At a neighborhood yard sale, I came upon this interesting object, but I have no idea what it could be. If you know, I’d love to know what you think!
Laundry was a very manual task prior to the invention of modern washing machines. Soaking, pounding, and scouring the garments were all done by hand. Additionally, with the absence of indoor plumbing, water had to be moved from wells or pumps.
Carrying water, heating it over a fire until it was warm enough to wash, and then moving it to a tub were all part of the laundry procedure. Since there wasn’t much warm, soapy water to work with, it was important to wash the cleaner clothes first and the dirtier ones last.
Even once the washing process was over, there was still more to do. To make sure all of the soap was gone, the clothes needed to be rinsed in fresh water. The laundry was then physically twisted and rolled in order to extract the water. When combined with ironing, this physical wringing was one of the stages to get the clothing as dry as possible before spreading them out to dry. This process typically took a whole day.
