Thread Number: 51249
English Electric front loader, with lever for spin, maybe 1950s
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Post# 736322   2/19/2014 at 11:12 (3,690 days old) by grahamperrin ()        

I'm trying to identify, maybe find an image of, a 1950s washing machine that I had in the 1980s.

Front-loading, with a timer, so it looked very much like an automatic – but it wasn't truly automatic (if I'm posting in the wrong forum, sorry).

The door was similar to the Liberator, but without the hole for the powder.

For spin-drying, a lever was turned – 180 degrees, if I recall correctly. This engaged a clever mechanism at the back that caused the belt to move progressively closer to the centre of the spindle of the drum … something like that. I always enjoyed the leisurely acceleration to full spin speed.

When not spin-drying, there was probably only one direction for the drum. Slowly, constantly, round and round.

Is this familiar to anyone? I spent an hour or so seeking an image online, but can't find one.

Thanks





Post# 736365 , Reply# 1   2/19/2014 at 13:44 (3,690 days old) by vacbear58 (Sutton In Ashfield, East Midlands, UK)        
English Electric

vacbear58's profile picture
It sounds very like an English Electric tumble wash, which was a cheaper, semi-automatic version of the Liberator.

Here is a little video I made when I happened across an advert in a radio programme about electronic music






Post# 736367 , Reply# 2   2/19/2014 at 13:51 (3,690 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK)        
English Electric Liberator...Tumble Wash

chestermikeuk's profile picture
Hello Graham and welcome, your wait is over, please see the link for information on the semi automatic washing machine, is it this model?


CLICK HERE TO GO TO chestermikeuk's LINK


Post# 736368 , Reply# 3   2/19/2014 at 13:52 (3,690 days old) by vacbear58 (Sutton In Ashfield, East Midlands, UK)        
As seen on Corrie

vacbear58's profile picture
You need to fast forward to 6min 20 seconds to see the machine






Post# 736369 , Reply# 4   2/19/2014 at 13:53 (3,690 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK)        
English Electric Liberator

chestermikeuk's profile picture
Controls, I remember a local repair man telling me this was his family washer and as a child it was his job to "Change the gears" ha ha..

Post# 736371 , Reply# 5   2/19/2014 at 13:54 (3,690 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK)        
Oops

chestermikeuk's profile picture
Hi Al, Great minds think alike ha ha....

Post# 736374 , Reply# 6   2/19/2014 at 14:20 (3,690 days old) by grahamperrin ()        
English Electric Liberator Tumble-Wash, Mark I maybe

Thanks folks!

I saw some of those images before I posted. I don't recall mine having the hole for the powder in the door, but I could be mistaken.

Was the Mark I significantly different?

If I recall correctly, the timer for the wash cycle did not begin its countdown until after the required temperature was reached.

I was amazed at a local shop (Westcliff-on-Sea or Chalkwell) having, in stock, a replacement door gasket for a machine that was probably thirty years old at the time. Still, it leaked just a little around the door. But that wasn't the worst of it …

The major problem with this machine looking so much like an automatic, in an age of automatics, was the tendency to treat it as automatic. On two occasions I left the flat whilst running water into the machine. All the way to London and back, on the second occasion, I think. My poor neighbours downstairs, they had just decorated, it wrecked the place!


Post# 1083111 , Reply# 7   7/30/2020 at 14:15 (1,337 days old) by Rolls_rapide (.)        
English Electric Liberator Tumble Wash

Apologies for resurrecting this, but...

I was watching the recent ITV repeat of the documentary, 'The Secret Mediterranean With Trevor McDonald', where he goes touring about various countries.

Episode 4 (Egypt, Cyprus, Malta), has something interesting... Trevor is given a guided tour of the abandoned Cypriot conflict-ridden buffer zone, showing abandoned homes.

In one wrecked kitchen (about 27mins into the episode), empty jars and frying pans are strewn upon a suspiciously familiar washing machine...

The camera then shows a close up of the frying pan and the machine... two dials and a pilot light. And thanks to high definition television, the name is partially visible: "...ERATOR TUMBLE WASH".



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