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Thread Number: 94743
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
America's Favorite Twins & How To Answer Questions |
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Post# 1193816 11/18/2023 at 05:42 by Launderess  (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Another bit of advertising and promotion brought to you by men who likely never did a load of laundry in their lives.
Enjoy! digital.hagley.org/FILM_2019227_... | ||
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Post# 1193819 , Reply# 1 11/18/2023 at 07:05 by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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America’s favorite twins
Somewhat convincing, but I should’ve been there asking questions, lol.
They don’t talk about how badly tangled the clothing will come out of the washer, or the huge amount of electricity and electric dryer like that will use. A nice top loading whirlpool or Kenmore washer was much preferred by most homemakers to say nothing at the economy and speed of the matching gas dryer that many people would buy in the 50s. My friend Robert, who collected slant front wing house washers was talking about his collection to our friend Twila, who is working for us and she was absolutely horrified that anybody would collect these washers when she was first married. Her first pair was a Westinghouse pair like this and she said she spent all her time untangling the wash she was so happy when they ditched it in 1959 and bought Ken more couldn’t believe the difference she said. John | ||
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Post# 1193831 , Reply# 2 11/18/2023 at 09:25 by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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Love these old industrial films. How popular were these slant fronts anyways by sales percentages roughly against top loaders? The film makes them sound as if they were the biggest seller but I don't recall seeing very many at all when I was a kid in our neighborhood. Two I can think of, my piano teacher and some neighbors
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Post# 1193839 , Reply# 3 11/18/2023 at 10:56 by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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How popular were slant front Westinghouse automatics
There was a lot of competition for automatic washer sales in the 1950s, Westinghouse was one of the top selling brands. I’m fairly sure it would be interesting to see the sales statistics.
I’m quite sure Kenmore would’ve been. The top seller followed by whirlpool. Westinghouse may have been number three GE and Frigidaire did well also. Maytag probably came in about next, and you still had a lot of Bendix sales and there were eight more brands picked up the remainder of the sales. John | ||
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Post# 1193852 , Reply# 6 11/18/2023 at 12:46 by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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My Aunt Imogene had a ‘55 set of Westinghouse slant fronts that they bought new in ‘55 and used without a single problem of repair until ‘65 when they sold their house and the Westie’s with it. It was the first washing machine that really fascinated me because no one else had one like it.
I don’t recall her ever complaining about tangled loads. The dryer wasn’t connected to 240, but rather regular household current. Grandpa used to always be after her to let him put in a 240 outlet, but she said negatory, she liked that her dryer never shrunk clothes because of the more gentle heat. Back then I can recall at least three homes that had Bendix FL’s, the diving bell one’s. These always were a treat for me to watch in action too. Eddie | ||
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Post# 1193859 , Reply# 7 11/18/2023 at 15:54 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Don't know about 1953 when this film was made, but by 1954 Sears/Kenmore was top seller of automatic washing machines in USA.
Going back decades the Upton Manufacturing Company (what would eventually become Whirlpool) had sort of a captive relationship with Sears. Latter via their dominance nationwide in retail market (catalog and stores) moved considerable amounts of goods each year. Sears by 1950's had their easy payment plans and other sorts of credit which made financing large purchases affordable for middle or even low income households. www.searsarchives.com/brands/deta... That being said things often broke down by region or local conditions. This including whatever deals or otherwise were being pushed by local power utilities (who sold appliances on credit, payments were added to a household's electric or gas bill). www.automaticwasher.org/c... Going by Consumer's Union (later Consumer Reports) there were only three top selling brands of washing machines in 1950's; Maytag, Kenmore and Whirlpool. Latter two of course were same machines under bonnet basically, but Sears demanded changes for their appliances and WP had no choice but to comply. | ||
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Post# 1193861 , Reply# 8 11/18/2023 at 16:10 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Not for want of trying...
But Westinghouse's front loaders in all designs never had a huge market share. This even as production continued into 1970's and beyond. Indeed Maytag got slapped down when they tried to pull they were first in USA with a front loader (Neptune). That claim worked because few if any recall or recalled Westinghouse or Bendix front loaders.
