On Oct 3, 1916, Eldorado Jones received a U.S. patent for a lightweight electric iron, a key product of her women-run company Eldorado Inventions, Inc.
In 1913 (exact day unknown), Eldorado Jones founded Eldorado Inventions, Inc. in Moline, Illinois, but a key dated milestone comes on October 3, 1916, when U.S. Patent No. 1,199,168 was issued for her lightweight electric iron, one of the core products of her women-run enterprise.
The iron was designed to be compact and practical for everyday domestic use, and it was marketed alongside a travel-size ironing board with a built-in compartment for the flatiron and a collapsible hat rack. These inventions targeted women consumers but also reflected Jones’s broader vision: she used her factory to employ only women over the age of 40, providing stable work and economic independence to a group often marginalized in the labor market.
The 1916 patent date marks the point at which her domestic-technology innovations were formally recognized in U.S. intellectual property law. It helped establish her reputation as the "Iron Woman", a nickname derived both from her preferred material and her determined personality. While not a world-first in the absolute sense, the patent illustrates how a woman inventor in the early 20th century could leverage the patent system to build her own business and assert control over her work.
Jones’s electric iron and related products were an important stepping stone toward her later, more technically demanding aviation muffler design, showing a progression from household devices to industrial and aeronautical applications.