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Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Social History through 'The Beezer 3' : The Mangle

The mangle was mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and powered by a hand crank or electrically. It was usually used to wring water from wet laundry.

Throughout the first two decades of the Beezer (the 50’s and 60’s) this was a common place household item and as such the source of numerous comic strip gags.

Here we see Boss of the Badd Lads (Beezer March 1969) instructing a pupil on how to forge notes with the help of ink and an old mangle.

Gradually, the electric washing machine rendered this use of a mangle obsolete, and with it the need to wring clothes mechanically, which no doubt was a relief to Baby Crockett's Mum as she no longer had to worry about him getting caught up in it (from the Beezer Book 1970).


Lew Stringer said...

We had a mangle when I was a kid in the Sixties. We didn't have a lot of money and didn't have a washing machine until 1968! I can't remember what happened to the mangle now, - probably given to a scrap man, - but it was a really heavy piece of equipment.

Peter Gray said...

Just to say you missed number 3 of the interesting objects..

I watched Misses Mangle from Neighbours...:)

other than that never really saw a mangle in the 80's..

Anonymous said...

my grandmother had a mangle in the 60s: a real Victorian, wrought-iron, hand-cranked job, with rubber wheels.

It got the clothes almost bone-dry if you put the clothes through enough times, though......