Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-02-14
OLD CLOTHES MADE NEW.
RIVAL EXPERTS GIVE INFORMATION
ABOUT A CURIOUS CRAFT.


ments That Have Seen Better Days.
The Old Fashioned, Simple Process, and
the Methods of Scientific Cleaner.
One whole side of the shop was hung with
what some people call ''pants," in regimental
order, dangling two by two from frames in
serried column, awaiting occupancy by
their several owners. All of them were spicl1
and span, like new, because they had just
passed through the cleaning mill. In fact,
that was precisely what the establishment
might properly be termed. The sign outside
said: ''Steam Dyeing and Securing"
A rather dilute specimen of youthful man.
hood with insipient side whiskers and shrill.
voice was engaged at the moment in submit
ting to the notice of the attendant grease
spot of considerable size on that portion of
the trousers he wore which is ordinarily con-
cealed from view by the coat tails.
81 told you when you brought them here"
said the shopman, ''that cod liver oil was the
one thing we couldn't remove from cloth.
The only thing can suggest is to cut out the
stain and put in a patch
The young man posed himself between two
opposite mirrors, and with coat tails stiiAup-
lifted, surveyed with evident dissatisfaction
an endless perspective of stylish customers,
with unpleasant stains on the seats of their
pantaloons, extending in line toward Penn
sylvania avenue.
II don't think would care to have that
done. They're my very best trousers, you
see," he replied, gravely, and a moment later
he walked out.
The writer, who had come in just in time
to witness this performance, asked how it
was that pantaloons and other clothes were
cleaned.
''The process is very simple" the shop man
said. sit is merely matter of soap and
hot water. A pair of pants, say-and the
same thing applies to other cldthing-is first
thrown into big kettle of hot-not boiling
water and allowed to soak for half an hour.
Then they are taken out and laid upon an in
clined trough like table for securing. This is
done with sponge, a stiff brush and quanti-
ties of ordinary soft soap. First the outside
of the garment is cleaned by rubbing with
the sponge and scraping with the brush, and
next the inside, turned inside out, is treated
in the same way.
"When this has been done, the pants are
thoroughly rinsed in three successive editions
Of cold water, and after being wrung out,
are hung up in the hot air room to dry. FL
nally they are pressed out, and then they are
ready for delivery. In cases where goods left
here are very moderately dirty we only dry
clean them, that is to say, the spots are taken
out with benzine and they are pressed. Like
most cleaners, we do mending and repairing,
and it is no unusual thing for us to have
customer who takes it for granted that, for
the small amount we charge, the clothes he
wishes to have cleaned will be made over
again, as to buttons and patches, like new,
incidentally. Very many articles are left
on our hands, mostly by people who find
! themselves unable to pay the charges upon
| them. Impecuniousness is the ordinary
reason for such failure, but it would surprise
you to know how many of our customers die
or get into jail, SO that they can't very well
take their things away. All that line of coats
and pants along the rear wall belonged once
| to men now dead"
Elbow do you dispose of such thingss' asked
the newspaper man.
s'To ordinary customers. People often
come in here and inquire if we have this gar
ment or that to sell cheap. As rule we
have something of the sort desired. We
never sell to the second hand clothing men,
because they don't pay fair prices"
The view of this interesting subject taken
by an expert whose sign hung out only few
doors away was very different. Said he:
SIT must have been one of these cheap
cleaners that you interviewed There is a
primitive method practiced by such as they,
with soap and warm water, which does very
well for amateurs But did you ever see a
grease spot destroyed by soap and water!
Hardly, think. 1t will disappear Temporal
rily, only to come out again as offensive as
ever after little dust has had time to settle
upon it. To really cleanse pair of panta-
looms, for instance, g. much more elaborate
method of procedure must be adopted. In
this establishment scientific system does
the work To begin with, all the mems
clothing that is brought in is divided into
three classes-very dirty, moderately dirty
and comparatively Clean The three grades
represent pretty accurately three correspond
ing classes of customers. 1t is undesirable
to mix them up Suppose-to take an ex
IRENE case-the germs of some disease were
present in certain coat: they might b
communicated to other garments, and oul
business would suffer. Therefore it is that
after the clothes to be stitched have hae
numbers stitched into them with white cot
ton. for purposes of Identification, the fore
man divides them up.
"And the very dirty oness"
ssThey have first applied to them solution
of chloroform, ether and benzine in equa
parts with water. Next they are placed il
machine by which steam is forced through
them at a tremendous pressure. What i
the results can best explain it by referring
to the chief disadvantage of the primitiv
process. Consider, if you please, that eacl
piece of cloth has three sides, a right side
a wrong side and an inside The inside i
the web and wool of the material. Get bat
grease spot on your trousers, of course i
goes right through the stuff and no amour
of ordinary soap and water will remove it
You may sponge it out of the right side an,
the wrong side, but it still remains in tn
substance of the inside, and sooner or late
it will reappear on the surface. We avoi'
all this by forcing the dirt out on the sur
face with the steam blast and washing i
away as it comes After the steam tw
more applications Of the benzine, ether AM
chloroform are made; tho article of dress
dried in a 'whiz,' or revolving tub, by cen
trifugal force; it is then hung up in the no
room to dry, and is subsequently pressed TO
delivery. There is no sort of spot that vii
not come out after that treatment. Moder
ately dirty things we treat but once with tn
chlopoform solution before steaming, an
clothes that are only slightly soied W
merely sponge the stains out of and fms
with the iron."
'sAnQ now Is IL aDouC WDmeHS dresses I'LL
such thingsW
"For them we use mostly what we call tn
dry process. This means the application O
chloroform and ether. Both are wonderful
volatile, you know, leaving the fabric dry
second or two after they are put on. Jus
how they are used is a secret of the trad
which I am not at liberty to disclose. Mos
cleaners employ bengzine literally, but in thi
shop as little Of it is employed as possible
though it is powerful cleaner, because it
a greasy fluid, and clothes treated with
catch dust readily afterward. The most dill
ficult thing to clean is velvet. To make
like new costs about 81 a yard, and few Gus
toners are willing to pay that."-Washing
ton Star.
Caprifcation Needed.
One thing our figs yet lack is ''caprifcs
tion," which is a technical word, signifyin
fertiliZing Fig trees are male and fema