The Queen in our laundry
I come from a long line of infants. And since I predate the age of the disposable diaper, I remember the long lines of cotton cloth, arranged on the line to dry. They didn’t get there, without a lot of physical effort on the part of my mother.
In the beginning, there was a “mangler” which was used to reduce the amount of water left in any particular sheet. We were all taught, early on, what to disengage if someone’s arm was busy getting squished.. That never happened, because we knew it could happen.
Sometime around the point when I was learning to read, the family upgraded to MODERN. Possibly with the help of Eatons. Out with the tub washer, and in with the Speed Queen. That beast ruled the laundry area until I went away to higher learning. It was multi-purpose. Not only did it spin wash our clothes, but it could calm a screeching infant with the dance routine. I was so impressed that every home, since, has had something similar in the list of heavy appliances. Even my children have made that a requirement in their lifestyle, avoiding the discomfort of a laundrymat queue.
I fully intend to learn the particulars of our Queen, but a quick search shows that the firm went into its trade of saving family sanity before WW1. And the long life of ours shows that they didn’t skimp on mechanical quality. My father may (or may not) have replaced a pulley belt, but the company earned a special place in our home. If it wasn’t for a lack of space, the machine might still live at my mother’s home, because it was revered.
I know that my two grandmothers had tub washers (and large families). Perhaps it was a requirement, by a forward seeing government. Sanitation for the nation. And a freshl7 dried diaper in from the line, had an odour that made making more babies seem like a sensible thing to do. At least, that’s what I believe.
