Doing the Laundry Vintage Style

From a vintage point of view, I have been posting backwards. I have looked recently at irons and ironing, but of course washing has to come first!  One hundred years ago the weekly chore list would have been something like this:

Monday - laundry
Tuesday - ironing, mending, sewing
Wednesday - baking
Thursday - grocery shopping
Friday - cleaning, dusting, sweeping
Saturday - cleaning, baking for Sunday dinner
Sunday - church, large family dinner, go visiting

I would love to stick to a schedule like this, but I would need to buy the children more school shirts - I also need to sweep every day, a downside of living near the beach. In the late 1800s and early 1900s laundry was the housewife's most dreaded chore – really, I mean, a whole day of washing - clothes, sheets, cloth, all by hand. And many women had big families - I have five children and can't imagine washing all their clothes by hand.  No wonder they called it Blue Monday.

 

Underwear was  washed frequently of course, but thick top clothes tended have to last with just dirty spots being sponged off – that's why aprons and smocks were popular to keep clothes clean. How people managed here in Mackay and other tropical climates I don't know.   Often just one sheet from each bed was washed weekly - last week's top sheet became this week's bottom sheet.  Wool blankets were washed once or twice a year in good drying weather, as were woollen garments. Often the washing would be taken in still damp and rolled up on a Monday evening, and then ironed the next day. I do try and get the shirts in from the line still damp as it really does make them much easier to iron.

Girl wearing a full length apron, 1911, Good Housekeeping Magazine

So even one hundred years ago women knew they had to do laundry, not just because of pride and wanting their families to look nice and fit in, but because of hygiene.  The ordinary person may not have known about germs and bacteria, but they knew enough to know that boiling the water for washing was a good idea.  Mum still talks about how clean clothes got in the old copper she used when first married in the 1960s. The copper was like a deep metal bucket with a lid, built into the corner of the laundry room, or outside, with a space underneath for the fire. (For a great look at washing in a copper, head to 1900s.org.). You would move some water from the copper into a tub for the dark washing, and then boil the' whites', usually sheets and underwear and shirts, in the copper, while stirring.  The darks clothes in the warm water would be scrubbed, by hand, and sometimes on a washboard. Then more water was added to rinse in.  Sounds fun don't you think! I remember helping mum ring out the clothes by hand, before pegging on the line, and I always got my own little tub to wash my dolls clothes in, or sometimes the socks, which made me fell really grown-up!

Mary in 1913, playing laundry.

With early washing machines, the water still had to be heated in the copper or on a stove, after being hauled in from the pump or sink, and poured into the machine. To force water through clothes there was a wooden dolly, basically a stick with prongs, which you moved back and forth and up and down, or some sort of metal grate, like a washboard, that you could move with a leaver. A wringer or mangle with two rollers, mounted on top or next to the washing machine, squeezed excess moisture out of clothes as they were fed through.

Although the first English patent under the category of Washing and Wringing Machines was issued in 1691, the "compound rotary washing machine, with rollers for wringing or mangling” was not patented until 1862, when it was shown at the 1862 London Exhibition. The first United States Patent titled "Clothes Washing" was granted in 1797 and in 1843 a Canadian inventor patented a "Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls."  John S. Lash of Pennsylvania also patented a wringing and washing machine in 1862. The machine was modified by Gunn & Amidon, who put their own patented wringer on it, and marketed the result as “The Washing-ton Machine.” Advertised as the “cheapest, simplest and most perfect machine in the world,” much was made of the fact that the unit’s Amidon wringer operated without the use of cog wheels and could be trusted to be gentle on clothing.

Washing-ton machine c. 1863, source

At the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia Margaret Colvin exhibited her Triumph Rotary Washer that she had patented in 1871.  Her husband made and marketed the machines, and by all accounts they were quite useful, unlike many designs of the time.  Between 1862 and 1894 at least 48 American women patented washing machines or related items such as wringers, drainers and strainers, and at least 2,000 patents had been issued in the USA alone.

Patented in 1904, the wonder washer, source

In Australia in about 1879 an unusual washing machine marketed as the "Compressed Air" model was made in Melbourne by Echberg, Wolter & Co. Dirty clothes, soaked in hot water, soap and washing soda (sodium carbonate), were placed in the "torpedo-shaped" tub which pivoted on a stand. The lid was sealed and by rocking the tub for about five minutes the washing was said to have been completed. I have seem a modern rotating compost bin that is similar too.

