1940s US Thor wringer

[arbilab]

Anybody have or know of 1940s US Thor wringer washers? There's one in Washer Museum. I find recent reference to Thor appliances (in OZ I think it was) and power tools (same logo) but no mention of their US wringers.

The thing that distinguished them from Maytag was the agitator. Magic Fingers I think they called it, a slanted disc with 4 sets of fingers decoratively molded into it. In operation the disc didn't revolve or oscillate, it orbited, first one direction then the other. The direction change was mechanical not electrical, and the transmission made a pronounced BANG at the reversals. Which compared to our Westy at home, led me to name it the Bang Washer.

Last time I saw it, it was waiting for the junkman in the early 50s and grandma had a new Easy Spindry. Maybe it banged its last bang.

 

[cehalstead]

Thor wringer

My grandmother had a Thor wringer, but she owned it before I was born. My mom used it when first married, and I do remember her telling me that it tangled clothes terribly. Grandma replaced it with a 1954 Frigidaire Unimatic and my Mom followed, buying the same with matching dryer.

 

[arbilab]

Maxwell said his was ca. 1936. Grandma's looked newer, why I guessed 40s but considering the war more likely between 1938-41. 'Tangle' wasn't a concept I knew at the time, neither was turnover, so can't judge. Can't even remember if it was pump or gravity drain. But certainly remember the wobbulator and the BANG, and that I wasn't allowed anywhere near the wringer.

Maxwell didn't use the term 'magic fingers' so I was probably thinking of the hotel mattress vibrator.

 

[arbilab]

Well if there isn't a working Thor here, the only one is going to be Maxwell's.