Verified

Sarah Boone

Dressmaker who redesigned the ironing board

At a glance

Inventor: Sarah Boone
Life: 1832–1904
Birthplace: Craven County, North Carolina
Country: United States
Region: United States
Era: 1800s
Fields: Everyday Life
Evidence: Verified
Records: 1 in this archive

What they did

Boone, born enslaved and later a dressmaker in New Haven, patented a narrow, curved, reversible board for pressing the sleeves and bodies of women's garments.

Historical context

Ironing was done on a plank laid across chairs — useless for fitted sleeves, which creased whichever way you turned them.

The legacy

The shape of every modern ironing board follows her reasoning about curved garment seams.

The evidence

[1]US Patent 473,653 — Ironing board
Primary record
United States Patent Office · Patent record

Documentation strength

Partial

1
Sources: 1
Primary: 1
Publishers

Calculated from the sources actually attached to this record — the closer a source sits to the original document, the more it counts. It is never asserted by hand.