 
Wolter & Echberg Washing Machine - Compressed-air manual (c. 1870s-80s)


From about 1904, the job of moving the dolly could be done an electric motor placed beneath the tub, or a gas powered engine, but you still had to heat the water separately.  The first electric-powered washing machine is said to be the drum shaped  “ Thor”, introduced in 1908, by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois and invented by Alva J. Fisher.  However there was mention of electric machines in newspapers a few years earlier.  The mangle could also be powered by electricity, which was a little dangerous, especially for little fingers.

Maren Christensen washing with her new Thor washing machine, source

Thor was so successful that by 1920 there were in excess of 700 American companies producing washing machines, including Maytag, Bendix and Whirlpool.

Advertisement for the Happy Day washing machines, 1910

 
Ad for Bluebird Blue Bird Washing Machines, 1910, and an alternate 1910 model

    
Time Saver Electric Washing Machine,1919, and Maytag electric washer, 1916 source

In 1928 there were 913,000 electric washing machines sold in the United states. During the 1930s washing machine design greatly improved, and more attention was paid to electrical and mechanical safety. Spin dryers were introduced to replace the dangerous power wringers of the day, although not all machines had them.

   
Miele Washing Machine, 1930, with mangle source   Twin tub 'Easy' c. 1930,patented in 1912, source.

Twin-tub washing machines also represented a major advance in washing-machine design -  One tub is the agitator tub and the smaller tub acted to rinse and spin the clothes.  The Syracuse 'Easy' , above, featured vacuum-cup technology, which helped force soapy water through clothes. I remember that one of my grandmothers used a hand powered wringer with her electric washing machine, and my other grandmother preferred her old twin-tub model, which you had to fill with a hose.  Even in the 1980's they would never let us get them a modern machine.

In 1937 the Bendix Corporation introduced the first automatic washing machine in 1937, a front loader, with spin dryer. It had to be anchored to the floor to prevent "walking" as it lacked drum suspension, but wow! what an advance.

Early Bendix washer, source

Even into the 1940s most people were using top loading tub type washers such as this one.

A woman with an electric washing machine, 1945

While this machine still required lots of attention from the woman, it required much less manual exertion, so that instead of a whole day to do your laundry, you could have it done by mid-day, leaving you "fresh"  - now you might have the energy to also do the ironing on Monday’s as well. These machines were much cheaper than the fully automatic washers, but even so many couldn’t afford even one of those.  $39.95 seems cheap now, but in the 1940s the average wage was under $2000 a year. So now we have automatic washing machines that do the hard manual labour for us, and we spend money on going to the gym instead - some crazy world.

"Easy" c. 1940s source

 

Most women in Australia had to wait until the 1950s for their first electric washing machine, when there was greater prosperity and the ready availability of electricity (and water). If you want to cut down your greenhouse emissions, go vintage!  As for electric clothes dryers – well -my mother still doesn't’ have one! And they were invented in 1915.  Washing detergent though, that’s another story…..

Enjoy your washday Monday! And as usual, lots more washday images on tumblr.

Deb xx

The Vintage Electric Iron

The electric iron was available in 1913, and by the 1920s was the most popular electrical appliance in Australia.

1920's Edison Electric "Hotpoint" NP 27D Clothing Iron

1913 Ad: GE Electric Flatiron "Even Heat Saves Money" source

 Hand irons were used for garment pressing long before electricity, heated directly either by gas flame or stove plate heat.  In China metal pans filled with hot water were used for smoothing fabrics as early as the 1st century BC.

Preparing silk 12th century

The people in North Europe used glass, wood and stones for smoothing clothes.   In the Middle Ages  blacksmiths began forging smoothing irons -   flat irons or sad irons (from an old word meaning solid)  - that were simply heated in a fire before use.

Primitive sad iron

Later designs had an iron box which could be filled with hot coals, which had to be periodically aerated by attaching a bellows. In India, burning coconut shells were used instead of charcoal, as they have a similar heating capacity. Other box irons had heated metal inserts instead of hot coals.

