How to wash before the invention of the washing machine. Washboard The name of the raft on which the laundry was washed

Laundry for the last ten years, for many modern people, is limited to loading and unloading laundry, but how did our grandmothers cope in the old days in the absence of not only hot water from the tap, but also washing powder with laundry soap?

Schoolchildren still know what a washboard is (“my grandmother has one in the village”), but few have seen it in action. But it appeared only at the beginning of the 19th century and was more used in cramped urban conditions, devoid of space and the close proximity of a lake, river or stream.

The predecessors of such a ribbed board were objects, the mere appearance of which plunges the uninitiated into a stupor. But - in order.

WHAT WAS WASHED

A hundred years ago, housewives did not have to ask the price of detergents - there was no need. For washing, soap solutions were used, which were obtained at home. It was lye and soap root. Lye, which gave its name to a whole class of chemical compounds, alkalis, was obtained from a solution of ash, which was supplied daily by the Russian furnace free of charge. The lye was also called “beech, butch”, and the washing process itself was called “buchenye”.

HOW AND WHERE WASHED

It was possible to wash with it in the following way - they put a bag with sifted ash in a tub of linen, poured it with water and threw red-hot “beech stones” there to make the water boil. But it was possible to get lye in the form of a solution. To do this, the ash was mixed with water, insisted for several days and received a soapy solution to the touch - so concentrated that it had to be further diluted with water. Otherwise, clothes when washed with such a strong lye could wear out faster. Another source of laundry detergent, the soapwort plant (or soap root) was crushed, soaked, filtered, and washed with the resulting solution, trying to use it all up, as it quickly deteriorated. Never washed in a bath, it was considered a sin. Washing clothes could be in the house or near the bath, which means next to the pond. For washing, cast iron, clay pots, troughs, mortars, pestles, and rollers were used.

The hostess soaked the laundry, pouring it with lye, in a bucket, that is, putting a bucket of water in itself, cast iron, and put it in the oven. But one should not imagine a woman courageously pushing heavy cast iron into the mouth of the furnace - she was assisted in this by a tong and a roller. If the grip is familiar to everyone, then the purpose of the rink should be explained - this is a special dumbbell-shaped wooden stand, along which the handle of the grip rolled a heavy container into the hot inside of the furnace. The result of the fluttering of linen is snow-white tablecloths and shirts made of homespun cloth.

They could wash differently, for example, using a tub and their own legs, as is clearly seen in the photograph taken by the Finnish researcher K. Inha in 1894 in North Karelia. But this method is good only in the warm season, and in other periods special mortars could be used for washing. They were kept on the shore, mounted on wooden footbridges or on ice. Among the Karelians, such mortars for beating were called huwhmar, among the Veps humbar. "The stupa itself was cut from a single piece of wood, a relatively small container where linen was placed, and a base in the form of a board on which the woman stood with her feet. With a special pestle or two sticks, the hostess pushed the linen in a mortar, washing away the dirt. Right there, wrapping the linen on a pestle or a stick, the woman rinsed it, lowering it into running water. In winter, it was possible to do without a mortar: it was replaced by a depression in the ice near the hole - the linen was pounded in it and immediately rinsed.

VALEK served as another tool for washing. With this small wooden spatula, the washed linen was “rolled” or “riveted” on a stone or on a board on the shore. If neither the stupa, nor the trough, nor the tub usually differed in beauty, then the rolls could be decorated with intricate ornaments. This was due to the fact that they were often presented to girls by boys as a gift, and then, in addition to the usual carving, the initials of the beloved and the date of donation could appear on the surface of the roll. These rolls resembled stylized female figures: the thickening at the end of the handle served as the head, the working part of the roll served as the body, and the crosshair at the base served as arms.

It was a pity for the girl to even work with a beautiful carved roll, painted with bright paint ... In the National Museum there is a roll, which shows that the owner took care of it and did not let it work. Any responsible housewife knows: washing is still half the battle, you still have to iron what caring hands have bleached.

