Antique General Electric front load washer

[fmatic]

Hi everyone! My name is Franco, i'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and this is my first post on this awesome page!

Recently found this really rare General Electric washing machine. I don't know anything about it. It's the first one i've ever seen. Unfortunately the motor and rear cover are missing, so it have no tags on it.

What i know so far:

-It has 2 knobs on the front. One of them is missing, the other one has a non-original switch (someone took it apart years ago and replaced the original swtich with a common on/off switch). I assume one knob is a timer, but i have no idea about the other one.

-The lever on the top commands the drain pump or drain valve, sadly it doesn't have it either. For what i see, the mechanism opens a valve or activates a mechanic pump holding it against the motor pulley.

-The little window under the door indicates water level.

-The lever under the door moves the motor for wash or spin function. According to the motor position, the belt runs on the wash pulley or the spin pulley. Interesting system.

Any information/ideas you might wanna share are welcome! Hope you like the photos!

 

[cfz2882]

very interesting!

looks like it might be a French or other European machine or something South American made in the early or mid 1950s I'd recon. Probably no connection at all to US General Electric.Welcome BTW,and tell what washers are down there in Argentina,especially any locally made North American style machines

 

[tomturbomatic]

Welcome!

Thank you for sharing this interesting machine.

 

[vacbear58]

GE

The water level control and the function levers indicate this might be a semi automatic washer, rather than fully automatic

 

[fmatic]

Back in the days, (1950s, 1960s) we had Westinghouse Laundromats manufactured here by a very popular factory called Siam Di Tella. They manufactured a lot of appliances under Westinghouse license, selled under their brand. Also manufactured a Hoover licensed top loader wringer washer with a turbine, and another wringer model desgined here with a central agitator.

Then, we had automatic top loaders under the brand Kacemaster, designed by argentinian engineers in collaboration with Bendix. They have no agitator at all, instead, they work with an oscillating drum. Years later this system will still be manufactured by Drean, a brand that makes automatic washing machines today.

The Kacemaster Bendix washer in the photos belongs to a friend, he fully restorated it! I told him about this page and he will be uploading more photos of his antique washers soon.

Hope you like it!

 

[vacbear58]

Hoover

Are those Hoover machines on the left hand side of picture 4? What appears to be the logo looks very like that used by Hoover here before the more familiar red roundal appeared

 

[vacbear58]

Does the Kacemaster work in a similar manner to the machine shown in the first film?

By the way, the whole video is worth watching

 

[chestermikeuk]

Antique General Electric front load washer

Hello Franco and Welcome to the club, great to see you here, the GE washer looks more like similar semi automatic machines seen in Australia, hope we can find more information for you, would be great to see one working again.

Your next pic 1 is like the English Electric machines we had here made under license by Westinghouse.

Picture 7 of the Kacemaster Bendix looks very interesting especially with the drop down plinth for storage ? Look forward to seeing your friend posts pics of his restoration.

Good luck with your machine restoration !!

 

[jamiel]

Kind of interesting--that first washing machine led me to a rabbit hole--it was a Spanish design from 1959---the industrial designer is still alive--Jaletan. A bit of a Bendix Economat idea used for the agitation--probably no extraction, though (wringer/spinner would be used). The Spanish Wikipedia has more information than the English Wikipedia.

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

Reply 7:

Would you mean the timesaver washing machine that I own? Because I know that this does not look similar at all to my other semi automatic washing machine (Naco model 5

 

[drean1950]

Hi everyone! My name Is Rodrigo, I'm Franco's friend and I'm so happy we found this awesome site! I love washers and in the past two years I've been atracted to an especific type of wahsers. The "canasto oscilante" (oscilating basket) washers.
Here in my country, they were really popular from the 40's to the middle 80's under the brands "Drean" and "KC". The KC brand builded al lot of models in colaboration with Bendix, for example, the Kacemaster Bendix that Franco shared with you! I'll be posting some photos and, later, of course, the full restoration proces,and some links to wash videos and other machines with this system!
Thanks and greetings for all of you!

 

[turbokinetic]

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing this, Franco. 

Love the aluminum levers and heavy overstated fittings on this.

 

[fmatic]

Reply #5

Exactly, those are Hoover licensed wringer washers, made here and sold under the "Siam-Hoover" brand