Washing clothes

[jml755]

Bird, I'd forgotten about using a chamois for drying a car instead of a towel. That was back when I really cared about what my car looked like. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Now, as long as it runs and has gas, I'm fine with it. You're right, a wringer washer would be the perfect thing for squeezing the water out.

Finally had to wash the truck last night after a day running through the mud on my property. Too much mud in the wheels made for a rough ride on the freeway coming home. I just let the sun dry it off. Too lazy to try and find that old chamois. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] First bath it's had since about August.

[Bird]

The first pressure washer I ever saw was in Dad's Texaco service station in 1956 in Marietta, OK. There was only one nozzle and it shot a solid stream about the size of a lead pencil with enough pressure to knock the paint off the bricks in the wash/grease/oil change bay. You definitely wanted to avoid hitting yourself or anyone else with that stream of water. We neve used it on the painted surface of a car or truck. Many of our customers back then were farmers and they'd have lots of mud on the bottom of both their cars and pickups. So we put them on the lift and used the pressure washer to wash the BOTTOM of the vehicles, especially all the grease fittings, drive shaft, u-joints, etc. Then we'd grease everything because that thing would also clean all the grease out of tie rod ends and such. And of course, everything had grease zerks back then.

[Pat]

Bird, The summer before my senior year of HS started I worked at a service station (not just a filing station) and one of my jobs was chassis lube and pressure wash of the underside of oil field company cars and trucks. I took wheelbarrow loads of mud out from under some of them (and not just a little crude oil.) The "gun" of the washer had a stock and hand holds like a tommy gun. The stream wasn't steady but pulsated with the pump strokes. The stream never stopped while the unit was on but it wasn't a smooth flow. I could hit a 55 gal drum well over 50 feet away. That thing was a lethal weapon.

That station was a Mobil station with the flying red horse on its signs (Pegasus.) My dad worked as a gauger for "Aunt Maggie" as the Magnolia Pipe Line Company ( the guys who got the oil to the refinery) was referred to by the gaugers and pumpers.

A tub of water with a hand crank wringer comprised of rubber rollers was often seen along side the gas pumps.

My mom's Maytag wringer washer had a pressure release on the wringer. If you let something too big get in it the release would pop off and allow the rollers to get wide apart. I suppose this would help save damage to the operator too.

Pat

[Bird]

Pat, I'd forgotten about the tub or small barrel with the hand crank wringer that a lot of stations used to have. The pressure washer we had didn't pulse, it was a solid stream, and as yours, was dangerous.

We only had the Texaco station from June to late November, 1956, in Marietta. All the traffic was routed through town because of a bridge being out on U.S. 77 north of Marietta, but when they got the bridge fixed, so the highway traffic bypassed us, and the drought was killing the farmers (even the Chevrolet dealership next door went under), so business went from very, very busy to almost nothing. We got lucky when a retiree came to town looking for a little something to do, checked the books, and bought the station.

Then Dad bought a Mobil station in Plano, TX, so we moved to Texas about Thanksgiving, 1956.

[Pat]

Bird, I have been on the lookout for an operable wringer machine (to cannibalize) for years (decades?) but no joy. I have priced hand wringers sort of like the ones stations used to have but they always impressed me as too pricey. I wanted one for a couple chamois which I like to use to dry a vehicle after washing it. Towels just are not as good and the imitation chamois is not as good either. None of the micro fiber miracle cloth things beat a good chamois for drying the car with minimum spotting and are superior for mirrors and windows too.

Pat

[Bird]

Yep, Pat, sometimes the newer stuff isn't as good as what we used years ago. I haven't seen anyone use a real chamois in a long time. I use a terry cloth towel myself; not because it's the best thing, but because it's what I have. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Most of the commercial car wash places in this area are pretty expensive, but we have one that does their "Express Wash" for $5 and I'm lazy enough to use them frequently. You don't even get out of the car/pickup, just put it in neutral, and it pushes you through a car wash with revolving brushes, soap, rinse, blow dry, and whan you come out the other end, they hand dry the car and even there they're just using terry cloth towels.

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] This discussion has triggered a few "remembers", and one of them is the Maytag Washing Machine Engines (we called them motors.) Each time the clever appliance store guy sold a new-fangled electric washing machine, that meant ONE MORE washing machine motor for us for us kids to cabbage onto and use to power a bicycle or a home made "rail job". Those little engines had big flywheels and a kick starter; plus the long exhaust hose that Egon mentioned. There were lots of Maytags converted to electric motors so we always asked our grandma if she knew anyone who had done so in the hope of finding an engine. That was in the early-early-EARLY fifties. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Yea verily... I recall home made go carts powered by Maytag gas engines. An even simpler conversion was to use a self powered reel type lawn mower with the reel removed and a change of pulley size to fulfill the need for speed. You got the the whole rear end and wheels ready to install as the back end of your cart.

Pat

[Ally]

Well, I guess because my grandparents were in the city as far back as my memory goes ('50s), I only recall the wringer washer and clothes line running the length of the back yard with a notched pole to hold it up midway. (Grandma always warned me to keep my fingers away from the ringer when she was doing laundry and I was always tempted to stick a finger in just to see why. Typical boy. LOL).

However, I still have my grandma's copper wash tub with copper top (that we now use to store sheet music next to the piano). The handle brackets on the top and sides have a curved shape so you could use a broomstick to remove the top or move the tub around when hot.

Of all the TVs, computers, stereos, and crystal and sterling silverware we have in the house, I think I'd be most upset if someone came in and stole that wash tub.

I remember watching my grandmother use her ringer washer. I am so glad I live in today's world. I do love my clothes line though. It cuts down on my electricity bill for sure.

[crystal]

This is still my least favorite chore around the home, now if I could find a way to clone myself and the clone could just do the work.

I remember my mother had a wringer years ago and held onto it just for the history behind it, but I am thankful for my extra large wash. I could not imagine having the kids I do (and husband) and have to do everything by hand now.