Is there a future for dry cleaning?

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All I can say is how absolutely disgusted I am with the information. It's way worse than I imagined.

They used gasoline and kerosene at one point on clothing? UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
That's so gross and so dangerous.

It just proves once again about how people are just a bunch of drama queens.
I always thought I had a few peculiarities but increasingly I see I'm friggin boring compared to the crap some people get themselves involved with.

Wearing gasoline soaked clothing. lets consider that just for a moment.

Connecting a living humans hair to electric wires to induce curled hair back in the early 1900s.

smoking

drinking alcohol (poison) on purpose

people injecting botox (a poison) into their foreheads to temporarily get rid of wrinkles.

people paying $10,000 for a 48" built-in double wide refrigerator

people paying over $100,000 for a .... pick-up truck (glorified farm/work vehicle)

Imelda Marcos had how many pairs of shoes?

the list goes on and on..... lol



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I found out ...

that small three store 1960s built stripmall where we used to shop or use services for all three places was recently demolished as it's been abandoned for several years.

Originally a Super Valu grocery, a pharmacy, and the one hour martinizing on the end.

The site is apparently contaminated. This is just one of thousand of stores around the country. According to the article, all it takes is for there to be a couple of spills and the chemical easily seeps through the slab and into the ground and it doesn't break down. Surely people must have paid with their health from working around such chemicals.

I can't believe ANYONE would want to work in such a place or that anyone would want to have their garments drycleaned.
(sigh)

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There was a old

term in dry cleaning that some referred to as “slop spotting”
It was before my time.
From what I was told, it was a method of mixing perc and some other VOC and NVDS in a small bowl, then dipping a spotting brush into the bowl and applying to certain stains.
The dry cleaning machine I worked with the longest in my time..I guess wound be considered a first generation machine with separate reclaimer (dyer) as pictured above in Bobs post.
My guess would be it was manufactured in the 30s or 40s as well as most of the other equipment in the plant. And I’m certain the machine did not have a sensor to sense moister.
(I have a pic of it I’ll try to post)
I’m not aware of “homogenous water and solvent” I do know that solvent is much heavier than water. And that water was never added to solvent.
(At least not in my machines)
 
As a side note

In the other thread I mentioned air/steam gun vacuum on spotting board, spotting brushes and spotting bone. That was not a type o. We called it a spotting bone.
This will offend some..but it was actually and piece of polished ivory.
 
Found the photo

Of dry cleaning machine I worked with the longest. Sorry she was old when I got there!
Also what looks to be a patent drawing of something similar.

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While I know this is a forum where people may be fond of the technology and machines used in dry cleaning, I’m glad to see it disappearing. It’s an extremely environmentally unfriendly process, even with newer solvents.

Environmental regulations here (and I can only speak for the EU) tightened and so did regulations to prevent exposure to toxic chemicals and that has probably reduced the number of in-store machines and replaced them with more controlled, larger facilities with more advanced equipment.

Fashions have changed though, particularly the fizzling out of the suit and tie type culture in the office and also washing machine have become more capable of doing very gentle yet effective cycles for wool and delicates

I’m glad to see dry cleaning becoming much more niche. It needed to be consigned to the history books tbh. It’s just not justifiable for our own vanity when there are better, safer and less damaging ways of cleaning clothes.
 
A little off on a tangent...

One of the reasons Kodachrome film was discontinued was because the developing process was an environmental disaster. There must be other Kodak films that could be use that are just as or almost as good that are not so obnoxious to develop. Most photography is digital now anyway.
 
Just realized

"As for "dirty smell" or whatever dry cleaning solvents are supposed to be filtered between uses and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">changed when dirty.</span> ...."

 

Changed?  I'm just trying to picture WHO would change this chemical out and WHAT they did with it.

This is a highly hazardous chemical.

 

Did a contractor in a hazmat suit come in, transfer the chemical into a sealed drum and then the drums have accumulated in a hazardous waste dump somewhere? 

 

 

I don't have a problem believing that 'back in the day' perhaps prior to 1970s, there were no warnings and the shop owners themselves were handling this stuff barehanded.....and they did WHAT with the vats?

 

When a washing machine launders clothing, the clothes mix with a fairly harmless soap, and the dirty water and detergent is flushed down the drain to hopefully be cleaned at a municipal water treatment plant.

 

Not at a dry cleaner.  Apparently a drycleaner didn't even need plumbing in their shops.  The owner could simply use his neighbors bathroom when he needed to heave from the chemical smells.

 

 

"Making up fresh solvent baths cost money so many places will<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> reuse solvent baths</span> long past its shelf life. Result is things that aren't clean and smell awful."

 

So, people would drop off their clothes,

along with their neighbors,

the clothes would basically all go in and get "cleaned" in the same stagnant, constantly re-used batch of .....chemicals. 

The same batch of chemicals were probably used for months, perhaps YEARS at a time. 

The clothes didn't even get rinsed.

 

OMG, I feel dirty just writing that.  

YUCK.   

I'll bet most people thought a drycleaners was similar to a full-service laundry and had no idea how disgusting it was.

 

And unlike the photo developers and their dirty batch of chemicals who were actually providing a useful service that at the time, there was no alternative to; dry-cleaning was NEVER a necessary service. 

One could get similar results with a full service laundry that could use ironing machines and spray starch to get crisp pressed clothes.  

 

 

Then I remembered around 1990 there was this dry carpet cleaning chemical that I saw being sold at Sears.

I believe it was called Capture, but it could have been something other.