WHAT AND HOW IRONED CLOTHES IN THE OLD

What appliances did our grandmothers and great-grandmothers have in their households to iron their laundry? In the old days, not so much ironed as "rolled" linen. How? get acquainted:

RUBEL AND ROLLING RINGING RING

The rubel was a rectangular board with a handle: transverse rounded notches were cut out on the lower side, and the upper, front side often decorated with carvings. In order to stroke, the hostess folded clothes, a tablecloth, a towel along, trying to give it the same width as that of the rolling pin. And they wrapped the rolling pin with them, forming a tight bundle. The rubel was placed on top and rolled forward from the edge of the table, softening and smoothing the linen fabric - rolled. And it was mechanical way ironing. In the North, “digging” was a favorite carving technique, when the surface of an object was covered with a jagged pattern, but ornaments could simply be cut out with thin contour lines. And again on the rubles you can often see the initials and dates - sure signs that it's a gift. The rink of linen required certain physical efforts from the woman, but one should not think that the arrival of a metal iron in village houses made the ironing process easier.

FIRST IRONS

Firstly, such an iron in village life was an expensive and rare thing, and therefore often served as an indicator of well-being (like a samovar, for example). Secondly, the ironing technology was even more labor-intensive compared to rolling the linen with a rubel.

There were two main types of irons - tailors and laundries, although both were in use in the houses. The tailor's iron was essentially a sharp-nosed piece of cast iron with a handle. He was heated on fire and carefully taken with a potholder by the handle so as not to burn himself. Such irons were of various sizes - from very small ones, for ironing small wrinkles on clothes, to giants that only a man could lift. Tailors, as a rule, were men, and they had to work with very dense heavy fabrics (I once had to sew such a cloth - I had to do it, blushing and puffing from the effort, and at the risk of breaking the needle). And the ironing tools were appropriate. Laundry irons were heated in a different way: they were hollow inside and had a movable valve in the wide part of the body - a heavy cast-iron core heated on fire was inserted there.

Another type of iron used in everyday life is charcoal or wind irons. The upper part of the body of such an iron leaned back, and coals were laid inside. The cooling coals of the hostess were inflated or heated by swinging the iron from side to side. Therefore, it was also important not to burn when ironing! Charcoal iron could be equipped with a pipe and appearance more like an antediluvian steamship. Imagining a hostess rocking a weighty cast-iron structure, you are convinced that our "grandmothers" had remarkable dexterity, and strength too. Naturally, the modern plastic-Teflon handsome man is many times lighter than his cast iron predecessor. In order not to be unfounded, I armed myself with a steelyard and weighed several antique irons in the storage of the National Museum. The lightest weighed 2.5 kilograms, medium-sized irons were within 4 kg - an impressive figure for several hours of ironing. Well, the heaviest one - a cast tailoring giant - made the steelyard grunt plaintively and show 12 kilograms.

Washing in the Middle Ages was undoubtedly a more laborious task than it is now. There was no central plumbing with hot water, no special detergents for white and colored linen.

Washed mostly with lye (derived from hardwood ash) and/or urine (which is also an alkaline thing). Laundry was infrequent, once a month or so. Since the whole process is quite laborious, and on ordinary days, women already had enough worries. Therefore, a special day was allocated for washing. In order not to carry tons of water home for washing, women (which is logical) carried linen to the water. Not everywhere there were natural reservoirs, they washed in any place where there is water - near fountains, near wells. On this day, a lot of people gathered for washing, so it seems to me that it was not boring.

Surviving to this day, a medieval public laundry in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

Washed mostly only underwear, bed linen and children's clothes. In rich houses, of course, there was more washing - tablecloths, napkins, etc., but there it was done by a whole staff of servants. Formal clothes were most often not washed, but simply kept over the steam, and then brushed. The same applies to heavy clothing, woolen, lined with fur, and many hats.

In order to maintain a decent smell from washing to washing, linen and clothes were aired by hanging on the street or over smoking incense (for example, incense). This provided a rather pleasant aroma.

Laundry devices were also uncomplicated - they wound linen on a stick and beat it against stones; rubbed linen with stones or a ribbed board (rubel). They crushed, stinged, pounded dirty linen. They put it in huge barrels, filled it with urine and climbed inside - to trample on it with their feet. After that, the linen was poured with clean water and hot stones were thrown there, thereby bringing the water to a boil. And only then they rinsed and rinsed "in the river, stream, ocean."

Clothes were dried by hanging on clotheslines or simply laying them out on the grass. The canvas left in the sun for 40 days became perfectly white. Silk and woolen fabrics were bleached in a different way - the damp fabric was hung over sulfuric smoke. This, however, harmed the fibers ...

In general, the problem of bleaches and stain removers was quite acute. There were no less books with recipes for stain removers than culinary ones. Even lime was used to prepare alkaline solutions, which is quite dangerous. More gentle options for washing mixtures included wine yeast ash (the dried pomace of grapes left after fermentation), gentian roots, and even pea ash.

