the steam cavity the position of the orifices 4 along a central axis is advantageous for the base surface 2 from a construction perspective as the steam cavity may be simply drilled out of a die cast base plate referring to fig6 and 8 there is shown a farther preferred embodiment of the present invention fig6 shows a cross sectional view of an iron 1 b in the longitudinal direction with a handle 9 shaped to provide for a particular hand grip similar to that depicted in fig9 and which allows free movement of the iron 1 b in any direction a power cable 12 and a steam tube 11 enter the iron 1 b from a rear sealing cap 10 which is composed of polypropylene moulding in this embodiment the steam is generated externally from the iron 1 b and travels to the iron 1 b via the steam tube 11 where it is pushed into a steam cavity 13 and expelled via orifices 4 b a steam control button 15 can be operated to control the expulsion of the steam as desired the curved base surface 2 b in this embodiment could be composed of any suitable material such as for example die cast aluminium a thermostat 14 is used to control how much heat is transferred onto the base surface 2 b the.