p o d 12--12

There is quite a lot of information on the Franklin - Beam - WCI progression in the archives.

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Beam Design
Beam Manufacturing Co. made lots of parts for quite a few brands in the late 40's and early 50's. Pumps, transmissions, fluid drives, bearing housings, seals, and much more. Some of the brands were; Hotpoint, Speed Queen, AMC/Coronado, Easy, Firestone, Laundry Queen, One Minute, Marquette, Western-Auto Wizard. Sometime in the late 50's, Beam was bought out by Franklin Ind. which took over some of the designs and manufacturing from Beam. There is some murky history during this time as to whether Speed Queen owned by McGraw Edison bought the designs and manufacturing facilities from Beam or Franklin, but SQ continued with much of the orginal Beam designed machine (including the Fluid Drive) for years after the Beam-Franklin merger. Franklin continued to be a source for machines for some time until the early to mid 60's when it was merged with White Industries (White Sewing Machines) which Became White Consolidated Industries and continued to absorb brand names like Hupp Corp.(1967), Gibson, Kelvinator(1968), Westinghouse Appliance Div.(1975), Philco Appliance Div. (from Ford 1977) and Frigidaire (1979). WCI was bought out by Electrolux Home Products which is the company we know today.

I'm estimating some of the merger dates based on what I've been able to find in company historical summaries and literature from this time, the White-Franklin merger could have happened as early as the late 50's as White Sewing Machine Co. began to diversify in 1956. If anyone can clear up some of the murky areas, please chime in!

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This is a quote from a short history of Cudell, Ohio that gives some good dating info for appliance companies - the link to the entire article is below.

"White Sewing Machine Co. diversified in 1956 and bought small appliance companies, including Standard Sewing (1965), the Hupp Corp. (1967), the Kelvintor Appliance Div. of American Motors (1968), and the appliance division of Westinghouse (1975).

The company's name was changed to White Consolidated Industries in 1964, reflecting its holdings of machinery, tools, household appliances, and valves.

White Consoldiated purchased numerous other major appliance competitors during the 1970s, including Philco, the Ford appliance division in 1977 and Frigidaire from General Motors in 1979."

Gibson was a pioneer in the refrigeration industry, formed in 1877 and bought out by the Hupp Corp. in 1956 who later merged with White Consolidated in 1967. I have never seen any literature for laundry machines predating the WCI time so they would have been Beam/Franklin/WCI from that point on. (The Hupp Corp also owned the easy Easy brand name, formerly owned by the Murray Corp and was swallowed by WCI as well.)

There was some odd brand out-sourcing going on at Kelvinator around 1968 or so, after the sale of Kelvinator by AMC, some Kelvi branded laundry stuff from that era was made by Norge and not WCI... Very strange, muddled history!

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Post# 1017753 12/12/2018 at 09:48 (1,951 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois)
Checkrate/Likes Coronado washers and dryers from Gambles was made in a similar fashion to Wizard machines. The lint filter did trap what it says it does, however, the water level had to be high enough for the water to flow into it. It did nothing with small loads.

Post# 1017766 , Reply# 1 12/12/2018 at 11:27 (1,951 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes 2 Sort of like Maytag's Lint Filter Agitator. Even CU mentioned that so you know that it must have hit them between the eyes because they were blind when it came to Maytag's shortcomings.

Post# 1017770 , Reply# 2 12/12/2018 at 13:14 (1,951 days old) by turquoisedude (.)
Checkrate/Likes 2 Gary, the Wizard washers were Coronados rebadged for Western Auto. Very rare birds nowadays!

Post# 1017795 , Reply# 3 12/12/2018 at 16:32 (1,951 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )
Checkrate/Likes 2 *Tom Many People* Are blind to Maytag being anything but perfection,,,,I have never figured that out, they are the most tempermental washer and the poorest performer I have ever used!

Post# 1017805 , Reply# 4 12/12/2018 at 17:53 (1,951 days old) by delturner (USA)
Checkrate/Likes 5 *Maytag* Nevermind that there are more old Maytag machines around that people still use daily. They were simply the best designed, well functioning machines EVER made. You certainly don't see many old Norge machines being used, they were taken to scrap metal long ago. Hard pressed to even find them in collections these days.

Post# 1017816 , Reply# 5 12/12/2018 at 19:50 (1,951 days old) by gregingotham (New York)
Checkrate/Likes *wizard* My maternal grandmother had a low end wizard. solid tub, and didn't have the fancy lint filter. it would automatically fill to a full load unless you punched a button on the console that cut off the water fill and started agitation. Spun pretty fast as i recall.

Post# 1017822 , Reply# 6 12/12/2018 at 21:28 (1,951 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Norges did wear out* Because they WASHED and washed fast, Maytags didn't wear out because they were slow and gentle.

Post# 1017824 , Reply# 7 12/12/2018 at 21:37 (1,951 days old) by Washerlover (The Big Island, Hawai�i)
Checkrate/Likes 1 My �66 Norge and �72 Wards were going strong up until the wildfire that took out my collection in 2015. Since slowly rebuilding my collection, I now have a MOL �75 Wards machine (in Harvest Gold) that is still working just fine and an early 80s Wards machine still chugging and clunking along (and too funny that they are both separated by a TOL Maytag washer in between them!). The Maytag appears to have dropped a belt so doesn�t agitate or pump water out � have to find time to fix that. Still do have to say that Norge/Wards is my fave and cleans the hell out of clothes!

