The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-04-10
WASHING BY WHOLESALE.
ROW A BIG LAUNDRY IS RUN IN
NEW YORK.
Big Buildings Devoted TO the Bust
ness he Work Done Entirely by
Machines-Ta1k with a Manager

exist some managed by the robust
daughters of the Emerald Isle, some by
dusky maidens, and the rest by Celes-
tials, the big laundries get the big bun
dies of soiled linen. Like everything
else washing and ironing have devel-
oped into business of considerable size
and importance. The washerwoman
nowadays has to compete with ma
chinery and steam power. The washtub
becomes huge revolving drum, the
ringing machine centrifugal dryer, the
clothes line in the back yard frame in
a drying box, and the flatiron an iron
roller six feet in length. In buildings
rising story upon story an entire floor is
devoted to each branch of the
work. The bundles are gathered
by covered wagons and hundreds
of women and girls are employed
in the various branches. A days stock
of linen in big hotel can be washed
dried, and ironed in six hours. Every
week day is wash day in a big laundry,
and in the middle of the summer season
work is carried on during half of Sun
day. In big laundry on the west side
OF town the managers office is as com
Portable and neatly furnished as that of
wholesale dry goods merchant. The
manager is a man of business, having
dealings with hotel proprietors and the
agents of steamship and steamboat lines
and palace car companies The plant
cost more than 500, 900 and the concern
is under the control of stock company.
1T has facilities for turning out rs, 900
pieces Of linen in day. In the busy
season an ocean steamship will send 49,
600 pieces to be done in a day. The
company has built tall, well lighted,
and well ventilated building of brick
with stone trimmings. One l00-horse
power engine and two 200-horsc power
boilers furnish the power and the steam
and hot water
"a laundry is the poorest place in the
world to show the use of money!" the
manager remarked in the course of
general talk about the business More
than 500, 600 in hard money have been
spent in this laundry, but if | should
take business man through here and
tell him what it costs he would not be
licve me. The cost of the steam pipes
that are out of sight in boxes was i'm
mense, and wood was not small item.
We must have the best of dried lumber for
the drying boxes. Then come the wash.
ing machines and the ironing machines.
OF course. we are not working up to our
limit all the time. but we must be ready
for a rush any day in summer. We do
the work of city hotels, ocean steam
ships, river and Sound steamboats,, and
the Pullman Palace Car company. Our
biggest job lately was the linen of the
sleeping cars that took to and brought
from Washington the Inauguration
crowd. With trains going out every two
hours we had to be lively in order to fur
nish q stock of clean linen. Besides
using our own wagons we had to hire
wagons to collect and deliver the bun
dies We do little piece work, but we
don't cater to that trade. We have, per-
haps, forty or fifty customers in this
neighborhood, but the work for them
does not amount to much. That is a
separate branch Of the business.
In the rear of the office half of the
floor was given to the receiving and de-
liverng of bundles, and the rest to
washing machines. On the floor were
piles of dirty linen, some comparatively
clean and others Extensively dirty. They
were collected in big canvass bags
marked with the name of the hotel or
steamship. The linen is assorted and
piled according to the degree of I'M
cleanliness. The di1tiest piles come
from the kitchens. Each collection is
washed, dried, and ironed separately,
and each assortment is washed separate
ly special washing machine taking the
dirtiest Along the sides of the room
were big wooden iron-strapped drums
reaching nearly to the ceilings, with lines
OF iron pipes on top and underneath. In
the middle of the room were several
smaller washing machines and back of
them were three centrifugal dric7s re-
volving at the rate of 800 times MN
ute. In the big drums are two revolving
cylinders with arms that work in oppo-
site directions. Soap is bought in casks
by the hundred pounds, and when ready
for use is melted and in condition to
be Immediately taken up by the water.
Through openings in the big drums
pieces of of linen are thrown as farmer
throws hay. One set of arms catches
them and throws them about. When
they fall another set catches them and
shakes them. About $50 sheets or POO
napkins and towels can be washed in
each drum. For the dirtest linen special
soap and sal soda are used. The pieces
tumble about and the dirt falls out and
is carried away through pipes In the
smaller washing machines the pieces are
thrown into cylinder of perforated iron
that turn few times one way and then
reverses. The revolutions must be at
certain speed to insure thorough wash
ing.
When washed the pieces are packed
in the upright centrifugal drying ma
chimes from the sides of the axle. When
the machines are in motion the water
flies out and the clothes gradually shrink
away from the centre and pack them
selves solidly against the side. The
machines can be run up to 1000 revolu-
tons a minute, but it is not considered
necessary. The pieces are not thorough
ly dried in the machines, but sufficiently
SO to he handled. They are sent up in
elevators to the drying boxes. The floor
of the Mushroom is as wet as the deck of
a ship, and the planks have to be laid
and calked like those of a shin In the