Washboard

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Historical tools for washing clothes (in the Spreewald ): washboard, wash tub with suds and brush

The washboard , laundry ruffle or laundry cupola is an aid for washing items of clothing when washing by hand . It was very common before the invention of the washing machine and it is still used in regions where washing machines are rare, such as India and Africa .

Structure and use

Usually a washboard or a washroom consists of a wooden frame into which a corrugated sheet metal or a corrugated plastic plate has been inserted. There are also washboards that are only made of wood and have notches (transverse grooves). Single corrugated sheets produce horizontal ripples, double corrugated sheets produce a horizontal wave pattern.

The washboard is usually around 30 to 40 centimeters tall for household use. The surface is designed in such a way that a regular pattern of elevations and depressions is formed on which the damp, washable item of clothing is rubbed in order to loosen the dirt. Here, the washboard is in the washtub , washtub , laundry tub with the detergent solution set and the dirty clothes rubbed so long about the ripple is dissolved until the dirt. After that, the laundry is wrung or through the mangle turned.

Special forms of the washboard are laundry tubs incorporated into the basin, in which a wall is inclined and designed with ribs.

Musical instrument

Street musician: washboard as a rhythm instrument
Washboard player

The washboard is used as a rhythm instrument in music. A distinction is made between pure metal washboards, which are specially built for this purpose, and zinc washboards with wooden frames (which were originally used for washing clothes). The player either hangs the board in front of his chest (common with Zydeco bands in Louisiana ), mounts it on a small table (common in the classic jazz and swing times of the 1920s to 1940s) or places it on the Knee (common in skiffle bands in the 1950s and 1960s). The board is rubbed or hit with sticks, jazz brooms or by hand, similar to a snare drum . When playing with the hand, thimbles must be pulled over the individual fingers or the fingers are drummed ( whirled ). This percussion instrument is also used in musical styles such as Dixieland , Rock 'n' Roll and Rockabilly .

In the 1920s to 1940s the washboard was a popular instrument in classical jazz and early swing (famous performers: Baby Dodds , Floyd Casey, Jimmy Bertrand , Washboard Sam , Bruce Johnson). It gained new popularity with the skiffle fashion in England in the late 1950s, which also led to the formation of numerous skiffle bands in Germany. The English jazz singer Beryl Bryden and Jim Dandy Mangrum from Black Oak Arkansas accompanied themselves on a washboard. John Lennon's first band, The Quarrymen , was also a skiffle band and played with washboard.

Washboard players Gunter Andernach and Dieter “Zech” Nentwig made a name for themselves in German jazz bands in the 1970s (Zech's Washboard Company). The Jazz Classics with Washboard ( Horst Schwarz ) still play regularly in Frankfurt am Main . In the French scene, the instrument is maintained by Gilbert Leroux's Washboard Company and Paris Washboard.

Washboard pattern

Patterns that resemble the cross-groove structure of a washboard are called washboard patterns . Examples are the washboard abs , the washboard slope or ripple marks on the beach.

See also

  • Bleuel , the removal of dirt when washing clothes with a hammer

Web links

Commons : Washboard  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: washboard  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations