1940s Apex wringer washer

[ksdaddy]

New member here. Last week I bought an old Apex wringer washer. Based on ebay ads, it's likely 40s. I paid $15 for it. The agitator worked fine right away. The drain hose was completely rotten so I went to Lowe's and found the closest thing, a hose for a dishwasher. One end fit the pump fine; the other looked like a spark plug boot so I cut it off and re-used the aluminum sink hook from the old hose. I filled it up with the garden hose and ran a load through it. I used regular liquid soap that one time but bought a bar of Fel's naptha soap to try next time (why not?). The pump worked fine as well, as did the wringer.

Two questions:

Does anyone have a method of determining the date of manufacture of the Apex washers? The model and serial numbers are intact and can post them (after I put my glasses on!)

The wringer rollers are flaking apart. They're cracked and brittle. Replacements are out, I'm sure, but I read somewhere that someone coated the old rollers with RTV silicone and then slipped a section of bicycle inner tube over the rollers. Sounds logical but I'm open to ideas.

I dig old appliances; after buying the third imported junk coffee maker in a year, I've gone back to stove top coffee pots (I've got about 10 I think) but my everyday one is a 60s Sunbeam electric percolator ($3 at a yard sale). The stove in the kitchen is a circa 1955 GE Spacemaker, our electric can opener is a 1967 turquoise Grantmaid, and we make french fries a couple times a week in a circa 1952 Sunbeam deep fryer (just to give you some insight into my mindset!)

Any help on the Apex would be great!

 

[oldwasherguy]

apex

Nice apex, I love those. It is from the 40s, but there is nothing you can really do about those rollers. I would not use them. Just let the machine stand as a conversation piece to preserve it. Don

 

[wetguymd]

Beautiful!

What a great find. I haven't seen an Apex wringer since my great grandmother's. She had this exact same machine. I have some fond childhood memories of it. You maybe able to find someone here that would have rollers that would fit the wringer. Its great that every thing works. Take some money shot pics (interior) for us. Good luck with your new find.

 

[mickeyd]

Congrats on your Apex and welcome to the club.

Does your machine have the famous "Dasher" agitator, two giant curved fins like the DNA double helix and full of holes?

And is the pump pretty fast?

Thank you.

 

[ksdaddy]

Money shot

It has the Spiral Dasher agitator. The tub was quite clean; I laid it on it's side and took the garden hose to it. That and flushing a half pound of lint out of the screen. The pump seems to work fine but I have no basis for comparison. When I first plugged it in and fiddled with the knobs, not knowing what they did, the pump made a hellacious noise but I suppose that was a combination of being dry and not having been used for many years. Once the tub was full of water it ran fine and fairly quiet (again, no basis for comparison). The agitator wouldn't move when I first turned the knob but took off with a little shove. My mother had a wringer washer until '69 when she bought a new Maytag washer and dryer. I remember Friday nights with the kitchen full of steam and a faint scent of bleach all through the house. I also remember some choice words directed at the wringer.

 

[fjg1973]

Apex Spiral Dasher

OMG we owned the Apex Spiral Dasher until 1974 and then we put it in the basement unused when my father bought the Frigidaire Unimatic in 1955. I would say the machine is between 1947 and 1950 is when my father purchased the machine wholesale. My mother said that Apex washed the clothes so well, however, this was the late 1940's and 1950's everything was solid cotton percale sheets that had to be pressed and baby diapers. The agitator was so fast that it used to splash the water all over the place, so we would have to keep the cover on. My mother said that it really scrubbed the clothes well, but with today's fabrics, it would probably be too hard on them. In 1955 my father purchased for my mother the Frigidaire unimatic washer because he owned an appliance store and thinking it would make my mother's life easier, big mistake. She cursed the day he brought the Frigidaire into the house because, according to my mother it did not wash well at all and it used to tangle all the sheets into a rope and tie everything into a knot. The Frigidaire GM Company sent a representative, I remember it was a woman to our house to show my mother how to load it and still it tangle the clothes into a knot. She said the only thing the Frigidaire was good for was spinning. She said it used to spin the dirt out of the clothes and they would dry fast on the line. When we move to a larger house in 1965, we took the Apex with us and my mother used it to wash the clothes and used the Frigidaire to rinse and spin dry. God do I remember this machine. In 1973 we got the Whirlpool and trashed the Frigidaire and the Apex.[this post was last edited: 6/7/2010-10:40]

 

[mickeyd]

Ksdaddy & Fred~wonderful stuff!

I really appreciate the pic and the stories. I saw so many dead Apexes in abandonned sheds and cottages in Chrysal Beach, Ontario when a was a lad. Could not believe how cool they looked. What an original and still unique design. I would love to see one work, wondering if the clothes really move fast (great turnover) or if they are forcefully thrashed.

Ksdaddy, would you describe the action of the water and the load as it moves?

