Monday, August 05, 2013

Labor-saving devices!

While it'd still give you callouses, it's nowhere near the workout you'd get beating your laundry against a flat rock:
EcoHipsters: They were green before green was cool.

A nice assortment of wringers, none of which filled me with a burning desire to abandon the spin cycle.

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24 comments:

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

The thing I love is that, back in the day -- like, 1913 -- the hucksters brought those things to the State Fair to hawk and sell them.

Today they're at the State Fair as museum pieces.

Wonder what of our durable and ephemeral goods will litter the 2113 State Fair?

8:17 AM, August 05, 2013
Firehand said...

I remember Dad's mother having a washing machine that had a wringer(powered) on it; it did the washing, you ran it through the wringer, then rinsed, etc. She thought it beat hell out of the previous methods.

8:24 AM, August 05, 2013
Scott J said...

Fuzzy, I'm not optimistic. I figure 2113 is likely to resemble something like "Demolition Man".

Be well.

8:27 AM, August 05, 2013
fast richard said...

I remember taking baths in a washtub like that when I was a toddler. I don't remember a clamp on wringer like that though. I think the upgrade from a wringer washer to an automatic washer and dryer set was after my youngest brother was born. With four boys, she must have washed a lot of diapers in the old wringer machine.

8:33 AM, August 05, 2013
Scott J said...

Back on topic my grandmother had a wringer washer on the back porch. I think it was a General Electric.

I never saw it in action. From my earliest memories it was a home for semi-feral cats.

8:44 AM, August 05, 2013
The Raving Prophet said...

Wind may be free and clothespins cheap, but rain can be unpredictable and (for non-hippies, at least) time is money.

The time I DON'T spend having to manually wring every single piece of clothing, hang it up, and wait for it to dry is time I can spend doing something I actually WANT to do. I also note that those who used such machines and methods back in the day received more modern washing machines and dryers with great enthusiasm.

Anachronism for its own sake might be cool at the moment, but cool doesn't do your undies any good when that thunderstorm moves in a couple hours ahead of schedule and blows your bloomers across the neighborhood.

9:06 AM, August 05, 2013
Tango said...

They weren't green! I'll bet they were Earth rapers and had TSP in their detergents! That kills things. And stuff.

9:07 AM, August 05, 2013
mikee said...

My mother installed her mother's old wringer washer in our basement and used it for years and years.

The primary problems with it were:
1) Fingers were always at risk using it.
2) It required personal attention for long periods of time to get the loads of laundry done.

The advantage was that one did not have to manually rotate the wringers with a crank.

Even with the electric wringer, one needed a tub to catch the wet clothes in after the wash cycle and after the rinse cycle. Our galvanized tin tubs were round, and I have looked in vain for identical ones ever since leaving home decades ago.

They were useful for laundry, dog washing, snapping turtle confinement, making loud noises and even hiding under (for certain sizes of childhood).

10:52 AM, August 05, 2013
Carl H said...

I was the power-generator on one of those back in the early 60's.
Credit where it's due, Grandma got 'pipeliner' clothes clean with it.

11:37 AM, August 05, 2013
RandyGC said...

Wind may be free and clothespins cheap, but rain can be unpredictable and (for non-hippies, at least) time is money.

Not to mention the joys of beating the ice out of sheets and large clothing items you couldn't hang over the bathtub during an Iowa winter.

12:13 PM, August 05, 2013
Windy Wilson said...

My mother told of how my Grandmother had a wringer washer and how once Grandmother got her hand caught in it. To Mom and Grandma the Spin Cycle washing machine is a requirement of civilization right up there with cheap toilet paper and indoor plumbing.

As for the hippies, I knew a few hippy wannabees in high school (during Nixon's time in office, AAMOF) and indeed, time, convenience and safety meant nothing to them. As a trivial example, why would I want to sit on a pillow on the floor when there are tables and chairs? From the Boy Scouts I knew the hazards of cooking and eating on the ground.

