Are the Perminant Press & Enzime cycles of the 60's & 70's Obsolete?

[scoots]

First, pardon my ignorance about garments and laundry. I grew up in a working class household where "nice clothes" were something exotic, and I basically still dress like I was 18 (but without the zipper front shirts with the oversized pull rings).

We had a Kenmore with a perminent press cycle, but I NEVER remember my mom using it, nor did she ever discuss its use when I was shown how to do my own laundry at age 16.

I came across an excellent post describing in detail the difference between the early "Wash and Wear", and the later "Perminent Press" and found it facinating.

My question is, you don't hear much about fabric technology anymore - is Perminent Press now so ubiquitous and improved that there's no need for the elaborate cooling steps needed in a mid-century context?

A similar question might also be, are the Enzime cycles now obsolete, or are there still detergents on the market that require that particular wash cycle?

 

[jeb]

p. press -soak

I don't know about the garment industry but I still use p.press on dress clothes and I have removed some set in stains by putting full strength detergent on the stain and letting that soak for awhile then putting the garment in the machine, letting it agitate for a few minutes then soaking over night , before completing the cycle. This worked very well for grease on knits like polo shirts. Jeb

 

[launderess]

Permanent Press Is Still Very Much Around

Though today you'll find it often called "no-iron" or "easy care" and so forth.

My Oko-Lavamat has cycles for "no iron" which basically uses cooler temperatures for the wash with no spins between rinses and a fast but short final spin. It is meant for dress shirts and such that will emerge from the cycle needing little if any ironing. OTOH the "easy care" is part of the main cycle and uses computer programmed technology to vary the cycle according to what is required.

 

[wayupnorth]

When I was working in the suit and tie world, I always used the Permanent Press cycle on my LA511/ DE410, Fluffed them up on a hanger out of the dryer and no wrinkles. My mothers last Kenmore had a 30 minute enzyme soak cycle she couldnt be bothered to use.

 

[danemodsandy]

Permanent Press Is Still Here - But Changed

Today's Permanent Press is a light finish designed to keep clothes from looking too wrinkled if properly washed and dried.

Old-school Permanent Press was a heavy resin finish designed to make clothes look like they had been ironed, complete with set-in permanent creases in shirt sleeves, pants legs, etc.

The old-school finish had to be treated with some finesse if it was not to pick up creases from washing and drying, hence the special cycles.

I'm sure the Permanent Press cycles on vintage machines do today's version no harm at all, and probably would do some good.

BTW, be glad the old Permanent Press is gone. The heavy resin finish meant that it had very poor breathability and absorption; on hot days, it was something like being dressed in Saran Wrap. The only thing worse was nylon shirts and boxers - I think the purpose of those was to teach you to fear Hell.

 

[tomturbomatic]

There were resin-treated fabrics that promised no ironing and then there were cotton-polyester blends that had the creases baked into them. Both needed heat in the wash, like warm water, to relax the wrinkles and both needed heat finishing to dry wrinkle free, but the use of a dryer largely eliminated the need for the cooldown after the wash and the need for the very slow spin speeds; in fact, using the slow final spins just increased energy consumption in the dryer. The wash 'n wear cycles of the late 50s were made to help launder those garments if there was no dryer, but I remember that all of that stuff had to be ironed if line dried, even when washed on the W'nW cycle in our '58 Lady. I used to wash perma press shirts in my Unimatics with the 1140rpm spin and they came out of the dryer looking just fine.

 

[jetcone]

Todays enzymes

are much developed over the enzymes of the 1970's. They can take hotter and cooler water temps, work on a rainbow of stains and soils not just proteins and they do it all to the maximum in 20 minutes. Then they fade off.

 

I think those 70's cycles would be fine for todays enzymes. But Tom is right a good dryer negates a lot of their use. Wash Spin Rinse Spin works just fine if it all goes into a WP dryer - IMHO ofcourse .

 

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

P-P Cycles are water wasters! Some garments don't really need 'em...

And as for Enzyme Soak Cycles, I'm sure something that just says "Soak" or even "Soaking" w/ your machine by pausing it during a cycle, will do the trick (though w/o detergents "enzymes"), so that's my opinion on this one...

-- Dave

 

[toploadloyalist]

For Kenmore washers, Enzyme Soak cycle was renamed Pre-Soak in 1971. They were originally up to 30 minutes until 1974 when they reduced them to 22 minutes.

As for Permanent Press of today, the top-loaders mostly just have high agitation and low spin speeds without any cool-down, as that is left exclusively for the dryers.

 

[launderess]

To Soak Or Not To Soak, That Is The Question

Original purpose of soaking especially for whites, colourfast and or badly stained/soiled laundry was to start the washing process. This was when laundry mainly done by hand or even early machines including wringers. However the main thing was that soap was going to be used for laundry. Since soap will set certain stains and brings a host of other problems it was best to let thing soak with perhaps a bit of washing soda or another alkali to "break" soil from laundry.

As detergent was replaced by soaps pre-soaking became less necessary as a routine unless again laundry was badly soiled. However machine or manual there was always the question of what happens to soils if things are simply left in a tub of water with no mechanical action.

If left alone soap and most powdered detergents or alkalis will soon settle out of water taking any soils along with them. All this would end up settling down onto laundry especially anything at the bottom of the tub. To get around this when manually soaking either the load should be stirred/shifted now and then, and or some how the water must move. Old European method was to pour the water down onto laundry and it filtered down to the bottom of the tub. There a spigot or some other type of opening would catch and drain the water directing it into some sort of container. Thus would begin a cycle of pouring, catching, pouring..as a soak cycle. The "soaking" taking place as water slowly made its way to the bottom of the tub.

