Old Laundry from my home town

[westie2]

Here is a photo of one of the wringer laundries from my hometown in Oklahoma.  There were several in town.  The one closest to us was in the cvountry and the washers like this had live steam piped to them for boil washes.  This is a very rual farming community in the red dirt area of Oklahoma.  Talk about water saving using these.  We had a wringer washer until 1964 as all our water we used was hauled in by truck (1000 gallons a load) in 1964 we got county water at the farm so saving every drop of water was gone and we got to take showers and all instead of a 1 inch tub bath.

 

 

[autowasherfreak]

A very nice and interesting picture, I had to save it.

 

[geoffdelp]

I've always wanted to see one of these; thank you Charles. Look at the big hoses above the machines and tubs!

Wonder how they charged for those? By the tubful?

 

[jetcone]

wow thats cool

a wringer laundry! I guess they had to have those too before the automatics came along. Not everyone could afford their own washing machine in the depression or in very dense farming districts even in the 40's.

 

How would the steam create a boil wash in a Gray Ghost, I can see that happening in a vacuum cup Easy, my Easy has a gas burner under the tub.

 

 

 

[westie2]

At the Jay Buckle Laundry thye had the 1933 Gray Ghost 15 of them.  It was a wooden building and behind they had a huge steam bolier run off propane.  Before rual electric the motors were gas driven then changed to electric power.  The live steam was piped to each washer and they had on the right rear side it piped into the washer.  Women would start with using the rinse tub to get everything wet.  The first load was run through the sringer into the washer filled with cool to warm water and was usually the womens delicates.  While these were washing the rest of the laundry was soaked and wrung out .  Then the rinse tub was was cleaned and filled with fresh water.  The ladies things were then wrung out into the first tub and the next wash load was put in the washer usually ladies dresses and Sunday best shirts.  The first rinse tub was then sloshed up and down and the wringer moved to wring to the next tub the same was done again then to the 3 rinse tube with bluing and then wrung out and placed in a basket.  About the 3rd load the women would stqrt turning on the live steam to the washer and it would start grumbleing and groaning as the steam hit the water.  Talk about hot and twisting of clothes this did it but whites were white white.  For starch you paid a dime for a bucket and they would measure out the stqrch into a wooden bucket and add the water then place it on a hook that held the bucket on a steam pipe and would turn the steam on to boil the stach.  You then got the stach in a big bucket to strarch things.  I think a washer filled was .25 back then and usually took a $1.00 for mother to wash per machine.  Even though we had a Maytag at home she would do spring and fall laundry there and take my two sisters with her to run a mchine each to get things done quicker.    This was all blankets (quilts) winter or summer clothes and work clothes.  The water from all the machines and tubs drained straight underneath the building and ran toward the small river (Elm Creek).  Normall they foinished before noon and went home and hung things up to dry.  Being in SW Oklahoma  it was always windy which helps things dry pretty quick.  I know work jeans and overalls she hung and dried but school jeans and dads Kakai's she had the strechers she put on them to put creases in then.  (Everything was starched)