Really OLD school…
How many of you have ever used one?
Wood with a brass scrub board. More below the fold…
Both of these are family antiques, this is the back of the one above. From the research I’ve been able to do, it dates from roughly 1914-16 since it lists all three cities.
This one is slightly different in that it has a glass washboard.
From the research, this one dates to around 1916-18. Both of them came to me from my grandmother on my mother’s side, and now reside on the wall in the laundry room.
And yes, I do know how to scrub clothes on one of them… And scrape the crap out of my knuckles… sigh
Those are very cool, oh and I bet you used them by lantern light. 😛
Candles man, or else the lantern used whale oil.
Yes – we did use them when I was a kid 😉
Used one, nope. Seen one used, yes. My Maternal Grandma had one along with a galvanized wash tub for clothes that had stubborn stains in them. Her daughters were the ones who did the labor. They all sat on the back porch, clucking along the gossip while they took turns working. Very peaceful time.
By the time I was around, she used a washing machine. Mounted on casters, the machine was round and used outside. Had a manual wringer you cranked to squeeze water out and hung on clothes line.
I can remember how excited my mother was when we upgraded to a washing machine with a powered wringer.
I reckoned that it was pretty cool too, because it was suddenly too dangerous to have us kids doing the wringing, where before it was our job to turn the handle on the manual wringer.
Ah. Those rollers were often called ‘manglers.’ And for a reason, especially once powered with either a gas engine or electric.
I must be a real youngster here. My parents bought a washing machine back around when I was born. It had a spin cycle. They kept the machine until 1983 when they moved into their new house they had just built. My dad had done some major repairs to it but it was still chugging along.
There’s one hanging on the basement wall next to the washing machine.
We also had a washing machine just as jpg mentions. Those wringers would do a number on you if you got your fingers caught in them…
Yep, got one in my preps…along with a washtub.
And I have and can use one.
But that’s women’s work..
(ducking and skedaddling away)
While I’m a little young to have used it, we’ve got a glass one on the wall at home. My Great Grandmother spoke often, though not fondly, of using it on a regular basis.
I was always told, maybe NFO or a commenter can confirm…. that the glass models were made during wartime when metal was at a premium. This seems borne out by your dates of manufacture above.
I’m not sure if it was that, or just that the glass wasn’t as prone to corrosion.
Dunno about washboards, but glass knives were mostly a Depression thing, until stainless steel became (relatively) cheap after WWII.
There are some antique kitchen knives that are near-as-dammit lookalikes of the KA-Bar bayonet. Also conveniently-sized “fruit knives” suitable for everyday carry for people who don’t like folding knives. And conveniently invisible to metal detectors, FYI.
If you’re interested in adding some sharp glass to your collection of stabby things, prices on eBay are amazingly reasonable.
I used to play in a jug band and one of the members ran a washboard. They make fine rhythm instruments.
Washboard? WTWM takes it to the next level:
“White Trash Washing Machine – Thunderstruck!”
https://youtu.be/sKZTdkvr4qo
Got one the first Christmas we were married from my in-laws. We had asked for a washer-dryer for Christmas with no great expectation of getting it. I got the board with a towel taped to it. As requested a washer and dryer. My In-laws have a country sense of humor. Mary Ann challenged me to actually use the board so I washed/scrubbed the 2 kitchen towels and hung them out to dry. She was amused/impressed, and snarky when she couldn’t figure out how to make the d**n thing work for her.
BTW. The in-laws showed up at our front door the next day at still-dark-out and kinda invited themselves in . I had not had my coffee so this was not hard. Couldn’t figure out what was going on as MaryAnn threw some clothes on and we played host. About 45 minutes later here comes a truck and they delivered a washer/dryer combination that fit in our apartment. As I said my in-laws have a country sense of humor. For all that they were small the appliances lasted us for 13 years and 2 moves across the country. Finally replaced when Katy (older daughter) arrived. Kids require A LOT of washing.
