NEW LAUNDRY AT KEW HOSPITAL

Southland Times, Issue 24184, 22 July 1940, Page 4

NEW LAUNDRY AT KEW HOSPITAL

EFFICIENT MACHINERY INSTALLED PLANT NOW READY FOR OPERATION The installation of a large and efficient laundry plant to serve the three principal hospital institutions at Invercargill has been completed at Kew Hospital and the apparatus is now ready to be put into operation. The plant 'is of sufficient capacity to meet the needs of the hospitals at Kew, Dee street and Lorne and a staff of a fair size will be required to operate it. From the three institutions great quantities of laundry are received ana the task of maintaining it in good condition is a heavy one. A large building has been erected at the rear of the main service block, and to it the soiled linen will be brought in small, sorting wooden trucks. Two large rotary ./ashing machines, each with a capacity of 1401 b of washing an hour, are entirely self-contained and all processes until the clothes are ready for drying are completed in them. The clothing is then placed in a wringing machine which is revolved at a high speed and practically all of the water is driven out by centrifugal force. HUGE MANGLE Sheets and other flat washing are next passed to a huge heated mangle which has a feeding length of 10 feet and is operated at about 50 feet a minute. From this machine the washing is received in a pressed and aired condition and is folded and passed through a slide to a sorting room equipped with bins, any articles requiring mending being passed to the sewing room. The nurses’ uniforms are sent to another section of the laundry fitted with automatic steam-heated presses. One machine presses the sleeves, another the yokes and two others the skirts of the uniforms. These machines will press 35 uniforms an hour, the normal rate of hand pressing being three an hour. Blankets and other heavier articles are placed on racks in a mechanical drier through which hot air is pumped at a temperature of 140 degrees. The machines were installed by the Southland Hospital Board’s staff under the direction of the engineer, Mr C. V. Holder. In addition to the assembly of the large machines the work involved the provision of steam water heaters for the machines and elaborate electrical fittings. All the machines are fitted with safety devices to protect the operators from accidents. Soft water is collected from the roofs of the hospital buildings and stored in large reservoirs. Wherever possible exhaust steam is used in heating water and by this means heating costs are reduced to a minimum.