Charcoal laundry box Sad Iron c. 1880s source

Up to the middle of the 1800s, iron design was generally between the customer and the blacksmith, with only a couple of commercially available models.  In 1871 Mary Potts patented the Mrs. Potts Sad Iron, a hollow cast iron that could be filled with a material such as plaster of Paris, cement or clay, that Mrs. Potts claimed would hold the heat longer so that more garments could be ironed without reheating the iron.  The timber handle was detachable and remained cool to the touch.  She received a series of patents for variations on her iron and reissued others, and blitzed the competition with her advertising campaign, even using trading cards to advertise and spread the word of her product.



 
Original Patent Model of Mrs. Potts Sad Iron
Patented 1871 by Mary Potts

Most basic irons have been pointed at one end, or shield shape. The smoothly pointed shape makes it easier to get into tight spots and into cuffs, and for ironing of pleats, collars and small details.

 Fluting iron, Geneva hand fluter patent 1866, source

German brass heart shaped flat iron  source  

 
In the 1800s, an era when everything had to be ironed, manufacturers produced irons for every trade and every category of clothing  -.   sleeve irons, hatter's irons, fluting irons (good for cuffs), dressmaker's irons, artificial flower making irons, billiard table irons, and irons for polishing, glossing  and crimping.

On June 6, 1882, Henry W. Seely of New York patented the electric flat-iron – it weighed a mammoth 6 kg (15 pounds) and took a long time to warm up. Other electric irons had also been invented, including one from France in 1882 but they used a carbon arc to heat the iron, which was not a safe method . In 1892 hand irons using electrical resistance were introduced by Crompton and Co. and the General Electric Company. These irons consisted of a base with an electric heating element, and the iron that you held – so electricity heated the iron instead of another fuel.   Later "irons" would have the heating elements built in to the hand-held tool, which would allow the iron to stay hot and not need reheating.  Funny how we have now returned to two piece irons – those with separate bases. Steam irons were not introduced until the early 1950s.

 Ironing class at the Brisbane Technical College, ca. 1900.

In 1913 I may have been able to get one of these "Tank in the Handle" Gas Irons, patented in 1913 and manufactured by the Acorn Brass Mfg. Co. of Chicago, Illinois.  I’m not sure how well it worked, or how safe it was,  but it has a great streamlined, modern rocket look.  Gas irons continued to be popular well into the 1930s, and were made until the 1980s, but there were a few brands of electric irons around in 1913, including General Electric and Landers, Frary and Clark.

"Tank in the Handle" Gas Iron 1913, source 

  1913 Landers, Frary & Clark Universal Iron, source

  
 There were even Ironing Machines – in electric or non-electric form.

1913 Vintage Ad Simplex Ironer Iron Antique Machine, source

It’s nice to know that if I did live in 1913, I could have been using an electric iron to iron my husbands shirts.  That is if I still lived in Melbourne.  Here in Mackay electricity was not connected until 1924! I love this painting – the little boy reminds me of my youngest son, and I can imagine that is me doing the ironing while he plays outside.

Paul Mathey (French artist, 1844-1929) Interior with Woman and Child source

This photo is from an Amish homesteading blog I have just found. Erin Harrison and her girls use husband Marks Great Grandmother flat iron, that they heat of the stove. Erin makes even washing without electricity sound fun.



To finish, just because I think its beautiful, here is a Saunders Silver Streak iron from the 1940's.

Saunders Silver Streak c. 1940s

During the WWII era when metal was in short supply (and when Pyrex cookware was becoming all the rage) the Saunders Machine and Tool Co. of New York utilized Pyrex glass bodies provided by the Corning Glass Co.  The entire top shell is Pyrex, with just the sole plate being chrome plated metal. They came in a range of colours including red, green, blue, silver and more.  Unfortunately the fragility of a glass iron made them a short lived and they were discontinued shortly after the war.  they are now a collectors item – expect to pay around $1,000 to $2,000! Even I would happily do the ironing if I had one of these.


Deb xxx

A Vintage Valentine 1913 Style

Happy Valentines Day one and all !

I am back at work a few days a week now, and helping at school when I can, so my posts may be getting a little shorter, or maybe less frequent, for a while.  So today, just some Valentines Day images from 1913.

 source

source

source

source

source

The above images are what I imagine of 1913 - dreamy, romantic, pretty.  This sculpture, The Kiss, was made by Konstantin Brancusi in 1913, one of his series of sculptures from  “The Kiss” series that he did from 1907 – 1925. Looks like it could have been carved today, don't you think?

