LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A mundane chore of yesteryear was made, as its name implies, easier, through the use of the Easy Vacuum Electric Washer, circa 1912.
The Easy Vacuum Electric Washer was constructed of copper, and was a work of art, as well as a work horse.
This beauty had a heater underneath the drum that could be hooked up to fuel. The Easy Washer was electric, and it was not grounded!
The washer was advertised to keep costly clothing from ruination due to the typical “tubbing and rubbing of old fashioned laundering methods.”
The washer was first filled to the indented line you can see on its tub portion, then after soap was added, along with the clothes, of course, you flipped a switch to begin the plungers.
The plungers, or vacuum cups, two or three of them, pumped up and down, and rotated slowly, as well, for effective washing of grubby clothing.
After the agitation completed its course of action, the ringer was turned on to expel excess water before the clothes were ready to hang dry.
As some advertisements of the time said, “In the Easy Vacuum Electric Washer you can trust baby's most delicate things – white dresses, flannels, blankets, afghans, caps, coats and tiny hose. How clean, sweet, soft and fluffy it makes them.”
Prior to the ease of the Easy Washing Machine, the devices used to clean clothes were many and varied.
Of course, before indoor plumbing, laundry was done by pumping water from the well, hauling the water for washing to be heated on a stove or fire, then dumped into a tub for soiled clothes-washing.
The labor-intensive process meant that water was reused for further loads of laundry several times over.
Washboards were very popular after the board was invented in 1797 by New Hampshire's Nathaniel Briggs.
Also used in the 1790s were wooden drum type devices which used a rotating technology that was patented in England in 1791, and was called a washing mill.
These enclosed devices resembled small wine barrels and utilized textured walls inside the drums to aid in the cleaning process. A washing stick was included for the person washing clothing to press the clothes into the wood drum.
Later on, in the 1850s washing machines driven by steam were used commercially, both here and in England.
Next came a plethora of washing devices including rotary washing machines, and gasoline engine driven machines.
The “Wonder Washer” of 1907 was another patented washing machine used in homes, and has been displayed in the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum along with the “Easy Vacuum Electric Washer” of 1912.
For a demonstration on the Easy Washing Machine see the video below.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.