Post# 1017831 , Reply# 8 12/13/2018 at 00:46 (1,951 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois)
Checkrate/Likes Thanks Paul, I thought it was the other way around. Mom's Coronado used gallons of water. When it spun out it had a tendency to walk around. The matching gas dryer was used until 1987 with no repairs. The matching set was in white and was the TOL. Mom bought this set new in nov. of 1963.

Post# 1017836 , Reply# 9 12/13/2018 at 06:01 (1,950 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Maytags were not gentle on the clothes, but a long time repairer/rebuilder of washers once said that Maytags wouldn't do anything to hurt themselves and he was right, even if it meant sacrificing washing action while being hard on fabrics because of poor turnover. The low post drive was inherently less liable to have trouble than a tall transmission drive shaft, but until the Power Fin agitator, and later the auger agitator, Maytag's agitation was not up to that of better washers, no matter what Maytag or Consumer's Union said. As a kid, I just did not like them because of the damn lid switch that prevented me from watching the action.

Post# 1017931 , Reply# 11 12/13/2018 at 21:16 (1,950 days old) by Washerlover (The Big Island, Hawai�i)
Checkrate/Likes *Maytag Lid Switch* I agree about the lid switch that prohibits viewing of any action. I tried in vain to bypass it but unsuccessful. I found sliding a wooden shim in between the open lid and switch does the trick, albeit clumsy...

Post# 1017934 , Reply# 12 12/13/2018 at 21:52 (1,950 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)
Checkrate/Likes Lid switch. I wrapped a light wire around the lid switch lever and pulled it to always on and wrapped the wire tight against the drain hose. Out of balance works as if it goes OOB, hitting the lid shuts it off. Has worked fine for me on my 511 for nearly 35 years as I want it open when doing wash. I dont leave any appliance going and leave the house.

Post# 1017956 , Reply# 13 12/14/2018 at 04:34 (1,949 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)
Checkrate/Likes 1 The meanest lid switch I'm talking about was the mercury switch and water level switch that were inside the thick lid on the AMP-design machines. The newer one that was a plunger behind the lid I could bypass by using two quarters with a nickel between them wrapped in tape so as not to mar the porcelain top and lid. When the lid was in an almost vertical position, I could slide this slug in place and watch the laundry channel as long as I wanted.

Post# 1017848 , Reply# 10 12/13/2018 at 08:01 (1,950 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Franklin washers/dryers* There is quite a lot of information on the Franklin - Beam - WCI progression in the archives. ---------- Beam Design Beam Manufacturing Co. made lots of parts for quite a few brands in the late 40's and early 50's. Pumps, transmissions, fluid drives, bearing housings, seals, and much more. Some of the brands were; Hotpoint, Speed Queen, AMC/Coronado, Easy, Firestone, Laundry Queen, One Minute, Marquette, Western-Auto Wizard. Sometime in the late 50's, Beam was bought out by Franklin Ind. which took over some of the designs and manufacturing from Beam. There is some murky history during this time as to whether Speed Queen owned by McGraw Edison bought the designs and manufacturing facilities from Beam or Franklin, but SQ continued with much of the orginal Beam designed machine (including the Fluid Drive) for years after the Beam-Franklin merger. Franklin continued to be a source for machines for some time until the early to mid 60's when it was merged with White Industries (White Sewing Machines) which Became White Consolidated Industries and continued to absorb brand names like Hupp Corp.(1967), Gibson, Kelvinator(1968), Westinghouse Appliance Div.(1975), Philco Appliance Div. (from Ford 1977) and Frigidaire (1979). WCI was bought out by Electrolux Home Products which is the company we know today. I'm estimating some of the merger dates based on what I've been able to find in company historical summaries and literature from this time, the White-Franklin merger could have happened as early as the late 50's as White Sewing Machine Co. began to diversify in 1956. If anyone can clear up some of the murky areas, please chime in! ------ This is a quote from a short history of Cudell, Ohio that gives some good dating info for appliance companies - the link to the entire article is below. "White Sewing Machine Co. diversified in 1956 and bought small appliance companies, including Standard Sewing (1965), the Hupp Corp. (1967), the Kelvintor Appliance Div. of American Motors (1968), and the appliance division of Westinghouse (1975). The company's name was changed to White Consolidated Industries in 1964, reflecting its holdings of machinery, tools, household appliances, and valves. White Consoldiated purchased numerous other major appliance competitors during the 1970s, including Philco, the Ford appliance division in 1977 and Frigidaire from General Motors in 1979." Gibson was a pioneer in the refrigeration industry, formed in 1877 and bought out by the Hupp Corp. in 1956 who later merged with White Consolidated in 1967. I have never seen any literature for laundry machines predating the WCI time so they would have been Beam/Franklin/WCI from that point on. (The Hupp Corp also owned the easy Easy brand name, formerly owned by the Murray Corp and was swallowed by WCI as well.) There was some odd brand out-sourcing going on at Kelvinator around 1968 or so, after the sale of Kelvinator by AMC, some Kelvi branded laundry stuff from that era was made by Norge and not WCI... Very strange, muddled history! www.nhlink.net/ClevelandNeighborh... View Full Size

Post# 1018106 , Reply# 14 12/15/2018 at 12:06 (1,948 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois)
Checkrate/Likes I use a thick wooden paint paddle or stirer and put it between the switch and lid. I use another paint stirer to hold the lid open. It works well it seems.