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Thread Number: 80540
/ Tag: Vintage Dishwashers
POD 9-16-19 Thor Automagic Dishwasher |
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Post# 1045063 9/16/2019 at 07:28 (1,680 days old) by Tomturbomatic  (Beltsville, MD) |
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"...you'll be a new woman!" Do you suppose this was provable? Would it be allowed in advertising copy today? | ||
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| Post# 1045067 , Reply# 1 9/16/2019 at 08:33 (1,680 days old) by e2l-arry (LAKEWOOD COLORADO) | ||
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Look at that stack of dirty dishes! It looks like a lot more dishes than the "four to six people" than the dishwasher rated capacity. At that rate the thing would be running load after load! Hope no one needs the kitchen faucet all day! | ||
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Post# 1045069 , Reply# 2 9/16/2019 at 09:00 (1,680 days old) by kenmore58 (Rhode Island) |
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Post# 1045071 , Reply# 3 9/16/2019 at 09:08 (1,680 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie) |
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While I'm assuming the "Only 5 minutes to wash and rinse a whole load!" claim is probably a bit optimistic, it wouldn't take long to power through that teetering pile of dishes.
If there was room for only a washing machine or a dishwasher in your home the THOR fits the bill. Changing out the innards would definitely get old. It makes no matter: Fantastic collector's item--especially if the original owner sprang for the washtub insert. | ||
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Post# 1045082 , Reply# 5 9/16/2019 at 10:41 (1,680 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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I remember watching an episode of Betty White’s show, “Life With Elizabeth”, in 1955, and I would have also been about 4 1/2 yrs old, where Elizabeth’s husband attempted to satisfy her desire for a dishwasher by converting her washing machine to a dishwasher. The concept was just like this Thor in the POD.
When he demonstrated his handiwork to her loaded with dishes there was the sound of much breaking of glass and crockery. This is one of my early TV watching experiences that is burned into my memory banks. Probably because in 1955 hardly anyone that I knew had a dishwasher. Eddie | ||
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Post# 1045086 , Reply# 6 9/16/2019 at 11:21 (1,680 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie) |
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...or a TV, for that matter!
Although I didn’t make my debut until 1959, our household circa 1955 had both a dishwasher (Westinghouse built-in rollout) and a TV (DuMont) thanks to my obviously guilt-ridden dad, who scrambled to compensate for the affairs he was having at the time as a home-on-the-weekends-only traveling salesman. And people here say I don’t share, LOL. | ||
| Post# 1045105 , Reply# 7 9/16/2019 at 13:33 (1,680 days old) by kd12 (Arkansas) | ||
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Dishwasher AND clotheswasher in one Hard now to believe anyone thought that was a good idea. | ||
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Post# 1045109 , Reply# 8 9/16/2019 at 14:40 (1,680 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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"still haven't found the dishwasher attachment for m
While the washing machine was highly rated, not many housewives opted for that dishwasher thing for their Thor washer. Apparently then as now the "ick" factor of using same machine for laundry and dishes was just too hard to overcome. Sales persons took what they could get and made sale of washer only if that is all Madame wanted.
Post WWII baby boom meant many housewives were also mothers of infants; they likely just couldn't wrap their heads around putting dirty diapers into same machine they washed dishes. Thor dispatched all sorts of sales and marketing material attempting to overcome those objections, but still large numbers of households just weren't having any of it. | ||
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Post# 1045110 , Reply# 9 9/16/2019 at 15:35 (1,680 days old) by vacbear58 (Sutton In Ashfield, East Midlands, UK) |
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Hope no one needs the kitchen faucet all day!
Interesting that it has a mixing faucet all to itself in the pictures although it could of course be run from the kitchen faucet too. Of course with the special faucet I guess the only way you could purge the water line if needed would be to fill the machine till the water ran hot and then drain it out.
What is often missed is that it used an entirely different tub for laundry and washing dishes and the washer tub a least would have been very heavy, made even worse for s short woman to have to lift quite high. And then there is the storage .... But, given that there might not have been as much laundry back then, meaning the tubs did not need to be changed quite so often, for someone who detested washing dishes $50 might have seemed an advantage to have one machine to do two jobs. Not to mention its rinsing and spin drying capabilities when compared to a wringer washer. The UK version of this machine (it was made here for about 12 years) wash rated quite good for laundry performance. | ||
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Post# 1045112 , Reply# 10 9/16/2019 at 16:26 (1,680 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Cannot recall source
But IIRC Thor didn't sell very many of those dishwasher tubs. Again housewives were thrilled to get an automatic washing machine, but that double duty thing was O-W-T, out.
Am guessing if this is true at some point during production Thor simply cut down on units produced. This could explain why even NIB unused dishwasher tubs are hard to come by. I mean if the things weren't selling what would be point of ramping up production. | ||
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Post# 1045117 , Reply# 11 9/16/2019 at 17:11 (1,680 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie) |
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Gotta hand it to THOR for clever marketing.
Today's POD is all about it being a dishwasher. There isn't so much as a mention of it being a clothes washer in the body of the ad; just a little blurb in the bottom corner for the clothes tub being available for fifty bucks. I'm assuming other ads sold it as a clothes washer with a blurb for the dishwasher racks. This post was last edited 09/16/2019 at 17:31 | ||
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Post# 1045137 , Reply# 12 9/16/2019 at 23:54 (1,680 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc) |
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I could see "hubby" making the transition from dishwasher-washer and back.Couldn't picture the woman lifting tubs in and out of the machine.Would think too mechanical and heavy for her. | ||
| Post# 1045250 , Reply# 13 9/18/2019 at 06:19 (1,678 days old) by arbilab (Ft Worth TX (Ridglea)) | ||
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Post# 1045263 , Reply# 15 9/18/2019 at 07:50 (1,678 days old) by kenmore58 (Rhode Island) |
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