We Had a Babysitter
who owned a Bendix, probably one of the first models that didn’t need to be bolted down. It was on her backporch. The train tracks ran right behind her backyard fence, and I once recall the door flying open due to the rumble of the train shaking to wooden back porch so violently.
My parents went to Canada on a two week vacation in 1958 and my brother, sister and I spent the two weeks at her house. So I had occasion to watch that Bendix in action during that time. She used Cheer detergent, and used to just pour what she thought was the right amount into the hole on the top, and there was a generous crust of blue Cheer around the hole.
Mrs.Krenzer hung the laundry in the backyard, and to me it didn’t seem like it was dripping and about as damp dry as my Mom’s GE FF left the finished loads. I loved watching the wash go round and round and I really got jacked when it went into a spin. As I’ve said before, TV wasn’t too hot then, and she watched soaps during the day anyway, which at age 7 I had no interest in.
When I was 19 the laundromat I went to here in town had Bendix’s too, and I don’t recall the finished loads being excessively wet either. Perhaps they got around the slower spin speeds by using a longer spin time. At anyrate, they are a fascinating chapter in automatic washer history. I’d love to use one again now that I have a better perspective.
Eddie