America's Favorite Twins & How To Answer Questions

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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
 
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
 
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
 
We had a slightly newer (1955) Laundromat washer until 1964. I do remember it liked to twist sheets, tablecloths, and large towels. It also would sometimes get out of balance, and once moved far enough it unplugged itself. I also recall it having to be worked on several times. The 1964 washer was also a Westinghouse front load, but they were no longer the slant front design. I don't remember it tangling items as badly. It was pretty rusty by the time it was replaced in 1973, when a new Maytag set was purchased. I don't remember anyone else in this neighborhood having a front load washer, but the largest appliance dealer around here sold Westinghouse for a number of years. They changed to selling GE around 1960, so the dryer and second washer were bought in downtown Cincinnati.

We didn't get a dryer until 1963, the last year of the slant front design. It never had any issues the whole time we had it.
 
We had a 1979 WW front loader.
Pros were it's frugal (but not stingy) use of water, great lint and sand removal, washed very well, quiet operation, and I think its "Potato Pulley" helped with the tangling problem, and in seven years of use, no repairs.

Cons were it's anemic spin speed (like WP & Kenmore), rust-bucket door and cabinet (at the least, the door should have been porcelain-coated), and no off-balance switch.

As I mentioned, it never needed a repair. It just sort of committed suicide by rust.
 
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
 
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.

http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/detail/kenmore/1950s.htm

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).

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?72976

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.
 
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.

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?9758

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.

 
I don't remember many in my area having Kenmore appliances when I was a kid. The big Sears store was on Reading Rd. in the Avondale neighborhood - about 3 miles north of downtown, and 33 miles from here.

I have no idea why they chose a Westinghouse washer. The dealer was 4 blocks from the house, but there were also Hotpoint, GE, Maytag and Frigidaire dealers within the same distance.
 
They were quite popular here as well, although most of the Westinghouse laundromat equipped centres, I found to be partially still in existence. (signage and dryers) I do remember going to the one in Queanbeyan where they still had some of the washes, but unfortunately they were decommissioned due to the amount of water they used, which I took a photo of them

adam-aussie-vac-2023111902390801731_1.jpg

adam-aussie-vac-2023111902390801731_2.jpg
 
Another issue with using the early front loaders was that the low sudsing detergents of the period - Dash, All and later Colgate's AD were not great cleaners according to CR testing. And getting the right suds level with Tide, Fab and other high performing, high suds detergents was challenging. I also don't think folks actually knew how to load those machines. In more laundromats than I care to count over the years, I have seen people stuff those machines completely full so that the clothes moved in a giant ball in a circle - particularly true with the small capacity old bolt down Westinghouse laundromat models. So the clothes didn't circulate but maybe just got a little damp. I can't imagine the results...
 
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.

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?79498

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?33476

https://www.spinzonelaundry.com/blo...omat-what-are-the-difference-history-of-each/
 

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