Wringer Washing Machine Rollers - How Did They Manage The Change To Detergents?

[launderess]

When wringers/mangles first switched over from wood, rubber was the chosen substance. Rubber rollers were softer then wood and thus one didn't have all those worries (or less of them) with broken buttons, buckles, and so forth. It meant for one thing many housewives/laundresses didn't have to take off and sew back on buttons or whatever after washing things to keep them from being broken.

Rubber was an excellent choice because the softness allowed gentle squeezing over the brute pressure force from wood rollers. This explains why long after rubber rollers were used for wringers, mangles (to press/iron) were still made from hard woods.

However by the post war era (if not before thanks to WWII restrictions on rubber) washing machines and any other wringer would have to deal with the increasing use of detergents instead of soap. The former are made from petrol and that substance can and will do damage to rubber with prolonged exposure.

So my question is what did Maytag and others switch over to for their wringer rollers? Production of conventional washers lasted well into the 1980's, by that time soaps were largely gone from wash day.

Have seen old stock rubber wringer rollers from brands like Goodrich (same people who made rubber tires), but cannot find what Maytag or others used.

 

[realvanman]

Educate me...

What are the functional differences between detergent and soap? I had always naively thought that they were the same.

My limited knowledge of the subject: there are emulsifiers that bind to oils and water. And surfactants that.... Have something to do with removing dirt?

And is it true that they used to make soap out of lard or other fats?? How does that work?

Keith

 

[bajaespuma]

caoutchouc

Interesting question because, by far, the parts that are usually in the worst condition on old Filter-Flo's that I collect are made of soft non-reinforced rubber such as the filter flumes, lid bumpers and some hoses.

 

I would expect that some rubber parts are made out of rubber that has been treated somehow because parts like the outer tub boot never seem to be damaged from all the detergent water that it's submerged in.

 

[launderess]

On the most simplistic level all soaps are detergents, but not all detergents are soaps.

Soap is made by a reaction (saponification) between fats and alkalis.
You can create soap from really any fat (even that from corpses) and various base substances; it is the chemical reaction one is after. Lye based drain cleaners use the same reaction. The base chemical (lye) reacts with the fats/oils in clogged drain to become a type of soap which is then easily dissolved and flushed.

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

Chemical detergents are made from surfactants which can come from feed stocks of petrol or in some cases plants (such as the various sodium sulfate salts).

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

http://www.cleaninginstitute.org/clean_living/soaps__detergents_chemistry.aspx

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

Beauty of detergents over soaps is that the former do not react with hard water minerals like the latter. That nasty scum around one's bath or shower after bathing with soap is visible proof of reaction between soap and hard water minerals, and also the oils, dirt and muck that came off one's body.

Here is a chart listing various rubber materials and their resistance to various alkaline substances. You can see that many common base chemicals used for cleaning/laundry do a number on rubber.

http://mykin.com/rubber-chemical-resistance-chart

Housewives and others were advised that they could clean "dirty" wringer rollers made from rubber with a bit of kerosene rubbed on with a cloth. But that the substance must then be quickly and totally removed lest it soften/eat away too much of the rubber making the mangle no longer fit for use.

The reaction between soap and hard water has been the bane of cleaning/laundry going back ages. Detergents did away with that bother not just because the surfactants used aren't affected by water hardness like soap, but also the various builders (especially phosphates).