12/15 Patent of the Day

Its so nice to see everyone is having fun with the "Saudadje" of the Patents, a Portugese word meaning "what might have been" . Looking over all these patents for me is like visiting a parallel earth; Frigidaire could have been a bouncing basket company, Westinghouse could have always produced a straight front loader not a tilted tub machine.
In my reading I have found that Bendix was the first at just about everything to do with the Automatic washer and the Front Loader. For example even the wash tumble speeds were patented by them! They patented the speeds 50 to 57 RPM for the tub which is why when you read all the Westinghouse Patents they patent the speed 49 1/2 RPM.The best washing speed on the drum size back then was between 50-53 RPMs but Bendix had that all sewn up for 17 years! In the 1940's Westinghouse put up alot of patents on a front load machine that was very similar to the Bendix which became their later drop tub design. Even they knew Bendix had it right but because of infrignement they couldn't ever produce a machine like the Bendix until sometime after 1956! And we see the drop tub appearing in their line shortly after that expiration year.
The patents tell a very complete story of the development of our pet fancy. Becuase of the Patent of the Day we are all going to end up knowing a heck of alot more about washing machines than ANY engineer on the big payrolls today!!

All this is going into my book on the history of Automatic washers.

Stay tuned for the "Eyeball" washer coming up! That is a STRANGE machine!! RObert and I were howling over the design of that one!!!

I love the patent of the day! YAY!

Jet


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Post# 51108 12/15/2004 at 09:01 (7,064 days old) by PeterH770 (Marietta, GA)
Checkrate/Likes How totally cool is that?!?!? Frigidaire combines Philco Automagic with Apex Bouncing Basket! What took me 2-3 reads to realize is that the so-called "agitator" does not move. The wobbling of the wash basket creates the water currents between it and the agitator. And the slow revolving tub to counteract the load rotating and sloshing water out of the tub? How totally cool!!!!!!!!! The only part I haven't caught is whether the tub straightens out for spin or remains at the wobbling angle...

Post# 51110 , Reply# 1 12/15/2004 at 09:24 (7,064 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Hi Peter, isnt' that fun! I have to go back and read the entire text of the patent to see if the tub does straighten out for spin or if it just spins in a cock-eyed postion. I was wondering the same thing. Either way it does say that the tub doesn't wobble during spin, just spins.

Post# 51114 , Reply# 2 12/15/2004 at 10:44 (7,064 days old) by Gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA)
Checkrate/Likes In the last sentence there is mention of "returning the tub to center" so I guess the beginning of the spin does that. It would be nice if they had a prototype stashed away somewhere. This idea of a "patent of the day" is great!

Post# 51183 , Reply# 3 12/16/2004 at 07:55 (7,063 days old) by Jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers)
Checkrate/Likes *Definetly Cool Stuff* Its so nice to see everyone is having fun with the "Saudadje" of the Patents, a Portugese word meaning "what might have been" . Looking over all these patents for me is like visiting a parallel earth; Frigidaire could have been a bouncing basket company, Westinghouse could have always produced a straight front loader not a tilted tub machine. In my reading I have found that Bendix was the first at just about everything to do with the Automatic washer and the Front Loader. For example even the wash tumble speeds were patented by them! They patented the speeds 50 to 57 RPM for the tub which is why when you read all the Westinghouse Patents they patent the speed 49 1/2 RPM.The best washing speed on the drum size back then was between 50-53 RPMs but Bendix had that all sewn up for 17 years! In the 1940's Westinghouse put up alot of patents on a front load machine that was very similar to the Bendix which became their later drop tub design. Even they knew Bendix had it right but because of infrignement they couldn't ever produce a machine like the Bendix until sometime after 1956! And we see the drop tub appearing in their line shortly after that expiration year. The patents tell a very complete story of the development of our pet fancy. Becuase of the Patent of the Day we are all going to end up knowing a heck of alot more about washing machines than ANY engineer on the big payrolls today!! All this is going into my book on the history of Automatic washers. Stay tuned for the "Eyeball" washer coming up! That is a STRANGE machine!! RObert and I were howling over the design of that one!!! I love the patent of the day! YAY! Jet