Abstract: A unit for automatically cleaning items such as laundry or the like comprises a plurality of reciprocating plungers mounted to engage the items within a tank containing the items and a cleaning liquid. Each plunger comprises a piston mounted within a canister. The piston is mounted within the canister in an arrangement which permits a limited relative movement between the piston and canister, thus developing a bi-directional pumping action. With each stroke of the plunger, the piston forces liquid through the items to be cleaned, first in one direction and then the other, by virtue of the limited movement of the piston relative to the canister, the latter serving to assist in holding the items to be cleaned in a position for encountering the liquid being driven by the piston. The combined rotary reciprocating action of the plungers not only serves to clean the items in the tank but also to slowly propel them from the inlet to the outlet end of the tank so that a continuous cleaning process is performed.