Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
LOETSCHER-RYAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY
LOETSCHER-RYAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY. Established and incorporated in 1880, the company employed one hundred people in the production of various types of hardware. These included flower pot brackets, store door handles, foot scrapers, side lamp brackets, registers, wall frames, chest handles in patterns for special uses, and trunk or box castors.
In 1910 the company manufactured the "Bossard electro-plating tank" on which it had the patents. The International Silver Company, the "silver and knife trust" purchased a number of the tanks for installation in their eastern factories and used them exclusively for their silver plating. Another specialty of the Loetscher-Ryan Company was an "automatic Stock Waterer," a mechanical device placed between the stock watering trough and the supply tank. When the trough became dry, the device allowed the supply tank to fill the trough without letting the trough freeze. Loetscher-Ryan was also one of seven firms in the United States licensed to manufacture the Potts SAD IRON. The company was one of sixteen firms manufacturing hot air registers and one of a few manufacturers of the floor and wall facings for these registers. (1)
These two irons were made by the Rock Island Mfg. Co. of Rock Island, Illinois. The smaller iron is a travel iron, the larger is a typical household iron of the day. Both carry a patent date of September 15, 1914 and that patent–#1,110,805–was granted to Emil C. Loetscher of Dubuque, Iowa. The patent declares that it "... has for its leading object to provide safe and efficient means whereby the heat will, not only be distributed all over the ironing surface, but largely increased along the edges and at the point end of the iron." Mr. Loetscher was a principal in the electrical specialties manufacturer Loetscher-Ryan. (2)
In 1918 Rock Island Mfg. Co. absorbed Loetscher-Ryan and began to produce electric irons under its own name.
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Source:
1. "Dubuque Concern Makes Famous Flat Iron and Plates Your Forks," Telegraph Herald, January 4, 1910, p. 1
2. vintageelectricirons.blogspot.com/2011/11/ideal-heat.html
The 1911-12 Dubuque City Directory listed the right side of Main south of Jones.
