More Dangerous Then Dynamite - Washing Clothes With Gasoline

[launderess]

There just aren't words.....

Have vintage laundry and cleaning manuals from the early part of last century that go on about using petrol, benzene, turpentine and so forth for laundry, but this film clip puts things into perspective.

How many women were disfigured, burned to death, and or even blew their homes up using gasoline for "dry cleaning".

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I never could understand that old concept/rumor that people used to wash clothes in gasoline. Aside from the danger, how would you ever get the smell out? There was of course that time Lucy was fed up with all of her husband's shoddy leisure clothes and after getting rid of them, she fibbed and told Ricky she washed them in gasoline and got too close to an open flame...</span>

 

[mrboilwash]

Not sure what is more alarming the immediate threat of combustion or the lingering threat of lead poisoning.

There wasn`t a special type of unleaded gasoline around in the 30`s just for dry cleaning purposes, was there ?

 

[launderess]

Non,

Nothing special about the petrol used, just whatever one could purchase from local filling station.

In both my European and American vintage laundry manuals authors are split about using gasoline or turpentine for wash day. Standard advice was one added amounts of the stuff to soapy wash water as part of the boil wash. About a teacup or less full per boiler. It was supposed to help with cleaning, remove/prevent lime scale scum, etc... However as noted yes, the stuff did give one's wash a pong that hung around because no amount of rinsing truly removed. That is why some were in the "no" camp.

When it came to "dry cleaning" or spot removing at home, that was another matter.

Naphtha, benzene, gasoline, and later trichloroethylene, were all recommended. Yes, by the early 1900's you had standard warnings about using out of doors/well ventilated areas with no open fires or anything that could produce a spark.... but still.

Air is sometimes naturally charged, such as before or after thunderstorm. Flicking a switch or otherwise causing a spark or flame can ignite vapors from petrol substances even when a distance away from actual working area. In the clip above the housewife leaves that jug of gasoline open the entire time she is "dry cleaning".

Benzene IIRC was worse because the fumes actually move along the ground/floor and can travel some distance.

All this doesn't even touch the cancer causing properties of these substances. Benzene has no question about it; the stuff causes cancer which is why you don't see it on offer much in pure form as in days gone by. It is found in petrol fumes however and even tobacco smoke (cigars, cigarettes, etc...) which his a good reason to avoid "second hand smoke".

Some but not all of these risks were reduced or whatever when Mr. Fels came up with a way to bind Naptha to a soap, giving the world Fels Naptha-Soap. The rest as they say is history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha

https://books.google.com/books?id=1...UAhXCRyYKHYrgB-EQ6AEILDAC#v=onepage&q&f=false

In essence naptha soaps were the first petrol derived "detergents" in that the aromatic hydrocarbon bound to soap did away with much of the problems in using solvents in water. The addition of a solvent meant you got the powerful oil removing cleaner that worked without hard rubbing and even high temperatures.

Using any naptha soap in very hot to boiling water will cause the solvent portion to evaporate faster into the air. So you could use warm or even just "hot" water on wash day. Because the solvent was in the soap just rubbing the bar over a spot or stain often did the trick in terms of removal.

 

[launderess]

How Home "Dry Cleaning" Got Started.

In 1885 a Frenchman named Jean Baptiste Jolly noticed a soiled tablecloth was cleaner after his maid had knocked over a kerosene lamp on the thing. M. Jolly owned a dye works plant and soon began offering nettoyage à sec (dry cleaning) as a service. Prior to this woolens, silks and other textiles that couldn't (or shouldn't) be laundered with soap and water were rarely if ever cleaned. You just brushed them, used absorbents like Fuller's earth, aired, or whatever.

Since a the process was invented in France for years immediately afterwards "French cleaning" became linked to "dry cleaning", with persons (who could afford it), sending their garments to France to be dry cleaned. Right through the 1950's and beyond you found "French Dry Cleaners" all over North America, which meant truly nothing by that time, well except customers were being charged more.

Gradually as word got out about "dry cleaning" others jumped onto the bandwagon using gasoline, kerosene, turpentine, etc... this included those who couldn't afford to send their clothing to France, much less a dry cleaner locally. That was if there was one locally. In rural or other low population areas there often was not such a business locally. So you either had to send things "into town" or do them at home.