Fred, I often wash in a wringer, then rinse & spin in a Frigidaire. Likewise, GM sent a rep to my Aunt Ellen's and told her to wash 4 sheets at a time whirling them around her hands and arms into loose balls and to drop each one into the 4 imagined quadrants of the machine.

Again, great stories and pix. Thank you both very much. The pic of the silver dasher and tub could be an Aworg first-- so strong and satisfying!

Michael

 

[ksdaddy]

Video uploaded

Sorry about the quality and composition. I took a short video of it running the day I got it, before I had cleaned it. I was so excited to see it running I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and voila. I just now uploaded it to youtube, so it may take a few minutes to process.

 

[peterh770]

Wasn't it the Apex wringers that had a problem with shocking its users? Be sure to ground it properly before water testing...

 

[fjg1973]

Apex Spiral Dasher

There was a problem with the Apex I remember. My father also used to repair washers. The Apex used to leak water on to the floor under the agitator for some reason. My mother used to keep a basin under the washer to collect the water because we lived on the third floor walk-up brownstone apartment in Brooklyn. Every so often my father had to get under the machine and fix a gasket or something that was causing the leak.

It's amazing to me that your machine is still working after all these years it my be at least 60 years old. I love the video. Please post another video with a full wash. I remember this machine had great turnover, the water look like a whirlpool, I used to love how the water used to go through the holes in the agitator vanes.

 

[yogitunes]

First of all....WELCOME!...glad you joined us

what a unique machine...would love to see a video with water and clothes

we sometimes forget machines of that era were designed to be workhorses to clean heavy cotton and denims.....unlike todays dainty poly/knits, many clothes gave of a lot of lint, so machines were built with lint filters, todays fabrics give off little lint....exception--new towels in the dryer

 

[gansky1]

Thanks for posting -

Woo hoo - finally a Spiral Dasher in action! I've always wondered what those looked like running in a full tub of wash. I remember staring at those ads as a kid in old magazines wishing I had one to play with. How cool!

 

[ksdaddy]

New videos uploaded!

Here's the Apex with a full tub of water:



Here it is with a couple clean towels thrown in. Note how much suds were NOT rinsed out after being washed in our '95 Kenmore!



Those two videos were taken with my cell phone. I'm not sure if it's permissible to put links in the body of the message... hope it's okay. The regular link below is a video taken with my regular digital camera. Not sure if it's any better but the file size sure is bigger.

 

[mickeyd]

Just Fabulous and many many thanks for a dream come true!

I'll send you money--LOL-- if you shoot another vid with the tub half full of water ;'D The drama gets more intense with lower water levels.
Experiment and have a ball learning the magic of currents, undertows, and whirlpools.

The white towel really does the Dasher dance.

With the Dasher and the ribbed tub, dirt doesn't stand a chance; nor do leftover suds.

What a great way to start the day. Thanks, again. I loved it to death. Now, I'm gonna check out your pooch in the last video.

 

[ksdaddy]

Another video tomorrow

I'll do a 'half-full' video tonight. I'm on dialup at home so I do all my big file uploading when I come in to work in the morning... (shhhh).

 

[golittlesport]

very cool

Thanks for posting those videos. There was an old Apex wringer in the basement of my grandparents house in Buffalo, NY. (There was also an ABC wringer...she had nine kids and two washing machines). Neither wringer was in use at the time as there was a Norge automatic in the kitchen.

I was amazed by the spiral dasher in the Apex. I got brave one day and plugged in the machine - the wringer worked, but the transmission had seized and the dasher did not move. Your video is the first time I have seen one in action.

Thanks again!

 

[fjg1973]

Apex Spiral Dasher

What a great video ksdaddy, boy does this bring back memories, that machine really washed very well because of the agitator and also the sides of the tub was like a scrub board. My mothers white cotton sheets, towels and baby diapers were so white it blinded you on the clothes line in the sun. I can still feel my had going through the wringers when I was told not to do that and my mother slapping me, no such thing as child abuse in the 50's. I remember after the sheets were dry, my mother would put them through a mangle iron to iron the sheets and anything that was flat like table cloths. More videos please.

Fred

[this post was last edited: 6/8/2010-18:48]

 

[mickeyd]

Hello friends

When you click on ksdaddy's link in Reply # 12, you will see above the movie screen and to the left an icon for 7 movies. Click on it. Then, in one of them, you'll see the towels washing. I'm only mentioning this because so few have viewed it according to the view count, and maybe you missed the prompts. A friend called and had no idea the other movies were there. For me to be giving techno help is a very fine joke.

Can't wait for tomorrow.

Ksdaddy, wish I knew your name, but to answer your question about the rollers: After you run a few loads of towels thru the wringer, the rollers will become more pliable--will come back to life. Your old dog is an inspiration.

Ah, Fred, the terrible discipline of the 50's. You've hurt yourself, but now I'm going to hurt you more for disobeying.

 

[peteski50]

APEX!

This is so interesting - I wish they would have put this type of adjator in a automatic!