You plug them in, turn on the power, and they light up. No wonder people are always worried that they “left the iron on” - you can’t turn the damn things off.
Well, unless I move the temperature/stem adjustment from “off” to the level of heat I need, mine won’t heat up. Of course, I do own the Cadillac of irons-it shuts off if I don’t move it for 5 minutes or so.
Seriously, if it’s just plugged in and not set to heat up, I think that is the “off” position. The concern is not turning the heat off.
What is an iron??
Mine has one. It’s a red button right on the side.
The only iron I ever saw that didn’t have an on/off control of some sort cost about $9 at Wal-Mart. Therefore,I would have to hazard a guess that the kind of irons that don’t have on/off controls don’t have them because it would make them more expensive.
Every iron I’ve ever used (which I think amounts to a grand total of maybe 3) has had an “off” position as part of the temperature-setting dial.
I had to go look at mine.
What Ski said. Turn the temp setting down all the way to “OFF”.
Many years ago irons did not have a switch. However, that was back when they were basically soldering irons with a flat plate for clothes. It was a simple matter of evolution in design:
The earliest irons were simply blocks of metal with handles that one heated in the fire (well, on the (usually wood-fired) stove). They had no heat control and a woman of some affluence would own several, rotating them onto the stove as they became too cool to use.
When electricity made it into the home, the manuafacturers simply put a heating coil inside the irons and let them heat to a single temperature.
As synthetic fabrics (that could not take the quite high temperatures that cotton could–and to which temperatures the manufacturers had calibrated their heating coils) were introduced, the iron manufacturers started putting rheostats into the irons to control the heat.
While I do not recall an on-off switch on an iron, I agree with the other posters that I do not remember seeing an iron that could not be dialed down to an “off” position (usually with a little “click” to let you know it was there). (Of course, if you simply set it for cotton-poly blend and never touch the dial again, it may be possible to miss the off setting.)
Just to add a little irrelevant detail to tomndebb’s post, a cow-orker was cleaning out her attic and found an old iron somebody gave her years ago. It was complete in the original box, and the manual pointed out the importance of fuelling it with fresh gasoline! Yes, it has a little tank in front of the handle, and a burner inside. I suppose it came between the stove-top models and the electric ones.
(And she’s thinking of selling it, not being a collector. If anybody wants to make an offer, mail me at the address in my profile and I’ll pass it on.)
Mine does.
Dag.
I’ve got the same iron. May I congratulate you on your consumer sense! 
Well, mine has a red button that lights up when it’s on. So you’ll know it’s on, when you’re ironing in the dark, I suppose.
I’ve heard (on one of those antiques shows) that the Amish snap these things up since they can’t use electric irons (and they must work better than the “heat them on the stove” kind).
Mine has an ‘off’ position too. It also has a plug on the end of the cord.
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, mine does light up, bur I didn’t want to brag.
I’m with the Royal Sampler on this one…
Mine just comes when it’s plugged in, and there’s no “Off” switch
…and it wasn’t a cheap Wal-mart iron, it was a cheap K-mart iron !
rjk said:
Is that half cow, half worker? Or half cow, half porker? Or what?
Aren’t you more likely to worry if you have an on/off switch? A switch is too easy to forget if you flicked it off or not and not very visible.
I always pull the plug out and place it by the iron, even if I’m in a hurry. That way it’s obvious and easier to remember if I did it or not.
Additional comment would be superfluous.
Mine has an on/off switch. It also has a green light that says “ready” that comes on when it’s hot enough. And it beeps when it’s heated up and cooled down.