Nice Twin-Tub Up North

Have read and referenced that academic paper previously here in group.

While many factors contributed to staying power of semi-automatic washing machines in Canada post WWII years well into and past 1970's, basically things broke down to as follows:

Canada though a large country has vast areas of low to sparse population. These many in those areas (such as a lumber camp) lacked things necessary for a automatic washer (indoor plumbing or at least piped hot water, etc....).

Many Canadian housewives and others viewed fully automatic washing machines that used water just once (for washing) and one or more rinses in fresh water as an anathema. Again for those living in areas where fresh water came from wells and or had to be pumped and brought to washer that was simply wasteful. Even for those living in cities with all mod cons weren't exactly keen.

Canada had spent considerable resources building up native appliance manufacturing of all sorts including appliances. Wringer washers were relatively simple to produce and spares are a far more simple matter. To produce fully automatic washing machines would mean retooling plants and or relying upon imports from down south (USA) or elsewhere.

One concession Canadian housewives and others did make is move from wringer washers to various other semi-automatics such as twin-tubs. Spin drying on many levels is streets better than a wringer, but twin tub washing allows reuse of wash and or rinse water.

You also see spin driers of various European makes (Miele, Scharpf, AEG, etc...) fairly often in Canada.

www.automaticwasher.org/c...


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Post# 1182332 6/11/2023 at 20:01 (322 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)
Checkrate/Likes Canada truly is a gold mine for semi-automatic washing machines. hibid.com/lot/159357450/portable...

Post# 1182419 , Reply# 1 6/12/2023 at 19:45 (321 days old) by unclejohn (Can)
Checkrate/Likes *Interesting,* Launderess, vintage japanese Hitachi tt, most probably early 1980s ... More plastic here than its forerunner "siblings" of the early-mid '70s. Saw one almost exactly like that for sale on Kijiji (here in Qc) a few weeks ago. My grand ma had the earlier model, PS310P (more metal, much less plastic parts) which was a very good, portable yet efficient, little machine. I remind my mom, who had to cope with a Hoover, was almost jealous of grand ma ! And yes, indeed, i'm at the right place myself to corroborate your assessment as Canada being a great place to find vintage twinnies. Why ? I just don't know ... CLICK HERE TO GO TO unclejohn's LINK

Post# 1182827 , Reply# 2 6/17/2023 at 15:50 (316 days old) by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan and Palm Springs, CA)
Checkrate/Likes There was an academic paper (quoted elsewhere on AW) which analyzed the differences between the US and Canadian laundry industry and what ended up as a longer period while non-automatic (wringer) washers had popularity...both a combination of Canadian women being more frugal and re-using water more readily and the fact that a wringer washer manufacturer could be a LOT smaller economically than (fitting the Canadian market better) an automatic washer factory needed to be economically (due to the greater complexity of the auto washer). Doubtless that continued on the use of semiautomatic (spinner washers) also for a longer period than in the US.

Post# 1182832 , Reply# 3 6/17/2023 at 20:30 (316 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)
Checkrate/Likes Have read and referenced that academic paper previously here in group. While many factors contributed to staying power of semi-automatic washing machines in Canada post WWII years well into and past 1970's, basically things broke down to as follows: Canada though a large country has vast areas of low to sparse population. These many in those areas (such as a lumber camp) lacked things necessary for a automatic washer (indoor plumbing or at least piped hot water, etc....). Many Canadian housewives and others viewed fully automatic washing machines that used water just once (for washing) and one or more rinses in fresh water as an anathema. Again for those living in areas where fresh water came from wells and or had to be pumped and brought to washer that was simply wasteful. Even for those living in cities with all mod cons weren't exactly keen. Canada had spent considerable resources building up native appliance manufacturing of all sorts including appliances. Wringer washers were relatively simple to produce and spares are a far more simple matter. To produce fully automatic washing machines would mean retooling plants and or relying upon imports from down south (USA) or elsewhere. One concession Canadian housewives and others did make is move from wringer washers to various other semi-automatics such as twin-tubs. Spin drying on many levels is streets better than a wringer, but twin tub washing allows reuse of wash and or rinse water. You also see spin driers of various European makes (Miele, Scharpf, AEG, etc...) fairly often in Canada. www.automaticwasher.org/c...

Post# 1182840 , Reply# 4 6/17/2023 at 22:53 (316 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)
Checkrate/Likes This video shows why semi-automatic washers were and still highly used in Canada.

Post# 1182860 , Reply# 5 6/18/2023 at 12:04 (315 days old) by unclejohn (Can)
Checkrate/Likes *Pas d'essoreuse !* Eh, non... Electric spin dryers just came afterwards (the good old wringer washers once were the norm). Even at the heights of the twin tub era (late 60s, early 70s?) there were still some people who bought and used various sorts of wringer wash machines, sometimes with an added stand alone electric spin dryer. I, personally, remember seeing quite a few wringer washers in action. However, my best memories are twinnies which, back then, were fairly common both in rural areas as well as in the middle of the city. My grand ma, a cousin, an old aunt - as well as my mom, used twin tubs for the washday chore. Que de souvenirs !