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The first appliance to be patented to use electricity after the light bulb was an electric iron, designed by Henry Seely of New York in 1881. By 1900, a number of manufacturers were making electric irons, including the Simplex Company of Boston, Massachusetts, manufacturer of this iron. It weighs sixteen pounds, unusually heavy even for this early generation of electric irons. Heavier irons were meant for industrial or commercial applications. The use of electricity in irons was a useful advance: they no longer had to be heated over a stove, for example. This iron dates from 1900 to 1920.

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