Geez, I hope Donna from JUST ME doesn't mind me stealing her thunder. She has a really good post today about old Maytag Washers. When I was a lttle one, maybe 1952, 1953. I would come home from school and lean over the kitchen table, watching my mother put clothes through the wringer. I was amazed that her fingers never got caught. She was so good at it, it was almost like watching a machine, never missing a beat. Sometimes the clothes would be too thick and it would make the white doo hickey on the end of the wringer snap up with a loud crack. I would jump at the sound of it, but without so much as a blink of an eye, she would push it back down and continue on. Well, one day, the old fingers were a little too slow, and I can still picture her hand quickly being devoured by the rollers. For some reason, the doo hickey did not snap up and mothers hand went in with the fingers bent. There she was, yelling, "Marlene, pull the plug." Me frantickly trying to follow the wire to where it meets the wall. And knowing that if I don't get this right, I am in BIG trouble. Three broken fingers were the result. From that day on, the fingers on her right hand were slightly bent at an odd angle, and only her and I knew the details of how they got that way. And thats my memory of a Maytag Wringer Washer.
I had a wringer washer exactly like the one in that picture!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was helping my Mama one time I got my head scarf caught in that wringer. Thank goodness I did have the sense to pull the scarf from the back toward my face and jerked it off.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading both of your memories of the wringer washers! I had a wringer washer too!! Just a great post today!! Hugs, Grams
ReplyDeleteOooh, the broken fingers made me cringe! No wonder you haven't forgotten that day. I can't imagine doing wash that way. I have always wanted one of these as a decoration in my house, they are hard to find.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could still purchasae those washers. They last forever!
ReplyDeleteBy the 1950's my mom had a washer called an "Easy Spin Dryer." But I used a wringer washer in the 1960's to do laundry in the garage. My daughter was born December 1961 and by that spring was washing her diapers & baby clothes using that ugly thing. In the dead of winter I had to go to the laundramat because the washer had to be drained so it wouldn't freeze. Linda in Washington
ReplyDeleteHow very interesting to see the photo. Never seen anything like one of those. Maybe they just never got to England. I remember my Mother boiling the washing up on the gas stove and when rinsed in the sink, I had to put it all through the old hand wringer, feeding the stuff in with one hand and turning the handle with the other. Used to terrify me.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post.And you my genration.Shame on us.We stand in front of amicrowave and say hurry up
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