I'm curious if this stuff is made from the same ......chemical yuck that was used in these dry(not)clean machines

 

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In today's Picture of the Day (8/2/23) how was the dry cleaning done there?

The pic is a self-service laundry featuring RCA Whirlpool washers and dryers so did it have any staff to do the dry cleaning work? And offer such a afull service dry cleaning back in that day when it was much more common?

The idea and practice perhaps nowadays is so outmoded by modern fabrics that such may be possible to wash suits, dresses and gowns like you do regular clothing and even easily get stains our of your neckties...

-- Dave
 
Across pond Europeans have had various front loaders with "wet clean" or other cycles that handle woolens/cashmeres, silks and other items that are marked "Dry Clean Only". As front loaders began to take up more market share in USA that tech is reaching these shores as well.

Features like "anti-crease" "steam" and so forth can and have made sending many thing out to dry cleaners not necessary.





 
"They used gasoline and kerosene at one point on clothing? UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
That's so gross and so dangerous."

In ancient times (well into or past middle ages) people saved and used urine for brushing teeth and other cleaning. It was the ammonia they were after and until a better process was created to produce ammonium hydroxide commercially...

From time oil was discovered and various refined petrol substances were marketed people knew of or were made aware of dangers. But in many instances there weren't many other choices available and or people couldn't afford them anyway.

Petrol in homes was far more common in both Europe and North America prior to WWII and in some instances well after. Oil lamps used kerosene, on farms there was often a supply of petrol to fuel various equipment and so it goes...

Hydrocarbons in various forms are remarkable cleaning agents with few to nil drawbacks of soaps. When latter was all there was for cleaning and laundry it presented many problems. Early as late 1800's laundry manuals for both domestic and industrial laundries recommended adding gasoline or kerosene to wash water in aid of shifting heavy soils. Yes, there was a stench from one or both that had to be dealt with, not to mention huge danger of using any petrol near open fires (which wash day often had if for nothing else to heat water or do boil laundry), but again when dealing with shifting heavy dirt or oily soils....

As it relates to subject of this thread rural or other households may not have had access to a local dry cleaner and or couldn't afford. So manuals and other advice early on gave directions for using benzine or gasoline for "dry cleaning" at home. This horrible advice again should never have been given out but there you are then for the times.

Yes, there were housefires. Yes persons were maimed, injured or burned to death, which in end helped put an end to ghastly practice thanks to concerted public safety and health initiatives to alert consumers against. In 1927 alone nearly 1000 women were burned to death by using petrol for "home dry cleaning"

https://www.google.com/books/editio...+Gasoline+at+Home&pg=PA18&printsec=frontcover

https://www.google.com/books/editio...+Gasoline+at+Home&pg=PA78&printsec=frontcover

https://www.google.com/books/editio...Gasoline+at+Home&pg=PA128&printsec=frontcover



Carbon tetrachloride was pushed as alternative to benzine and gasoline for home "dry cleaning" spot remover and other solvent cleaning uses around home. Being non-flammable under most circumstances it seemed as the modern logical choice. That lasted several decades until the stuff was considered a likely cancer causing agent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tetrachloride

Finally remember times and people were vastly different in past. Many housewives and others were illiterate if not ignorant and simply believed what they were told or learned, especially from back yard gossip.

OTOH even literate women and men simply believed what was written in print as gospel. Standards of journalism (such as they were) then meant books and other printed matter could freely advise use of dangerous substances and procedures such as dry cleaning at home with petrol.
 
VZug WetClean

Professional, true wet cleaning relies on very specific combinations of chemicals, machines and handling.

There is a specific label for wetcleanability (W in the circle instead of P).

Chemical treatments are specifically designed to reduce the effects associated with normal washing.
Only certain items are actually wet-cleanable - usually, the more complex the makeup of the garment is and the more wool content, the less so as any shrinking of some areas can "warp" the entire fit of the item.
For example, a wool sweater might be just about ok for WetClean, a silk scarf certainly should be while a suit jacket made up of wool and synthetic fibres probably isn't.

There is only one singular producer of washers for home use that offers a WetClean cycle - that's VZug.

The cycle is extremely delicate and relies on the ability of the machine to index drum position. It only "shakes" the drum gently.

However, while it is certainly more delicate than the wool cycle, I wouldn't trust it with an expensive suit.
Though it gives a nice graduation in delicate cycles - the wool cycle is pretty thorough, the hand wash cycle is about equal to other wool cycles, and WetClean is even more delicate than that.
 
In truest principles of wet cleaning items are never in pure water. Both wash and rinse phases involve use of chemicals designed to reduce swelling of fibers, color protection and so forth. Both are designed to work with minimal drum action so things are cleaned without being mauled about.

This being said early on many American dry cleaners and laundries used Miele W19xx series washers for "wet cleaning. IIRC makers of wet cleaning chemicals or systems gave directions for use of such machines. At that time Miele was pretty much only game for serious front loaders that offered advanced level of fabric care.
 
But how do you remove oily, greasy stains?

Dry cleaning does an excellent job of removing such stains.

I read somewhere that back in the early 1970s when Boeing built their Everett plant that there was in-house dry cleaning there. Back then, when engineers ran the company, they dressed sharp but would often have to go and look at planes on the assembly area and often would get hydraulic oil on their suits. One of the "percs" of the job was the "free" dry cleaning at the plant so they could look sharp and not have high dry cleaning bills.

I wonder if this went away, because engineers can wear Dockers now.
 

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