Washing Machine

For centuries, people on sea voyages washed their clothes by placing the
dirty laundry in a strong cloth bag, and tossing it overboard, letting the
ship drag the bag for hours. The principle was sound: forcing water
through clothes to remove dirt. Catharine Beecher, an early advocate of
bringing order and dignity to housework, called laundry "the American
housekeepers hardest problem". Women from all classes tried to find
ways to get relief from doing laundry. Some hired washerwomen and
others used commercial laundries. Eventually mechanical aids lightened
the load."In the early days, without running water, gas, or electricity
even the most simplified hand-laundry used staggering amounts of time
and labor. One wash, one boiling and one rinse used about fifty gallons of
wateror four hundred poundswhich had to be moved from pump or
well or faucet to stove and tub, in buckets and wash boilers that might
weigh as much as forty or fifty pounds. Rubbing, wringing, and lifting
water-laden clothes and linens, including large articles like sheets,
tablecloths, and mens heavy work clothes, wearied womens arms and
wrists and exposed them to caustic substances.They lugged weighty tubs
and baskets full of wet laundry outside, picked up an article, hung it on
the line, and returned to take it all down; they ironed by heating several
irons on the stove and alternating them as they cooled, never straying
far from the hot stove."
The first washing-machines
Modern washing-machies
Author:
Pitucan Alina
Class: 6-A