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Mangle or Wringer

O

O.C.

Guest
Was it called a Mangle or Wringer as I have called the contraption both
 
We never had a mangle Crom but our next door neighbour did and Mrs Paddon called hers a Mangle. Just like the one on your photo. It had it's own small room outside of her house where it was kept. On Sunday mornings my brother and I used to visit the house and Mrs. P would let us have a go with her mangle. Sheets were always fun as they made squishing sounds when they expelled water as they were folded and refolded to go through the rollers.

We had a Wringer which was made of metal and had rubber rollers. My Mother said her arthritis was caused by all the washing she had to force through those rollers over the years before she got her Hot Point washing machine with electric rollers. Wash day was a nightmare compared to today. The boiler outside, powered by gas went on and the whites went in there. Then they went into a tub with Reckitt & Coleman blue and cold water for a rinse. Then up through the wringer rollers and folded for
transfer to the clothes basket. The lines went up and balanced with the
long props. The peg basket was pulled out. That was just the whites.
Thus followed the rest of the family wash. It was a very long day. If it was freezing the washing froze too and if it was windy, which it often was
at Hidson Road, we would have to make sure the pegs were firmly anchored and then there was often a mad rush into the garden when the rains came suddenly and made all the laundry wet if you didn't get out in time.

Now I just go downstairs to the laundry room and put everything in the machine set the programme and come down when it ends. In the winter
I use the dryer and in the summer we have a portable umbrella dryer that holds a lot. It goes in a fitment in the lawn and comes out when all is dry.
 
jennyann said:
We never had a mangle Crom but our next door neighbour did and Mrs Paddon called hers a Mangle. Just like the one on your photo. It had it's own small room outside of her house where it was kept. On Sunday mornings my brother and I used to visit the house and Mrs. P would let us have a go with her mangle. Sheets were always fun as they made squishing sounds when they expelled water as they were folded and refolded to go through the rollers.

We had a Wringer which was made of metal and had rubber rollers. My Mother said her arthritis was caused by all the washing she had to force through those rollers over the years before she got her Hot Point washing machine with electric rollers. Wash day was a nightmare compared to today. The boiler outside, powered by gas went on and the whites went in there. Then they went into a tub with Reckitt & Coleman blue and cold water for a rinse. Then up through the wringer rollers and folded for
transfer to the clothes basket. The lines went up and balanced with the
long props. The peg basket was pulled out. That was just the whites.
Thus followed the rest of the family wash. It was a very long day. If it was freezing the washing froze too and if it was windy, which it often was
at Hidson Road, we would have to make sure the pegs were firmly anchored and then there was often a mad rush into the garden when the rains came suddenly and made all the laundry wet if you didn't get out in time.

Now I just go downstairs to the laundry room and put everything in the machine set the programme and come down when it ends. In the winter
I use the dryer and in the summer we have a portable umbrella dryer that holds a lot. It goes in a fitment in the lawn and comes out when all is dry.
Click to expand...

Whatever came to mouth we called it and my Sister & me enjoyed it, it was a plaything of sorts :)
 
We called it "The Wringa" and it stood in our back kitchen. The neighbours would come and use it and once my sister got her fingers trapped in it. Mom had got it from the Hospital when they must have been chucking them out. It was that lightish hospital green colour with an enameled tray on the back to support the clothes that could folded down for storage.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think we called it by both names......but I tend to lean towards Wringer that was used the most. I can still see my old Nan pulling the boiling hot clothes/sheets out of the wooden washing barrel...struggling to hold part of the cloth between the rollers...then turning the wheel....then watching the water run down the yard to the drain, and getting told off for playing in it......I would also get told off for emptying the barrel and using it as a tank along with the dolly.....which would have been the gun barrel....
 
We had one and called it by both names. I even had my own as a child it was tiny. I would wash my dolls clothes and put them through it, Mom used to fix it to the kitchen table. It had two clamps at the bottom it was bright red. Thanks for sparking the memorie Cromwell.
 
