All my life I’ve heard the expression of putting someone “through the wringer,” and while I knew what it meant and where it originated, I’ve never actually seen a clothes wringer in action. For several decades, wringers were standard equipment on washing machines, but the only place I had ever seen one was on the miniature red plastic washing machine that sat on our kitchen windowsill and held nickels for our school milk money.

I have no idea how long this dismantled washing machine has been lying here on Mississippi Bar, but the Kenmore Visi Matic Wringer washing machines were manufactured from at least the 1940s until the mid 1960s. Surprisingly (or maybe not!) I found a few videos by people who have rescued these old washers and restored them to usable condition. However, I’m pretty sure the machine I came across is beyond help.

Roller assembly for the Visi Matic