Jiffy steamer

Jiffy Steamer is the world's oldest and largest manufacturer of steaming equipment used for removing wrinkles from garments and fabrics. The advantages of using steam over traditional ironing are often cited as an ease of use and the elimination of the tendency of ironing to damage and destroy fibers in clothing and fabrics over time. Jiffy Steamer currently offers over 16 models that range from travel hand held sized steamers to industrial grade garment steamers used in the retail apparel marketplace. Over 1,000 dealers in the United States alone carry this line, as well the company's product can be found in over 45 foreign markets.

Origins and product line development

The company was organized in 1940 when the Model J-1 hat steamer was first patented. At the time, wearing hats was fashionable, such as fedoras, and the common way of retaining a hat's shape, called stretching, shaping and blocking, was to place them over a steaming kettle of water. The idea for the J-1 was to create a standalone device that could do the same task in a more convenient manner, without the requirement of a stove, and could heat up more quickly, or in a "jiffy", hence the company's moniker and product name, Jiffy Steamer. The concept was later applied to the J-2 garment steamer, a larger version of the J-1 hat steamer that included a clothing rack. This product was aimed at the clothing industry from tailoring to retail to provide an easy effective way of removing wrinkles. The company now offers upgraded versions of the original J-2 clothes steamers, including the J-2000 and several variants that provide different head attachments, and the J-4000, an industrial strength clothing steamer machine more geared towards the commercial marketplace. The J-4000 industrial clothing steamer has a larger reservoir to increase the time between refills when steaming large amounts of garments.

More recently, the Esteam, a travel steamer, was developed that compacts the functionality of the J-2000 personal garment steamer into a more portable device roughly the size of a medium sized insulated Thermos. The main market for the Esteam is business travelers or anyone who travels and has a need to remove the wrinkles from clothing stored in luggage during transit. The Esteam can make use of various plug attachments that can make use of various power sources, US and European, as well as car AC outlet adapters.

Quality and safety certifications

Jiffy Steamer products have met the quality and safety requirements for sale and distribution for most major domestic and international agencies tasked with certification. These include:

UL Mark, the registered certification mark of Underwriters Laboratories Inc., an independent, not-for-profit, product safety testing and certification organization

CSA Mark, product safety and quality mark required for selling products in Canada.

CE Mark, which indicated conformity to the legal requirements of the European Union (EU) Directive with respect to safety, health, environment, and consumer protection,

TUV GS Mark, a voluntary certification and recognized symbol in Germany for safety-tested products.

NOM Mark, Mexican government safety testing mark required for all electronic products.

US patent information

Jiffy Steamer's products and/or their components are covered by one or more of the following
United States Patents: D421, 165 / D423, 156 / D426,924
The design and configuration of the Model J-2 is a registered U.S. Trademark.

External links

* [http://www.jiffysteamer.com Jiffy Steamer corporate site]
* [http://www1.epinions.com/Other_Small_Appliances-Brand_Jiffy_Steamer Reviews of Jiffy Steamer products]
* [http://www.steamsolutions.net Steam Solutions] Vendor of Jiffy Steamer products
* [http://www.planchasavapor.com EOS IMPORT ] Jiffy Steamer España, Portugal and Italia