Historian's Corner



Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
Historian's Corner
January 10, 2019

BATHINETTES by Irene Fuller

I went to work in 1946 at the Blount Bathinettes Corp. during the last half of my senior year as I only had one class left to take.

Harry Presley was foreman of the Bathinettes plant.

Part of the building was where the frame was built. The wooden parts were put together and then dipped in paint and hung to dry. Later, the wood and metal parts were assembled. The legs in the form of an X as it folded together.

There was a foot pedal to raise the table top over the tub. There was a wooden shelf below the tub to place diapers. Bill Fuller, Don Brown, Fred Lee, Fred Laird and Fred Bettinger were some that worked there.

In the other side of the building was the sewing room. On one side of the room was a long table where Lee Presley unrolled the material for the tubs and cut the tubs to size. He also cut the material for the hammocks, which hung inside of the tub.

The other side of the room was the sewing machines where Ruth Fuller, Maude Briggs, Maude Caster and Reda McNitt stitched the tubs. The tubs were stitched with a hem on each side to hold a dowel.

On the front side, 2-3 pockets were sewn in the hem for soap, powder, etc. Their wages were based on how many tubs a day which they sewed. Another lady stitched the hems in the hammock for a dowel to slide into loops inside the tub. I doweled hammocks for a while. Then I moved on to a machine where I laid the tub over the top and pressed my foot on a pedal which sealed the drain in the bottom of the tub.

Later, I started sewing hammocks. I also worked with Florence Durgee in the mailing room at one end of the room where parts were packaged and mailed.

Charlene Cole
Sandy Creek/Lacona Historian
1992 Harwood Drive
Sandy Creek, NY 13145
315-387-5456 x7
Office hours: Friday 9am to 2pm
www.sandycreeknyhistory.com