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Calling Retromania!!!!!!!!

Andy, I have a stash of new old stock toaster and iron cords still in their original wrappers that I got off of ebay and if you need one I will be glad to sell one to you. I believe it will be cheaper than buying a modern iron cord or buying a used one and having it shipped from Italy. A appliance repairman told me the same thing Freddy said, cloth appliance cords are safer and they last longer than plastic ones as long as they are properly cared for. As for your Hoover Steam Iron not steaming much let me ask you a question did you put any iron cleaner through it to clean out the scale deposits in the stream chamber? The reason I ask is I have a Hoover Steam Iron like the one PeteK is holding in the picture above with the exception of mine having red trim instead of blue. My Hoover steams like a mad thing and does a great job on my heavy pants and my nice button up shirts. So do all my other steam irons listed in my above post If you would like to buy a iron cord just let me know PAT COFFEY
 
Sunbeam

Vista...lots of vintage quality! Great steam, heft & temperatures. A bit "tipsy" on the soft ironing board cover with the narrow heel rest though.

magic_clean++9-1-2012-13-34-46.jpg
 
Leslie,

Beautiful vintage Sunbeam steam iron. Loved thosed pastel colors. Auntie had one in powder pink dated was a bit older than that one in your photo. It had a matching pink cloth cord. Anyway, back to your iron. If I didn't already have so many steam irons I would try to buy that off of you. It looks to be in near mint condition. Our local utility company, Duke Power cold small Sunbeam appliances and Hotpoint major appliances. Since my parents swore by anything Hotpoint, all our small appliances at our house (including steam irons) were Sunbeam. Duke Power phased out small appliances in the mid 1970's when they moved from their Main Street address. That is when most all our small appliances became GE including steam irons. I rememeber Mom's first GE iron that had a self-clean feature. I was avocado green.
 
Pat,

I am still trying to find what you may have thought was offensive and for the life of me cannot find anything that remotely seems offensive, but thank you anyway for your thoughtfulness!! :)
 
Retromania

I did not think anything Launderess said was offensive at all. I initially thought he was making a blanket statement that all pre 1960 steam irons were no good, I did not realize until later he meant that in his eyes none before 1960 were any good and I wanted to apologize to him if I seemed a little rude or snooty in my reply to his posting because everyones tastes or likes are different from everyone else's and I respect that...I will be glad to help you in the cord department just drop me a line PAT COFFEY
 
Can someone tell me?

I really don't know that much about General Mills. I am going to have to Google it or maybe there's a write-up on Wikipedia. Also, don't know a whole lot about Mary Proctor. Was that part of Proctor-Silex? And what happened to them. Got a little studying to do.... Back to MP. There are a lot of those old appliances still floating around and in use. A friend who's not into vintage has a Mary Proctor toaster that belonged to his deceased mother. He said he couldn't bare to throw it out when she passed away. It sits on his counter and see regualr use. Another very elderly lady friend of mine cooks every now and then for a group of us. She pulls out from under the counter a Mary Proctor auto percolator for after dinner coffee to go with her chocolate sheet cake which is the best I've ever tasted and I live amoung some serious bakers!! I digress tho~
 
That was easy...

And took all of about 15 sec. I googled Mary Proctor and up came a toaster with star bursts on it. It was called a Starlite. Early to mid 1960's I presume. It was appointmented with the exact same hardware & features as the Proctor-Silex four slot toaster (circa 1968) we had growing up. The one I googled was trimmed in white where our's was black. So somewhere along the way the MP badge was dropped.

The summer of 1968. That's the year my two oldest twin brothers had graduated high school and were leaving for college in the fall. My heart was broken! That's also the summer my mom hosted our big family reunion. I remember her saying she needed to get a larger toaster to handle the crowd that would be coming in. Thar's when the four slot came into our family.
 
European regulations require a double insulated plastic cord wrapped in heat resistant fabric on irons.

Just be very very careful about using European cords in the US or other 110-120V countries as they are thinner than US cords carrying the same wattage.

Higher voltage means more power can be carried without overloading cables.

Also Euro cords in general are to a different spec. Zip cord is banned in Europe and all cords must have two layers of plastic insulation.

The cable gauges are also metric, where as the US uses Ameican Wire Gauge standards. They're similar, but you would want to ensure that the European cable is as thick or thicker tan the cord you are replacing.

Then you'll find the cord would have a CEE 7/7 16 Amp plug, or a UK 13amp fused plug etc.

Fitting a new plug to iron cables isn't easy as the cloth covering tends to fray if cut.
 
