Not a wringer (I don't see any place for the water to go), I think its a large commercial ironer, or "Mangle" - it would have a steam heated padded roller in the center. I saw something similar in the flooded basement of the Tuller Hotel in Detroit - it was a sheet ironer. Any way to zoom in closer on the label?

I attended elementary through high school with Abe's grandson Moritz Cohen Jr. Very nice family. My father died when I was 12, about to finish elementary school, and Moritz's family essentially adopted me, including me in many of their family activities. They were Jewish and I was Eliscopal, but that didn't seem to matter to Moritz, his family and friends.

We visited Abe's commercial laundry business in Rosslyn one Saturday and washed our handkerchiefs in the commercial laundry equipment. As I recollect, this machine was a sort of wringer to squeeze out the initial water from the washed items.

I owe a lot to that family as they really helped me through a tough time in my early Junior High School years right after my father's death. I lost track of the family after Moritz Sr. died - I was in college then.

Somehow the clean butcher paper spread on the floor to set the stacks of towels on makes me suspicious. I wonder what it normally looks like? Now I remember why I always wash new towels before using them.