By early part of the last century an American named William Joseph Stoddard who owned a dry cleaner in Atlanta was concerned about using such flammable substances. Working with a chemist he came up with a type of white spirit that was less flammable and called "Stoddard Solvent".

Post WWI at least in the USA both federal and local governments became alarmed at the high number of explosions, fires and other adverse incidents involving dry cleaning. Laws were passed which included a mandate to less flammable substances, and the industry moved to using chlorinated solvents ( dichloromethane, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride).

By the 1930's the industry moved to tetrachloroethylene/perchloroethylene (aka PERC) which was less flammable, cleaned better and being more stable could be recycled.

The last bit is what the film clip above alludes to as the difference between the woman using gasoline at home and the professional dry cleaner. The latter likely was using PERC (since the fluid was recycled), and a host of other safety measures that housewife did not have.

 

[supersuds]

Lead in fuels

Unleaded gasoline in the 1930s was called "white gasoline." I think the name came about because leaded "ethyl" gasoline was dyed red or blue (see the many period ads for "New Blue Sunoco," for instance.)

The owners manual of our 1940 Packard advised using white gasoline to clean the element of the oil bath air cleaner. So, I'd conclude that it must have been widely available, although few people likely heeded the precaution.

 

[launderess]

Of course for those of us who are "Boomer Kids"

"Ethyl" was one of the types of gasoline offered in cartoon filling stations. That and in old films. Don't ever remember Dad ever asking for "Ethyl" when getting any of our cars filled up at the pump. It was either "regular" or "premium".

By the way; leaded gasoline is one of the most harmful substances around. This was discovered back in the 1920's by a leading forensic scientist here in NYC. As per Standard Oil and other large industry got their way and stopped all and any bans on tetraethyl lead. It would not be until nearly fifty years late (the 1980's) that the federal government finally saw sense. But by then the damage had been done in cost of lives (deaths) and illnesses brought about by lead poisoning, this included children.

https://www.wired.com/2013/01/looney-gas-and-lead-poisoning-a-short-sad-history/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead

https://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead/

 

[arbilab]

miles off laundry, sorry

The same guy who invented tetraethyl lead later invented another environmental disaster, though at the time it seemed like a good idea...... freon.  Until satellites revealed that chlorine ate ozone so Dupont took the chlorine out and lobbied 134a into mandatory existence.  But refrigerant wars are far from over and the same thing is already in motion to happen again.

 

Fluorine is (something on the order of) 1000 times worse at greenhousing than carbon dioxide and 134a is on the way out.  There's a substitute and again you can only buy it from a Dupont licensee.  This mixes two unreacted gases with different vapor points and the charge becomes very critical. 

 

If any leaks out performance drops drastically.  Not only that but you have to completely evacuate and refill the entire system because the components leak at different rates.  Buy hearing protection; the Dupont cash register ringing will be deafening.  Then standby for the NEXT substitute substitute because one of the components of the blend is flammable.  One of the properties freon was invented to get around, the other being poisonous (ammonia, sulfur dioxide).

 

 

 

[launderess]

Carbona like Persil is a brand name derived from product components. In this case CARbon tetrachloride.

Pity these two didn't read the memo:

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/feb/10/two-hospitalized-with-burns-after-downtown-apartme/

 

[lordkenmore]

<blockquote>
It would not be until nearly fifty years late (the 1980's) that the federal government finally saw sense.

</blockquote>
 

I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing the government "saw sense" before the 1980s. But there was probably a realization that there were plenty of cars that required leaded gas due to engine valve design. So there was a phase out period...

 

I can remember the time when leaded gas was still available. It seemed like gas stations had "Premium" "Regular" and "Unleaded" ca. 1980 IIRC. (My mother had a car that burned leaded until 1982, and so I remember her pulling into gas stations and asking for $5 of Regular.)

 

[frigilux]

Love these old educational films. Thanks for posting it, Launderess.

Also: I'm old enough to remember when the gas station attendant would ask, "Regular or ethyl?" Enjoyed watching the uniformed attendant clean every window, then check the oil and top off the washer fluid.