Don't you love this romantic ad for Pet Milk, also from 1913. Mmmm, I wonder what's its made from?!

source

Oyster fritters, there's a lovely suggestion for a valentines day treat! And lastly, some words of wisdom from 1913 - The Dos and Don't for husbands and wives, by Blance Ebbut. You can find the books here, but to sum up:

source

Don't s for Wives reminds women not to flirt with other men in case they succeed "better than you want to. It is like playing with tigers and edged tools and volcanoes all in one".  I'll try and remember that!

 Have a wonderful day, whether you're eating oyster fritters, flirting, spending time with your loved one, or sitting on the couch with your favourite ice-cream or the cat,

Deb xx

Small Australian stores in 1913

Yesterday I looked at Bon Marche, the grand French department store. Today a look at quite the opposite – small, mainly family run stores in rural Australia one hundred years ago.  Most of them sold a range of goods, and I can imagine myself lost inside, browsing for hours……..or maybe not, as the horse might be getting a bit restless waiting for me!
For some reasons some of the images aren't showing - please go here for the first image if that's the case for you.

Raymont's store was built in 1885 by Thomas Percival Raymont to sell groceries and produce.  He bought and sold – what a great system – and was also an insurance agent.   The store was in operation for 65 years and was later managed by Thomas' son, Bill. Thomas and his wife Eliza lived in a house next to the store and there raised eight children (five dying in infancy). Up until the early 1900s the store was an agent for the supply of rations to the Aborigines who lived in Enoggera. From 1888 the store included the Post Office for the area, although it has a separate door, so it may have been leased to someone else.

John Stewarts grocery store at Annerley  c. 1913 source

Staff and customers outside John Stewart's grocery and provisions store on the corner of Ipswich Road and Clive Street around 1913. Possibly the family lived above the store, which was quite common in those days.

Shop assistants and customers pose outside Geary’s Commonwealth Stores in Chinchilla, QLD c. 1913 source

Mr D. Geary came to Chinchilla from Miles in 1904 and set up this shop to supply basically everything to the local farmers who grew mainly grain, and also ran cattle, sheep and pigs.  Timber was also felled nearby.  I love the way the store also has an ironmongery.  I doubt ‘iron’ goods were made in the store, as blacksmiths usually had separate premises because of fires risks, rather it is an alternate name for hardware store.  However, the store was destroyed by fire in 1922.

Music store in Morgan Street Mount Morgan, QLD 1913, source

I don’t know much about this one, but it’s great to see people in country Queensland had access to instruments and sheet music.

Store belonging to R. Beckett in Mundubbera, Queensland, 1913

This image may not work either, so go here to see it.
Beckett's store was a tailor, drapery and shoemaker business, but also sold stationery. It looks to be situated right in the bush, with no road.  Another building is being constructed near by, so maybe this was the start of the town.  It has a very wild-west feel to it, don’t you think?

Lennons clothing store in Townsville 1913

Lennon’s clothing store in Townsville 1913.  By 1913 Townsville was fifty years old, and quite a large town.  The even had motorised buses! Lennon’s shop, positioned cleverly next to the bank, looks quite upmarket, and has a very large sign to attract customers – literally a sign of things to come.  A Mr William Lennon was involved in the Bank of Queensland in the 1880s, before opening his own stock agent store around 1900 – it’s possible this store is an off shoot of that.  Lennons’ sold footwear as well as clothing.  Here is the interior of their boot department.



This last store is located in Oakleigh, Victoria, now a suburb of Melbourne but in 1913 it was more of its own town.  From the exterior is looks like the store was located near the railway line, and sold everything from cigarettes to groceries, and glassware to electrical goods. Like all of the other stores, it also has a generous veranda.



I was happy to find an interior view of this same store. Definitely not a self service store – most goods are displayed behind the lovely wooden counters.



I love the old cash register and Dayton scales. Note the ‘ironmongery’ sign – probably more hardware.
Imagine being able to fit all available goods in one store today – no mega hardware or department stores, or supermarkets.  Shopping has certainly changed in 100 years.

More photos of stores on tumblr, including some overseas stores.

Deb xx