4:10 PM, August 05, 2013
El Capitan said...

Ouch. Just looking at that washtub gives me a phantom PITA...

See, Mom used to have her grandmother's old washtub hanging on the side of the house next to some old wagon wheels and other implements of days gone by.

As a budding archer, I wondered what would happen if you launched an arrow off a cheap fiberglass recurve towards a steel tub.

Turns out those dinky spruce arrows with the potmetal field point will go right through the base of an old washtub. I was way too young to know about Poitiers, Crecy & Agincourt...

That was one of the last times Mom applied the Rod of Correction, but it was a memorable experience...

4:32 PM, August 05, 2013
Darrell said...

We put snapping turtles in our washtubs too! LOL We had an electric wringer washer when I was a little kid, too, and clotheslines. I remember having to fetch "dry" laundry in the winter, the clothes were frozen hard as a carp.

4:37 PM, August 05, 2013
Unknown said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6trGocstHI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

jim g

4:58 PM, August 05, 2013
Fiftycal said...

Well, it seems you were able to experience the exhibit without getting your tit caught in one. Good job.

5:45 PM, August 05, 2013
Ed said...

Tango said "... TSP in their detergents! That kills things. And stuff."

Actually, the complete opposite, but things that you want to live do eventually die. TSP is Tri-Sodium Phosphate. The dissolved phosphate acts like a fertilizer and promotes algae growth. The bloom of algae depletes dissolved oxygen in the water, suffocating fish. Oops! The Law of Unintended Consequences bites again!

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/06/16-states-ban-phosphate-laden-dishwasher-soap/1#.UgAaAJJwr3M

5:47 PM, August 05, 2013
Anonymous said...

Tam said:
"A nice assortment of wringers, none of which filled me with a burning desire to abandon the spin cycle.

I was going to mention that old saying "Don't get your tits caught in the wringer.", but fiftycal more or less beat me to it. Wringing clothes on one of those while not wearing a bra did indeed have some risk attached to it. :-)

BSR

8:43 PM, August 05, 2013
Rabbit said...

My grandparents were more modern. Granny used to have to prop open the kitchen door when she fired up the two-stroke Maytag washer to keep from suffocating everyone in the house, which was a little counterproductive in the winter.

2:44 AM, August 06, 2013
Gerry Nygaard said...

My mom had a gas engine wash machine that dad converted to electric so he could use the gas engine to power a lawn mower. Mom love him for doing that. I really liked to watch him cut the lawn with that converted lawn mower. He said it was dangerous 'cause it made his head swell up with pride and ruined his hat. Even when Dad got her an automatic washer she preferred to hang up the wash, she claimed it smelled better. She did use the dryer when the latest kid was a baby and in the winter.

Gerry N.

5:21 AM, August 06, 2013
Tam said...

Rabbit,

Didja see the pics over at Roomie's blog? They should be nostalgic. :)

7:33 AM, August 06, 2013
Library-Gryffon said...

My mother's family had a cottage on a an island in Georgian bay. I can remember visiting there as a very small child and getting my arm stuck in one of those wringers. It took several adults to take the thing apart to free me.

I suppose if I had nothing else to do all day except laundry one of those wouldn't be bad, but yes, I'll stick with my evil Gaia-murdering electic washer and dryer.

8:40 AM, August 06, 2013
ASM826 said...

FiftyCal,

I had an aunt, a big Irish lady, that did manage to get a tit caught in a wringer. I got to hear about it, in vivid detail, but did not see what I was told was a very impressive bruise.

9:08 AM, August 06, 2013
mostly cajun said...

"Ain't had that much fun since Granny caught 'er tit in the wringer".

MC

10:52 AM, August 06, 2013
Windy Wilson said...

Getting body parts caught in the wringer is really not a laughing matter; I forget which Foxfire book told the story, but one woman got her arm caught in the wringer and the part from the elbow down was damaged too much to save it.

6:50 PM, August 11, 2013

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