Clothes were sometimes dried stretched on pegs or even on voluminous forms, which made it possible to dry and smooth at the same time.

Exist various ways washing things without detergents.

The most famous way to wash without powder and soap is in mustard (not in sauce, but in grain powder!). Take 15 g of mustard per 1 liter of water, leave for 2-3 hours, drain the water from above, pour mustard again with hot water. Hot water is added to the drained water and washed. You need to wash 1-2 times, each time in fresh liquid. After that, each item is rinsed separately. It is impossible to pour mustard with water hotter than 40 degrees - it will brew and will not be effective.
For washing wool and silk greasy spots recommend the following method: pour a glass of dry mustard with a small amount of water, grind to a liquid slurry, rub through gauze into a bucket and pour 10 liters of warm water. Wash things in this solution, change the infusion 2-3 times per wash.

The plant itself is mustard

mustard seeds

The second way is in the soap root (soap root), you can buy it in the market or in a pharmacy. Take 100 g of root per 2 kg of dry linen, break it into small pieces, pour 1 liter of boiling water and leave for a day, stirring several times. Then boil over low heat for an hour, filter through gauze and beat the foam. It should be divided into 2 parts and each item should be washed twice in different containers. The root remaining on the gauze can be soaked again, the solution will turn out a little weaker. The root is stored only in a dry form, the solution is used immediately.

The soapwort herself

soapwort root

Woolen and silk items can be washed in a decoction of white beans by boiling 1 kg in 5-6 liters of water (in a sealed container) and straining it. The broth can be diluted with hot water and, after whipping the foam, start washing.

White beans

Ash can also be used for washing. Wood ash (not coals!) Is poured with water and allowed to brew until the water becomes soapy. After that, the water is carefully drained (or the infusion is filtered through a cloth) and linen is boiled in this water.

Horse chestnuts are also suitable for washing. To do this, harvested chestnuts are peeled from the brown peel, the white kernels are dried and then crushed into powder. Then everything is simple - soak the laundry with this powder overnight and then boil it. In addition, chestnuts have a whitening effect.

It is worth recalling that rinsing in water with vinegar fixes the dye on the fabric and prevents it from shedding so quickly. In addition, it gives wool and silk shine, the fabric does not fade.

You can bleach clothes: chestnuts, soaking in sour milk for a couple of days, urine, lemon juice.

At the festival "Red Field-2012" we conducted an experiment on washing VERY dirty breeches that belonged to a young gentleman 6 years old. Washed off with ash. The ashes were poured onto a rag, tied up in a bag, placed together with a breeze in water and boiled. But there was not much ash, they did not boil for long either (the weather did not contribute to the duration of the process), so then they decided to wash it with soap (brewed from lye and fat). After all this was rinsed in a stream. The result, of course, is imperfect, but noticeable. Things to consider: 1) you need more ash, 2) you need to boil longer, 3) soak all the dirt overnight in an alkaline solution, and only then wash it. Here.

For the first part of the article, materials from the following sites were used:

stores.renstore.com/-strse-template/0905b/Page.bok

kimrendfeld.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/medieval-laundry/

www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx

During work washing machine the linen inside is constantly moving, the fabric is stretched and compressed, water with detergent penetrates through the pores.

The ancient ways of washing are based on creating the movement of water and fabric.

The simplest ancient method of washing is boiling. During boiling, a natural movement of water occurs.

These are bars made from a single piece of wood with a smooth part and a handle. Soaped linen was folded on a flat surface and the dirt was beaten out with a roller with force. After that, the laundry was rinsed in a river or a tub of water.

Washing with clothes rolls in Germany in the first half of the 16th century. Leaf from the alchemical treatise "The Splendor of the Sun". Mikhail Yuryevich Medvedev, member of the Heraldic Council under the President Russian Federation: “Washing symbolized purification through contact with water. “Go to the women who wash fabrics and do the same” is a typical advice from an alchemical treatise.

Each region of Russia had its own traditions of decorating linen rolls. In the photo - the Volga valek of the beginning of the 19th century. From left to right - the first circle symbolizes the sun. The rider inside the second circle denotes the connection of the natural forces of the sun, lightning, thunder. Human figures - soldiers in uniforms

In the UK, clothes were washed in a tall tub with a long wooden stick. The principle is similar to a mortar and pestle - the women quickly raised and lowered the roller in the tub, as if they were pushing laundry. A flat wooden plate with 4–8 legs, similar to a stool, or a metal cone, was attached to the end, which sank into the water. Water during washing passed through the legs of a stool or holes in the cone - this increased the movement of water in the tub

Washboards

Washboards are wide and flat wooden plates with a ribbed surface. They rubbed linen across the notches.

