The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-01-27
in ! BIG LAUNDRY.
Eoz7 Soi1e6 Garments Are Handled
and Made to Look Clean.

Eo9, soile6 Garments Are Handled
and Made to Look Clean.
AS soon as laundry package comes
in it must be opened, the contents
counted and each article marked. Ev-
cry patron is given private mark,
some combination Of letters and fig
ures. The clerk then fills out printed
slip with the name and mark Of the
customer, the Eumbcr and kind Of gar
lacnts sent and the page and line on
which the entry is made in the record
book, so that it may be easily looked
up should occasion arise. The slip IS
hung up before one Of the boxes rang
ed along the side of the room, like the
boxes of a postotice on a large scale.
The garments are now ready to be sent
down into the wash room.
It is interesting to follow the soiled
garments through the different process
es that transform them to the state OF
crisp whiteness. They are first packed
into the big iron washers. Revolving
cylinders serve as washboards, through
whose perforations the soapsuds splash
in showers Of foam. Sometimes Wo-
man superintends this department, but
more often it is given over to man,
for the work is heavy, and 4 more IN
enviable position than in the close,
steamy basement can hardly be i'm
agined. The process Of washing re-
quires between two and three hours,
after which the clothes are packed into
the condenser and are sent up to go
! through the process Of starching.
The opening of the drier emits
wave of hot air and discloses rows Of
articles hung before hot steam pipes.
There seem to be machines for every
thing-for moisteninS the clothes to
Just the right point, for drying and
Smoothing out sheets and such large
articles, which pass between the cyl
inders covered with absorbent ma
terial, and for polishing shirt bosoms
and collars. cuffs and neckbands Of
shirts.
The girls must be more or less skilled
in running these poiishers. The shirts
are stretched over a kind Of bosom
board, and the hot roller passes over
them. The power is regulated by the
foot. In the large laundries there are
machines for ironing the bodies of
shirts and such plain garments, but IN
many this work and, in fact, nearly all
but the polishing is done by hand. The
shirts are thea carefully folded and
sent out to be sorted.
The collars come through the polish
ers perfectly 1at and shapeless. a girl
passes them over to the dampener,
which danlpens them along the seam
and hands them over to her companion
at the shaper Under her guidance
they begin to assume the appearance
Of collars once more, and she finishes
her work by giving each collar deft
little turn around the horn attachment.
!, st the ironing boards in one room
skillful laundresses are ironing gar
ments Of all forms and sizes. Only one
of long experience is intrusted with
the fine tucks. frllls and embroideries
galore. Some Of the customers have
special rules and regulations governing
their laundry. and such articles are
designated by q bit of string fastened
in the buttonholc The position Of the
string indicates whether it Is rush
work or whether it is to be extra stiff
starched, ctc-Lewiston Journal.