MODERN MAGIC.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 984, 26 November 1910, Page 5

MODERN MAGIC.

,'' A CITY STEAM LAUNDRY. ' . There - seems "to be ; no end-to tho wonderful things that are dono by machinery, and one begins to wonder if almost' there might not bo somo truth in a statement ■ that was made somo time ago that thoVpresent generation is not nearly;so dexterous with their hands as former ones. >: It would hardly/ bo surprising. when .so much delicate work is now taken out of their careful ministrations and entrusted to these automatic labourers. ■It was a most.interesting revelation of the manner in- which work is lightened, that was witnessed by a Dominion representative yesterday, when visiting a steam laundry at .Newt-own. It did well in choosing the name "Excelsior" to bo,..known by, and the power that lies in a,name seems to , he illustrated in this case, when one learns that tbcro lias lately been introduced into it machinery that is the first of its kind in Australasia. Onb would hardly have thought it possible that garments sent to tho laundry to be washed could bo transformed into such snowy, fresh,.attractive piles-in, so brief a timo. Onr ancestors ..would have-put it down ;to.an:;intimate collaboration with the Dark-One and his myrmidons. Everything nearly is worked by steam. Tho washing is done in a largo wollventilated.room"downstairs, arid one is , shown twp largo ■ horizontally-placed cylinders, halfrfilled with either cold or hot water.... These cylinders are perforated vory'much inthe , manner of a nut-meg-grater, only with very much larger openings, which are all most, carefully rounded, so that there is not a rough surface anywhere. The machinery ,is set going, revolving three times one way then.reversing for another three times, and so on till it is judged the clothes have.had.enough of that courso of treatment. These revolutions supply tho placo of a washing-board arid tho washer's knuckles,- with the probabilities that the wear and tear is considerably lessened. Tho garments are then taken out, blued, and placed in a drying machine, which dries them entirely by air'pressure, revolving at a tremendous rate, while tho wator Tuns out through a pipe at the bottom of tho receptacle By the timo they aro taken out all the water is driven from them, leaving them in merely a damp condition.. From there, if they aro things like household linen, .they are passed,through a tremendous mangle," exceeding all one's dreams of mangles. This machine consists, of several great rollers. heated by steam, and ever so many articles are passed at a time through them, having to travel, before they emerge upon the receiving-table on tho other side, fully thirty-two feet. Ono can easily imagine that they would be well rid of dampness by. tho time they have been passed through : it twice. Several girls are employed feeding and attending to it on tho other side. New machinery has just lately been introduced for tablenapkins, turning them out in a manner that is a delight to see, and a wonderful thing which does body linen, and which as yet is so new in the Dominion that there was the. greatest difficulty in getting anyone competent to work it. The room upstairs is equally interesting, all the starching and ironing being done there. Instead of a modest bucket or big basin of starch one sees tubSj either of boiled starch or of raw. It is quite fascinating watching tho various processes through which the shirts and collars pass, both after they have been starched, being carefully wiped and then being subjected to a brief, light, running-over with the,hot iron. After that they are taken to a machine, a flat, sauaro table which runs backwards and forwards under steel rollers. They are placed upon this, undergo the shuttle-like pressure, and appear things of beauty, but not yet perfect. From this they are taken, to a similar machine, from which they emerge with tho glaze that is the ambition—alas so

often an unrealised one—of every amateur ironor: The collars havo yet another machine to go through, one '.that reduces them from the straiglitness of a straight line, to the curved state in which they come home from the laundry. . .

After tho ironing, the clothes are placed in the airing room, a room which is traversed l>7 innumerable steam pipes and with a .temperature- in which one would not caro to linger for long. Hero all han«, beautiful in tho perfection of their ironing. 'Looking at them there, dresses, blouses, skirts, and all kinds of the finest ironing, exquisitely ironed, one realises that only export work could turn out garments in such a _ condition' as they arc in, experts with expert appliances. In this work, as in all other, special qualities aio needed for success, and one is,told that it is a difficult matter to get really good workers. Numbers will apply, and out of them all there may bo only one really good hand, who seems to know instinctively when and how to do things. It is all so much a matter of judgment. . An interesting thing was shown in the form of a darning-machine, the first of its kind in the whole of Australasia, so the information went. ;,The Singer Sowing Machine Gompany have brought it on the market, and to look airitisvery much likb an ordinary sewing-machine, with a few differences. Holes in every kind of garment it is possiblo to mend, even to a tweed jacket, and its darning is exquisite. One can imagine how n mother of a family of boys would love to possess it, particularly when it comes to the stockings.