The "One Best Way" to Wash: A Home Economist Explains

The “One Best Way” to Wash: A Home Economist Explains

In the early 20th century, new household technology was both accomplished and inspired by the tremendous increase in American industrial production. As in industry, mechanization and scientific management were part of a larger reorganization of work. And as in industry, efficient housekeeping was partially a response to labor unrest—both the “servant problem” and the growing disquiet of middle-class wives. A major proponent of the new housekeeping, Christine Frederick was consulting household editor for Ladies Home Journal from 1912 to 1919 and the author of numerous books and pamphlets on scientific management in the home. Frederick’s pamphlet, You and Your Laundry (1922), instructed women in the daunting complexities of washing clothes—a process comprising fifteen different steps. You and Your Laundry also illustrated the close alliance between scientific housework and consumption. Written under the sponsorship of the Hurley Machine Company, Frederick’s pamphlet frequently invoked its brand name and products. The pamphlet ended with a pitch for buying on installment, a payment plan that helped to spur consumption.

CHAPTER I

Why Friction and Washboard Methods

Are Out of Date

The first cleaning of clothing by a wet or washing method was done in the running water of a river. The women of primitive peoples carried their soiled garments to the edge of a stream, and either held or fastened them down with a rock while they allowed the action of the water to wash out the dirt. Then the women gradually discovered that laying the clothing on a smooth stone, and pounding with another rock or flat stick seemed to remove the dirt more easily. The next step was to build out into the river a sloping, narrow platform, and rub the wash on this wooden surface. Soon they made grooves or ridges in these platforms, and thus was evolved the modern popular “washboard”—which to-day is as much of a discarded antique as tallow dips and warming pans!

All of these early and traditional methods were based on the idea of friction, either by rubbing the pieces on a board or pounding them with some form of paddle. This rub-a-dub-dub method persisted for centuries, not because it was the best way to remove soil from clothing, but because no one, until recent times, studied to find some new and more efficient washing principles.

Just as for thousands of years people cooked their food by holding it on a stick over a bed of hot coals, because more advanced methods of using an iron range or an electric grill had not been discovered, so too, women everywhere have followed the old drudgery washboard-friction habit of washing because the wonderful, labor-saving methods of machine washing were not yet perfected.

There were several steps in the development of successful machine washing, such as is now made possible by the THOR cylinder washer. The first was the discovery that water itself has solvent power, and that by adding to it certain substances, this power, especially over dirt and grease, is still more effective. Primitive housekeepers added wood ashes to the wash water, but found that while this lye “cut” the dirt, it was too hard on the clothes. To lesson such bad effects, they combined lye with fat—and thus originated modern soap.

The second step was a clearer understanding of textiles and of the ways in which dirt and grease are absorbed and retained by the various fibres of which textiles are made. Under the microscope cotton and linen appear like strings or ribbons of cells, while wool shows as overlapping fish-scales, which are found to expand when wet and which if rubbed while wet or subjected to hot water, at once interlock, thus shortening the fibre and resulting in what we call “shrinkage.” Now what we call “soil” in clothing is insoluble particles of dirt held suspended among these fibres by the waste oil given off constantly by the human skin. This oil, or grease, must be “cut” or attacked so that the dirt particles may be set free from the fibres and carried away in the wash water.

In other words, it is necessary to be convinced that to successfully cleanse clothing we must use those methods which will most effectively dissolve grease, and thus permit the dirt to fall away from between the fibres of the clothing. Modern science has proved to us that such methods are purely chemical reactions—and that grease is best removed, not by rubbing, but by treating it with those substances which have been found to literally dissolve it and change it into other forms. All grease is combinations of fatty acids—and we must use the opposing chemical elements, or alkalis (such as washing soda, ammonia, borax, etc., or variations of them as found in soap), in the wash water in order to break up the grease and permit the real dirt to detach itself from the clothing.

How You Can Get Rid of Hand Rubbing

Every worker must understand this modern principle of the attacking of grease by chemical substances in solution, in order to see why machine washing is so effective. If she grasps this newer idea clearly, she will surely also see how futile, how useless, and wrong was the old-fashioned habit of rubbing by hand, using a wash-board, or even a machine based on pounding or friction. Would all the hand rubbing in the world remove an inkspot from a table-cover? No! But just add a few drops of the proper neutralizing agent and watch the stain instantly disappear, leaving the cloth spotless! Thus just as a few drops of the right chemical will remove a disfiguring stain, so the judicious use of grease solvents like soap, borax, etc., when added to wash water in solution of the proper strength will accomplish a cleansing of the clothes which could not be equalled by hours of hand rubbing.

Remember this illustration of the inkspot every time you or any person is led to remark that they “don’t see how a machine will wash clothes without rubbing.” Even when you did rub the clothes with a bar of soap on a washboard it was not the rubbing, but the alkali or other chemical agent released from the soap which really cleaned, and not the rub. When you used a cake of soap on the washboard you were obtaining only about 10 per cent of the value of the soap as a cleanser; when you dissolve that soap and use it in a solution, or use a solution prepared with other chemical agents which attack grease, you secure their full 100 per value in “cutting” body soil and setting the dirt particles loose in the wash water.

Further, remove from your mind any misconception as to the injurious effect of such solutions upon clothing when properly used, or any idea that clothes washed in such a machine as the THOR after methods to be hereafter described, could possible harm the most delicate articles. Can you not see that washing solutions, rightly made, which affect and break down grease in a few moments, are far less dangerous than the long continued rub-a-dub-rubbing of a washboard method? Such solutions attack the grease between the fibres; the washboard wears out the fibres themselves. Which do you prefer? A “cake of soap” does not enter into modern machine washing—all soap must be shaved, powdered, and dissolved with other agents in the wash water.

But the last, and probably the most important step to successful machine washing is the principle of the cleansing power of water when applied with force, as brought to such mechanical perfection in the THOR cylinder machine. For a long time I myself could not understand how, even with a proper soap solution, the clothes could be washed clean. I saw the motor turning. I watched the cylinder revolve, I observed it reverse after each eight times around in one direction—but still I did not grasp this new principle of machine washing.

Do you, too, still wonder how a washing machine drives out dirt?

Imagine for a moment a dirty city pavement or street. Think of a street cleaner appearing with his hose, and see him attach it to a water supply. Watch him turn on the hose. Notice how, instantly, the grease and litter of the pavement flies before the onrush of the water stream as he plays it before him, leaving the pavement startingly clean.

But suppose that the water were shut up in a tight metal box or tub, and that instead of being thrown in only one direction, it was forced now forward, now down, now up again, in an endless change of position as it struck the sides of the tub. And that further, the tub was fitted with a perforated cylinder containing soiled clothes, and that, as the cylinder revolved within the tub, the water was forced through those countless holes, out, and back, and over. If you looked in the cylinder you would also see that at intervals along its sides were narrow bars of “lifters”, and that as the cylinder went around, these bars caught up and “lifted” the clothes to the top, there to drop them back into the water of their own weight and with much force—but instantly “lifting” the next batch up and dropping it—over and again, as long as the cylinder revolved. And all the time, the warm and sudsy water is pouring in and over and through the clothes, impelled by the continuous, steady force exerted by the motor. Perhaps now you can see how clothes are washed clean in a THOR washer! . . .

CHAPTER IV

The Right Way to Do Machine Washing

“Do you soak the clothes when you use a machine?” "Is it necessary to boil them after washing?“ "How long do you let the washer operate?” These are only a few of the many questions which women ask me about washing clothes the machine-way. Or every once in a while I still find a housekeeper saying: “I don’t believe in washers, I just know they won’t work, and the old way is good enough for me.” Or perhaps again, “If you have to wash the flannels and colored things by hand, I don’t think a machine is worth buying just for the white clothes.”

All of these remarks prove that the women asking them are not fully informed as to the right way to machine-wash, and that they do not see the wonderful results guaranteed by such a cylinder washer as the THOR. But before answering all such questions and giving the clear, plain rules for successful machine washing in every case, I wish to “tackle” this point of the woman who is convinced that such and such a device or labor-saver “won’t work.”

Whenever I hear this negative comment so forcibly expressed, I am reminded of a friend who once bought a fireless cooker. She knew I had used a fireless successfully for many years, so she told me she was going to buy that identical make. I did not see her until several months later, when naturally I asked her how she liked the cooker she had purchased. To my amazement she replied that she had returned it to the manufacturer.

“What was the matter with it?” I questioned.

“Oh, it was defective,” she assured me; “I put the cereal in at night and when I took the pot out in the morning it was cold and the oatmeal still raw. No one can make me believe you can cook in that cold box! So I sent it right back to the manufacturer in three days.”

Now my friend thought (and probably still things) that she bought a “defective” cooker, but I know that she had not learned to use that cooker right. And so whenever I hear a woman say that a certain well-tested device “won’t work,” I am certain that the device will work if the woman only understands and operates it intelligently. Over and over again I have found that all such “comebacks” about equipment arise because the worker buying it has not studied the mechanism, tested it, used a little patience and followed well-worked-out rules for its operation.

I am quite sure that when somebody told your grandmother that finer, and more even, and perfect stitches could be taken in cloth with a needle set in a strange machine operated by a wheel and belt, than she could make by hand, that she too, said that this new sewing machine “won’t work”—and it probably took some time for her to be convinced.

But you to-day know the perfection of sewing machine work, and even if you cannot obtain the smoothest results the first time you place your foot on the treadle, will you foolishly condemn so wonderful a labor-saver as a sewing machine and say that it “won’t work?” Yet why do you repeat similar doubts about a washing machine, especially when you may not have used it the right way?

Before you pass judgment on the THOR washer or exclaim that you “don’t believe it will wash clean,” or “can’t see how it will wash without rubbing,” etc., I have just one advice—give the THOR a fair trial, and operate it after well-tested directions. If thousands and thousands of other women have proved that the THOR gives perfect, satisfactory results over years of service, will the THOR not also wash your family’s clothes successfully?

In the past years during which I have been a professional Household Efficiency Engineer, I have studied hundreds of tasks both in the factory and the home. From these experiments I have come to believe that there is always one best, one shortest, one easiest way to follow for any given piece of work. I like to call such a one best, shortest, easiest method a “standard practice.” This means the set of directions, or practice of doing a task which is so good or perfect that it may really form a standard, and be followed over and over with the same perfect results. Just as we must follow a cooking recipe with its exact amounts, way of beating, temperature and time in the oven to bake a perfect cake, so too, we must follow the exact instructions as to amount of soap solution, temperature of water, and time of operation of the washer, to secure perfect washing results. What a recipe is in cooking, a “standard practice” is in the handling of a machine, or process of work.

What, then, is this “standard practice” or right way to machine-wash clothes with a THOR washer?

Standard Practice for THOR Washer

(THOR Washer, Two Wash Tubs, One Basket)

1—Look over clothing and remove spots and stains, sort and put to soak. (If the clothes are soaked over night, have the water as hot as you wish, but if the clothes are not soaked over night, do not have the water any hotter than you can bear your hand in. It is advisable to at least soak the clothes a few minutes before putting them in the machine.)

2—Water can be heated in an ordinary wash boiler, if you have no hot water plant.

3—Prepare soap solution to be used.

4—Wring pieces for first load (table linen, etc.), from soak tub, putting into the machine only enough pieces to come to the level of the lifters (C-D) in the cylinder. Do not pack the clothes in tight. If the cylinder is full, there will not be enough of a “drop.” Put in hot water to just come below the two lifters (C-D). Water must not come above “water line.” Fasten both catches on the cylinder cover securely. Start the machine. Pour in soap solution as cylinder revolves. This will start the suds immediately. Close the cover of the machine in order to maintain heat of the water. This first cylinderful of clothes should run about 15 minutes.

5—While the machine is washing the first load, wring the rest of the soaking clothes into a basket or to the top of the machine.

6—Drain stationary tubs and fill with clean, fresh, warm water for rinsing. The rinsing of the clothes is very important, as all soap must be removed from the clothes.

7—Prepare blue water (no directions can be given for preparing blue water, as bluing comes in so many degrees of strength). Use care that bluing is thoroughly mixed with water to prevent streaking of clothes.

8—Wring the washed clothes from the machine directly into boiler, if you are going to boil them; otherwise into the rinse tub. In wringing, always spread the clothes out so that the wear on the rolls will be uniform. Don’t have rolls too tight. When using a power wringer, the tendency is to keep the rolls too tight, particularly in wringing linens. This should not be done as extreme pressure might injure the fabric and make it difficult for ironing. For large extra pieces, such as bed-spreads, blankets, etc., the tension on the rolls should always be greatly lightened.

9—Put in the second lot of clothes and add enough soap solution to equal 1/4 cake or one tablespoon Hurley Soap.

10—Prepare starch and put up lines.

11—Proceed with second and third load same as first. (In the average family three loads will take care of the white clothes.)

12—After the third cylinderful has been washed and wrung, draw out about one-fourth of the water, thus removing the sediment that has accumulated in the bottom of the machine. Add enough hot water to replace that drawn out and sufficient soap solution to make a good suds.

13—The flannel load follows the last white load. Water should be lukewarm, not too hot, or it is apt to shrink woolens. Wring loosely. Rinse in water of same temperature as wash water. Re-wring, pull into shape and dry in warm temperature, never cold or freezing.

14—Colored load follows the flannel load and may be washed in the same water. Wring from washer into clear, clean water. Wring back to top of machine or into well-strained starch. Colored garments should be shaken out well, so that colors will not be likely to run into one another.

15—If there are many black stockings, they may form a separate load. Always use clear, fresh, soapy water. Do not wash stockings in water from a white load, otherwise the lint from the white pieces will make stockings gray. Turn all stockings inside out before washing. Brown pairs, which often “bleed”, or colored socks should be done by themselves. In washing white stockings, be careful that water is not hot. Hot water yellows white silk. Rinse all stockings particularly well, and hang up by the feet.

How To Arrange Your Washing

Load 1 (White)—Tablecloths, napkins, doilies, dresser scarfs, aprons.

Load 2 (White)—Sheets, cases, face towels, shirt waists, brassieres, cambric night or underwear, children’s dresses, white petticoats, handkerchiefs.

Load 3 (White)—Cotton or mixed underwear, bath towels, kitchen towels, bed-spreads, covers, night wear, cotton crepes, all coarse meshed goods.

Load 4 (Flannel)—Night garments or underwear of flannel or outing flannel, petticoats, shirts, small quilts, children’s woolen articles, blankets, all flannel finish or party wool goods.

Load 5 (Colored)—Housedresses, men’s shirts, rompers, children’s dresses, aprons, all colored or partly colored goods of gingham, chambray, linen, etc.

I wish every woman to know also how successful is the THOR machine-way of washing those many articles which are included in our home furnishings, but which cannot be classed as ordinary washing. For instance, I had for years been in the habit of sending my bath mats and the small rugs used so commonly in summer, to the commercial laundry. The charge at first was about 25 cents each, but gradually it mounted until it was a heavy item of expense. Also, the rugs were faded badly. The laundress refused to handle them, because the lifting and work were so heavy.

