In large households, where the work is unusually heavy, often taking more than one day, a machine about 48″ or 56″ is used for 2¹⁄₂-3 yards of linen. These rolls should be padded, the heavier the better, to take care of heavily embroidered initials. Many persons think that an ironing machine is a mangle limited to ironing only the coarser flat work such as sheets, towels, etc. It is, however, not a mangle but an ironer and will iron practically everything except the more fancy shirt waists and elaborate dresses. It will iron to the entire satisfaction kitchen aprons, nightgowns, pajamas, underwear, children’s play clothes, hosiery, men’s negligee and silk shirts, and iron, better than an expert laundress can do by hand, tablecloths, napkins and centerpieces, doilies, dresser scarfs, blankets, sheets, bed spreads, pillow cases, towels and handkerchiefs. It is a great help to curtains, as they will hang perfectly after ironing. Trousers may also be pressed in such a machine. The ironing machines on the market claim certain best points. One that a moveable shoe (the heated part under which the garment is passed) is good because you can remove starchy accumulations and clean it easily. Some say that the stationary shoe is the best because the ironing cannot help being done evenly. You will have to pick your machine. In another machine the manufacturers use their patented gas burner of drilled holes and their air mixture as a talking point to afford a gas saving. Another claims that oiling is necessary only every six months. The feed board is a requisite part which must be perfect. Lowering the feed board removes the roll from contact with the ironing surface in some machines. This is the same principle as putting the hand iron on the rest. At the same time the motion of the roll is automatically stopped, so that the goods can be withdrawn at any time. It also enables one to lay a folded piece or a number of them on and over the roll, and it insures a straight start at all times. On single or double thicknesses of goods the feed-board need not be lowered, as these will start in readily. This patented feature means safety to the operator and safety to the goods being ironed. The feed-board is the flat piece of board running the length of the machine over which the linen passes. Some machines are advertised as having all gears enclosed and protected. This, of course, makes operation safer. The swinging arms, two generally, provided for hanging linen on, are a convenient addition. AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVANCE The above is the usual list of machines made to-day but there is an unusual one now on the market. This one works entirely by electricity, it can be heated by gas or electricity. There are no levers to handle, no treadles to tread. It works completely by a switch and dial. The little finger is sufficient only to do the job if all your other fingers were disabled!