 

[launderess]

Standard Oil knew very well of the health effects caused by leaded gasoline. Much as with tobacco and smoking however they actively suppressed, lied and or did whatever else was necessary to keep sales going.

http://www.lead.org.au/lanv8n1/l8v1-3.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/03/25/the-man-who-poisoned-us-all/

"other, safer antiknock additives–used to increase gasoline octane and counter engine “knock”–were known and available to oil companies and the makers of lead antiknocks before the lead additive was discovered, but they were covered up and denied, then fought, suppressed and unfairly maligned for decades to follow; "

https://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead/

 

[lordkenmore]

<blockquote>
Standard Oil knew very well of the heath effects caused by leaded gasoline. Much as with tobacco and smoking however they actively suppressed, lied and or did whatever else was necessary to keep sales going.

 

</blockquote>
Somehow, I'm not surprised...

 

[launderess]

Ironically the man who invented TEL

Thomas Midgley Jr. suffered from lead poisoning as a direct result of his involvement with TEL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

There is a great book on birth of modern forensic science in the United States, and its founder, Dr. Gettler. The book's name is "The Poisoner's Handbook", and it was also covered in a PBS program of same name.



As mentioned in links upthread, New York and New Jersey were one of the early states that early on tried to ban and or regulate leaded gasoline, only to be undone by Standard Oil's dirty work.

 

[supersuds]

Couldn't find the Packard owner's manual, but here is a scan from the 1938 Buick manual, which discusses the use of "white gasoline" and warns that Ethyl fuel is poisonous and should not be used for washing parts.

The next scan is the section regarding upholstery cleaning, which also warns against using gasoline containing tetraethyl lead.

I remember cleaning engine parts in gasoline back in the Seventies. It almost certainly had lead in it -- hope there aren't any delayed-action consequences!

 

[tolivac]

Even unleaded gas is considered toxic to inhale or swallow-and much less get on your skin.Gas should ONLY be used as a motor fuel and NOT a cleaning agent!!!!The extreme flammability is what makes gas a good motor fuel!

 

[tolivac]

Oh yes-remember reading about Tetraethyl Lead in the Merck Chemestry Handbook----This stuff is so toxic even if spilled on you and absorbed thru your skin the dose can be lethal.Merck Handbooks are a staple in chem labs and pharmecuetical labs.

 

[volvoguy87]

Leaded gas.

Leaded gas has been banned in the US since 1996. It was last sold in New Mexico, a state with low humidity, little vehicular rust, and a populace without a ton of extra money. In other words, since cars last longer there, drivers in NM keep their cars longer because it makes economic sense. There was a market for leaded gas due to the older cars in service, so regular gas was sold until banned in 1996.

Dave

 

[iheartmaytag]

I like so many used to think that Ethyl

Was named for the addition of Tetraethyl Lead, I was half correct.

 

My parents ran gas station.  Up until 1975 all grades of fuel contained Lead and/or phosphorus.  Some bore the names Regular and Ethyl.  Regionally the higher grade known as Ethyl was also called Premium and the Ethyl grade also included ethanol (alcohol) as it increased the octane of the gasoline. 

 

After the advent of catalytic converters on the automobile in 1975, most stations dropped the Premium or Ethyl grade in place of the mandated Unleaded grade.  Much halla-poo-poo was given that without lead the valves in the engines would burn away, fuel lines would degrade, and life on the planet would surely end. 

 

Quite the opposite happened,  engines are able to last longer due to the removal of the corrosive lead.  Air is cleaner, and catalytic converters are able to last the life of the vehicle in most cases due to the absence of the fouling lead.   Up until the total ban of  leaded fuel January 1, 1996, lead was systematically decreased each year,  and ethanol was increased to maintain the same octane.  More uprisal from the driving public, but now we have flex fuel vehicles.  We've come a long way baby.

 

 

Back in the early 50s my uncle was badly burned when he was working at a gas station and the owner instructed him to clean the garage floor with gasoline.  As he was cleaning the water heater came on and the burner ignited the fumes causing third degree burns over his arms, chest and hands.  There are better, safer ways to clean a garage floor.