Antique Folding Bench Wringer

My journey begins

Some time ago…………………. All over the interwebs were videos of people “stripping” their laundry, especially sheets & towels. In September 2019 I blogged about hand washing my under-lovelies and how gray the water was from things that were normally washed in the washer on hot settings in loads of only light colored clothing.  I was a bit grossed out. I was pretty sure that larger laundry would also benefit from being washed out of the modern washing machine.  The problem was that it is difficult to wring out large heavy wet laundry. I went in search of a wringer that I could use while washing my clothes in the bathtub.

The Hunt is On

What I found was that modern wringers were just as expensive as older/antique ones.  Those wringers were designed to be attached to the side of a square bucket and not used in the bathtub. I looked at the inter-webs for what I could find and stumbled across an antique double washer stand.  The angels started singing and the heavenly light shone down.  This was the perfect answer to what I was looking for. It took my laundry out of the bathtub and it provided a way to wring out the clothes. 

There were other items that were also needed, specifically square wash buckets and a washing plunger. I found an antique plunger locally through craig’s list.  I ordered the square washtubs from Lehmans.com .Then when it wasn’t being used, it all folded up neat and tidy. The coolio thing about washing clothes in this manner is that it is mostly soaking.  It is a “set-it-and-forget-it” way of cleaning the clothes in which they are actually clean, not with gray rinse water dried into them. 

I Wonder Where it came from?

At some point, I became curious about the whole wringer/stand setup: like who made it, when it was made, stuff like that.  I could not read all of the print with my naked eyes, so I took some pictures and played with filters and that got me part of the way.  I got partial words and entered them into the inter-webs with the description “antique washer/wringer stand”. Guess what? There were lots of different manufacturers!  Eventually I did find mine.  It was labeled “Larkin”.  This was only the start of my rabbit-hole journey. Here is what I found out about the Larkin company:

Founding the Larkin Co.

It was founded in 1875 in Buffalo, New York as “J.D. Larkin, Manufacturer of Plain and Fancy Soaps”. Their first product was “Sweet Home Soap”, a yellow bar soap for laundry. It was a family business as their very first salesman was his brother-in-law, Elbert Hubbard. in 1877 Mr. Larkin bought land and built his first factory at 663 Seneca Street in Buffalo, NY. (The little blue circle points to the original factory)

In 1906 the Larkin administration building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was completed.

The Products

By 1878 the successful business was producing 9 different soap products including: “Boraxine” soap powder, “Jet” harness soap, “Oatmeal” toilet soap, “Sweet Home Soap”, “Pure White” toilet soap, “Ocean Bath” soap & Glycerine, among others. At this time the company was marketing to general stores and other merchants via mail order. In 1881, the company also started door-to-door sales to private homes.

The Premiums

It was at this time that Mr. Hubbard had the idea to insert modest premiums into every box of soap. They started with a color picture of the company’s logo. This strategy of gift premiums rapidly turned into larger and more interesting souvenir picture cards than his competitors. Before long a handkerchief was the premium included with the “Pure White” toilet soap and a bath towel with the “Ocean Bath” soap.

Direct Marketing

By 1885 they had eliminated all middlemen, including their own sales force, to market directly to consumers via mail order. Because they were saving on sales commissions, they were able to offer better premiums. This morphed into a catalog of premiums for people to choose from – kinda like the old green-stamp books. By 1893 the catalog was being sent to 1.5 million customers. Larkin began to manufacture its own goods for the most popular premiums. This developed out into various subsidiaries including: a furniture factory in Buffalo, the establishment of Buffalo Pottery, the Greensburg, Pennsylvania Glass Company, & the Buffalo Garment Center.

Larkin Ladies

The Larkin company also recruited “Larkin Secretaries”, housewives that would market the Larkin products door-to-door style. Similar to Avon ladies today. The secretaries would organize “Larkin clubs”. They would include 10 members that pledges to order $1 worth of Larkin goods each month. Each month, one member would be selected at random to receive the $10 premium. The next month it would go to someone else.

Proffits

From 1892 to 1904 the company saw huge growth in sales. From just under $500,000 to over $13,000,000. That is an increase of $125,000,000 in only 12 years. Imagine if that was in today’s dollars! Larkin’s company was large enough to even have it’s own building at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901.

The Catalog

By 1905, the catalog was offering over 115 products (notice my “Larkin Ball-Bearing Folding Bench Wringer No.5 in the upper left corner). By 1912 the Larkin catalog was second only to the Sears Catalog in the variety of products being offered. They also produced large amounts of advertising in the form of flyers, magazines, catalogs and brochures.

The “Larkin Idea”

There was a promotional magazine, “The Larkin Idea”, for the club secretaries that listed new products, marketing strategies, and encouraged members to set up “Larkin Pantries”. An area in their homes that were stocked with Larkin goods where they could sell to their neighbors. The company also promoted home decorating with the “Larkin Look”. By 1920, a home could be completely decorated with Larking goods.

A Sad End

By 1925, the Larkin company had around 900 catalog items and their factories covered 16-1/2 acres. The growth of department stores, the use of the automobile and the great depression all contributed to the decline in the company’s mail-order business. The company was sold in 1941 and the new owners continued as a mail-order business until 1962.

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