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Thread Number: 2586
Thor Automagic |
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Post# 72737 7/7/2005 at 20:56 (6,857 days old) by PeteK  (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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Post# 72738 , Reply# 1 7/7/2005 at 20:59 (6,857 days old) by PeteK (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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Here's another one | ||
| Post# 72755 , Reply# 2 7/7/2005 at 22:20 (6,857 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN) | ||
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It's funny how Thor used the name "Automagic" and then in the late 50s, Philco picked it up. | ||
| Post# 72765 , Reply# 3 7/8/2005 at 01:18 (6,856 days old) by mrcleanjeans (milwaukee wi) | ||
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AS a DW,how did it wash?I know you put a seperate tub in for each function,but was an impeller used for the wash action? | ||
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Post# 72777 , Reply# 4 7/8/2005 at 06:30 (6,856 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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| Post# 72782 , Reply# 5 7/8/2005 at 07:38 (6,856 days old) by retromom () | ||
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Not exactly squeaky clean I believe I posted a comment on the Thor Automagic on a previous thread. I'm not sure what would be worse, fur on the Frankoma or broccoli on the brassiere ;-) | ||
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Post# 72804 , Reply# 7 7/8/2005 at 13:16 (6,856 days old) by Gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA) |
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I remember a neighbor who had one in the basement as a back up to their regular machine. I never saw it used as a dishwasher. That thing was a BRUTE! I saw it in action a few times and even then (as a child) thought it was VERY aggressive on the clothes. I sure would watch that wash time! | ||
| Post# 72879 , Reply# 9 7/9/2005 at 08:46 (6,855 days old) by keymatic (London / UK) | ||
Hi Guys Interesting comments about the Thor Automagic washer. They were available here in the UK as well, firstly imported from the US then manufactured here by a Company called Parnall - Radiation Ltd, up until about 1963 I have had 3 of these machines, but 2 i have had to let go because they are beyond repair...the only one i have left now is is the mk2/244 which was the last model before the dishwashing option was discarded. They are fab machines as "westyslantfront" said you could wash, rinse and spin for as long as you wanted, and the sudz saving system was neat, all you do is push a special rubber stopper in the end of the empyting hose..!! The picture below is of the machine i have, and you can see it in action at laundra-mat.net Any questions let me know...regards Keith - UK CLICK HERE TO GO TO keymatic's LINK 
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Post# 72893 , Reply# 10 7/9/2005 at 13:43 (6,855 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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ChestermikeUK sent a copy of the video to me, I ran it through Media Encoder and cut the file size by 1/2, from 22 MB to 10.5 MB. The picture size is also reduced, but the video quality is still excellent. I placed it on the club's so-called media server, which may be a faster download. Here's the link: Thor Automagic Right-click and Save As . . . | ||
| Post# 72897 , Reply# 11 7/9/2005 at 14:41 (6,855 days old) by golittlesport (California) | ||
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| Post# 72928 , Reply# 13 7/9/2005 at 21:06 (6,855 days old) by kevinpreston3 () | ||
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Love it, but it scares me!!! Wow, what amazing sounds. Thanks for the video! | ||
| Post# 72929 , Reply# 14 7/9/2005 at 21:31 (6,855 days old) by Westingcan () | ||
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Great video, a rare treat! Thanks. | ||
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Post# 72961 , Reply# 15 7/10/2005 at 00:26 (6,854 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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| Post# 72993 , Reply# 16 7/10/2005 at 10:41 (6,854 days old) by westyslantfront () | ||
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Thor Thank you for the wonderful video. It is the washer I grew up with and as it is so rare, I think the video is the closest I will get. Thank you, Ross | ||
| Post# 73030 , Reply# 17 7/10/2005 at 19:09 (6,854 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN) | ||
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How fast? How fast does that machine spin? I love the solid tub! So I'm guessing if you wanted to save suds, you'd plug up the drain hose and use the machine to refill itself by pumping, right? Although it said "auto" it's really a manual system. | ||
| Post# 73071 , Reply# 18 7/11/2005 at 07:40 (6,853 days old) by retromom () | ||
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Thunderous Thor! Did you see the turnover on this one? Even with the indexing tub, it had lots of shredding action! I am assuming that this is the only wash cycle that the Thor had. Not for your fine washables! | ||
| Post# 73079 , Reply# 19 7/11/2005 at 08:26 (6,853 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN) | ||
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The hammer of Thor I would not wash Bri's dainties in the Thor. She needs the extra slow loving handwash care that only a proper Lady Kenmore can give. None of that thrashing and beating. | ||
| Post# 73982 , Reply# 20 7/17/2005 at 14:04 (6,847 days old) by keymatic (London / UK) | ||
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| Post# 74063 , Reply# 21 7/18/2005 at 03:29 (6,846 days old) by programcomputer (Ann Arbor Michigan, USA) | ||
Consumers Union.........
