Since Lee has offered his ingenious ideas in another post I thought I'd show my wringer washer. It would be appropriate for a layout set in the Fifties or Sixties. I didn't have an actual one to measure, but relied on my memory of Mom's.
I started with a short section of 3/8 dowel for the body. The legs are cut down from a type of toothpick called Stim-U-Dent, and glued on. The lid is an ordinary thumbtack. The side supports for the wringer are cut down from Sandwich Picks. Any of the wooden parts could be carved from wood, of course. The existing shapes just made building quicker and easier. For example, the Stim-U-Dents are triangular in 2 dimensions, giving form and shape to the legs. I made the 2 wringers from 1/16 dowels; in this case the sticks from tape recorder head cleaning sticks, similar to large cotton swabs. The wringer cover is thin aluminum and the bottom tray is a sliver of wood painted silver. The control handle on the tub is a straight pin and the discharge hose is wire painted black. The electric cord is sewing thread.
Apologies for the less-than-sharp photo - it's the best I could get with my camera.
