washing machines england 1940-80

If you can trawl back through the archives, as there is much detail aready there. A second good point is to check out the consumer magazine WHICH, who have tested washing machines at regular intervals since 1958 - which show interesting snapshots of the market, especially in the 1960s. Many of us have copies of these scanned already.

You must understand that almost until the end of the 1940s there was hardly no washing machine market at all. At the end of the 1930s there were a few washing machines around - Servis, Hotpoint, Goblin and, surprisingly Vactric along with some imports. For the first half of the 1940s during WW2, virtually nothing, a situation which continued after that time as most production has to be exported to pay for war debt.

ChesterMike has, very reasonably, proposed that inspite of this the market for UK laundry was revolutionised in 1948 with the launch of the Hoover 307 single tub machine. This was simple, American designed, (no heater, gravity drain, no wheels, but including a hand cranked wringer), affordable and above all for UK consideration, COMPACT (much smaller than the Hotpoint & Servis models) and affordable, if you could get one - it brought the concept of mechanised laundry within the reach not only of the wealthy but also middle and working classes. And in many British kitchens which were often tiny (if you look at much of the building done in the 1920s and 30s you will see that) it could be easily stored under the draining board by the sink. It is hard now to believe that such a simple machine could have been so highly valued (it was also popular in some European countries as well as (now former) British territories. But for the housewife faced with weekly laundry for typically four people, it must have been a God send for the sheer amount of physical work it saved. Also, items which might otherwise have been "sent out" to a laundry like sheets could concievably be done at home, the money saved going to pay for the washing machine or some other home convenience like a vacuum cleaner.

This machine, more than any other, created the aspiration in the British housewife for a washing machine. This was also helped by the extensive and effective marketing campaigns which Hoover operated throughout the 1950s.

In the 1950s the market boomed and for the most part it was a sinle tub machine with a wringer (mostly powered wringers) which defined the 1950s. There were generally two sizes larger models like the Servis Superheat/Hotpoint Empress and smaller models like Hoover/Servis Powerglide/Hotpoint Countess & Princess. There were automatics around, as far back as the Bendix round drum machine in 1950, and indeed right through the 1950s, but these were most definatly for the VERY wealthy.

Apart from the big three (Hoover, Hotpoint & Servis) there were many other names, now lost to history such as:
Parnall
English Electric
Ada
Easiclene
GEC
Swirlux
Fisher
Vactric
Thor
Burco

Perhaps surprisingly it was the newcomer to the market, Hoover, who launched the second revolution in 1957 when they added a spin dryer to their single tub to make the Hoovermatic and so more or less creating the twin tub market which was to hold prominence throughout the 1960s. Supplemented particularly by Servis (1958) & Hotpoint (1959), but also by a host of other smaller manufactures, by 1960 the single tub market was mostly eliminated - everyone wanted a twin tub.

There was a fourth "player" who ad a very significant part to play in their brief life - Rolls. In 1959 a business man started manufacturing a dutch designed (I believe) twin tub, in several varieties which were very heavily marketed particularly towards, shall we say, the lower end of the market. With a price tag for the most basic model considerably less than most other twin tubs and with easy hire purchase terms available even for families with low income, a washing machine was a possibality.

"Hoover may have blazed a trail with the Hoovermatic, but it was Rolls who laid the paving stones".

Rolls went out of business in 1964, although the manufacturing facility continued for many years selling machines under the Colston label as well as some others: Pye, Tallent, Goblin, English Electric and possibly others. The Colston name continued until 1981 when it was bought by Ariston, and the machines disappeared for ever shortly afterwards.

And so it was for most of the 1960s with twin tubs also by Philips, Fridgidaire. Although styling changed over the years there was not much technological advance apart from linking thermostaticaly controlled heaters and wash timers. Servis introduced a form of automatic rinsing with the supertwin in 1958 which became more or less the model for all others to follow.