If one was not going to do any of the above it was advised when a manual soak was done that laundry be lifted *OUT* of the tub and not disturb the water as much as possible. That of if the tub had a drain to let the water flow out. In any event what you wanted to do was avoid stirring up all that particulate which by now has settled to the bottom of the wash tub. I also stood to reason such soaking water was not to be used again for washing.

Automatic washing machines with soak cycles ranged from two versions. Some would alternate periods of agitation with soaking. Others just did just that; soaked the was after an initial period of agitation.

It should be understood that even going back to the early 1900's it was understood that long soaking periods were not only not necessary but could do more harm than good. Mainly because of the above. Allowing released soils to settle down back onto fabrics. However many housewives did day before soaking as a way to get a jump on washday Monday. Actively doing laundry say on a Sunday would mean working on the Sabbath for Christian households which usually was a no-no.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Enzyme cycle in the Lady Kenmore Combos

Toward the end of the 60s when enzyme-powered products were gaining popularity, the Super Wash on the LK combo which was a 4 minute low water level with full detergent concentration pre wash, became the Enzyme Super Wash and it was the same thing. This cycle wasa done in a curious manner. Instead of beginning with a purge, the cycle filled without the pump running. The water ran into the machine through the blower housing to clean out lint and down between the back of the outer tub and the back of the clothes cylinder without spraying through the load to wet it. Once the water shut off when the water level switch for the regular wash & rinse level was satisfied, the machine drained down to the low water level called the balance level that put the top of the pool of water BELOW the bottom of the clothes cylinder. After that was done, the timer advanced to turn on the pump which sent water flowing through the detergent dispensing compartment thus adding the full amount of detergent and any pre soak product to the load for a 4 minute intensive treatment. The wash stream was usually weak or intermittent at the low water level, but the main thing was to get the detergent solution into the load. At 12 minutes, the machine finished the hot fill and continued through the wash. Because the machine did not go through the initial one minute purge before starting to fill, the water for this cycle was not as hot as you would normally get with a hot fill unless the machine was still warm from drying a previous load so there was less chance of setting protein soils with the hot fill.

A radical redesign of the last LK combo put the Wrinkle Guard option at the end of the dry cycle so that it would be comparable to KM clothes dryers. They used this same Wrinkle Guard timer for the enhanced Enzyme Pre Soak which featured alternating periods of tumbling and soaking for close to half an hour.

 

[mrb627]

P-Press Overused

Most average laundry doers think Permanent Press cycle means all colored clothes, period. (I have seen people washing denim jeans on PP) When in actuality, most clothing is cotton and should be washed using a 'Normal/Regular/Cotton Sturdy' cycle.

Malcolm

 

[launderess]

Think using PP cycle for denim is to prevent

Those white streaks that can happen when denim (especially new and or very darkly died) is extracted at too high spin speeds and or while rather warm.

Miele among other modern washing machine offerings has a special cycle just for denim which IIRC rather is like some PP cycles of old. Warm to cold water temps, low or no spins between rinses and a low speed final spin or perhaps series of pulse spins to prevent hard creasing.

 

[tomturbomatic]

My plain old Duluth Traders and similar jeans don't have that problem. They get a shot of fabric softener in the last rinse after three full speed spins followed by a 4th 1200 rpm spin and come out of the dryer looking almost new.

We have seen people who washed everything, even towels, on the PP cycle to avoid higher spin speeds and this was in BD WP-made washers.

 

[mrb627]

Creases

Never noticed creases in my jeans using a traditional top loader.
Perhaps in a compact FL machine that spins at a 1400+ rate.

Malcolm

 

[bajaespuma]

Never cottoned to the stuff

I used the PP cycle on my old Maytag orbital because it was the only way I could get adequate rinsing; the rinse agitation on the regular cycle barely lasted 2 minutes and the spray rinse only lasted 20 seconds. It was a bad change from the helical-drive Maytags. I also liked the fact that Maytag, contrary to the herd as always, thought that a short, fast spin was a better choice for PP than a long slow one.

 

My Family did the Permanent Press thing for a few years in the late sixties, but we all agreed that the textures of the clothing and the bed linens were so inferior to cotton and linen that we abandoned the stuff quickly. My sister and I found some old PP bed linens, that my Mother must have put away in the Seventies (for posterity?), when we were cleaning out her house; they were very easy to throw away.

 

IMO Permanent Press cycles are for people who are troubled by wrinkles or for people who have fine and/or delicate clothing that's not quite worth the expense of dry-cleaning. I've almost never understood the value of a slow spin or a truly cold rinse. Now that I have a Programmed washer with a choice of 5 settings, that first button is almost always the choice.

 

[electronicontrl]

Perm't Press

Growing up in the 1960s and coming from a "thrifty" family, the extra water consumed by the permanent Press cycle was frowned upon. It was seldom used. The clothes dryer took out wrinkles anyway.

 

[pierreandreply4]

Those where the days

Those where the days what i wish i had a washer with a good old fashion perm press cycle for washing T-shirts for me and my mom and a model like this with mtaching dryer of course i do not know if its just me but seems today perm press cycle on modern washers is not what it used to be

 

[aladude]

Perm press... for t-shirts... seriously?