In the English Dictionary Mangle ....a machine for pressing or drying textiles, clothes etc. consisting of two heavy rollers between which the cloth is passed.....Mainly British another word for Wringer

Mangle...to mutilate disfigure or destroy by cutting, crushing or tearing..ruin,spoil or mar.
(It did that if you got your finger's caught between the rollers)
 
My daughter was helping clean out a old barn in the Fall and there was a Mangle in there. It had mangle printed on it and the date it was made, which was the late 1800's.
It is now in the barn museum at the farm I help at. It was a great find. :great:

I can remember wringing my mom's washing for her on Monday's wash day, then help hang it out. She would then scrub the front step with the water. :) Mo
 
I can just see my Mom using that MANGLE every Monday morning, It looks like the one she had,you pull a lever and turn the wheel and it turned to make a table.I can smell the soap now.:rolleyes:
 
Mangler ad definitum

Definitely a MANGLER 8)

Mangled my toy cars & my best penknife :|

Mom was a Wringer,,, well she said she was going to wring my neck
for not emptying my pockets,,:D ,, Yo to All, John Y
 
I think it was a matter of age as to whether it was called a mangle or a wringer or not?

My grandparents called it a mangle - my mom called it a wringer
 
We had a mangle. A wringer was a smaller version with rubber rollers.

I have a mangle outside my back door, it folds down into a table top. In summer I open it up and put pots of geraniums around it.:) It is still folded right now, and I am going to give it a new coat of paint this year.
 
Yes we had a Mangle like that. Heavy cast iron thing with hard wooden rollers linked with spur gears at one end. Ours also could have the operating assembly rotated so that the bottom of the catch tray would make a table top. What an ordeal wash day was back then. Mom's had it tough.
 
We had a mangle like Frothblower's, being hinged so that you could fold the working part down, so that a board at the back would come down to form a table top. It was an essential item in the kitchen of our 1934 semi-detached house, and must still have been in use after I left home in 1959, as I don't remember using a washing machine until the laundrettes started in the early 60s.
On that line of inquiry I've just looked at Kelly's 1956 directory, where I see there were 20 self-service launderettes. By the 1963 directory, there were about 35 self-service laundries listed, but over 60 traditional laundries.
Peter
 
On The Subject Of The Wringer ,- Mangle ,
I Can Recall The Use Of This Big Bertha , Call It What You Like,
Just After The War When We Lived In 5/92 Lichfield Rd Aston,
We Lived Up Cromwell Terrace ,And Up This Terrace Was At Least
Six Street Gas Lamps For Lighting Up The Terrace
And Every Morning A Man On A bike Would Come AROUND And Light Them Up And Also He Would Come Around With A Long Shaped Stick And Put The Gas Mantle Street Lights Out By Opening The Glass Window And Snuffing OUT The Light
And At The Top Of The Terrace We Had Three Toilets ,
To Share Among Twenty Families , And Three Toilets Half Way Down The Terrace , Along Side The Old Pig Bins
And At The Top Of The Terrace Was The Old Brew house , Next To The
Toillets ,Where We All Had To Share This Brew house
And In This Brew House Was AN In built Boiler , Where You Would Have To Light A Fire Beneath IT ,And In The Brick Work Laid AN Metal Drum
Where You Would Boil Your Bed Sheets And Clothing
And You Would Have To Stand There For Ages Poking The Washing
With A Big Stick , When You Thought You Had Boiled Them For Long
Time You Would Stuggle TO TRY And Get Them Out Of The Boiler
And Drag Them On to Dark Brown Sink To Drain The Water OFF
Before You Could Get Them Lifted UP And Fed Through Big Bertha ,
Or If YOU Like The Mangle We ALL Called In Those DAYS
It Was A REALLY Big One AND Heavy Rollers
All The Neibours Helped Each Other On Those Wash Days To Get The Washing Through Those Rollers
It Was Later Years In The Fifties When They Convertid To Smaller ONES
FOR The House holders , And Thats When We Started To Call Them Wringers With The Fold Open Legs On Them
If You Was Working You Could Afford To Buy One ,
Or Other wise You Was Stuck With Big Bertha
I OFTEN Wonder Whether Any Of The Familys Are Still Around Today
Whom Lived Up The Terrace ,
THE GOUGHS ,BRANTS , GAMMAGES , SEABOURNES , SHELDOND
SHARP,S HANLEYS ,NEWMAN,S TROWMANS JARRATS
MY OLD SCHOOL MATE COLIN GASKIN , FROM NUMBER 1 AND ESPECIALY
JENNY GOUGH THE TROWMANS , WHOM Was The First To Buy The
ITV, And Colour Up The Terrace They Was Posh .
Have A Nice Day Every one best wishes astonian ,;;;
 