However if you were to look at the WHICH 1960 washing machine report, the seeds of the next revolution was waiting in teh wings - the fully automatic machine - several bendixes and the English Electric supplemented a couple of years later by the Hoover Keymatic - the fear of its technical complexity more than compensated by the kudos of the Hoover brand name.
By the mid 60s there were all sorts of automatics avaliable frontloading and toploading, (see link to previous thread below) although I would say it was not until 1969/70 that the balance in sales swung from twin tub to automatic and by that time, almost like the single tubs of the 1950s, much of the variety had disappeared and the market was almost exclusively for front loading automatics and production was now centred on Hoover, Hotpoint & Servis.

I would say that production of UK produced washing machines until UK production creased was defined by three models all from the very early 1970s:

Hoover "Matchbox" Automatic
Hotpoint Liberator
Servis Compact.

By the mid 1970s imported Italian machines (particularly Indesit & Zanuissi, but also Candy and laterally Ariston) took more and more of the market share until now, sadly, there is no remaining production on the UK.

However many of them live on here with many fine examples of great and often ingenious engineering restored to their full glory.

Al

CLICK HERE TO GO TO vacbear58's LINK


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Post# 403886 1/5/2010 at 05:24 (5,222 days old) by karney ()
Checkrate/Likes hey there! I'm writing a thesis in cultural studies on washing machines in Germany and England from 1950-1975. I'm desperate for information about the english market from that time. I'm interested in basically everything from that period, like ad's, user manuals, statistics, articles, literature on the period. any kind of help would be extremely appreciated! thanks, markus

Post# 403887 , Reply# 1 1/5/2010 at 05:35 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes Oh god where to start? Great Britain as it was known back then had 3 main manufacturers of machines. Hotpoint, Servis and Hoover. Hotpoint having the most consistant internal designs through the years with updates to external cabinets and fascias. Take the Automatics, Liberator of the 1970's.................

Post# 403888 , Reply# 2 1/5/2010 at 05:37 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes .......... had pretty much the same internals as the very late 1990s WM50 and 60 series machines.

Post# 403889 , Reply# 3 1/5/2010 at 05:38 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes with these machines inbetween with varing styles

Post# 403890 , Reply# 4 1/5/2010 at 05:39 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes into 1982

Post# 403891 , Reply# 5 1/5/2010 at 05:40 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes into 1985 and the end machine being 1986

Post# 403892 , Reply# 6 1/5/2010 at 05:42 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes Literarture, indeed Hotpoint did have it all

Post# 403894 , Reply# 7 1/5/2010 at 05:43 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes 1980s literature

Post# 403895 , Reply# 8 1/5/2010 at 05:44 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes Hotpoint

Post# 403896 , Reply# 9 1/5/2010 at 05:47 (5,222 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth)
Checkrate/Likes *Just a taster for now* I can email you the brochures and literature if you like and help with Hotpoint FL's. Mike I hope will come along and give his Servis education. what that guy does not know about Servis aint worth knowing. LOL

