Generally there are two broad categories of laundering. These are wet method and dry method.
Wet Method:
There are four method, of wet washing which are given as follows :
By friction : Cotton cloth, curtain line etc. are washed by rubbing with hands or brush or on scrubbing board. Small clothes are rubbed with hands whereas excessively dirty clothes are cleaned by rubbing with a brush or on a scrubbing board.
By light pressure : Silken and woollen clothes should be washed by light pressure. Clothes with delicate laces are washed with light hands after applying soap. In this way, clothes are cleaned without being damaged.
By application of suction : This is done by suction washer. It is available in two sizes—small and big. It is made up of non¬. rusting metal. In this method, the clothes are dipped into a tub containing soap solution. The suction machine is moved on it and the dirt is removed.
By Washing machine : These machines are commonly used these days. These are of three types of washing machine. Manual washing machine, Semi-automatic machine and fully automatic machines.
Dry Method : Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. It is used to clean delicate fabrics that cannot withstand the rough and tumble wash of a washing machine and cloth dryer. It can also eliminate labor-intensive hand washing. The process of dry cleaning is based on the fact that the dirt sticks to the clothes by grease. When grease is removed, the dirt too gets removed by itself.
Dry cleaning agents :
Absorbents : These are dry powders which absorbs the grease from the fabric. Some of the substances used as dry cleaning powders are fuller’s earth, chalk powder, talcum powder, bran, salt, bread crumbs, french chalk and powdered sulphur.
Solvents : There are certain liquids like petrol, benzene, kerosene, carbon tetrachloride, ether etc. which dissolve grease from the fabric and release the dirt from it.