But when I bought my THOR washer, I tried to wash one of the small rag rugs just for experiment. What was my surprise to see it go thru the wringer as pretty and clean as the day it was new! Ever since I have included the washing of all mats, cotton rugs, etc., with no extra effort at all. . . .

CHAPTER VI

The High Cost of Cleaning

HOW many persons think of laundry work as cleaning? We are all familiar with discussions on the “high cost of living”; but how much of this “high cost” is brought about by the money we lay out every week, either when we send clothing to the commercial laundry, or when we have the work done at home and pay $3.00 and more per day to the laundress? Most budgets allow only a small sum for all “operating”—such as light, fuel, soap, service, laundry, etc. But I think that if we stopped to estimate, many of us would find that we are spending on the cost of cleaning our clothes alone, enough money to pay for first-class season tickets to the opera, or to send one of our children a year through college.

There has recently been a widespread suggestion to the housekeeper that she avoid all washday troubles by a plan of “send it to the laundry.” One winter week when our pipes were frozen and the wash heavy, I decided to take advantage of this enticing offer, “send it to the laundry,” and thus relieve myself of all work and responsibility. Although we are a family of eight, I thought it would be more fair, for experiment’s sake, to send only the clothing and pieces which would be used by an average family of four—a mother, father, and two children of school age—for one week. So I carefully sorted the wash, made duplicate lists, and sent the bundle to a good suburban laundry with the distinct understanding that these clothes were to be “rough dried only.” I wanted to find out exactly what it cost to wash clothes, apart from the ironing charge.

Imagine my amazement when I received the bill. I certainly was not prepared to pay this staggering sum. The clothes and pieces used by an average family of four—for washing only—cost $5.80! Think of it, $5.80 for washing a small, average wash, without any petticoats, summer skirts, or fancy pieces—$5.80!

The next thought which struck me was, what would it have cost if I had sent the clothes and pieces of my usual family of eight persons? Or think what I would have had to pay for the ironing in addition! Why, for almost the sum which they charged for washing each middy blouse or child’s romper, I could have bought new blouses and clothes! This was winter—I hated to think what a summer washing would cost with even modest changes of white apparel. This was my first, last, and only desire to “send it to the laundry.”

But suppose that I did send my clothing to the laundry, both for washing and ironing, and say it averaged $5 a week (which is far too low an estimate), do you realize that $5 weekly, or $20 a month, is the interest on $4,000 at 6 per cent.? Or put in another way, $20 is 20 per cent. or one-fifth of a salary of $100 a month; or 10 per cent. or one-tenth of a salary of $200 a month; or almost 7 per cent. of a salary of $300 a month? Now which of us has the right to spend even an unnecessary 7 per cent of our salary on washing clothes, when there are so many lasting and more profitable ways of spending money on books, music, or travel, or in paying for a home of our own?

I need hardly try and prove that the average family (even the family of four persons on an income of $300 to $400 a month) cannot afford to have its clothes washed at a commercial laundry. And the more children, or the greater the number of persons, the higher the ratio and more unbearable laundry costs become.

I travel and lecture in all parts of the country, and I seem to hear nothing else but “high cost” of this or that. But do those women who become so excited at a 2-cent raise in the price of steak, compare the money they spend on “operating” and laundry to their total incomes? They wail about the high cost of food (which they can’t control), but what steps do they take to reduce the high cost of cleaning, which they can control, by refusing to pay the outrageous commercial laundry fees, and instead save money by machine-washing in their own homes?

“But I don’t send my clothes to the laundry; I have a laundress come and do them,” some woman remarks. If you can still find some other woman willing to wash your dirty clothes, you are indeed a lucky housekeeper, for there are thousands and thousands of homes which cannot for any price secure either permanent servants or workers by the day. And that laundress if you do find her will ask $3.00 and carfare, and you will provide her meals in addition, so that you are paying a high cost of cleaning in any event.

