Old Hospital Washers ect

[sudsman]

will post a few at a time

 

[peterh770]

I bet this one kept the emergency room busy reattaching fingers and limbs!

These are probably agitate only machines, with extractors on the opposite wall...

 

[toggleswitch]

Now THAT is a belt drive!

 

[jasonl]

Grind-click-RIP! Owwww!!!!

 

[gyrafoam]

Oooooh---I know thats some funky stuff in those machines!
Wonder what industrial detergents they used back then?

 

[peterh770]

They just put straight lye and fat in the machines and let them make their own soap. Light the gas burners underneath, add a couple of gallons of chlorine bleach and let them rip.

Do you think those are water heaters on the wall?

 

[gyrafoam]

Well, there are water lines going to both the square cabinet and the tank, so could be some kind of water heating arrangement.

 

[gansky1]

Given the era, I'll bet they didn't re-attach any digits or limbs, just tossed them in the recycle bin...

 

[launderess]

Those first "automatic" washing machines were a vast improvement over wash women/men doing hospital laundry by hand, just as everyone else did.

All those belts etc, would have been attached to a main power plant which ran on steam. In fact early laundries were called "steam" laundries because power/heating was provided for operation of washing machines, (and later dryers), ironers, and everything else by central steam boilers. There are still many such laundries around, with steam providing the "heat" for heating water inside modern washers as well.

 

[launderess]

"Old" is correct,as such an arrangemet would never pass today's requirements for hospital or any other type of commerical laundry. Too many chances for cross/employee infection with baskets of clean and dirty laundry lying about.

 

[gyrafoam]

Welcome back Laundress!

I was wondering where you were!

This website just isn't the same without you!

 

[launderess]

Why thank you! Aren't people so kind!

Tend to flit at times, with heirloom sewing on my "new" vintage Elna sewing machine the latest big thing in my life. But will pop in now and then....

L.

 

[sudsman]

pic

This pic was from the old Ragland Finlaw Hospital in Gilmer Texas.. it is from around 1925 My Great Grandmother worked in the plant.

 

[tolivac]

Yes-that picture was typical of early 20th century machine drive systems-yes the belt jackshafts on the ceiling were connected to a central steam engine for the drive-later when electic motors came out could of been a large electric motor-or both.Then you have a backup power source.also levers that pressed or pulled an idler pully against the belts engaged or disengaged the drive to an individual machine.such drive were in machine shops,carpentry shopsat that time.also the central drive could come from another source such as a wind or water turbine.Remember some plants built right on a river or large stream-that river served as the mechanical power source.Esp before motors.I have seen some sawmills running on 100+ year old boilers and engines-One engine runs the headrig-you may need 60-200 hp for the headrig-and the other engine runs the edger saws and planers.Was very interesting-the sawdust trimmings and tailings served as fuel for the sawmill boiler.The Smithsonian in Wash DC had a working machine shop display -tools running from steam engines(the engines actually ran from 120PSI compressed air for safety)and they were actually turning items on the lathes!They also had the clutch levers for engaging or disengaging the machines from the drive.when the invention of the small electric motors came about-the central drive mostly disappeared-they were dangerous as you could see.