“Ring And Things”: They Get Them All In Dry Cleaning Machines

Chronicle (Levin), 3 December 1949, Page 4

“Ring And Things”: They Get Them All In Dry Cleaning Machines

"The composer qZ that mQd'.ern song, "Butto-ns au4. Bows," niight not enfhuse to- sq} great an extent ovq.£ ^ings and Things."- if he worhed fn a?. fe el'eapijtg; tor there t%'get ibhem in, abundance^-all day*- an,d every d,ay-— U3ith;e pockets of iclothing whi'ch puss.es through their maQMhes.

It was amazing the num'ber- of 1 persons who left article^ for cleaning without "first removing * lapel tadges and, ip. the case oi 5 frocks, aaor.nments, apd without ? thoroughly- going through every- ' pocket, sai-d the owner- of a.'localj ) plant in a recent interview ,on the j subject. Experience of this habiti however, taught the sfaiff to goi ] carefudy through e.ach. garmenf ] before consigning i;t to the ! machines, and articles removecl : were alwa-ys placed in 'en-velopes, marked with the- number corres - ponding to- that placed; ou clothes when they are acceptedl for cleaning. They are handed; to the owner when the garment is, collected. Watches, letters, papers, small silver- and in some cases -bank notes were retrieyed at times. Strahgely- epough, in the* case of bank not.es, it was stated, np, grqat damage would result frbm their immersion in the cleaning fluid, if they did find their way into> the machines. Sometimes articles were in the actual lining of the clothing and in such cases were' more likely to be overlooked. They all came to light, howe.ver, when the trap at the bottom of the maehine was opened. Started With Accident. The art of , dry cleaning. had rather an interesting beginning if the popular legend is true, It seems that a French maid accidentally spilled a bottle of ker.Q-* sene over her employer's suit. She pushed it hurriedly into a eupboard and was amazed to- find ona later inspection that it looked cleaner than before, Whether.this is true or just fantastie, the- fact remains that dry cleaping was first started in France. .The process was, however, developed in the United States, which is generally accepted as the home of modern dry cleaning. From there it spread throughout the world and in the United States it is now a large industry, putti-ng through an average of 1,000,000,000 dollars in annual turnover-., The last ten years has seen copsiderable advancement in its development, particularly for an industry which is only some 3.0 years old." The backroom boys in laboratories throughout the world and in New Zealand are always working on new methods and new stain removers. New Moaland generally follows the methods of the United States while all the time seeking to improve- them ih the Dominion laboratories.

That stain , rempving,. or spqtting to use the trade ferm,, is" an art i£k ftse.lf can be seen from a g^ahcb ihtd th&t department of a dry cleaning; establlshment. it closely resembles a chenfistrylptheratery with its.- rows of; fm* Ive loQkibg; bottles ot fiuiC each manufactured to- fight a d^erenf type- of stam^. Sbme of these- chemieals are similar- in their effect tio those m the human !Stdmach, actoaily digesting the atains, the writer- was. told Treaiment Of Staihs ' ; The "potters." are always learning and sQ-met-imes stnmble on a few stain removers of their own. "There are still some that beat us," said one of the staff:, "The trouble is that we de not always know the history of a stain or what the owner of the garment has been using on it before it gets to. us." Home treatm.ent sometimes did more damage than good,: just removing the surface ihatter a-nd spreading the balance right. into the weave of tl^ cloth. ►At the plant each stain was given individual treatment. In fact more time was spent in "spotting" than in the actual cleaning process. The'reason why the process was called dry cleaning when in point of fact the garnients were immersed in a fluid was -because this fluid had. np.ne of the chemical effect on the fabrics which even water had. Colours were also unaffected. The Whole process. of washing and drying takes 70 minutes, Bone dry, they are taken on to the spotting department for the removal of bad stains-. Steam is •applied to remove any chemieals which might be left f-rom the spotting operation and,. when this is. d.Qne,. the garment is qarefully inspected, missing or- loose buttons sewn on, pressedi and packed ready for the customer. To detail the mechanic^l operation of the various machines would be too involved a task, but it was of interest to' learn that the fiuid in the washing machine is piped out to a pressure filter . and goes back in.to the machine again as clean as when originally .poured in, the dirt -being retained' in the filter. The temperature in the drying ■ cabinet reaches from bqtween 140 and 170; degrees., The tempera- ; ture in the whole factory is fairly i -high, too, especially in hot •i .weather but, as fhe staff -say, they can't have it both ways..