed everything-levi's sheets you name it. As things got to be "permanent press" I didn't use it as much. My Husband thought it was in the way and sent it to the thrift store. It did take a little getting used to but was wonderful! We called ours and Ironrite because that was the brand.

I was going to say the same thing, my mom had one too but they were called mangles. Us kids got to do the simple things like hankies.

how does it work? does the roller thing get hot? or the desk part of it? both?
does the fabric go out the back as you slide it in through the front?

you should rent out ironing time like they do on quilters. lucky you :thumbup:

I kind of looks like the one that my Grandma (and I'm in my 70's) had when I was in high school. I never got to run it but she could do about anything on it. She called it a mangle iron.

If you can see the metal plate behind the roller. It goes down about a foot and is curved to match the roller. the metal plate gets hot and is moved into place with the handle on the right front. there is a leg bar to stop the roller. I was almost sure my MIL said it would go backwards too but I have not found a way to make that happen yet. In any case it is awsome.

I just asked my mom (who has five of these machines) if any of hers roll backwards and she said no. She owns a laundry drop off business and uses hers mainly to iron pants and things like that. I don't think she could run the business with out at least one!

I learned to iron on a Mangle - my mom insisted that all the sheets etc be ironed (ug) - I could even iron shirts on them.

They are fantastic - Lucky you!!

Wow! I have never even heard one of these before. Lucky girl!

my Mom had one and they called it a mangle. When we cleaned out the property we gave it to goodwill. Darn I was afraid to use it because it was so old. i should have given it a try to see if it still worked. I could sure use it now.
kjym Kathy