I remember seeing a "box mangle" at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire. It consisted of a wooden frame filled with large stones, which could be moved up and down the table on wooden rollers. I expect the very heavy weight pressed things without the need for heat. I agree with Sharon that the writer was mistaken in suggesting that garments would be mangled after ironing.
My mum had a washing machine with an electric wringer in the late 1950s - in fact, she never owned a twin-tub, but went straight to a front-loading automatic when they moved to a bungalow in 1969. She even kept the old machine in a utility room for some years just for the wringer, which was useful if you had hand-washed a few small items that it wasn't worth putting on the spin cycle for. (They got their first fridge then too - the old house was Victorian and had a place cool enough to keep milk etc. fresh.) Kate Bunting Librarian & 17th century reenactor ________________________________ The University of Derby has a published policy regarding email and reserves the right to monitor email traffic. If you believe this email was sent to you in error, please notify the sender and delete this email. Please direct any concerns to [email protected] The policy is available here: http://www.derby.ac.uk/LIS/Email-Policy _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
