View source for Mangle (machine)

{{Short description|Mechanical laundry aid}}
{{Redirect|Wringer}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2016}}
[[Image:Mangle.jpg|thumb|A [[Norrahammars Bruk]], model 3005-2, mangle from 1934]]
A '''mangle'''<!-- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Kenmore%20Wringer%20Washer  https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Kenmore%20Mangle%20Washer --><ref>{{cite web |title=How to Find a New or Used Wringer Washing Machine |url=https://www.thespruce.com/where-can-i-find-a-wringer-washer-1387948 |website=The Spruce |access-date=20 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref> is a mechanical laundry aid consisting of two rollers in a sturdy frame, connected by cogs and (in its home version) powered by a hand crank or by electricity. 

Mangles are used to press or flatten sheets, tablecloths, kitchen towels, or clothing and other laundry. The "wringer", a smaller lighter machine of similar appearance and function, was used to squeeze the water out of wet washing. While mangles remain in use in commercial settings, wringers have been made redundant by the spin dry cycle on modern washing machines.

== History ==
[[File:A Kivi was born here H6918 A Kiven synnyinkoti mankeli C.JPG|thumb|A primitive mangle at the childhood home of [[Aleksis Kivi]] in [[Palojoki]], [[Nurmijärvi]], [[Finland]], pictured in 2005]]

===Clothes press===
[[File:Mangling av tøy Foto Norsk Folkemuseum 1962, NF.06675-006.jpg|thumb|With the dominant hand on the handle and the other hand on the mangle, the user presses on the roll while it is pushed back and forth. Photo: [[Norwegian Folk Museum]], 1962.]]

[[File:Electric Rotor Washer.JPG|thumb|left|upright|A 1923 electric [[Miele]] washing machine with a built-in wringer]]

The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' dates the first use of the word '''mangle''' in English from 1598, quoting [[John Florio]] who, in his 1598 dictionary, ''A World of Words'', described "a kind of press to press [[buckram]], [[fustian]], or dyed linen cloth, to make it have a luster or gloss". The word comes from the Dutch {{Lang|nl|mangel}}, from {{Lang|nl|mangelen}} "to mangle", which in turn derives from the medieval Latin {{Lang|la|mango}} or {{Lang|la|manga}} which ultimately comes from the Greek ''manganon'', meaning "axis" or "engine" (particularly the [[mangonel]]).<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.</ref> 

Some northern European countries used a table version for centuries, the device consisting of the rolling pin, a wood cylinder around which the damp cloth was wrapped, and the mangle board, a curved or flat length of wood which was used to roll and flatten the cloth. The oldest known model is a Norwegian mangle board, found near [[Bergen]] and dated 1444.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mangle boards of Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands|url=https://www.mangleboard.com/|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref>

In the second half of the 19th century, commercial laundries began using steam-powered mangles or ironers. Gradually, the electric washing machine's spin cycle rendered this use of a mangle obsolete, and with it the need to wring out water from clothes mechanically. [[Box mangle]]s were large and primarily intended for pressing laundry smooth; they were used by wealthy households, large commercial laundries, and self-employed "mangle women". Middle-class households and independent washerwomen used upright mangles for wringing water out of laundry, and in the later 19th century they were more widely used than early washing machines. The rollers were typically made of wood, or sometimes [[rubber]].

The Steel Roll Mangle Co. of 108 Franklin Street, Chicago, Illinois, offered a gas-heated home mangle for pressing linens in 1902. In the 1930s electric mangles were developed and are still a feature of many laundry rooms. They consist of a rotating padded drum which revolves against a [[heating element]] which can be stationary, or can also be a rotating drum. Laundry is fed into the turning mangle and emerges flat and pressed on the other side. This process takes much less time than [[ironing]] with the usual [[Iron (appliance)|iron]] and ironing board.

