In micky writes:

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 12 Jun 2020 13:00:34 -0700 (PDT), Amanda
Ripanykhazova wrote:

I don't think they had tumble dryers in 1930, but what they had in the
basement were drawers, mounted sideways (6 feet tall but 8" wide
horizontally) with a rod to hang sheets at the top, and a gas flame at
the bottom to dry the sheets. Never figured out how other clothes were
to be dried.


I absolutely LOVED those gas dryers!! Had them when I first moved to a 1928 building next to PanHellenic Hotel in New York. Made it incredibly easy to fold sheets as well, just by doubling over twice.

Wow, you're the first person I've met who used them. (There were old
ladies in my building, but I think they had maids who sent the laundry
to the basement (put it on the dumbwaiter.) Or if they did it
themselves, they just put it in the dumbwaiter.

My grandparent's apartment building in Manhattan, built
something like 1915, had these as well.

They were still in use 1960ish for large items and by people
who didn't want to use the rotary dryers.

And eyup, you grabbed the handle and slid the whole drawer
out, placed your sheets on the rods, then slid everything
back into place.

*whew*, the memories...

I'm not sure whether they had gas flames underneath or were
heated by the steam pipes from the boiler. I'm tempted
to believe the latter 'cuz gas supplies were _dangerous_,
particularly before the Big Switchover from manufactured
(or the similar town) gas to natural gas 1950's/60's.




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