NOTE The primary characteristic to be taken into account in assessing the performance of an electric iron is its basic ability to produce a smooth finish to textile materials, without risk of scorching or other damage. lt has not proved possible to devise a single method which will measure this characteristic in a consistently reproducible way and measurements have therefore been included to check certain factors, such as the temperature of the sole- plate at the mid-point, sole-plate temperature distribution, etc., which affect the basic characteristic. In evaluating the results, while a very exceptional result in any one of them may significantly affect performance, there is considerable latitude in the combination of results which will give satisfactory ironing performance, and too much significance is not given to minor differences in any one result.