NOTE: The Asbestos was placed in a pouch inside the top of the iron to keep heat from rising from the heated cores. There is NO Asbestos with this set. The pouch which contained the Asbestos was disposed of properly years ago.

“Sad” is an Old English word for “solid,” and the term “sad iron” is often used to distinguish the largest and heaviest of flat irons, usually 5 to 9 pounds. The forebears to modern electric irons, these flat irons are often triangular or come to a point to make it easier to iron around buttons.

The Asbestos Sad Iron design really did use asbestos. It was under the handle, inside a “hood” or cover that fitted over a heated “core”. It “bottled up” the heat, said an ad, so it was all channeled through the hot solid steel surface that pressed the clothes smooth. No heat rose upward to bother the woman ironing. The handle stayed 15 degrees cooler than blood temperature, claimed the Dover Manufacturing Company in early 1900s USA, and the cores needed reheating less often than other flat irons. This brand flourished just before electric irons helped bring cooler, less fatiguing ironing days.

The most-advertised Asbestos Sad Iron product was a “Laundry set” with 3 cores, hood, and stand, In fact there were three types of Laundry set, one with extended pressing surfaces on the bottom of the cores.

Note: This is a Laundry Set. It has all three cores (two pictured with the other core inserted into the Hood). However, This does NOT come with the stand.