An iron that sets its temperature by reading an RFID tag or discreet barcode on the piece of clothing to be ironed.
-- phoenix, Aug 02 2005

I think these special clothes should also talk to the RFID washing machine and the RFID detergent despencer. [+]
-- daseva, Aug 02 2005


"This crappy barcode-reading iron always burns my best shirt! - that's right, the one with the very fine stripes"
-- hippo, Aug 02 2005


[daseva] I'd considered that, too, but it makes more sense to have a laundry basket(?) that sorts the clothes first.
-- phoenix, Aug 02 2005


How about if the iron's optics look so closely at the fabric that the iron recognizes it and adjusts the temperature accordingly?
-- baconbrain, Aug 02 2005


Yeah but how about the closes without the special barcode?
-- jfox, Aug 02 2005


[jfox], all transitions are a little messy, but they resolve themselves and you end up with something better. Or worse. But, we're thinking better.
-- daseva, Aug 02 2005


does the iron have to be set down on the tag or hover above it?
-- po, Aug 02 2005


[jfox]: Set it to "stun" and full speed ahead!

[po]: What's your personal preference? I'll change the idea accordingly...
-- phoenix, Aug 02 2005


hover and scan with a beeping noise.
-- po, Aug 02 2005


For those articles of clothing that are untagged, the premium-level iron has a self-contained RFID-tag printer that ejects an iron-on tag neatly out through a slot in the sole plate at the touch of a button. The tag, on scan, returns a GUID causing the iron to recall the exact settings that were in effect at the time the RFID was printed.
-- bristolz, Aug 02 2005


<misfeed></mf>

"buggar!"
-- po, Aug 02 2005


Misfeed or Jam
When either of these 2 lights come on, it is time for a scheduled maintenance cycle. This can only be done by your authorized **** Service center. Give us a call and we will be happy to perform these services. Both of these lights usually come on at the same time.
This unfriendly little symbol indicates a dreaded paper misfeed, more commonly known as a "jam". Remove the misfed paper according to the instructions for your specific **** copier model and you should be back in business.
NOTE: The majority of jams in copiers is caused by phoenix. If your machine begins to jam frequently on any given day, try replacing the paper in the trays with a brand new unopened pack of paper and see how that works. If this does not remedy the situation, call for service. Machines still do infrequently jam for other reasons.
-- po, Aug 02 2005


Ah, but the tags are an iron-on fabric that is spooled and fed with positive-contact pin-cleat rollers. This system, upon extensive testing both in the lab and field, produced only 2.3 misfeed incidents per million applications. Highly reliable by nearly any measure.
-- bristolz, Aug 02 2005


yeah! who you kidding?
-- po, Aug 02 2005


[po] I think you should be using a roll of RFID tags, not postal stamps.
-- Worldgineer, Aug 02 2005


[bristolz]: "...The tag, on scan, returns a GUID causing the iron to recall the exact settings that were in effect at the time the RFID was printed."
This GUID is subsequently uploaded to a central database at SunBeam headquarters (via built-in WiFi). Since the serial number of your iron is encoded in the GUID, you can download your personal tag profiles to any iron in the world that has Internet access.

[po]: ...whirr, hiss, hum, BEEP... whirr, hiss, hum, BEEP...
-- phoenix, Aug 04 2005


And mp3's!
-- daseva, Aug 04 2005


iIron?
-- phoenix, Aug 04 2005


The secondary use for this iron would be in locating a lost sock (assuming you iron your socks and have a long extension cord).

[daseva] Careful when putting this up to your ear.
-- Worldgineer, Aug 04 2005


In order to make this iron backward-compatible with non-barcoded garments, it should be able to read old-fashioned fabric-care labels, using OCR software and a dictionary of fabric-care terms.
-- robinism, Aug 11 2005


my iron takes ages to cool down (even longer than to warm up), how does this new iron cool down without wasting electricity ?
-- neilp, Aug 11 2005


Less thermal mass, combined with higher thermal conductivity? Thin copper should heat up quickly and precisely. Set up the heating elements right and you can iron wrinkle-free messages in a wrinkled shirt.
-- Worldgineer, Aug 11 2005


Yes, World, but doesn't that take more energy just to keep hot, possibly wasting more energy? How about a heat sink stand you stick it on when you need to cool it?
-- oxen crossing, Aug 14 2005


Actually, there would be less radiated heat to the environment (it would be cool when not in use for even a few seconds), so it would use less energy than current irons. The heat sink idea would use more energy, as all of the heat pulled into the sink would be wasted.
-- Worldgineer, Aug 14 2005



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