That being said Westinghouse H-axis washers and matching dryers did have a decent following. Pretty much for reasons outlined in OP sales/marketing piece and elsewhere. www.automaticwasher.org/c... Ms. Betty Furness in all her high heeled and girdled glory did her best as Westinghouse spokeswoman in touting benefits of front loading washers. But many American housewives weren't having any of it. Much of this likely was due to a low suds detergent that could compete with top selling Tide. Dash and All were two low froth detergents, but still. Westinghouse's "Spacemaker" W&D set appealed to many space challenged households. That and housewives who wanted their laundry appliances on main floor instead of down in basement. | ||
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Post# 1193863 , Reply# 9 11/18/2023 at 16:29 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Westinghouse did have a pretty good lead post war USA and even Europe as their "Laundromat" washers became some of (if not first) coin operated front loaders. There was also a commercial version marketed to OPL and other laundries.
www.automaticwasher.org/c...
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Post# 1193864 , Reply# 10 11/18/2023 at 16:31 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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| Post# 1193871 , Reply# 11 11/18/2023 at 18:58 by Maytag85 (Sean A806) | ||
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| Post# 1193898 , Reply# 15 11/19/2023 at 08:51 by Helicaldrive (St. Louis) | ||
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Thanks Laundress For all these posts! | ||
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Post# 1193932 , Reply# 16 11/19/2023 at 19:41 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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YW! | ||
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Post# 1193934 , Reply# 17 11/19/2023 at 19:48 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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For those who've ever suffered through spell check insisting on capitalizing "L" in "Laundromat", it's because at one time the word was a proper noun.
Westinghouse registered "Laundromat" as trade name used not just on their laundry appliances but also first "laundromats". Hence everyone else had to call their laundries something else such as "Launderettes" Westinghouse did not allow that trademark to expire until 1993. Thus now "laundromat" has fallen into common usage not all apps have read that memo. www.automaticwasher.org/c... www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/... www.spinzonelaundry.com/blog/was... | ||
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Post# 1193935 , Reply# 18 11/19/2023 at 19:54 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Once again you have to admire Westinghouse for making an effort. That L-1000 and D1000 are dreamy!
www.automaticwasher.org/c... www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/... | ||
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Post# 1193938 , Reply# 19 11/19/2023 at 20:23 by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 1193940 , Reply# 20 11/19/2023 at 20:32 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Being as all this may...
From an archived thread.
"In 1984 the top rated top loaders, Maytag A710 and Whirlpool LA5800 all rated good to excellent across all categories including cleaning performace of regular and permanent press fabrics. However the two front loaders tested, White-Westinghouse LT600E and Gibson WS14M6WL rated excellent across the board, period. The only exceptions were tub capacity and water extraction." www.automaticwasher.org/c... | ||
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Post# 1193941 , Reply# 21 11/19/2023 at 20:48 by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 1193942 , Reply# 22 11/19/2023 at 21:05 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Post# 1193944 , Reply# 23 11/19/2023 at 21:08 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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My idea of heaven!
Notice this UK launderette equipped with dryers also has an extractor. In USA while not common in homes many self serve laundromats did have Bock extractors. This was way of coping with often anemic final spin rpm speed of all washer/extractors at the time.
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Post# 1193951 , Reply# 24 11/20/2023 at 01:23 by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Easy credit terms..
One could have a Westinghouse washer for easy weekly payments of $3.25 in 1954.
www.automaticwasher.org/c... Average yearly wage for men in USA for that time was $2,400 or $44.44 per week. Remember average salary information from US census department was income reported before deductions. Then as now persons would have had at least FICA taken out of their pay, so what they took home was lower. It may seem like peanuts to us to day but that four bucks per week would have represented a good part of weekly wages for most households. That $3.15 is equal to $36.03 in today's money which puts things into perspective. Average wage for women in 1954 was only $1,200 per year. So can see how a dual income couple (and there were more than many imagine) could afford bit more luxuries associated with middle class lifestyle. | ||
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