Definately a mangle..............still used one in the late 60's as we couldnt afford a spin dryer :|
 
mangle

where did the mangle in the wash house come from? did the person who built the houses install it or did the first tenants have a whip round? once there it stayed there!!
 
In the 50s we called ours a mangle and the four houses in our yard shared it. Me and my mates used to squash worms in it. Yuk!!! Can't believe I did that.
 
It Was Definately A Mangle Ever Since I Was A WHIPPER Snapper
Since I Was Born The Year AD,
We At Cromwell Terrace Had To Share IT With TwentyHouses At The Top
Of The Terrace In What They Called A Brew House With The Built In Boiler
With A Copper Base ,And You Had To Keep Bashing The Washing With A Big
Wooden Maid Then Try And Heave It Out And Try And Get It Through The Mangle To Extract The Water
There Was The Sheldon Family ,Seabourne, Craddocks The Gammages
Marshalls The Newmans The Goughs The Sharps Brants The Handleys
The Garretts The Gaskins The Gammages Used To Run The Widdows Pub
At The Bottom Of Our Terrace On The Lichfield Rd There Was Many More Familys That Used To Live Up That Terrace Next To The Brew House
We Had Three Lav,s With News Paper Hung On The Back Of The Door
And Which Family Was TheLast To Use The LAV; HadTo Replace The News
Paper When It Ran OUT BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL
Get Bidding Folks For The PRINT FOLKS Save Our Site Astonian ,;;;;
 
ALF
THE MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY,S AS WE Used To Call Them
Also We Called The Middle Class Familys By Name As
All Kippers And Custard
Was The Only People Whom Would Call Them Wringers ,
The Commoners , Like Myself Would Call Them Heavy Things As You Say
Are MANGERS ,;;;;
-----------
HaveA NiceDayEvery-body Best Wishes Astonion , The Commoner,
------------------
 
Astonian said:
ALF
THE MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY,S AS WE Used To Call Them
Also We Called The Middle Class Familys By Name As
All Kippers And Custard
Was The Only People Whom Would Call Them Wringers ,
The Commoners , Like Myself Would Call Them Heavy Things As You Say
Are MANGERS ,;;;;
-----------
HaveA NiceDayEvery-body Best Wishes Astonion , The Commoner,
------------------
Click to expand...

I'm a Mangle Man myself Aston and Moms saying was All Kippers & Curtains:)
 
mangles and wringers

Hi Alf
I Do Beg Your Pardon ,And I Stand Corrected
Your MotherS Saying Was The Right Sayin
I Did Mean To Say Curtains, [ not custard ]
I,VE Got To Put It Down To AGE My Eye Sight Is Getting Worse ,
Thanks Again Alf For Bringing It To My Attention ,
And For Bringing Me Into Line ,
Best Wishes Astonian ,
 
One like this was my moms when we lived in Tower Rd, She later had a washing machine with a ringer mounted on the back which you could swing round over the draning board for the water to go down the sink. I think it may have been a BURCO?
Then it was the latest HOOVER TWIN TUB with that spinner which used to eat socks!:D
Thanks for the memory jog guys;)
 
Its nothing to do with Class I dont think, its just where you come from I guess. We were certainly not Middle Class, we called it a wringer. My aunt who was certainly In The Money and had a posh "Villa" type house in Erdington called hers a Mangle.
 
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