In 1833, Stephen Rust of the American city of Manlius patented a washboard with a metal corrugated insert. The text of the patent stated that it could be made of "tin, sheet iron, copper or zinc."

According to Lel Gratton, washboards with glass inserts appeared before Herman Liebman patented them in 1844.

Lee Maxwell, a researcher on the history of washing machines, refers to washboards as a Russian rubel - a narrow long bar with a ribbed surface and a handle.

Russian peasant women wound wet, soaped linen on a rolling pin and rubbed it with force with the ribbed part of the rubel. In order for the rubels to be durable and withstand heavy loads, artisans made them from hardwoods - birch, oak, ash, elm. They decorated the front part of the vrubel and the handle with carved ornaments. The rubel was also used as an iron

Read about the history of dry cleaners: part 1 and part 2

what was the name of the washing board in the old days and got the best answer

Answer from Perhaps I..[guru]
A jagged wooden stick is more like a jealous wife's secret weapon or a washboard. However, clothes were ironed with this strange object. And they called him "ruble". He helped a lot when ironing linen items, which after washing became rough in appearance and hard to the touch. The process itself looked like this: the hostess wound the fabric on an ordinary rolling pin and energetically rolled it back and forth with a rubel. Due to the scars, the fabric softened and smoothed out to some extent. Not by washing, but by rolling (colloquial) - not in one way, but in another way, by any means (to achieve something, annoy someone). The expression comes from the speech of village laundresses, who, after washing, “rolled” the linen with a rolling pin - a round piece of wood and a rubel (scar) - a curved corrugated board with a handle that gave the fold a rotational movement along with linen wound around it. Well-rolled linen turned out to be wrung out, ironed and clean, even if the washing was not of very high quality. (Diploma. ru)

Answer from Galina[guru]
Yes, that's what it was called - a washboard. It served not only for washing, but also as a musical instrument, as well as a rubel, which in everyday life was intended for ironing. I even remember how my mother and grandmother used the rubel. And I had to use the washboard a lot. She still lies somewhere in the attic of the cottage. There was another item for washing, which was called a roll. It was used for washing in ponds. This wooden flat mallet was used to knock out dirt from bulky and rough things when washing in an ice-hole or on river bridges.

Answer from Ivan Anatolievich[newbie]

Answer from Elena Gnetetskaya[newbie]
washboard called - container

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: what was the name of the washing board in the old days

In Russia, in the old days, linen was soaked in vats or barrels and steamed. Bleached, falling asleep "ash" - ash from buckwheat straw or, for example, sunflowers. After that, hot stones were thrown there. Instead of soap, elderberries, soapwort roots and aloe juice were used. They were crushed and mixed with ash liquor.

For bleaching, linen was placed in sour milk for two or three days or a decoction of beans, "potato" water was used.

Women who did not have the opportunity to use the services of a laundress arranged a big laundry in the house about once a month.

Washed, as a rule, only underwear and bed linen and children's clothes. Everything else - men's camisoles, ladies' silk, velvet, brocade, damask dresses, embroidered corsages - were not washed, but only kept over steam and then brushed.

The dirtiest clothes were soaked in alkali, then boiled.

Chalk was used to remove greasy stains, alcohol was used for grass stains, and kerosene was used for blood stains. For a long time, human urine or pig manure, lemon juice were used as bleach.

To prevent the clothes from fading, vinegar, borax, alkali (for black) or bran (for other colors) were added to the water. Silk was advised to wash in kerosene.

Soap was often made at home from water, ash and fat. In every country, housewives and home economics manuals had many recipes various kinds soaps for lace, for wool, for fine fabrics.

At different peoples there were different ways of washing. But they all boiled down, basically, to soaking clothes in cold or hot water, after which it was rubbed, beaten, beaten on flat stones on the river bank, rinsed, squeezed and dried.

Clothes were washed in a large bucket or tub, often using a roller or a clothes stirrer. This is a wooden stick, at the end of which there is a cone or several “legs”. The stirrer was lowered into a bucket of linen and twisted.

The first washing "machine" was an ordinary oak barrel into which water was poured. It was brought to a boil with the help of red-hot stones, which were thrown into the water. Then they put linen in boiling water, put a bag with ash (lye) steamed in the stove, and everything was thoroughly mixed.