Laundry Day, the old-fashioned wringer washing machine...

A

Aunt Marg

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I had a great conversation with, Jujube, this morning related to the old wringer washing machines of the past, so thought it would be fun to start a dedicated topic related to, and hear more from others who lived and survived the days when the old-fashioned wringer washing machine was king.

I was all of 4 or 5, when I first started helping my mom do laundry in her old wringer washing machine. I remember it like yesterday, standing behind the washing machine, a safe distance away from the rollers, catching all that squeezed out from the rollers and placing it into a waiting basket.

Thinking back on it now, it was a time consuming process compared to today's modern washing machines, but that's all we had back then (1960's), and my mom said she was grateful for having that much, because before she got her wringer washing machine, mom did all the washing (by-hand), in the bathtub, on a glass-front washboard (for all of you who remember or know what I'm talking about).

Care needed to be taken when running items with buttons, zippers, and snaps on them, because what went in through the rollers at the front, didn't always necessarily emerge from the back with all still in working order, so those things were removed from the washing machine and wrung by-hand, and of course we had no electric tumble dryer. Everything was line-dried outside.

Also remember sending a few pairs of baby rubber pants through the rollers over the years and having the dickens scared right out of us, the result of the rubber pants popping like a balloon! The loudest bang you have ever heard, and all thanks to good old hydraulics at play.

What are your memories related to the old days when the wringer washing machine was the way of the day?
 

We started off with a fire fueled copper, 2 cement tubs and a hand operated wringer.

Then we moved up in the world. Got one of those new fangled electric washing machines with an electric operated wringer. Still had to wring the clothes from the washing machine into to tubs for rinsing, then wring then out so they were dry enough to hang on the line.

Didn't get an automatic washing machine until many years later after I had been married for a few years.

It was bliss. Put the clothes in, add the detergent, then just wait until it was finished. Still hung the clothes on the line though.
 
grannyjo said:
We started off with a fire fueled copper, 2 cement tubs and a hand operated wringer.

Then we moved up in the world. Got one of those new fangled electric washing machines with an electric operated wringer. Still had to wring the clothes from the washing machine into to tubs for rinsing, then wring then out so they were dry enough to hang on the line.

Didn't get an automatic washing machine until many years later after I had been married for a few years.

It was bliss. Put the clothes in, add the detergent, then just wait until it was finished. Still hung the clothes on the line though.
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Holy smokes, am I ever glad I got to enjoy the modern way of washing! :)

Thank you for sharing your story and experience!
 
Living in California and they had laundry mats in 1960. Loaded the laundry in the car, along with soap etc. One day we were driving to the mat (I think I am spelling this wrong) and I was talking to my mother. As usual, she told me to shut up. Alrighty then.

The bleach tipped over, she leaned over behind the seat to set it up straight, turned the steering wheel, ran up the curb, and into a sapling tree. Why didnā€™t you tell me I was steering wrong? My response: You told me to shut up.

šŸ¤£ Payback
 
My mom had a wringer in our basement also. I was quite young and she was always afraid I'd get my fingers in between the rollers. She didn't completely give up the wash board though. My dad did manual labor and his work clothes got pretty grimy and sometimes she would use the wash board on them.
We also had a bleach man come around. He would deliver gallon glass jugs of the stuff. My Mom called it washing fluid.
Years later when I first got married I decided I needed washing fluid. I didn't know it was bleach but I just knew I needed a lot of it just like my mom. I sent the hubby out to buy some. Hours later he came home and said he couldn't find any.
I called my mom and asked her about it. That's when she told me it was bleach. My grandma called it washing fluid and so did she.
 
Aneeda72 said:
Living in California and they had laundry mats in 1960. Loaded the laundry in the car, along with soap etc. One day we were driving to the mat (I think I am spelling this wrong) and I was talking to my mother. As usual, she told me to shut up. Alrighty then.

The bleach tipped over, she leaned over behind the seat to set it up straight, turned the steering wheel, ran up the curb, and into a sapling tree. Why didnā€™t you tell me I was steering wrong? My response: You told me to shut up.

šŸ¤£ Payback
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Oh, yes, Aneeda, I made MANY trips with mom to the Laundromat! I can still remember the smell. Used to get a ride to and from with an aunt. Back in the 60's, Laundromats were big business, I remember how busy the one we visited always was.

Love the story! :)
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
My mom had a wringer in our basement also. I was quite young and she was always afraid I'd get my fingers in between the rollers. She didn't completely give up the wash board though. My dad did manual labor and his work clothes got pretty grimy and sometimes she would use the wash board on them.
We also had a bleach man come around. He would deliver gallon glass jugs of the stuff. My Mom called it washing fluid.
Years later when I first got married I decided I needed washing fluid. I didn't know it was bleach but I just knew I needed a lot of it just like my mom. I sent the hubby out to buy some. Hours later he came home and said he couldn't find any.
I called my mom and asked her about it. That's when she told me it was bleach. My grandma called it washing fluid and so did she.
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Thanks for the laugh, Ruth! :)

Lovely, lovely story!

