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LAUNDRY
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LAUNDRY , a See also:place or See also:establishment where soiled See also:linen, &c., is washed. The word is a contraction of an'earlier See also:form lavendry, from See also:Lat. lavanda, things to be washed, lavare, to See also:wash. " Launder," a similar contraction of See also:lavender, was one (of either See also:sex) who washes linen; from its use as a verb came the form " launderer," employed as both masculine and feminine in See also:America, and the feminine form " laundress," which is also applied to a See also:female caretaker of See also:chambers in the Inns of See also:Court, See also:London. Laundry-See also:work has become an important See also:industry, organized on a See also:scale which requires elaborate See also:mechanical plant very different from the See also:simple appliances that once sufficed for domestic needs. For the actual cleansing of the articles, instead of being rubbed by the See also:hand or trodden by the See also:foot of the washer-woman, or stirred and beaten with a " dolly " in the wash-tub, they are very commonly treated in rotary washing See also:machines driven by See also:power. These machines consist of an See also:outer casing containing an inner See also:horizontal cylindrical cage, in which the clothes are placed. By the rotation of this cage, which is reversed by automatic gearing every few turns, they are rubbed and tumbled on each other in the See also:soap and See also:water which is contained in the outer casing and enters the inner See also:cylinder through perforations. The outer casing is provided with inlet valves for hot and See also:cold water, and with See also:discharge valves; and often also arrangements are made for the See also:admission of See also:steam under pressure, so that the contents can be boiled. Thus the operations of washing, boiling, rinsing and blueing (this last being the addition of a See also:blue colouring See also:matter to See also:mask the yellow tint and thus give the linen the See also:appearance of whiteness) can be performed without removing the articles from the See also:machine. For drying, the old methods of wringing by hand, or by machines in which the clothes were squeezed between rollers of See also:wood or See also:india-See also:rubber, have been largely superseded by " hydro-extractors " or " centrifugals." In these the wet garments are placed in a perforated cage or See also:basket, supported on See also:vertical See also:bearings, which is rotated at a high See also:speed (l000 to 1500 times a See also:minute) and in a See also:short See also:time as much as 85% of the moisture may thus be removed. The drying is often completed in an apartment through which dry See also:air is forced by fans. In the See also:process of See also:finishing linen the old-fashioned laundress made use of the See also:mangle, about the only piece of mechanism at her disposal. In the See also:box-mangle the articles were pressed on a See also:flat See also:surface by rollers which were weighted with a box full of stones, moved to and fro by a See also:rack and pinion. In a later and less cumbrous form of the machine they were passed between wooden rollers or " See also:bowls " held See also:close together by weighted levers. An important advance was marked by the introduction of machines which not only smooth and See also:press the linen like the mangle, but also give it the glazed finish obtained by hot ironing. Machines of this See also:kind are essentially the same as the calenders used in See also:paper and textile manufacture. They are made in a See also:great variety of forms, to enable them to See also:deal with articles of different shapes, but they may be described generally as consisting either of a polished See also:metal See also:roller, heated by steam or See also:gas, which See also:works against a blanketted or felted surface in the form of another roller or a flat table, or, as in the Decoudun type, of a felted metal roller rotating against a heated See also:concave See also:bed of polished metal. In cases where hand-ironing is resorted to, time is economized by the employment of irons which are continuously heated by gas or See also:electricity. LA See also:UNION, a seaport and the See also:capital of the See also:department of La Union, See also:Salvador, 144 M. E.S.E. of See also:San Salvador. Pop. (1905)about 4000. La Union is situated at the foot of a lofty See also:volcano, variously known as Conchagua, Pinos and Meanguera, and on a broad indentation in the western See also:shore of See also:Fonseca See also:Bay. Its See also:harbour, the best in the See also:republic, is secure in all weathers and affords See also:good anchorage to large See also:ships. La Union is the See also:port of shipment for the exports of San See also:Miguel and other centres of See also:production in eastern Salvador.
LA UNION, a See also:town of eastern See also:Spain in the See also:province of See also:Murcia, 5 M. by See also:rail E. of See also:Cartagena and close to the Mediterranean See also:Sea. Pop. (1900) 30,275, of whom little more than See also:half inhabit the town itself. The See also:rest are scattered among the numerous metal works and mines of See also:iron, See also:manganese, See also:calamine, See also:sulphur and See also:lead, which are included within the municipal boundaries. La Union is quite a See also:modern town, having sprung -up in the second half of the 19th See also:century. It has good modern municipal buildings, See also:schools, See also:hospital, town See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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