Mr x

No. I wasn't planning to use a power cord from Europe. Someone was just nice enough to offer me one. US reg cloth cords can still be found here in the US even though they are not mass produced any longer. Also someone here in the US on this blog has offered me one new in the package. So I think I'm covered on all accounts. Thanks for the advice tho! I really appreciate it. Can never be too careful where electricity is concerned.
 
If you make sure to pinch the cloth cord ends into the cord holder inside appliance and plug (the thing with the screws) the cloth will never "fray", putting electric tape would be good also.
Regarding wires I've never find big differences about wires thickness on US and EU wires for the same wattage on irons as they usually tends to put wires rated for higher wattage than required, yes compared to wattage rated on wires 120 volt use to be a little thicker but anyway no big differences from me noted on appliances fro me owned and or seen on 120 volt appliances about wires and wattage, they were always enough thick to ensure no overheat of wires if used on 120 volt for same wattage,replaced 220 volt cords alot of times for my appliances working onn 120 volts..they both use to be very thick for the use they were supposed to and never a problem,an older iron usually have 1100-1200 watt as wattage no more...both 110-120 volt and 220 volt power cords from me seen on steam irons of same wattage are enough thick to ensure no overheat of wires there is not that big difference they will never melt or overheat... also if you put a cloth cord from typical newer iron 220 volt that usually are 1600-2000 watt the problem of wattage and voltage would not even exist if used on an old iron that use 1100 watts..... 220 volt wires from cords of irons 1100 watt and newer 1600 are as big in my cords...no differences...so they will work even on 120 volts for a 1110 watts without problems as they're thick enough...of course on a dryer or on a range would not work.....
It is clear that you have to be careful when replacing cords and you have to put cords with wires enough thick to ensure required current supply without overheating of wires....the same is when you use a prong to plug in more appliances at the same time....and sometimes people does not even check max amp on prongs....Anyway is a thing you learn just with the experience....
If you're unsure just compare the copper Q.ty inside wires....I used to run my fryer (1650 watt 120 volt) with a prong I made with US flat pins plugs from my old Moulinex vacuum (220 volt 600 watt) and no problems at all, wires were a little thinner than the fryer but it still works and does not even get a little warm....
So it is good to check wires if they're thick enough, but just do not make big issues if they changes just a little bit as it would not make differences nor hazards on appliances they usually put wires thicker than the use they're supposed to have.....
[this post was last edited: 9/2/2012-10:30]
 
@retromania - Glad to hear it.

You can find plenty of tables online to convert AWG to mm2 measurement for European cables. Just google convert AWG to Metric.

European cords (flexes) are gauged by measuring the cross section of the conductors in square millimeters.

Typical iron flexes would be:

1.0mm2 for lower powered irons.
1.5mm2 for higher powered irons (2.5kW and above).

The main thing you need to look at is the amperage rather than the wattage when it comes to things like plugs, socket outlets, flexes/cords etc.

A US Iron will pull up to 15amps (maximum for a socket outlet there) which corresponds to about 1800watts.
A Euro Iron will pull up to 13amps (maximum for a UK socket outlet) which corresponds to roughly 3000watts.
2400W seems to be quite a common load in Europe which is less than 10Amps at European voltage.

The majority of modern Continental European outlets can comfortably deliver up to 16amps , but in general plug-in appliances are usually designed with a target of 10A to 13A max in mind to accommodate older circuits in some buildings and also to accommodate the UK and Ireland's 13A fused plugs.

UK / Ireland plugs actually contain a small cartridge fuse so, if you've a small appliance like say a DVD player it will have a 3amp fuse in the plug, some IT equipment like say your iMac might have a 10A fuse while a clothes iron or a washing machine might have a 13amp fuse in the plug itself.

Circuits in the UK are usually 32amp rings (power fed from both ends), while in Ireland they are usually 20amp radial (similar setup to the US/continental Europe). The fuse in the plug protects the appliance cord from over-loading. It's also a handy feature as it means we basically cannot overload powerstrips as the plug fuse will blow.
 
Modern bradded iron flex (cord)

That's how a modern bradded iron flexible cord (flex in UK/IRL terminology) looks.

As you can see it's got rubber-type insulation on the internal conductors rather than harder plastics found in normal cords. They are then wrapped in a rubber outer sheath and that's bradded with woven heat-resistant fabric.

They're actually rather expensive to produce, so you can see why manufactures targeting other markets prefer plastics!

Apparently the bradding is required for mechanical reasons, not heat resistance.
The bradded flex slips more easily over surfaces as it's being moved and it also allows the cable to be made with more flexible internal insulation than with a plastic flex.

The idea is apparently to prevent cracking / friction issues.

Although, I would say it's achievable with plastic and it's more likely to be just very conservative European electrical regs.

mrx++9-2-2012-08-13-47.jpg
 

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