W M. Crane Company Antique Vulcan Gas Iron 764

W M. Crane Company Antique Vulcan Gas Iron 764

Take home a piece of New York City's past with this Antique Vulcan Gas 764 Iron manufactured by W. M. Crane Company, whose office and showroom was located on Broadway with a factory on West 14th Street. W. M. Crane Company was named after its founder, William Montgomery Crane, who was born in 1852 in Roselle, New Jersey. Crane descended from staunch English Puritans who had fled to Holland to avoid religious persecution and in 1639 ventured to America and settled in what is now Connecticut and Massachusetts. In keeping with his family’s proclivity, the adventurous Crane, at the early age of sixteen, took employment in New York City with John J. Hinchman & Company, a wholesale hosiery house. During his nineteen year employment with the hosiery company he moved to New York and at the age of 35, in 1887, founded W. M. Crane Company, a gas range and appliance manufacturing company. William eventually became very well connected in the gas industry and held a variety of titles in that field.

This W. M. Crane Antique Vulcan Gas Iron 764, circa 1915, is one of the many appliances that the company manufactured, and measures, 06.25 inches H X 11.50 inches W X 04.50 inches D. The distinct sad pressing iron has the original wooden handle over a cast iron body, with a rusted interior that adds a lot of character. The sad pressing iron is stamped on the top, PAT. APPLD FOR W. M CRANE CO. N. Y. on one side and, VULCAN GAS IRON 764, on the opposite side. And although it was originally intended to press material, it is heavy enough to use as a unique door- stopper.