Did not rate the machine very highly. They complained about the fact that it was "NOT" automatic, and that they found it "distasteful" to do dishes in a machine that was used to wash clothing, even with the seperate tub and mechanism. They also complained about the washtub mechanism not being very rugged , yet heavy and finally a pain to change from clothes washer to dishwasher. And as a diswasher they rated it as : C. Not Reccommended and as a washing machine as a : B. Intermediate. It was tested in 1952 on it's own , yet compared to other washers in the A. Reccommended and B. Intermediate categories yet as a whole they stated that a consumer would be better suited purchasing the two machines seperatly and using them as intended...rather than go thru the hassle of retrofitting the machine each time the different actions were needed. And finally they complained..."where in the would would you store all this extra equipment while one conversion was in use".... Sounds to me like this was the "transformer" of the appliance world. I also have a "user manual " for this machie with the print date of 1951. This machine wasnot easy to use, nor was it automatic in any sense as stated above... So yeah... Chad | ||
| Post# 74066 , Reply# 22 7/18/2005 at 05:10 (6,846 days old) by drmitch () | ||
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Thor Thanks for the great video! Fun washer, love the overflow rinse! | ||
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Post# 74087 , Reply# 23 7/18/2005 at 08:41 (6,846 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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That video was great! I noticed the long slow stroke of the agitation is very similar to a Norge. I was surprised at the very fast throw of water over the top of the tub, just like a Frigidaire or Norge. Makes me think that there that the Thor does not utilitze a clutch to transfer the rotary power between the motor and transmission.
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| Post# 74102 , Reply# 24 7/18/2005 at 10:11 (6,846 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN) | ||
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30 amp circuit Yup. I'll betcha it's coupled directly to the pulley or motor. Don't you just love that WHOOSH! | ||
| Post# 74146 , Reply# 25 7/18/2005 at 16:44 (6,846 days old) by MrX () | ||
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Interesting but not supprised it didn't take off, particularly as a dishwasher! Washer-dryer's one thing.. but clothes-dish washer ??!! Did they also do a dryer-oven in that range? Tumbles your scones to perfection :) | ||
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Post# 74180 , Reply# 26 7/18/2005 at 20:44 (6,846 days old) by PeteK (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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Come to think of it | ||
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Post# 74223 , Reply# 27 7/19/2005 at 07:24 (6,845 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA) |
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In the late 40's/50's there were scads of houses built in the US without basements...I had one in suburban Chicago (neighborhood built 1953, as I recall) and found the original newspaper advertising which was a hoot. One of the key selling points was the fully equipped kitchen (mind you, this was a GE kitchen...refrigerator, separate upright freezer, stove, dishwasher and washing machine all crammed (!) into a good-sized kitchen footprint (the main casualty was counter space which was seriously lacking). This was a key selling point to those people buying their first house (in the city they would have walked to the laundromat, and the rest belonged to the landlord. JL | ||
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Post# 74258 , Reply# 28 7/19/2005 at 19:25 (6,845 days old) by PeteK (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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Jamiel
Were any of those basementless homes the ones with underfloor heating? In the late 50's early 60's there were quite a few built on cement pads with the hot water piping sunk in. I think they were called "wonder homes" and all were a basic 3 bedroom ranch with attached garage, basically the same floor plan in all with subtle differences, some with gable ended roofs, some with traditional roof.
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Post# 74304 , Reply# 29 7/20/2005 at 07:42 (6,844 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA) |
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Not in my neighborhood...there were two styles of homes...essentially widest part of house to the street, and narrower part of house to street. Plenty of room to expand (and scrape, recently :( ) They had forced air gas heat (suburban Chicago) and gas HWH in a utility room off the bathroom (actually a very ingenious design because ensured a good draft carrying away moisture and smells, but also a bit noisy). My house had been converted after being built (about 6 years afterward) to have a boiler with radiant convectors. That was the best upgrade which the house could have had...the boiler and circulator were silent--all you heard was the whoosh of the boiler lighting up--the circulator pump was so low-toned that it was inaudible--and eliminated the noise problem of the FA-G heat. The duct work was there to add central air, but I never did--had a honking big window unit at one end of the house that I ran just like central air (i.e. continuously) and the house was fine for me (wouldn't have been with a family, but was fine for me) One other interesting thing was what they did with the laundry--some houses retained it in the kitchen. Mine had a laundry closet in the garage built subsequent (some houses had garages, others carports) in which my old reliable Maytag automatic would freeze...I'd just put a drop-light into the tub for an hour or so b4 doing laundry. JL | ||
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Post# 74326 , Reply# 30 7/20/2005 at 13:08 (6,844 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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Levitt built slab-on-ground basementless homes in where else? Levittown, New York. This is on Long Island, a suburb of New York City. This suburb was constructed to house the soldiers returning from WWII. NYC rent regulations were also enacted at this time to prevent gouging of tenants when demand (but not supply) increased subddenly. Basmentless is rather odd here. These homes had oil hydronic radiant heat with pipes hidden in the concrete slab. Domestic hot water was from coil in the boiler. The boiler was actually in the kitchen and shared a chimney (with two flues) with a fireplace that was behind the wall separating the kit and liv rooms. The stoves were 27" GE electrics and [electric cooking is/was relatively unheard-of in this market]. I believe the washers that came with the home (this was a very unique thing) were bolt-down bendix-es IIRC. Most owners have added on to the homes with the most common feature an attached garae with rooms for the laundry machines and the boiler, which is normally now relocated. Most of the homes radiant pipes sprung leaks and were retro-fitted with baseboard heating. Click on Levittown NY on the left side! CLICK HERE TO GO TO toggleswitch's LINK | ||
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Post# 74327 , Reply# 31 7/20/2005 at 13:10 (6,844 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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Here is an example of baseboard style convectors ("Radiators" ) for our international friends
CLICK HERE TO GO TO toggleswitch's LINK | ||
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Post# 74328 , Reply# 32 7/20/2005 at 13:12 (6,844 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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There is no modern MORE EXPENSIVE (to install) combination of climate control than hot water heating and central air conditioning!
CLICK HERE TO GO TO toggleswitch's LINK | ||
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