Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-14
IN A STEAM LAUNDRY.
HOW DIRTY CLOTHES ARE CLEANED
ON A LARGE SCALE.

HOW DIRTY CLOTHES ARE CLEANED '
ON A LARGE SCALE. t.
The First Operation-Soap Dissolved in
Hot Water-Through the WriDger-In
the Drying Reconstructed and Un-
starched Ciothing-Ironing.
There isn't much time lost in a laundry |
in any department. Thirty-five people, in
cinding drivers and receivers and deliverers |
of goods, will handle 1000 shirts, 200 dozens |
of cuffs and collars and 10000 pieces of or
dinary clothing in week, and while doing |
it, and wrap it up for delivery in two hours
and quarter The first operation is in the
wash room. Here are seen rows of washing
machines, circular with an inner perforated
revolving and reversing chamber for the
clothes. The clothes are thrown into this,
l25 shirts at time, or the equal of that in
other pieces, and clear filtered water run in
on them and the chamber started. Making
a dozen revolutions in one direction, it auto
matically reverses and makes the same num-
ber in the other, the clothes falling back on
the ribbed sides. Bar soap is something that
is almost unknown in a steam laundry. The
soap used is received in large barr els
Of clear white shavings and is called 'chipped
laundry" One of these barrels makes eight
OF suds being thrown into large vat and
there boiled with water until it has been
fully dissolved and reduced to about the CON
sistency of buttermilk. This is always kept
in stock cool, and poured into the washers
while the inner chamber is still revolving,
the motion being between the perforated
shell of this chamber and the water tight
covering The clothes are washed, rinse,l
| and blued in this tub by the aid of valves,
the first suds being warm, the second boiling,
and the rinsing cold The clothes are rinsed
and then blued, the full operation requiring
but an hour and twenty minutes
| From the washer the clothes go to the
wringer, though this machine gets its name
simply because it performs the same service
as the household wrinGer. 1t looks more Ike
a boiling KETTLE though investigation shows
| it to be double, the inner one being perfor-
ated and revolving 800 times a minute. The
clothes are thrown in this, the power put on,
and being thrown against the perforated
sides, are dried in few minutes The kettle
takes in 100 large, heavy linen sheets at
| time drying them in thirty minutes. From
this the clothes go up stairs to the drying
and starching room. Cuffs, collars and shirts
and such articles as must be starched are
thrown into a revolving and reversing ma
chine similar TO the washer, and are then
passed through an ordinary wringer, if
necessary, or hung up to dry. The dry room
is surrounded by steam pipes, the "horsen on
which the clothes are hung being pulled out
on rollers while the clothes are being hung.
and then pushed back. 1t matters not whether
the sun is shining and the wind blowing, or
the rain coming down bucketful at drop
In twenty or thirty minutes the clothes come
out dry. The unstarched goods go to the
mangler, and the starched ones to the upper
story to be ironed.
There are not many cheats about steam
laundry, but there is one in mangling which
has never been detected The mangler is q
series of blanketed rolls, with a large cen.
tral steel cylinder, kept very hot The
clothes are passed through this twice, coming
out with every appearance of having been
ironed. Two out of three ladies sending
; family washing to the laundry accompany il
b with a note directing the laundryman tc
d starch their tablecloths or spreads Doe
!, he do it, Not often. Instead, he takes tn,
/ clothes as they come from the wringer
straightens them out and runs them through
the mangler damp, giving them frequently al
extra turn through the machine. They com,
! out stiff and glossy, but without starch, anC
the housewife never knows the difference
The mangler is one of the greatest pieces o
machinery used in laundry. On larg,
clothes or sheets, two girls operate it, one ol
: either side, and in the course of an ordinar,
day they will run through or iron 10000 T.
L, 900 pieces. On towels and NAPKINS fou
girls can work at machine very comfort
ably. The mangler has a pressure of 20
pounds to the inch, and if the girls ever &c
a finger in akead of the cloth ii is gone SURF
Starched articles of clothing go to anothe
department after leaving the drying room
Cuffs and collars are ironed in machin
somewhat similar to the mangler; first, how
ever passing through a dampener, two rut
Der rolls running over steel roll, the bottoI
of which is in water The linen is the
passed and repassed between the ironin
rolls, the pressure producing the gloss
then passes through shaping machine,
very simple contrivance, similar to that use
4. in other branches of trade for the same pul
pose Turned down collars, however, al
submitted to different process. They al
run through curious little machine, wit
an upper roller, to which water is conveyec
This runs along the seam, where the bend
to be made, and passing on out the collar
l &c +,-,1
of this same kind in buttoning stiffly starcht
n pieces, employed altogether in u laundr
and to limited extent outside The lau
dry girls call it splitting on the backs" il
elegantly, it may be, but nevertheless e
pressively. The button hole is simply W
slightly on the back side, and this done Il
button may be slipped through the stiffe
button hole with the greatest ease.
The ironing of a shirt is an interestiI
feature of laundry work. 1t is curio
point that an iron is never used except
finishing, and then only a perforated ir,
which, while used in the same way as a s,
iron, ,kcannot be called by that name Befo
its use, too, the shirt is ironed SO that
would be acceptable to nine out of ten me
The shirt first goes to the bosom ironer. tt
is young lady attired more like scho
NJ. mistress than laundry girl The shirt
~ first fastened to board, or an iron ha,
printing press bed, shaped like the old shi
board, clamped down at the neck and bottol
and run under steel roller heated by G
- from the center, the gas fame being fam
re by air until it is brought to a blue be-
~ Passing under this roller and back again, t
'sa bosom is pretty and glossy enough for b
~ event. The shirt then goes to the band iron
mi. and the young lady who operates this mi
|, n have considerable skill, more, indeed, tn
ug. any one would imagine. Her work
md simply to iron and shape the neck and wri
as bands between heated wheel rollers. F
quently collar is sent back to the laundl
J. the owner saying it is not his, as it does I
=, fit him The trouble really is in the see
3D. ingly simple shaping and ironing Of
neckband. The important part of the VIC
is then done, and the shirt goes to the be
ironer The machine used here is also {
ru heated cylinder, which performs its We
IL perfectly and very rapidly. Then the s.
tary ironer takes the shirt and finishes SOL
thing that seems already finished. With
exception of this finishing and the spril
hing Of shirts, there is not q move abou
~ steam laundry not done by machinery
IL