It's funny. I've become so removed in 2009 from the work that a washing machine actually does that I have no idea how many cycles it moves through as it cleans my laundry. It's just a one-button job for me. Since typing up that long list of instructions from my 1945 housekeeping manual, though, I've been curious. So I stopped by the laundromat in my apartment complex tonight to take another peek at the machines there - just to see if there's any mention of cycles on the washers. Nada. The machines are Maytag Neptunes, front-loading commercial washers that were installed no more than 20 years ago when the complex was built. I haven't been able to find any information online specific to these washing machines, but I have been able to learn that modern washers in general run through at least the following cycles (and one less rinse cycle than suggested by my manual):
Wash
Spin
Rinse
Spin
Rinse
Spin
Now I'm curious to find out exactly how my machine operates. I think I'll hang out down there next Monday and listen to it as it moves through the cycles. Knowing the kind of energy that a 1940s housewife put into softening the water for each cycle, preparing a suds, draining and refilling the washer again and again --- it makes me really appreciate the work those Maytag Neptunes are saving me. In some sense, that is. After all, I'm putting my energy in other kinds of work in order to earn the quarters I put into those machines!
One item in my manual that I'm still puzzling over is the bit on "Soaking." Just before describing the process of "Washing," the authors advise their readers that white cottons and linens should be soaked for 15 to 30 minutes prior to washing, and colorfast cottons and linens for as long as 20 minutes. Do modern washers provide this cycle? The manual even recommends that "some authorities prefer a preliminary wash in cool suds to soaking, if a washer is used." Should I be soaking my laundry by hand before heading down to the laundromat?