Used one, once, as an experiment to see how Grandma had done the clothes, ‘way back when. Primary was the machine in the backyard, with manual wringer. Accidentally ran my arm through it once … wasn’t fun.
I think there was a washboard somewhere in the basement when I was growing up, but I never used one.
As others said, I do recall a round washing machine with a wringer on the top, but I’m pretty sure it had been put in backup status and I don’t ever recall seeing it used.
My Grandmother in S Georgia had one. But I remember it having a plated steel finish instead of brass. I’ve used it a few times when visiting. Her round washer on rollers on the back porch had a motorized ringer on top. Got my fingers caught in it ONCE, didn’t do THAT again.
Grandparents had a galvanized one, never saw a wooden one, cool. Until the late fifties, mom used a square Maytag (I think) washing machine with a manual wringer. We got an automatic washer sometime in the late fifties, dryer took a bit longer. BTW that cast aluminum lid of the old Maytag makes a good camping griddle (remove the paint first).
When we got married in ’82, we didn’t have two pennies to rub together. My wife grew up dirt poor, so she taught me to wash clothes in the bath tub. Add a bit of soap, then stomp them for a while, Drain the soapy, and run in clean, then stomp them for a while. Drain, and rinse again, then wring them out, each holding an end while we twisted the clothes. Jeans were tough to do. Hung them in the house to dry, as it was so dry up in west Texas in the winter, the added humidity was a blessing. I found a scrub board after that, and it stayed by the tub. But stomping them is easier.
Had two, as with you, inherited. Inherited way too much stuff and some things had to leave, these among them.
There are better ways, that are easier on clothes, to run the Armageddon Laundry Service. A wash tub with a paddle is one, a 5 gallon bucket with a (clean, please) plunger is another.
I could use a manual wringer, though.
I remember sitting on the back porch with my grandmother and a few others using one of the wringers described above. What made this different was my grandfather had connect a small electric motor to the wringer using some small pulleys and a belt. We were feeding just-harvested purple hull peas through the wringer to shell the peas. No, there was no safety shield anywhere…
> shell the peas
*Not* one of my favorite childhood memories. But way better than digging walnuts out of their rinds…
Hey Old NFO;
Those are cool Family heirlooms, I’ve seen them used when I was young, older relatives were one step up from sharecroppers back in the day. Never used them though.
My mom had one. Had a wringer-washer I remember her using…and I was feeding in the wet clothes and got about half my forearm wrung before my mom noticed.
Yes, used it. And made soap, boiled the whites, used a hand wringer, and never, ever complained to Gammy and Aunt D about doing laundry ever again. (All this outdoors in Houston in late July.)
Another use is as a musical instrument.
As seen in Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, played by Wheezy (who goes all heavy metal and sets hers on fire…)
All- Thanks for the comments, and yes, the move ‘up’ was to a Maytag with a mangler on top. Like everybody else, it sat on the back porch… And yes, it ‘bit’, as I learned the hard way!
Posted from my iPhone.
I’ve seen one used as part of a skittle band, but that’s as close as I ever got. My grandmother had one of those round washing machines with the power driven wringer (mangler). It had an emergency shut off on it in case something went wrong and the operator needed to simultaneously turn off the wringer and release the pressure on the rollers.
How did you get into my basement to take those pictures?
We have one each almost identical only a bit more worn. Wife actually used them back in the cloth diaper washing days (anyone remember those?) and first child, got most of the solids out before putting the things in the actual washing machine and I will never admit to using them on greasy rags with Lestoil, nossir, never… Good thing too, child 2 and 3 went modern disposable (the diaper, not the kid) 😉
MJ- When I stuck my hand in the mangler, grandma said, “Hurts, don’t it? Bet you won’t do that again, will ya?” Sigh…
Terra- LOL, no comment!
They have washboards at the camps in the backcountry at Philmont for the crews to wash their clothes.
I’ve never used one, oddly.
Peter- Yep, used one many moons ago out there…
LSP- Lucky you!