I began doing laundry with my grandma when I was in grade school. I may have been eight, nine, or perhaps ten.
She had an old ringer washer. The image is probably as close to what it looked like as anything.
The black hose was used to drain the thing.
The tub was filled manually. We would run a short hose from the faucet of the water heater to the tub and turn on the hot water. When the washing tub was full of soap and water the clothes would be added and the wash cycle engaged. There was no rinse cycle. That was where the wringer came into use.
Next to the washing machine there would be a wash tub. Well, when the washing was done, you would take the clean clothes out of the water and begin running them through the wringer. If you let the next article of clothing rest on the previous,it go ahead and pull them through. The dirty water would fall back into the machine and the "clean" clothes would fall into the clear, hot water in the wash tub.
If you were good, you could actually send more than one piece at a time through. But you had to be careful. The wringer sometimes would jam. Then you had to pop up the top (see the big handle?) pull the clothes back and do it again.
Feeding clothes into the wringer was a bit of a risk. If you weren't careful, you'd get your fingers pinched. Once the clothes soaked in the hot clean water they would be sent through the wringer again. This time, instead of letting the clothes fall, you had to catch them and put them in the wicker baskets (not plastic) to be brought to the clothesline.
So, back to starch. That was using in ironing. I loved ironing. Some things were really hard to iron. Remember pleated skirts? Things with ruffles. Stocking were easy. So were cotton t-shirts. Sheets would have been, except they were so big.
I just smile when I hear someone complain about laundry. They really have no idea.
4 comments:
I do remember how wringer washer and put rubber diapers through that wringer diapers and explodes and I ruined a couple of shirts
Did you ever get anything caught in a wringer?or ruined a couple of shirts?
an article of the wash may
wrap several times around a roller before it is noticed; unwinding such a
piece is often difficult, sometimes impossible without removing a roller.
Hi Anne, Yes I remember buttons, there was a trick to putting thru anything with buttons and it took me a bit to catch on to it. There were more than a few broken buttons. My grandma had so much patience with me. I also recall the wringer jamming up a few times. And I still can sometimes remember the smell of Fels Naptha Soap. Thanks for stopping in.
MsN:
My God...you found my Mom's old MAYTAG!!!
That dog "bit"her hand more than a few times.
I think Mom turned the clothes INSIDE OUT to keep the buttons from getting messed up.
Wicker baskets - clotheslines - clothespins with NO spring on them...ah yes, I remember it ALL very well.
Mom had a fit when I came down the stairs oen time with a wicker basket FULL of laundry...and tumbled ass-over tin cup down those stairs.
(not fun for a 7-year old, either.)
But yes, people have NO idea what laundry USED to be like.
Love the walk down memory lane.
Thanks.
Stay safe (and permanently-pressed) down there.
Ours was a Maytag as well. I don't think I got the fun of operating it, though. I was a widdle guy back then.
How about the rinsing trough, too? Thing is, I cant remember the machine we got afterwards near so well.
I do remember the dryer, though. Sat in the kitchen, held bread and chips inside when not in use.
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