The Washboard: Ridges, Soap and a Board That Gives

"My invention has relation to that class of wash-boards in which the corrugated bed is supported upon yielding cushions and in which the metallic and corrugated covering for the bed is removable in strips". "The front side of the board is formed with a number of equidistant transverse grooves, M, into which the inwardly-projecting side flanges, N N, of metallic strips O fit, the middle portions of the strips being formed with V-shaped longitudinal corrugations P." The rubbing-board's lower end bears on a cushioned cross-rod, "the thickness of the board being considerably less than the width of the grooves in the side pieces, so that the lower end of the board may yield to pressure in the grooves." "It will thus be seen that a person may place the board in a tub and place the chest or abdomen against the yielding breast-board, which will thus prevent any undue and injurious pressure against it". "The metallic strips may be removed and replaced with new strips when worn out or otherwise damaged".

Cut two equal squares of plain cotton cloth. Rub the same amount of damp garden soil into each and let them dry. Fill a bucket with warm water and soak both for five minutes. Soap one and rub it between your knuckles for 100 strokes, timing it. Soap the other and scrub it on a washboard in the bucket for 100 strokes, timing it too. Rinse both in clean water and dry them side by side. Compare them in daylight, and photograph them together. Then soil two more and try 50 strokes to see where the washboard stops making a difference. Scrub with the wrists, not the knuckles on the ridges.

**Warren R. Van Vliet** of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, filed US 358,707 on 22 June 1886; it is dated 1 March 1887. It covers a cushioned rubbing-board with removable V-corrugated metal strips and a sprung breast-board. **Honest limits.** The patent names no metal for the strips and no material or stiffness for the yielding blocks. The force, ridge sizes, friction and stiffness in the notebook are examples. The two cloths are your own measurement.