DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
I remember it well.
In the good old days, my mother did not have a washing machine in the house. Not many people did.
We took our laundry to a wash house where there were many machines called wringer washers. The wringers were electric.
Rinse and Wring
The ones I remember had at least two tubs – one for washing with soap (done by hand). Then we would wring those out. Next was the rinsing (done by hand). And those would be put through the wringer too. Maybe that’s where the saying, “I feel like I’ve been put through a wringer!” came from. Or was it some form of archaic torture? I wonder.
Finally we would take all the wrung out wash home and hang it on a clothes line to dry. We did not have a drier either. Aire is good. The air would have to do.
How primitive!
But trips to the wash house were actually fun. Well, fun for this earlier small child anyway, but maybe not so much fun for Mom. She could talk to other parents though, as she soaped and rinsed, wrung out and rinsed again and I would “help.” There were serious, scary admonishments however.
“Watch your fingers! Don’t put your hands so close to the wringer! Kids have lost fingers like that! Be careful. Be careful!”
The Wash House Horrors
Mom’s warnings made my experience at the wash house a scary journey into a dangerous world where I could lose my fingers if I wasn’t extra careful. Talk about an adventure!
I was as excited about going to the wash house as I was about climbing the guava tree, where I might fall from dizzying heights. It was as thrilling too as climbing the wall of the mystery house across the street to peek over at the scary, shrouded lady we conjured up on the other side. She might “get me.” And almost as exciting as getting ready for an approaching hurricane (although nothing quite matched that).
Oh, for the times when we did not need crime t.v. or horror films to scare our young selves into nightmares. We didn’t even have a television then.
I saw a picture of a wringer washer on FaceBook today that triggered all these memories of wringer washers and thrilling days at the wash house.
Phew! All this recollecting has left me feeling like “I’ve been through the wringer!”
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Wringer washer were gone by the time I was a child–but I also always heard about how dangerous they were. My father still has a finger that is bent at an odd angle from getting it caught in a wringer washer when he was a child.
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I wish I had one of these NOW! It would be great to know I could get my washing done if the electricity was gone for a while! Really fun and interesting post! All those scary things!
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It is said my brother got his arm in a wringer. I’ll have to ask him about that now that I’m older. My mom had a washer with a ringer on it in the basement when I was small.
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Yip, I grew up without TV (which was around but not in South Africa at the time). I think it was better. We spent far more time outside, using our imaginations. I’m very glad I don’t have to do my washing that way, though. The drier is not something many of us have here, even today, as our weather is good and air drying is the norm but the washing machine, well, I don’t think I’d cope without one
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Oh, yes. My mother had a wringer washer. And I remember well those warnings: “Mary’s” sister’s husband’s aunt had a cousin whose friend’s child lost an arm in a wringer washer!!” Funny, I don’t think we ever actually KNEW anyone whose child had been hurt….
Thanks for the memories; we have things so easy these days compared to our parents.
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My grandmother had a wringer washer in the late 1960s. She did all her laundry with it but I especially remember all the towels from her beauty salon being washed every Saturday night. Sometimes I’d help her (I was six at the time) but those rollers terrified me so I usually just watched. … Thanks for the memory. … Cheerz! Dorothy 🙂
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I do remember how wringer washer! Was renting a flat up in Darwin way back when I was in my early to mid twenties. They had one of these and I just HATED it as everytime I tried to wind my sheets through they would start winding around the top part and hitting the lever to stop it wouldn’t work so by the time I did get it to stop I had one big mess and would take me ages to unwind it as it was wound around so tight.
and put rubber diapers through that wringer diapers and explodes and I ruined a couple of shirts
And you had the clothes you déjas caught in the wringer? or ruined a couple of shirts?
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We didn’t go to a wash house but my mother had a wringer washer where you had two rollers that would “wring” out the clothes. Wash day was a big deal back then. You can’t beat the smell of fresh bed linens dried outside though.
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I never knew anyone who was actually hurt by the wringers, but a few are coming up now in comments.
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Actually, the wringers I knew were turned on with electricity. That’s why people got hurt. You couldn’t turn the thing off in time. I think the original wringers were done with a crank though, so that would be the kind you would want. 🙂
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I never knew anyone who had really been hurt. I hope your brother wasn’t hurt badly.
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That’s how it was in Florida… good weather for drying clothes outside. And all we did was play outside too – all day. A good way to grow up. 🙂
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Funny how those stories go through generations and friends. And how easy our lives are now! Until last night when I couldn’t figure out connections on my Kindle Fire! Grrrrr.
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Thanks for commenting Dorothy. My name’s Dorothy too… Dor for short. BTW – your horse is beautiful.
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Thanks … My name doesn’t get shortened, except maybe for D. …
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Think of the time we save with all of our gadgets and appliances…….why is it I still feel like I have been through the wringer?
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Ditto! 🙂
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Wow, that was a great trip back in time. When I was little, my grandparents lived with us and we had a wringer washing machine. I was a little frightened of it because my mom was always warning me about staying away from it. It was pretty exciting when we got an automatic washer and dryer. But Mom still hung clothes outside most of the year. I loved helping her do that. And guess what? I have an outside clothesline and when the weather is warm and sunny, I enjoy hanging clothes outside too. 🙂
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We had our own washer and rinse tub and wringer. The threats of not getting caught in the wringer were real, as cousins had done it before. We hung our clothes out–even in the winter and brought them in like boards to dry the rest of the way on lines upsatirs. Nice memory.
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My grandmother (Babci in Polish) had a ringer washer with the ringer the type you cranked. Thanks for the memory.
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Yes! I was putting diapers through the wringer washer for my mom and got my hand caught in the thing. Mom saved me. She turned it off. Haven’t thought about that in a long, long, long time!!!
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I have an outside line too, only it’s the round fold up type – not as good as from pole to pole. I love the outdoor scent on sheets don’t you?
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An inside electric drier would have been easier, but then what wonderful memories do we have of those?
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There were lots of things you cranked in the old days and in the old country weren’t there? I remember hand cranking meat grinders too. My husband just brought home a hand cranked flashlight/radio thing for power outages. Maybe the hand cranking things weren’t a bad idea.
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Wow! I’m so glad you survived the evil wringer washer! My Mom was right to warn me then huh?
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Yes she was.
Moms are always right. 😉
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I remember wash houses too and then later hanging diapers out to dry. What fun to remember. Yet I don’t want to give up my washer and dryer today!
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I’ll have to post the piece I wrote that mistook Dad’s longjohns on the inside line. In the middle of the night, it looked like a ghost! 🙂
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That would be a hilarious post! Go for it! 🙂
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Ditto coastal crone. The good old days are sometimes better left in memories.
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