Some American treasures just around the corner

Jos Rietveld is a woman who lives two blocks away from me. Two years ago an old man gave her the keys to a storage space in the basement of the apartment block where she lives. He had kept the keys for many years and he told her that she had to take care of the things that were there. Much to her amazement there were laundry appliances in that storage space. A while ago she contacted the housing company, but they didn't want the stuff anymore. A few weeks ago she was on local TV with her treasures and I was watching the item with open mouth. I saw some wonderful American laundry appliances and they were just around the corner!! I contacted her and today I paid her and the treasure room a visit.

To be precise, there are two Whirlpool dryers and seven Whirlpool rotary ironers. No washers, the communal laundryrooms weren't equipped with automatic washers. Instead of that there were in the special sinks integrated wringer washers. Don't ask me why they bothered about bringing over American dryers and rotary ironers and let the people do the washing the old fashioned way, that's just the way they did it. The housing company, although not interested in keeping the appliances, wrote an article about the treasure room and I scanned it. The picture on top shows Jos Rietveld in the storage space. The other picture shows how the communal laundryrooms looked like in the fifties.

One other thing. You can see an American Whirlpool dryer, but there is another dryer, also a Whirlpool, but it's a different model. The controls of that dryer are missing, but they are supposed to be on top of the dryer, just like the Maytag AMP. Does anyone know what kind of model that is?

Louis

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Post# 119884 4/4/2006 at 14:00 (6,593 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)
Checkrate/Likes Jos Rietveld is a woman who lives two blocks away from me. Two years ago an old man gave her the keys to a storage space in the basement of the apartment block where she lives. He had kept the keys for many years and he told her that she had to take care of the things that were there. Much to her amazement there were laundry appliances in that storage space. A while ago she contacted the housing company, but they didn't want the stuff anymore. A few weeks ago she was on local TV with her treasures and I was watching the item with open mouth. I saw some wonderful American laundry appliances and they were just around the corner!! I contacted her and today I paid her and the treasure room a visit. To be precise, there are two Whirlpool dryers and seven Whirlpool rotary ironers. No washers, the communal laundryrooms weren't equipped with automatic washers. Instead of that there were in the special sinks integrated wringer washers. Don't ask me why they bothered about bringing over American dryers and rotary ironers and let the people do the washing the old fashioned way, that's just the way they did it. The housing company, although not interested in keeping the appliances, wrote an article about the treasure room and I scanned it. The picture on top shows Jos Rietveld in the storage space. The other picture shows how the communal laundryrooms looked like in the fifties. One other thing. You can see an American Whirlpool dryer, but there is another dryer, also a Whirlpool, but it's a different model. The controls of that dryer are missing, but they are supposed to be on top of the dryer, just like the Maytag AMP. Does anyone know what kind of model that is? Louis CLICK HERE TO GO TO foraloysius's LINK on eBay

Post# 119897 , Reply# 1 4/4/2006 at 16:08 (6,593 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill Home of the RailwayTrials Merseyside,UK)
Checkrate/Likes *OMG!!!* What a find, that would have been a shock, the dryer looks like the old Blackstone with cupboard doors, interesting sink , wonder if thats a waste disposer or a motor for an agi/impellar?? You`d better make space next to your Keymatic!!!

Post# 119901 , Reply# 2 4/4/2006 at 16:21 (6,593 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes The Whirlpool dryer is Whirlpool's very first dryer from 1948, the picture makes it looks like it has double doors, but it really is just one door.

Post# 119928 , Reply# 3 4/4/2006 at 19:27 (6,593 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California)
Checkrate/Likes How odd. Built-in wringer washer/sinks. I guess that was so nobody would steal them? LOL. Perhaps they thought it was morally uplifting to expose the entire wet wash process to the light of day (or the light of flourescents), whereas drying and ironing were secret things to be kept as hidden as possible...?

Post# 119940 , Reply# 4 4/4/2006 at 19:58 (6,593 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)
Checkrate/Likes Robert, are you sure that the one in the picture is from 1948? According to the owners manual on this website it's from the 2nd series that was made from 1952 - 1954. I was wondering if the other dryer, with a flat front and the controls on top of the flat top might be the first. That one looks a little older.

Post# 119947 , Reply# 5 4/4/2006 at 20:26 (6,593 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Hi Louis, I'm confused I only see on dryer in the picture you posted above. The owners manuals posted in the manual library here at aw.org are for the second Whirlpool washer and dryer series. Here is a close up of Whirlpool's very first Dryer, first introduced in '48...

Post# 119953 , Reply# 6 4/4/2006 at 21:08 (6,593 days old) by jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers)
Checkrate/Likes *Louis* thats like Opening King Tuts tomb!! did it smell musty in there? I only see one dryer too, where is the other one?? j

Post# 120113 , Reply# 7 4/5/2006 at 11:38 (6,592 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)
Checkrate/Likes Hmmmmm, and I was certain it was a 1952 - 1954 model, but I see the differences between the first and the second are mainly in the details. There was indeed a switch like the pilot ignition switch, but I haven't seen yet if this is a gas dryer or an electric one. Did the electric one have a switch in that place too? In the picture the second dryer is behind Jos Rietveld, under the worktop or whatever that is. It's in a worse state than the dryer you can see. I'm still puzzled about what model that is, there are no controls (anymore) but two (?) holes on the top. As I said, that model looks very similar to a Maytag AMP of which I'm adding a picture here. It is a Whirlpool nevertheless. I will go back sometime to take some pictures, but at the moment I'm very busy.

Post# 120138 , Reply# 8 4/5/2006 at 13:10 (6,592 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Louis, Whirlpool did make some dryers like with controls flat on the top, but those were BOL machines and weren't introduced until around '54 .

Post# 120142 , Reply# 9 4/5/2006 at 13:57 (6,592 days old) by bobbyderegis (Boston)
Checkrate/Likes Foraloysius, Thank you for the pic of the first Maytag dryer. I had never seen one. Bobby in Boston

Post# 120395 , Reply# 10 4/6/2006 at 13:55 (6,591 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands)
Checkrate/Likes Thanks for your help Robert. I thought the one with the controls on a flat top was older and the one in the picture was newer. I thought I knew a few things about American appliances. You keep learning here on this site! :-)