Post# 403922 , Reply# 10 1/5/2010 at 09:03 (5,222 days old) by vacbear58 (Sutton In Ashfield, East Midlands, UK)
Checkrate/Likes *Automatic Washer is a good place to start* If you can trawl back through the archives, as there is much detail aready there. A second good point is to check out the consumer magazine WHICH, who have tested washing machines at regular intervals since 1958 - which show interesting snapshots of the market, especially in the 1960s. Many of us have copies of these scanned already. You must understand that almost until the end of the 1940s there was hardly no washing machine market at all. At the end of the 1930s there were a few washing machines around - Servis, Hotpoint, Goblin and, surprisingly Vactric along with some imports. For the first half of the 1940s during WW2, virtually nothing, a situation which continued after that time as most production has to be exported to pay for war debt. ChesterMike has, very reasonably, proposed that inspite of this the market for UK laundry was revolutionised in 1948 with the launch of the Hoover 307 single tub machine. This was simple, American designed, (no heater, gravity drain, no wheels, but including a hand cranked wringer), affordable and above all for UK consideration, COMPACT (much smaller than the Hotpoint & Servis models) and affordable, if you could get one - it brought the concept of mechanised laundry within the reach not only of the wealthy but also middle and working classes. And in many British kitchens which were often tiny (if you look at much of the building done in the 1920s and 30s you will see that) it could be easily stored under the draining board by the sink. It is hard now to believe that such a simple machine could have been so highly valued (it was also popular in some European countries as well as (now former) British territories. But for the housewife faced with weekly laundry for typically four people, it must have been a God send for the sheer amount of physical work it saved. Also, items which might otherwise have been "sent out" to a laundry like sheets could concievably be done at home, the money saved going to pay for the washing machine or some other home convenience like a vacuum cleaner. This machine, more than any other, created the aspiration in the British housewife for a washing machine. This was also helped by the extensive and effective marketing campaigns which Hoover operated throughout the 1950s. In the 1950s the market boomed and for the most part it was a sinle tub machine with a wringer (mostly powered wringers) which defined the 1950s. There were generally two sizes larger models like the Servis Superheat/Hotpoint Empress and smaller models like Hoover/Servis Powerglide/Hotpoint Countess & Princess. There were automatics around, as far back as the Bendix round drum machine in 1950, and indeed right through the 1950s, but these were most definatly for the VERY wealthy. Apart from the big three (Hoover, Hotpoint & Servis) there were many other names, now lost to history such as: Parnall English Electric Ada Easiclene GEC Swirlux Fisher Vactric Thor Burco Perhaps surprisingly it was the newcomer to the market, Hoover, who launched the second revolution in 1957 when they added a spin dryer to their single tub to make the Hoovermatic and so more or less creating the twin tub market which was to hold prominence throughout the 1960s. Supplemented particularly by Servis (1958) & Hotpoint (1959), but also by a host of other smaller manufactures, by 1960 the single tub market was mostly eliminated - everyone wanted a twin tub. There was a fourth "player" who ad a very significant part to play in their brief life - Rolls. In 1959 a business man started manufacturing a dutch designed (I believe) twin tub, in several varieties which were very heavily marketed particularly towards, shall we say, the lower end of the market. With a price tag for the most basic model considerably less than most other twin tubs and with easy hire purchase terms available even for families with low income, a washing machine was a possibality. "Hoover may have blazed a trail with the Hoovermatic, but it was Rolls who laid the paving stones". Rolls went out of business in 1964, although the manufacturing facility continued for many years selling machines under the Colston label as well as some others: Pye, Tallent, Goblin, English Electric and possibly others. The Colston name continued until 1981 when it was bought by Ariston, and the machines disappeared for ever shortly afterwards. And so it was for most of the 1960s with twin tubs also by Philips, Fridgidaire. Although styling changed over the years there was not much technological advance apart from linking thermostaticaly controlled heaters and wash timers. Servis introduced a form of automatic rinsing with the supertwin in 1958 which became more or less the model for all others to follow. However if you were to look at the WHICH 1960 washing machine report, the seeds of the next revolution was waiting in teh wings - the fully automatic machine - several bendixes and the English Electric supplemented a couple of years later by the Hoover Keymatic - the fear of its technical complexity more than compensated by the kudos of the Hoover brand name. By the mid 60s there were all sorts of automatics avaliable frontloading and toploading, (see link to previous thread below) although I would say it was not until 1969/70 that the balance in sales swung from twin tub to automatic and by that time, almost like the single tubs of the 1950s, much of the variety had disappeared and the market was almost exclusively for front loading automatics and production was now centred on Hoover, Hotpoint & Servis. I would say that production of UK produced washing machines until UK production creased was defined by three models all from the very early 1970s: Hoover "Matchbox" Automatic Hotpoint Liberator Servis Compact. By the mid 1970s imported Italian machines (particularly Indesit & Zanuissi, but also Candy and laterally Ariston) took more and more of the market share until now, sadly, there is no remaining production on the UK. However many of them live on here with many fine examples of great and often ingenious engineering restored to their full glory. Al CLICK HERE TO GO TO vacbear58's LINK