Geoff, I remember a Consumer reports article on wringer washers in the pre-war period where they tested them for corrosion potential. They showed a picture of a tall post drive Maytag after the test which was sitting for 12 or 24 hours with a solution of washing soda in the tub. The post on the Maytag was kinda chewed up because it was aluminum. I did not realize that the "attachments" did not sit over the Gyrator, but on the drive shaft.
Mike, The adults who took time to talk to us when we were children and who allowed us to wash and cook and vacuum with them must have a special place in Heaven, for they were the exception to the usual adults who dismissed our important interests and, by so doing, dismissed us, too. I have wonderful memories of mostly neighbors who let me see how they did laundry and cook. There were long distance trips to the grandparents' homes where I learned about washing in Maytag wringers. There was a wonderful family across the street from where we rented a house for a few months in Decatur, GA while our house was being built. I was not yet 5, but their older daughters were very kind to my brother and me. One Saturday morning, I was invited over there, and my parents actually let me go, and I and the whole family were in the kitchen doing laundry. I got to help load the Bendix Economat, watched it at the beginning of the wash agitation and saw the water slop over the top of the agitator which was hollow with that little grid in the opening. I watched the mother pick an item out of the suds and wipe around the side of the porcelain dome so that there would be a good seal when we closed the lid. After the wash extraction, I got to push the red button in the handle to release the vacuum so we could open the lid to watch the rinse. They all got quiet so that I could hear the hiss when I pressed the red button. It was fascinating to watch it fill from under the agitator. When the Bendix was done, the clothes were taken out of the washer and handed to me so that I could load them into the Bendix dryer and turn it on. The father worked for Carrier so they had window air conditioners and he was an electrical engineer which, I guess, explained why all of their appliances were electric. The only electric kitchen appliance that they did not have was a dishwasher. They moved to a very nice house after we moved, but my parents were not interested in seeing them so we never got to visit their new house. Several years later, the father helped dad install our air conditioner and told me that they had a set of Westinghouse SpaceMates in the kitchen. There was one other fascinating experience with that family that, like the laundry morning, was never repeated but still is etched in my memory as a wonderful experience. They were members of Decatur First Baptist Church. One warm Sunday morning, we met them to go out to lunch, I guess. The daughters took my brother and me to this hillside behind the Sunday School building and showed us this little park. I think that there might have been some playground equipment, but what I remember most vividly was a small waterfall trickling over the rocks in the hill. It made the place seem enchanted to have the waterfall in the middle of the town. Above all of this was a woods so it was like some setting out of a story where the kids are in a forest. I wonder if these 4 family members ever knew how much joy they brought into my life. I am sure that once the mother and father got to Heaven, they were made aware of how great a gift they had given a child that they had not known for long; not by doing a great or out of the ordinary or expensive thing, but "just" by their kindness that brought magic and joy to a child with a special interest and by raising such fine daughters who would bring magic and joy to others wherever they went.