Washing at laundry for average family of 4$ 5.80

Ironing of above wash at laundry6.00$11.80

Washing and Ironing by Laundress for Average

Family of Four

Wages (plus carfare)$ 3.16

Meals.60

Wear on clothes by washboard method.50

Soap, starch and fuel37

(Some pieces left over for housekeeper to iron)$ 4.63

Washing and Ironing by THOR Washer and Ironing

Machine for Family of Four

Weekly investment cost of THOR washer$0.25

Weekly investment cost of THOR ironer.30

2 hours' current for washing.04

2 hours' current for ironing.04

2 hours' fuel for ironing.06

Starch, soap, but less fuel.15

(No pieces left over)$0.84

Some difference between 84 cents and either $4 or $11, if the clothes are done by a laundress or at the laundry! But his difference is when we estimate the clothes for a family of four—think what it would be if we had six or eight or more persons to wash and iron for! And, listen the investment cost of the THOR washer and ironer is the same, no matter whether you have four or double that number in the family. You pay only 55 cents a week for the service of the THOR Laundry Helpers, no matter how long they work, or how many pieces to be ironed, or how many you wash for—of what other laundress can you say the same?

When a laundress is engaged for a definite day, she comes if weather is good or bad, and if it is bad, then your wash is delayed, and you have to finish it the next clear day. Or, still oftener, if it is raining, she doesn’t show up, and then you lose “your” day, and either have to postpone washing for a week, thus making you short of clothes, or you try to do some of it by hand, and wear yourself all out with the rubbing and the slop. But with a THOR washer, you are independent, and can wash any time the weather is at its best, and you prefer doing the work.

If you do have a laundress and wish to have her continue to do the work, then the THOR will save her time. I know one wealthy home in Philadelphia which used to have a laundress come three days each week. They were very particular, and the work had to be done with great care. But the mistress bought a THOR washer and took her laundress down to the local office of the Hurley Machine Co., to see how it was operated, and in a short time the laundress accomplished the same washing in one day. I myself seldom recommend equipment to be used by servants or hired help, but I am frank to say that even the typical “washwoman” likes to use the THOR. I know I was surprised to see how my own assistant took to it, and although she had hand-rubbed for years, she very quickly learned the principles of machine washing, and indeed has been of great help to me in co-operating on this booklet.

Can you afford this “high cost of cleaning?” If not, then at once investigate the purchase of a THOR washer and ironer, in order to reduce your “operating cost” and keep it low in your budget. 750,000 women have found the THOR a practical means of reducing their laundry expense.

CHAPTER VII

The Woman and the Machine

“Man’s work is from sun to sun, but woman’s work is never done.”

HOW many millions of women have thought this, as they looked up from their pots and pans and washboards and gazed off at men who leave and come at regular hours, and whose work seems so much more interesting and stimulating and devoid of petty routine than their own! The man who farms, the man who builds, the man who manages an office—is it true that his work is really easier? Why can man’s work be reduced to regular hours while a woman drags on and on from morn till night? I will tell you—men are lazy—yes!—lazy—so lazy that they sat down and invented machines to do the work for them! The farmer rides comfortable on his tractor, the builder uses electric cranes and drills, and the office man does not wear out his brains to add up a column of figures—he lets an adding machine do it for him!

Yes, the one chief reason why man’s work has progressed, why he has been able to cut down the effort and drudgery of many tasks, is because he uses machinery to replace hand labor. But women have not let machinery serve them. They were not used to it, and possibly in the past they were afraid of something with wheels and gears and moving parts. The war, however, splendidly showed that woman could run machinery as well as man, and in factory and munition plants women were responsible for operating the most complicated tools of war production.

If women can operate machinery so successfully in the factory why are they not willing to try it in the household where it will save them untold effort, labor and time? This is the “Machine Age” for the home, and no housekeeper of today need sit around and bewail that her “work is never done,” if she only buys the right labor-savers and learns to use them properly. . . .

