This month’s mystery item is...a clothes mangle.
Image of the museum's mangle
During the Victorian period some devices were invented to ease household tasks, by the 19th Century small domestic mangles were being developed and became very popular.[1] Before this time it was only large houses with laundry facilities or laundry services who used this type of equipment.[2] A mangle is a mechanical laundry aid which was used to squeeze water out of wet laundry. Powered by hand the handle would turn the two rollers, which were attached by cogs, which would wring out the water. The rollers were normally made out of beech or maple wood, however by the beginning of the 20th Century rubber rolls were introduced. Our mangle is made by a company in Devon. With two wooden rollers, its metal frame work has been painted green and reads ‘James Wright Okehampton’.
Close up of the flower design on the side of the mangle
The Engineer’s and Mechanic’s Encyclopaedia describes a mangle as
‘a domestic machine of great utility employed in smoothening linen, as a substitute for the heated irons extensively used for the same purpose. In the common mangle, as most of our readers well know, the linen or other articles to be mangled, are wrapped round wooden rollers, which are upon a solid level bed or floor, and upon the rollers is placed a large oblong box which is filled with stones, or other heavy substances, in order that they may press with great force upon the rollers, while the box is moved backwards and forwards upon them, by means of a handle attached to an upper roller or windlass, to which straps from each end of the moving box are attached. By this machine, the operation of mangling is very well done, but the labour is excessive on account of the necessity of frequently arresting and changing the motion of the heavy box’.[3]
The first version of the mangle was the Box Mangle, which consisted of a heavy box on rollers which was pushed across laundry; this was developed during the 17th Century.[4] This process would have been a laborious task involving at least two people. By the 18th and 19th Century’s new mangle ideas were being developed in order to make the process easier. Systems using gears, leavers and handles were introduced in order to make it a less laborious job and easier for one person to do.
Image of a box mangle.[5]
In this time clothes and linens were washed in tubs, with a ‘dolly’ being used to wash the clothes. A dolly is a pole with one end shaped like a cone or a three legged stool. This was plunged into the boiling water with the clothes to help remove dirt. The later invention of washboards were quicker and easier to use than the dollies, and involved rubbing the laundry against the metal rungs. The washing was then wrung out through the mangle and hung out to dry. This was a long and laborious process, so the invention of the washing machine must have been very welcomed.
Many of the items needed to wash clothes can be seen at the museum, so if you are in the area why not come in and have a look!
[1] Object Lessons, ‘Clothes Wringer, Victorian, Original’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.objectlessons.org/houses-and-homes-victorians/clothes-wringer-victorian-original/s59/a936/. (Accessed 18/06/12).
[2] Object Lessons, ‘Clothes Wringer, Victorian, Original’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.objectlessons.org/houses-and-homes-victorians/clothes-wringer-victorian-original/s59/a936/. (Accessed 18/06/12).
[3] Hebert, L. (1838) The Engineer’s and Mechanics Encyclopaedia Volume II. London: Thomas Kelly: 125-126.
[4] Wise Geek, ‘What is a Mangle?’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-mangle.htm. (Accessed 18/06/12).
[5] Old and Interesting, ‘Box Mangles’, 2012. [Online] Available from: www.oldandinteresting.com/box-mangles.aspx. (Accessed 18/06/12).
A Day in the Life, ‘Washing Day’, 2012. [Online] Available from: http://a-day-in-the-life.powys.org.uk/eng/home/eo_wash.php. (Accessed 18/06/12).
No comments:
Post a Comment