Thread Number: 73806
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
P.O.D. 21/12/2017 - Bendix Gyromatic (c.1953?) |
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Post# 974994 , Reply# 1   12/22/2017 at 10:06 (2,287 days old) by wft2800 (Leatherhead, Surrey)   |   | |
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BUGGER! Typo on the date - should be 22! I'm not an upgraded member, can a moderator please edit the title? |
Post# 974999 , Reply# 2   12/22/2017 at 10:56 (2,287 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land)   |   | |
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Post# 975015 , Reply# 3   12/22/2017 at 14:02 (2,287 days old) by bendix5 (Central Point, Oregon)   |   | |
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Kevin you are probably right about 48 or 49 machines. My parents first house in 1949 had a Bendix washer in it. All the houses in the neighborhood did. All two bedroom 1 bath living room and kitchen. Washer was in the kitchen. Houses were 760 sq feet. My moms washer was the Bendix deluxe with no soap dispenser. The first automatic washer she ever used. I am sure she was happy to have it as I was born 3 days after they moved in to the house.
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Post# 975039 , Reply# 4   12/22/2017 at 18:22 (2,287 days old) by wft2800 (Leatherhead, Surrey)   |   | |
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Kevin - many thanks! I'm afraid I just HAD to ignore your advice... morbid curiosity and all that! Glanced across some of the gay threads, now about to post on the subject of religion... but enough of that! So, do any of these Bendixes survive? |
Post# 975063 , Reply# 5   12/22/2017 at 22:01 (2,287 days old) by sPeEDqUeEN (Metro-Detroit)   |   | |
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Very interesting machine, I too wonder if any survive. I'd love to see one in action, especially the automatic soap dispenser.
I've often wondered the happenings in the "brown forum", I'm not old enough and I don't know that I really want to find out! When I turn 18 in February, I may consider it, but I'm cheap and apprehensive. |
Post# 975065 , Reply# 6   12/22/2017 at 22:15 (2,287 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.)   |   | |
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When I was about 7 or 8 years old I had a babysitter that had one of the Bendix FL’s that were the generation just before the POD. It was one of the rounded body machines and she put the Cheer into a door on the top of the machine. There was a heavy crust of blue Cheer around the opening. I don’t believe that it was bolted down because when the train would go by sometimes the door would come open.
Then when I was in my early 20’s there was a laundromat here in town that had all round top Bendix FL’s. They sat on a raised concrete platform so there was no bending to load or unload, and I believe that they drained into floor drains. I liked this laundomat because it was only 20 cents to wash and 10 cents to dry. I also liked to be able to watch the washing action, the machines were quick and they seemed to do a good job. And I even saw Jon Provost (Timmy from Lassie) in this laundromat once, he was attending Sonoma State U. He still lives in Sonoma Co. Eddie |
Post# 975090 , Reply# 7   12/23/2017 at 05:24 (2,286 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
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Not sure what operating condition they are in currently, I never saw one with the soap dispenser however but would love to see one in action.
It is too bad that Bendix did not invest in retooling their FL washers into the 60s when most automatic washers got so much better in longevity and reliability, we might have had FL washers much earlier in the US if we had more than just Westinghouse building them.
Unfortunately the basic design of Bendix FL AWs never really improved much from the first bolt-down machines till the end in the late 50s. The same thing happened with their combos, not only did they not improve in construction but they also made them much smaller in 1959 and then quit building them altogether about 8 years later.
Only WP and to a lesser extent GE redesigned their Combos and were able to produce reliable machines into the early 70s.
John L. |