Mildred Fischer, age 13, of Glendale, Ariz., for her question:
WHEN DID WE START HAVING LAUNDRIES?
Laundries as we know them today actually owe their start to the California gold rush of 1849. A miner named Davis failed to find gold, so he started a laundry near Oakland, Calif. At first he washed clothes in a barrel but then Charles Mattee designed a crude wooden wash wheel for him, and other improvements followed.
The ancient Romans sent clothes to commercial laundries as long as 2,000 years ago. However, during the Middle Ages, the woolen clothing everyone wore was rarely washed, and laundries all but disappeared.
Today there are thousands of commercial power laundries in the United States and Canada. In addition, there are many thousands of do it yourself launderettes.
The large commercial laundries employ more than 500,000 persons and they do a business each year in the billions of dollars.
After a person sends a bundle of clothes to a modern laundry, several steps take place in different departments. After the laundry has been marked for identification, workers sort the clothes according to the kind of material and the color.
Next, clothes go to washing machines. Commercial washers hold from 25 to 1,200 pounds of laundry. Rotating cylinders in the washing machines swish the clothes back and forth in detergent or soap and water until they are clean. Detergent is a synthetic cleaning agent.
The detergent or soap and water in the machines may be changed five or six times to get the clothes completely clean. At least four hot water rinses follow to make sure that all dirt and soap are removed.
The clothes next go to a spinner which whirls the clothes around to remove much of the water. The clothes are dried and ironed, if ironing is needed.
Finally, the clothes are sorted, carefully folded by a laundry worker and then packaged for return to the customers.
Hundreds of years ago, most people washed their clothes in rivers or small streams. The women soaked the clothes and then beat them with sticks or scrubbed them on rocks to remove the dirt. More recently, the clothes were scrubbed on washboards.
In many parts of the world, these old fashioned ways are still used. But most people in industrialized countries today can turn to automatic electric washing machines that remove the dirt from the clothes easily and quickly. They may also have automatic clothes driers.
Commercial laundries today provide special services. As an example, restaurants and other establishments may easily arrange for washing and ironing of all tablecloths and napkins. Also, diaper laundry services are available.
Many institutions such as hospitals have their own laundries. This also goes for many hotels and larger motels.