WASHING MACHINE LORE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 18

WASHING MACHINE LORE

If you are.going to make a success of your washing work—which means much more than- merely getting the clothes clean, by the way—you are emphatically not going to do an average washing for a .household of five in one hour, writes a correspondent in the "Cape Times." First of all, the weekly wash must be sorted into "loads," according to colour, type, nature of fabric, and degree of soil, and those loads must go through your washing machine separately, each receiving due consideration as to the temperature of the water and the kind of cleanser which are correct for it. And whatever make of machine is employed, the while linens and cottons, and all such other articles known to be fast in colour—men's shirts, for example, and towels and so on—should be put to soak in luke-warm spapy waiter. Preliminary soaking for from 20 to 30 minutes is not only desirable but necessary, if the wearing qualities of the fabrics are to be preserved as long as they should be. CAREFUL PREPARATION. For both the soaking process and the washing operations, care should be taken to employ the type of cleansers designed for the fabrics concerned. There is a type of soap flakes that is produced specifically for .washing delicate fabrics, stockings, silk, and woollen articles. There is another type of cleanser, packaged in easily soluble, granulated form, in which the fats, oils, and alkalis that make, up all soap cleansers are blended in special proportions to give it a more active cleans-ing-power, making it a more efficient and satisfactory product, for general washing, machine use. .• '

The practice of slicing or shaving soap from the bar into the washing water is not to be recommended on the grounds either of economy or efficiency, for it dissolves incompletely and clots against the fabrics.

The soaking of clothes before washing, in an actively sudsy luke-warm water, has these advantages; it

SAVE TIME AND FABRICS ON WASH-DAY

i 1. Loosens and removes surface dirt. J 2. Dissolves albuminous matter and starch, making such excessively soiled parts as shirt cuffs easily cleaned. j 3. Opens the meshes and weaves of the fabrics, allowing free passage of I the soap solution and helping to loosen and release the dirt. 4. Assures quicker and better washing by the machine. . 5. Prevents the wash water in the machine from * becoming disagreeably dirty and permitting more articles to be put through the same lot of suds. 6. Permits the use of much hotter water in the washing .process, thereby eliminating the need for either boiling or blueing. IMPORTANCE OF RINSING. Having taken all precautions to see that the soil removal is taken care of efficiently, there remains the equally important question of rinsing. It is physically impossible to rinse clothes "adequately in. a spinner with the use of a hose. When you have spun or wrung out most of the suds, the clothes should be immersed in a big bath of clear water, as nearly as possible of the same temperature as that in which they were washed, for the first rinsing at any " rate. They must be vigorously worked through at least two fresh rinsing waters to remove every last trace of soap and^soil.

Some women prefer to rinse the clothes in the washer part of their machines, despite the fact that this prolongs the washing operations considerably.

Do not, whatever a plausible salesman tells you, expect clothes to emerge from either the spinner or the wringer ready for ironing. They must have a short period on the lines in the sun or breeze. It is never advisable to spin the clothes for longer than may be necessary to remove the excess water, as delicate fabrics may be damaged through being drawn by suction through the smaller perforations of the container.