Bleuel

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The painting The Laundresses by Jean-François Millet shows laundresses by the river at work with the bleuel.
"The big washing festival in front of the city", miniature painting from Splendor Solis (alchemical manuscript, Nuremberg, 1531, detail)

A Bleuel (also Wäschebleuel ) is a blow timber (see also beater ) and was until the invention of the washing machine for washing clothes used.

The Bleuel consists of a flat, wide striking surface and a handle. On most models, the handle and the striking surface are made from a simple board. There are also more elaborate bleuel, where the handle is placed on the top and some of the top has been embellished with carvings.

etymology

The word bleuel comes from ahd. Plûwil or bliuwil via mhd. Bliuwel , or as a verb bläuen , which means “knocking” or “striking”, from mhd. Bliuwen . The word has been used to this day in the terms "bluing" and "bluing". Since the spelling reform, verbs have been written using a folk etymology , but the noun continues to be written with e.

The connecting rod (rod for power transmission in machines) is etymologically derived from the bleuel. The connection may lie both in the “stirring movement” of the connecting rod and possibly in the shape of the connecting rod that widens towards the large connecting rod eye.

use

The bleuel is used to knock out the laundry in order to remove dirt in this way . The laundry soaked with water and treated with soap is placed on a hard surface (e.g. a stone or a wooden plate) and then hit the fabric with the bleuel. Beating loosens the dirt from the fibers and presses the lye water together with the dirt from the fabric.

The laundry in the tub was also stirred and fished out with long-handled bleuels .

Others

  • The municipality of Nauheim in Hesse has a laundry bar in the coat of arms and the coat of arms of the municipality of Wäschenbeuren shows the use of such.
  • As the terms “lead in” and “bleed in” suggest, the bleuel was probably also used as a domestic instrument of punishment . The paddle (see also spanking ) may have developed from the laundry bar, which used to be found in practically every household.

  • The coat of arms of Nauheim

  • The coat of arms of Wäschenbeuren

  • A spanking paddle

swell

  • Fred Bertrich: cultural history of washing . Econ publishing house. Düsseldorf 1966 (published on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Henkel company ).