There were many electric rotary ironers on the American market including Solent, Thor, Ironrite and Apex. By the 1940s the list had grown to include Bendix, General Electric, Kenmore and Maytag.<ref>It is claimed that the Maytag machine was produced by Bendix with Maytag branding</ref> By the 1950s, home ironers, or mangles, as they came to be called, were becoming popular time-savers for the homemaker.<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20230420121637/https://www.ebay.com/itm/114417962566   https://www.ebay.com/itm/115465441673  https://www.ebay.com/itm/266227327091  
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===Drying clothes===
[[File:Mangle at the Apprentice House, Quarry Bank Mill.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Mangle on display at the Apprentice House at the [[Quarry Bank Mill]] in the UK]]
When home [[washing machine]]s were first invented, they were just for washing: a tub on legs or wheels. A hand-cranked mangle appeared on top after 1843 when John E. Turnbull of [[Saint John, New Brunswick]], patented a "Clothes Washer With Wringer Rolls".<ref>Mario Theriault, ''Great Maritime Inventions 1833-1950'', Goose Lane, 2001, p. 28</ref> The first geared wringer mangle in the UK is thought to date to about 1850, when one was invented by Robert Tasker of [[Lancashire]].<ref>[http://www.taskers.com/Info1.asp?Key=6   Taskers history] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914002112/http://www.taskers.com/Info1.asp?Key=6 |date=September 14, 2010 }}</ref> It was a smaller, upright version of the [[box mangle]].

== Current use ==
[[File:Modern mangle in a Swedish laundry room.jpg|alt=An electric mangle is a chest-high, rectangular cabinet with an opening in the front. From the opening, a long sheet of cloth nearly as wide as the machine spills out into a tray below. Controls at the right of the front face of the machine operate a light which illuminates the opening, and the feed of the cloth in and out of the mangle.|thumb|upright|left|A modern, motorized mangle in a residential building's [[tvättstuga|laundry room in Sweden]]]]
Small domestic pressing mangles may be more common in some countries than in others. They are typically not sold in North American stores. In contrast to their use in homes, mangles have become an essential feature of commercial or large-scale laundries. They are typically used to press flat items such as sheets or tablecloths, and also are far quicker and more energy-efficient for removing most of the water than a [[clothes dryer]]. Skilled operators can also press shirts and trousers on a mangle.

A significant benefit of mangling is reduced dust. When washing, the ends of the surface fibers tend to loosen and stick out when dried. The clothes are then much more sensitive to trap dust, dirt and grease, and to shed off fibers. Mangling presses the fiber ends back onto the fiber, so that the clothes remain clean longer. This could potentially reduce dust approximately 10 to 60 times; however, this is not confirmed.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} Mangles are most often used for bed sheets, tablecloths and towels, which would be time-consuming to iron by hand.

=== Artistic use ===
Artists, such as [[Barbara Brash#Style and technique|Barbara Brash]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Barbara Brash — Holding Form |url=https://www.geelonggallery.org.au/cms_uploads/docs/barbara-brash%E2%80%94holding-form_exhibition-catalogue.pdf |website=Geelong Gallery |access-date=20 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=9 June 1965 |title=Mangle becomes printing press |pages=18 |work=The Age}}</ref> have adapted mangles to serve as [[Etching#Printing|printing presses]],<ref name="gfsmith/mangle">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Graham |title=A mangle conversion. The universal printing press? |url=http://www.gfsmith.net/mangle%20conversion.html |website=gfsmith.net |access-date=20 April 2023 |date=2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Making a collagraph |url=https://creativemarama.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/making-a-collagraph/ |website=creativemarama |access-date=20 April 2023 |language=en |date=21 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Blundell |first1=Katie |title=The Great Mangle Printing Press of 2017 |url=https://katieblundellartist.com/great-mangle-printing-press-2017/ |website=Katie Blundell Artist |access-date=20 April 2023 |date=27 March 2017}}</ref> which they resemble in construction. By fixing a metal platen, on which printing plate and paper are placed, permanently between the rollers, which themselves may be replaced by, or sheathed in, turned metal cylinders; they thus make a serviceable and much less expensive alternative to a commercial cylinder etching press.

==See also==
* [[Clothes horse]]
* [[Cold pad batch]]
* [[List of home appliances]]
* [[Ellen Eglin]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary | mangle}}
{{Commons category|Mangles}}
* Boston Public Library. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/sets/72157632240738916 Laundry Trade Cardz], including 19th-century advertisements for wringers.

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[[Category:Laundry equipment]]
[[Category:Laundry drying equipment]]