The availablity of natural resources in Illinois led to the development of many new products.
Illinois had an a abundance of coal. Even so much that in 1869, Illinois' foundries produced
almost one-third of the United States' cast iron and steel.
The W.H. Howell was one of those foundries.
W. H. Howell Company started in Geneva, Il. Geneva is a western suburb of Chicago, IL.
The W. H. Howell Company was in business from 1830 to 1880. They primarily made "cast-iron sad irons" much shaped like the electric irons of today.
However, they did not have electricity back then to heat up the iron. They heated the iron on their stove and relied on the heavy mass of cast iron
to retain that heat. They also made cast iron Trivets used to set the hot iron on. Sad irons were used to press wrinkles from clothing and were usually sold in sets
of two or more so that one iron could be used while the other was heating up on the stove. Sad irons got their name from the English term "Sad" meaning heavy.
Sad irons weighed as much as ten pounds.
WH HOWELL produced two doorstops that were Carriages with a driver and horses.
You may see these 2 Carriages at this website
Carriages are numbered 6 & 12, which implies they made at least 12 doorstops.
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