Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-12-21
INTERESTING TRIP
ON TRAIL OF THE
SO|LED SHIRT
Albuquerque Has Laundry
Equipped With Most Ingen-
iouS and Modern Contriv-
ances Known to Great In
duStry,

duStry,
II has been truthfully said that one
hair of the world doesn't know how
he other half lives. The successfui
merchant gives little thought TO the
factory work which developed ms
| goods nor. for that matter. to the
clerks who sell them. and the MAI In
the mansion knows little OF the man
in the hovel. It's a point of contact
| which doesn't probe deep. Take
laundries, rallied against for every
tear or stain--how many ever
of the complicated processes, the
preparation and labor which brings
| those same clothes in a neat bundle
on the promised day? True, II the
bundle should fail to arrive on the APP
| nointed day, the laundry suddenly as
sumes unlimited proportions OF gem
! eral cussedness. A tear in a favorite
| piece of linen is greatly deplored, n
the laundry is remembered. sometimes
| with words which wouldn't look well
in print. Did you ever stop to con-
| slider the fault might he In the linen ?
why. there are people who won't
stand the wear and tear of life--and
then we blame the circumstances
which bring TO light the weak points.
Perhaps the laundry is the circum-
| stance which proves your faulty linen.
An This philosophical m~eandering, be-
| cause of a visit to a steam laundry. In
| this city there Is a laundry, equipped
| with every modern Improvement, en-
| blowing something like seventy-five
people and sending their work
throughout New Mexico, Arizona and
as far west as Needles, Cal.
The Imperial Laundry represents
thousands of dollars in improved ma
chinerv, and the payroll shows sal
aries paid to the employees which
might astonish workers in other Ines
of business. The interior of the con-
Germ is a whir of industry, and II is
intensely interesting to inspect the
many processes of washing. drying,
starching and ironing. How many men
ever thought that each collar which
goes in his weekly wash passes
through forty-two stages before It ar
rive for daily wear? Forty-two diff
ferent people handle the collar and
over a dozen machines are used in the
cleansing process. Quite a bit Of work
for three cents. The machinery used
is the best and calculated to avoid the
wear and tear as much as possible.
Just the ironing of a shirt in the
Imperial Laundry is interesting and
proves ~conclusively that the machin-
cry is equipped to the best advantage
for the protection Of the material. The
shirt, s%prinkled hy a process which
will not allow the starch to stick, goes
first to the sleeve 'machine which irons
the sleeve only from cuff to elbow.
then the cuffer sfnooths the cuff by
mere pressure and not by any RUBBING
back and forth on the material. The
next operation is the yoker machine;
and after the yoke is irone h shirt
$3.50 A. A.. ,A-l.I,.I rl.,nr. 41ar,
the bosom press, which is an iron
press called the steam heated shoe.
The shirt is placed on the board with
eight t~hicknesses of felt, through
which hot air is blown from the
pump, keeping the felt dry. The hy-
draulic forces the board up against
the steam heated shoe. where it rests
until thoroughly ironed. which re-
quires only a few moments. After the
bosom press, the body ironer; then
the finished shirt goes to the hand
finisher, who, with the electric iron,
smooths u any wrinkle which might
have escaped the machinery. The
folder next, who places the several
tiny pins and band of paper which
take the shirts unwrinkled into the
perfect looking article of clothing
which the average man wears. The
work, while done with dispatch, has
not undergone one stage that would
injure good material. OF course.
shirts, like humans and the most OF
things, mundane, are not everlasting.
There has peer much talk about the
danger to laundry workers from the
machinery, but the improvements in
the last few years have practically
eliminated hat feature of the work.
The big flat work i%roners, weigh
ing IS, 900 pounds, are equipped with
guard rolls and an automatic safety
guard which will stop the machinery
at a touch.
The washing machines, ten In num-
Der, brass trimmed within to prevent
rust, and smooth finished throughout
so that the clothes viii not stand an
chance of tear, carry the clothes in a
revolving motion through seven diff
ferent waters, before they are placed
in the wringer. The drying contriv-
ances are of the latest mechanical de-
velopment, and include the automatic
%conveyer, dry room and the tumbler
dry room.
One portion of the large upstairs"
in the laundry is devoted to the hand
ironers, who handle all the ladies'
and children's wearing apparel and
some of the mems. One of the
yesterday volunteered the in
that she could iron twenty
five shirtwaists during the day, which
a small idea of what speedy and
necessarily perfect work the employees
turn out.
In substance, the visit to the I'm
perial laundry revealed wonderful
growth and development in laundry
work, and that Albuquerque has one
Of the largest laundry plants in the
A careful inspection OF
the machinery canno but convince
the most skeptical that the later inn
provements afford every protection
10 the clothes. There are several
girls who do nothing else but inspect
the clothes. darning and mending
the occasion requires.
All in all, il is a great industry.
TO meet the demands of mod
arn civilization. We could no more
i've without %laundries than without
cooks. and the demand has given rise
10 a finished and perfect system which
more perfect with the years.
The Imperial Laundry of this city.
controlled and operated by w. l..
Edgar and brother. T.. X. Edgar. has
from a small concern to "A
industry. n Is not only
he largest laundry in New Mexico, but
Is modern as any in the country.
A Simple Safeguard for Mothers
Mrs. ID. Gilkeson, 1926 Insles Ave,
Ohio, gained wisdom
BY experience. MY little girl had a