CHAPTER VIII

Let Your Husband Read This

Perhaps you are one of the splendid modern women who do understand machinery. But in any case, let your husband read over this chapter with you, because men are more familiar with the technical construction of machinery and I want your husband to be satisfied on every point of the mechanical perfection of the THOR.

First, notice the neat, attractive appearance of the washer. It is self-cleanable, because after you have washed the clothes, all you need to do is to start the cylinder (with cylinder cover closed) and flush out the dirty water. Then the rinsing, and your machine is sweet and clean. Leave the cover of the machine open, so that it will air.

There is nothing “cheap” about the THOR. It is expertly made, and will last for years.

The point of no exposed moving parts has been mentioned. Let your husband see how few parts there are—few parts mean little or no repair. The cylinder and the wringer are both shaft-driven by smooth running, silent, spiral-cut spur and bevel gears. All other gears are highest grade cast chilled gears—another patented feature found only in the THOR. The tub or body is made of 26-gauge sheet steel or of 20-ounce copper, double seamed and soldered, which makes it water-tight and rust-proof. The cylinders are of polished maple, Metal, or of Luminoid.

The THOR rests on easy-rolling swivel casters, so that no effort is required to move the machine to any desired place.

Notice again the special safety wringer release which instantly releases pressure of rolls. The swinging wringer is all metal, which makes it indestructible.

Have him look at the high grade standard make of motor. Remember the great value of the Atalog, the THOR patented motor protector which prevents overstrain of the motor. There is nothing to get out of order. See how easy to get at are the few places which require oiling. Reference to the instruction chart sent with the machine will enable you to locate every point where the machine needs lubrication, in order to give the best service. Your husband can explain where the grease cups are, the shaft, the lever, and show you how to release the wringer or any point in the machine’s operation.

You will see that compared to other washing machines the THOR is not only the sturdiest, but the simplest, as well. There is nothing to get out of order, nothing which you will not be able to fully understand.

The same is true of the THOR Automatic Ironing Machine, which any girl of 15 can learn to operate in a few minutes. It is so smooth, so easy to keep clean, so automatic, that there is no hard work and ironing becomes a real pleasure.

On the ironing machine, notice the special drilled hole gas burner pipe which was immediately adopted and recommended by gas experts, among them the Consolidated Gas and Electric Company of New York.

The open end shoe permits ironing 95 per cent. of your work.

The three-point suspension is found only in the THOR machine. By this special construction any unevenness of the floor in the laundry is overcome. It insures even pressure along the entire length of the roll which is very important.

Another important thing is the shaft drive. This not only eliminates the use of belts which break and slip, but it is possible to use a small but powerful motor which greatly reduces the operating cost.

If you are planning a new home, The Hurley Machine Company will be glad to send you free a blue print plan of a model laundry. . . .

EASY PAYMENTS

YOUR Electric light Company or ANY THOR dealer will deliver to your home any or all of the THOR labor-savers for a small cash sum down, $10.00 brings the water or ironer, $5.00 brings the cleaner, balance to be paid in twelve small monthly installments.

This liberal selling policy puts the benefits of the THOR home efficiency devices within the reach of all purses. It permits you to secure the help and services of these wonderful machines as you pay for them. You don’t have to wait until you pay the full amount—you can begin to use them at once. In this way the THOR products pay for themselves, because the moment you begin to use them you can stop paying for other costly hand labor.

You can do with less hired service by the month or day, or entirely replace the usually wasteful, expensive human worker if you use either a THOR washer, a THOR ironer, or the THOR vacuum cleaner. Put your home on the modern, up-to-date business basis which makes it possible for every housekeeper to have a “margin of leisure,” solve the servant problem, and reduce the H. C. of L. [high cost of living.]

Source: Christine Frederick, You and Your Laundry (New York: The Hurley Machine Co., 1922), 3–6, 14–18, 26–30, 31–32, 39.