Popular Science Monthly 



hose for filling either the wash boiler or 

 a washing machine. This means the 

 ardtious carrying of water in buckets. 



The remedy is a complete change. 

 The tubs should be out in the room 

 instead of in a corner. There should 

 be more window lighting and a 

 stronger lamp located above the tubs. 

 The laundry trays themselves should 

 be shallower in form and their bases 

 six or eight inches higher. There 

 should be faucets suitable for hose at- 

 tachment and set high above the rim 

 of the tubs to be out of the way of 

 the washing. 



The laundry stove should adjoin the 

 tubs at their left, so that the boiled clothes 

 can be lifted directly into the rinse 

 tub, for the washing processes are usual- 

 ly rounted from left to right. If a wash- 

 ing machine is used, however, it may be 

 desirable to give this location to it. The 

 best location for a washer depends upon 

 the type of the machine and upon the 

 style of wringer, if it be stationary or 

 sliding or swinging. 



If one uses portable tubs the bench 

 should be slightly higher than is 

 usual, the exact height being deter- 

 mined by individual experiment. 

 Twenty-four inches is right if the tubs 

 are for rinsing only. If one uses a wash- 

 board, twenty to twenty-two inches is 

 preferable. Galvanized iron is better 

 than wood because it is much lighter 

 to handle and because wooden tubs 

 shrink and leak if not used for a 

 period. 



When washing in the kitchen it is 

 well to have an elastic mat to stand 

 upon, for this lessens weariness. If a 

 cement floored basement is used a little 

 slatted framework of laths is good to 

 stand upon not only to save weariness 

 but also to keep the feet dry and warm. 



If one can possibly afford it a 

 washer is to be substituted for the 

 back-breaking washboard. A hand ])ow- 

 er washer entails as much wearisome 

 work as hand rubbing. Test it by at- 

 taching a spring-balance to the lever 

 of a hand power washer filled with wa- 

 ter and clothes. Pull on the balance in- 

 stead of direct on the lever. The han- 

 dle moves through an arc of twenty- 

 eight inches and the pull is twenty 

 pounds as the balance will show. Mul- 



97 



tiplying two and one-third feet (the arc 

 of movement) by twenty (the pounds of 

 pull) you get forty-six and two-thirds 

 foot-pounds of work for every stroke of 

 the handle. The average is thirty 



strokes per minute. This means four- 

 teen hundred foot-pounds every minute. 

 An ordinary washing is seldom less than 

 three fillings of the machine at ten 

 minutes per filling. 



The real advantages of a washer 

 are that scalding, sterilizing water can 

 be used and the boiling process can be 

 omitted, and that the application of 

 power can be taken from weary woman's 

 back and arms and tranferred to the 

 stronger muscles of a man, or to me- 

 chanical power. 



Some form of power washer is what 

 every home laundress deserves. The 

 cheapest is water powder and this is 

 available only in cities where there is 

 unlimited water under high pressure. 

 These do not have a motor wringer. 



The woman of the farm or village 

 can attach her hand power w'asher 

 adding the proper wheel to carry a 

 belt, to the farm gasoline or oil engine. 

 This, too, means wringing with a 

 wringer turned by hand. For tw^enty 

 dollars to thirty-five dollars a splendid 

 power washer is available with an at- 

 tached, motor-driven wringer. The 

 higher priced ones have also a wash 

 bench. The power wringers are 

 stationary, swinging or sliding. 



The city woman can have that best 

 of all servants, electricity. A one-sixth 

 horse power motor can be attached by 

 a belt to a hand-power washer. This is 

 shown in a photograph on the foregoing 

 page. Machine, motor and accessories, 

 without wringer.cost twenty-eight dollars. 



For forty-five dollars to one hun- 

 dred dollars one can get excellent elec- 

 tric washers with power wringers in- 

 cluded and the saving of woman- 

 power for higher uses will justify the 

 investment. The cost of current is 

 very small, usually two to four cents 

 an hour. A fifty dollar washer should 

 last at least ten years, which is five 

 dollars a year for depreciation. Count- 

 ing interest on the investment of fifty 

 dollars this is three dollars yearly. 

 Current cost varies but ten cents a 

 week, a generous allowance. 



