The Clothes Wringer: Two Rollers and a Spring

Washing clothes by hand leaves them heavy with water, and wringing a sheet by hand is slow, tiring and hard on the fabric. The wringer — two rubber rollers pressed together by springs and turned by a crank through gears — squeezes the water out as the cloth feeds through. Clamped to a tub or built onto a washing machine, it was in most homes that did their own washing for a century, until spin dryers took its place. The design is a balance: more spring force takes out more water but needs more effort at the crank, wears the rubber and breaks buttons; the gearing trades speed for effort. And the nip that grips cloth grips fingers too — wringers had a release to spring the rollers apart. This rung works out the crank effort and gearing and builds a small wringer.