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A mangle (British) or wringer (American) [1] is a mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and (in its home version) powered by a hand crank or by electricity. While the appliance was originally used to squeeze water from wet laundry, today mangles are used to press or flatten sheets, tablecloths, kitchen towels, or clothing and other laundry.
The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of the word mangle in English from 1598, quoting John Florio who, in his 1598 dictionary, A World of Words, described "a kind of press to press buckram, fustian, or dyed linen cloth, to make it have a luster or gloss". The word comes from the Dutch mangel, from management "to mangle", which in turn derives from the medieval Latin mango or manga which ultimately comes from the Greek manga non, meaning "axis" or "engine". [2] Some northern European countries used a table version for centuries, the device consisting of the rolling pin, a wood cylinder around which the damp cloth was wrapped, and the mangle board, a curved or flat length of wood which was used to roll and flatten the cloth. The oldest known model is a Norwegian mangle board, found near Bergen and dated 1444. [3]
In the second half of the 19th century, commercial laundries began using steam-powered mangles or ironers. Gradually, the electric washing machine's spin cycle rendered this use of a mangle obsolete, and with it the need to wring out water from clothes mechanically. Box mangles were large and primarily intended for pressing laundry smooth; they were used by wealthy households, large commercial laundries, and self-employed "mangle women". Middle-class households and independent washerwomen used upright mangles for wringing water out of laundry, and in the later 19th century they were more widely used than early washing machines. The rollers were typically made of wood, or sometimes rubber.
The Steel Roll Mangle Co. of 108 Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois, offered a gas-heated home mangle for pressing linens in 1902. In the 1930s electric mangles were developed and are still a feature of many laundry rooms. They consist of a rotating padded drum that revolves against a heating element which can be stationary or can also be a rotating drum. Laundry is fed into the turning mangle and emerges flat and pressed on the other side. This process takes much less time than ironing with the usual iron and ironing board. The machine could also cut up hard vegetables.
There were many electric rotary ironers on the American market including Solent, Thor, Ironrite, and Apex. By the 1940s the list had grown to include Bendix, General Electric, Kenmore, and Maytag. [4] By the 1950s, home ironers, or mangles, as they came to be called, were becoming popular time-savers for the homemaker.
When home washing machines were first invented, they were just for washing: a tub on legs or wheels. A hand-cranked mangle appeared on top after 1843 when John E. Turnbull of Saint John, New Brunswick patented a "Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls". [5] The first geared wringer mangle in the UK is thought to date to about 1850, when one was invented by Robert Tasker of Lancashire. [6] It was a smaller, upright version of the box mangle.
Small domestic pressing mangles may be more common in some countries than in others. They are typically not sold in North American stores. In contrast to their use in homes, mangles have become an essential feature of commercial or large-scale laundries. They are typically used to press flat items such as sheets or tablecloths, and also are far quicker and more energy-efficient for removing most of the water than a clothes dryer. Skilled operators can also press shirts and trousers on a mangle.
A significant benefit of mangling is reduced dust. When washing, the ends of the surface fibers tend to loosen and stick out when dried. The clothes are then much more sensitive to trap dust, dirt and grease, and to shed off fibers. Mangling presses the fiber ends back onto the fiber, so that the clothes remain clean longer. This could potentially reduce dust approximately 10 to 60 times; however, this is not confirmed.[ citation needed ] Mangles are most often used for bed sheets, tablecloths and towels, which would be time-consuming to iron by hand.
Artists, such as Barbara Brash [7] [8] have adapted mangles to serve as printing presses, [9] [10] [11] which they resemble in construction. By fixing a metal platen, on which printing plate and paper are placed, permanently between the rollers, which themselves may be replaced by, or sheathed in, turned metal cylinders; they thus make a serviceable and much less expensive alternative to a commercial cylinder etching press.
Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this universal human need are of interest to several branches of scholarship.
A washing machine is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning or ultrasonic cleaners. The user adds laundry detergent, which is sold in liquid, powder, or dehydrated sheet form, to the wash water.
