Can anyone tell me about gasoline wringer washers?

Hi,

We used to wash our clothes by hand with one of those Lehman's plunger style washers and a wringer, but we lost those items in a fire. Now that we are finally able to replace them, I'm wondering if we should buy a gasoline washer wringer instead. I need more information before I can decide.

First of all, how much is 14 lbs of clothes? How many gallons is that? Is that comparable to a 15-18 gallon galvanized washtub? Is that half a standard load or what? We used to wash our clothes by hand in 15 gallon plastic containers and that was about half a standard load.

The next thing I need to know is how these washers work. I know they have an aggitator and a wringer, but do you crank the wringer or is it more or less automatic feeding? Then how do you rinse? Do you empty the dirty, soapy water and refill with clean water...or do you rinse in separate containers?

Last of all, how much gasoline do these things consume per load? We are thinking of buying a Speed Queen from Lehman's with a 14 lb. load capacity.

Thanks for the information!