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Skills For "Living The Era"

"Chux" brand disposable diapers were actually on the market as early as the mid-thirties, but were not intended for everyday use: they were marketed for use while traveling, to eliminate the problem of rinsing out diapers in a Pullman washroom or in a hotel. They were inspired by the way some mothers had solved the problem on their own by home-making disposable diapers out of layers of surgical gauze and absorbent cotton.

"Chux" weren't shaped like a modern disposable -- they were flat and rectangular like a cloth diaper, and had to be pinned. But they were the ancestor of the disposable of today.

Disposables didn't become dominant until the seventies. Both my sister and I were strictly cloth-diaper babies, and my brother started in cloth and ended in disposables.

I am not sure where Chux originated but according to an interesting story (not totally confirmed), "Eastern airlines had so many complaints during the long transatlantic flights that it commissioned a project with Chicopee (J&J) to develop an efficient disposable diaper to help passengers traveling with small babies. The result was the CHUX disposable diapers, a rectangular one piece diaper first made in 1949. In 1950 Paulistrom launched a “roll diaper”, rolls of cellulose wadding inside a knitted mesh that consumers had to cut and fit into reusable panties."
It is hard to nail down who did what first because what we know of as a disposable diaper today was not quite the same back then---thnak goodness. :p
 

dnjan

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In a sense, dealing with cloth diapers is a skill for "Living the era", but I will respectfully decline the opportunity of preparing written directions ...
 

dnjan

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It was the "flip technique" to remove the residue, used before putting the diaper into the dirty diaper bin that I would prefer to not resurrect.
 

LizzieMaine

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My mother used an open pail in the bathroom for diaper rinsing -- an old grease barrel salvaged from the gas station -- and on one infamous occasion she had to go answer the phone and left it unattended. I climbed up on the toilet to have a closer look, fell in, tipped the pail over, and abruptly terminated the phone call.
 

dnjan

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I write a couple of checks a month. Funny thing is when the cashier needs to call someone over to figure out what to do with the check.
 

LizzieMaine

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I still write and use checks regularly. Sometimes you need that lag between writing the check, when it's deposited, and when it clears, if you know what I mean. That's a very very vintage skill. Instantaneous payments are not the friend of the little people.
 

dnjan

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Sometimes you need that lag between writing the check, when it's deposited, and when it clears
No - I just write them in an effort to educate those of today's youth who are in cashier jobs.

Plus, the credit card company is not charging the merchannt a fee on my checks.
 

Wire9Vintage

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And I was surprised to find that at some stores, they scan the check there on the spot and out of your account it comes before you've even left the register. Should have just used my debit card and saved the check. Alas, that lag time may be a thing of the past!
 

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