Those old washboards were torture. Red and skinned knuckles were part-and-parcel when scrubbing washing on one of those, and that doesn't even begin to touch on the sore, achy fingers and hands homemakers suffered.
 
Ah yes I remember those old wringer washing machines well. Seemed like I spent countless hours babysitting that machine when it was time to put the items through the wringers as you had to be so careful so as not to cause a jam. Even more so when I was overtired, because of a new baby in the house, as I was nervous about getting my fingers caught in those crazy rollers. I survived the machine OK and couldn't be happier when I got my first "automatic washer" some time later. :)
 
This is the one we had attached to our sink when I was about 10 or 11 years old... mother only had a single tub washer for clothing for 6 people, , and a separate gas fired copper boiler where she boiled the sheets and towels , so I hated that 'mangle''.. it was so hard to try and turn the handle to get the sheets and towels through...I'd turn the handle while my mother fed the clothes through or we'd take turns..to this day I have biceps that would put a caber tosser to shame.. :D

901c881b-d034-49e9-b619-42275333806f.jpg
 
Lashann said:
Ah yes I remember those old wringer washing machines well. Seemed like I spent countless hours babysitting that machine when it was time to put the items through the wringers as you had to be so careful so as not to cause a jam. Even more so when I was overtired, because of a new baby in the house, as I was nervous about getting my fingers caught in those crazy rollers. I survived the machine OK and couldn't be happier when I got my first "automatic washer" some time later. :)
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Great memories... and yes, babysitting the rollers is right! Not too many articles at a time, nothing bunched, and feed the rollers slowly. I remember the jams, too.

When I hear homemakers today complaining about doing laundry, I think - shame on you. With automatic washing machines at our disposal nowadays, doing laundry is a dream.
 
hollydolly said:
This is the one we had attached to our sink when I was about 10 or 11 years old... mother only had a single tub washer for clothing for 6 people, , and a separate gas fired copper boiler where she boiled the sheets and towels , so I hated that 'mangle''.. it was so hard to try and turn the handle to get the sheets and towels through...I'd turn the handle while my mother fed the clothes through or we'd take turns..to this day I have biceps that would put a caber tosser to shame.. :D

901c881b-d034-49e9-b619-42275333806f.jpg
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Love the manual wringer! What a piece of history! Gosh yes, I can only imagine the workout ones arms would get turning the crank over and over again to wring the washing! Lovely picture! :)
 
Back in the '40s on the farm, we had a wringer washer that was run with a two-cylinder Maytag gas engine at the base. The washer was outside next to a wood-fired furnace that heated the water. The gas engine was started using a foot crank like a motorcycle. I was just a little guy then so I wasn't much help but I could operate the pump handle for mom.
 
Timetrvlr said:
Back in the '40s on the farm, we had a wringer washer that was run with a two-cylinder Maytag gas engine at the base. The washer was outside next to a wood-fired furnace that heated the water. The gas engine was started using a foot crank like a motorcycle. I was just a little guy then so I wasn't much help but I could operate the pump handle for mom.
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OMG, yes, gas-powered wringer washing machines! Have been told about them in the past, but have never seen one IRL.
 
I don't know about earlier years, but during the middle part of childhood my mother had a regular washing machine in the basement. In bad weather, laundry was hung on a clothesline in the basement, and in good weather it was hung outside on a line. When we moved into the new house, they put a washing machine and dryer in a small room used mostly for extra food storage- laundry was then my responsibility. However, while the dryer was allegedly for use during the wintertime, it had to be really extreme to not hang it out on the line- "6 feet of snow and 35 degrees below zero" wasn't a good excuse to "waste money/electricity" to use the dryer! :p
 
JaniceM said:
I don't know about earlier years, but during the middle part of childhood my mother had a regular washing machine in the basement. In bad weather, laundry was hung on a clothesline in the basement, and in good weather it was hung outside on a line. When we moved into the new house, they put a washing machine and dryer in a small room used mostly for extra food storage- laundry was then my responsibility. However, while the dryer was allegedly for use during the wintertime, it had to be really extreme to not hang it out on the line- "6 feet of snow and 35 degrees below zero" wasn't a good excuse to "waste money/electricity" to use the dryer! :p
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Are you SURE we aren't sisters? LOL!

My mom wasn't quite as stern on her no-dryer philosophy as your mom was, but she ran close-seconds. ROTFLMAO!
 

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