In the 50’s I remember my Mother’s Wringer washer, I’m not sure what the model was, but it could have been a Kenmore as Sears was the only one that I know of that sold that model, and we lived about eleven blocks from the sears at the time…

I can see her wringing out the clothes on top running them through one end and out the other! It always amazed me at the time, it was a sturdy machine that held up for a long time, as it really got a work out with the twelve of us kids!

My mother would then hang them on the clothes line in the building backyard to air dry. Back then many people did the same and at times my mother would take garments to the Laundomat to get them “Martinized” With the one hour Martinizing dry cleaning.

The company was initially called” One Hour Martinizing” due to its commitment to provide dry cleaning services within a one-hour time frame. This concept was pioneered in New York in 1949 by a chemist named Henry Martin, who had discovered a non-flammable solvent.