A Rad Iron

My son needed to be outfitted with a coat and tie. As he is in his late twenties, his need for such attire has been limited.  I suggested to him that it is time for him to get a suit.  He decided that he did not want to spend money on a suit (though he can well-afford it).  Rather, we would look at the thrift store.

I did not know what size jacket that he needed.  I found a video on line (fully expecting that we would have to BUY from retail outlet a suit).   We determined that he was a 44R.  I grabbed my box of stuff to go to the thrift store (I keep an empty box, purposely fill it and shuttle out the door).  Our first destination was CHKD (Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters).  I suggested to him that we would be looking for a non-suit jacket (sport coat) that he could mix and match with navy, gray or khaki pants.  That would give him a classic look that would never go out of style.

He pulled out the first 44R that fit and said, "We're done; let's go."  I said, "You have a suit jacket that looks like a suit jacket, and it will not go with any other pants without looking goofy."  So we went through the racks.  He walked out with 3 sport coats and spent a total of $16:  One Calvin Klein, 100% Wool, one  Pronto Uomo Navy Worsted Wool Jacket, and one Ralph Lauren Chaps Polyster/Rayon.  All three can be serve our purpose.  The first two did not even have the pocket interiors clipped.

Of course, I needed to make my rounds.  I did my sweep, and I found a vintage iron ("as is") for $8.98.  It was made by the RADIRON Corp of Miamisburg OH.  Patent Pending.  It was classic old iron that had the middle dial (like a sun dial that would take you through the fabric types stamped on aluminum dial), it was compact and HEAVY.  I brought it home, and it works just fine. I cleaned it up with some metal polish.  The sole of the iron is in perfect condition.  There were a couple of rust spots on the top of the iron, but they cleaned away though the finish is pocked. It is 1lb heavier at 4.9 lbs than  heavier than my Rowenta which is almost 2x as large.

I proceeded to see what I could find out about this iron.  I couldn't find anything but a listing of the company's patent listing (2,496,746, Feb 7) in the 1950 catalog of US patents for that year. It was filed by Ray Opperman.  (I downloaded the patent application!)  Not a one for sale anywhere that I could see.  Not one in the 963 listings on Ebay...or anywhere else.

In addition to not finding any irons, I did not find anything on RADIRON Corp (aside from the patent listing).  So I have an iron made by a company both of which have escaped the indexing of Google.

So, I'll create my own listing with this post--

It really is a RAD-iron!