A clothes iron is a small appliance that, when heated, is used to press clothes to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases. Domestic irons generally range in operating temperature from between 121 °C (250 °F) to 182 °C (360 °F). It is named for the metal (iron) of which the device was historically made, and the use of it is generally called ironing, the final step in the process of laundering clothes.
Microfiber is synthetic fiber finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers.
The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company. The company has been owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006.
A laundry room is a room where clothes are washed, and sometimes also dried. In a modern home, laundry rooms are often equipped with an automatic washing machine and clothes dryer, and often a large basin, called a laundry tub, for hand-washing of delicate clothing articles such as sweaters, as well as an ironing board. Laundry rooms may also include storage cabinets, countertops for folding clothes, and, space permitting, a small sewing machine.
The box mangle is said to have been invented in the 17th century. It consisted of a heavy frame containing a large box filled with rocks, resting on a series of long wooden rollers. Damp laundry could be laid flat under rollers, or wound round the rollers: sometimes enclosed in a sheet in order to keep the laundry clean. When the rollers were filled, one or two people pulled on levers or turned cranks to move the heavy box back and forth over the rollers. The mangle's primary purpose was to press household linen and clothing smooth.
A calender is a series of hard pressure rollers used to finish or smooth a sheet of material such as paper, textiles, rubber, or plastics. Calender rolls are also used to form some types of plastic films and to apply coatings. Some calender rolls are heated or cooled as needed. Calenders are sometimes misspelled calendars.
A fabric softener or fabric conditioner is a conditioner that is applied to laundry after it has been washed in a washing machine. A similar, more dilute preparation meant to be applied to dry fabric is known as a wrinkle releaser.
Linens are fabric household goods intended for daily use, such as bedding, tablecloths, and towels. "Linens" may also refer to church linens, meaning the altar cloths used in church.
Textile printing is the process of applying color to fabric in definite patterns or designs. In properly printed fabrics the colour is bonded with the fibre, so as to resist washing and friction. Textile printing is related to dyeing but in dyeing properly the whole fabric is uniformly covered with one colour, whereas in printing one or more colours are applied to it in certain parts only, and in sharply defined patterns.
Sanforization is a treatment for fabrics to reduce shrinkage from washing. The process was patented by Sanford Lockwood Cluett (1874–1968) in 1930. It works by stretching, shrinking and fixing the woven cloth in both length and width before cutting and producing, to reduce the shrinkage which would otherwise occur after washing. The original patent mentioned "goods of cotton, linen, woolen, silk, rayon, and combinations thereof".
A self-service laundry, coin laundry, or coin wash, is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as laundromats. In Texas and other parts of the south central United States, the term washateria is still used by some older speakers.
In textile manufacturing, finishing refers to the processes that convert the woven or knitted cloth into a usable material and more specifically to any process performed after dyeing the yarn or fabric to improve the look, performance, or "hand" (feel) of the finish textile or clothing. The precise meaning depends on context.
Ironing is the use of an iron, usually heated, to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180–220 °C (360–430 °F), depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain polymer molecules in the fibres of the material. While the molecules are hot, the fibres are straightened by the weight of the iron, and they hold their new shape as they cool. Some fabrics, such as cotton, require the addition of water to loosen the intermolecular bonds. Many modern fabrics are advertised as needing little or no ironing. Permanent press clothing was developed to reduce the ironing necessary by combining wrinkle-resistant polyester with cotton.
Ellen F. Eglin was an African-American inventor who invented a type of clothes wringer for washing machines.
Fabric treatments are processes that make fabric softer, or water resistant, or enhance dye penetration after they are woven. Fabric treatments get applied when the textile itself cannot add other properties. Treatments include, scrim, foam lamination, fabric protector or stain repellent, anti microbial and flame retardant.
A laundry-folding machine or laundry-folding robot is a machine or domestic robot which folds apparel such that they can be stored compactly and orderly.
Ellen Elgin was an American scientist and inventor, best known for her invention of the clothes wringer.
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