British Twintub Washing Machines 1959 - 1990

[ozzie908]

Rolls Rapide

I have a newspaper clipping that I have scanned but its not too bright, Re the gentleman who started the Rolls machines to be sold in UK it is an interesting article and explains why he went bust etc I will try and locate it.

Austin

 

[ozzie908]

Sadly I have them the wrong way round

So pic 2 is the left side the paper clipping and 1 the right ...

 

[keymatic]

Hi Austin,
Had a quick rumage and found some techincal data on Rolls spinner, i believe its general info as opposed to a model specific.

With regards to the “Pye” twin tub - i got this from a guy in Crommer / Norwich many years ago, he had, had a shop which he owned but went bust but instead of getting rid of the stock he bought all the stock back to his house, he had hundreds of spares, going back to the mid 60’s - i managed to get loads of hoses off of him and the Pye twin which he had rebuilt.
It is exactly like Rolls. I will have a look for some pics.
Cheers
Keith

 

[ozzie908]

@keymatic

Thanks Keith that is ace...

Could you email me it please so I can see in more detail?

Your a star...

 

[keymatic]

Afternoon All,

Had a play with my new Perobot Twin tub yesterday - dates from 1955 and the washer and spinner are in the same tub

See it in action

Cheers
Keith UK

 

[matchboxpaul]

Another set of obscure machines

Hi all

I have got to get my archive in some semblence of order, so its time for another batch of obscure twin tubs (some more obscure than others) before they get filed away:

CASTOR Universal (ca 1959-60)
D.E.S Twin Tub (ca 1965-67) ... 'D'omestic 'E'lectric 'S'ervices was a shop, based at 9 Salisbury Road in Reading.
ROLLS Super Sixty Six (1961 version)
ROLLS Super Sixty Six (1962 version)
ELIZABETHAN Dynamatic (ca 1960)
BURCO Twin (ca 1966)
BURCO Twin 40 (ca 1967-71)
BURCO Twenty One MkII (ca 1963-65)
BRUNLEC 47 (ca 1964)
PHILIPS HN3207 TopTwin (ca 1971-73)
FRIGIDAIRE WTD De Luxe (ca 1964-66)
ACME Conquest MkII (ca 1965)
FRIGIDAIRE De Luxe (ca 1966-at least 1969) ... replaced the WTD and had, at the very least, different style lids.
ROWEN Twin Tub (ca 1964-65)
DUOMATIC Popular MkII (ca 1963-64)

Hopefully there will be some more new ones amongst that lot.

Enjoy!
Paul

 

[anthony]

photo 11

is the Frigidaire with the small spin motor driving the wash impellor .they would constantly burn out [fine for driving the spin drier but not up to shifting all that water and wet washing the next incarnation would have the big direct drive induction motor .In an earlier post i may have caused a bit of confusion over this machine when i said the spin motor drove the wash impellor .What i meant was the machine has the usual set up [spinner driven by a small motor with a belt driving the drum and pump ] this machine has a second motor [same as the one driving the spinner ] driving the washer and its pump via another belt and pulley .I can still remember the price of a replacement motor back in 74 a motor would have cost £19.99 .not much these days but back then a considerable amount .A new spin bearing for this machine fitted would cost £25 .Having said all that These early Frigidaire TTs were quite durable [not a lot in them to go wrong] and looked after would last a good ten years or more

 

[matchboxpaul]

Thanks for the information Anthony.

I hoped that somewhere along the lines a photo of the machines you worked on would surface.

From looking for adverts on newspaper archives, it looks like the WTD ran from about 1964 till 1966, whereupon it was replaced by the visually very similar 'De Luxe' model.

Until a few months ago the existence of the WTD and WTS, as well as the later De Luxe, had never really registered with me - the MasterTwin and later MasterTwin de Luxe taking all the fame.

This thread really has been an eye opener, with all the machines that have been discussed.

Paul

 

[chestermikeuk]

British Twintub Washing Machines 1959 - 1990

Well thats another load of reading and perusing Paul, cant believe how many different models about, I always thought Brunlec might have been agitator unless they did both ?

So all the new batch above are impellor type apart from Philips and Burco 21 ? wondered about the Rowan ?

 

[keymatic]

Hi Paul,

Great new load of machines indentified there the Rowen was an agitator machine, same as the Easiclene / MEB machine. I have a pamphlet i can picture when i get home (currently in the Orkney’s)
Cheers
Keith

 

[chestermikeuk]

Rowan

That's good to know Keith, it looks substantial, would be great to see the brochure when you get back.

Enjoy your hols

 

[matchboxpaul]

Hi all.

This penultimate batch are actually pretty boring, particularly with them being black and white drawings essentially, but I post them to show something that I hadn't realised.

It is really surprising to me that more Colston and Ariston style twin tubs haven't surfaced over the years cause, as well as being sold as Colston and Ariston (obviously), they were sold hard by the various Electricity Board shops too, under many of the local boards names.

Badge engineering of both the standard 'Coronet' and also the deluxe 'Auto-Plus' took place, with some of them detailed below:

ELITE Standard
ELITE De Luxe
ELECTRA model 2206 (this version replaced all the variously branded offerings)
MANWEB Brand De Luxe
MANWEB Brand Super
SWEBLINE Twin Tub
EMELEC Standard
EMELEC De Luxe
& finally, a non electricity board exclusive
SINGER Autocascade (an exclusive sold through Singer shops)

Paul

 

[matchboxpaul]

Prior to the Colston clones being introduced, below are some of the earlier Electricity Board exclusives:

ELITE Twin Tub (Philips)
EASEELEC De Luxe (???)
EASEELEC Standard (Rolls)
MIDELEC (Easiclene)
SWEB De Luxe (Frigidaire)
SWEB Standard (Rolls)
MANWEB Brand Twin Tub (Rolls)

I am also attaching a colour picture of the EASICLENE Easitwin De Luxe, from which the MIDELEC Twin Tub was derived.

Paul

 

[matchboxpaul]

and finally from me ....

.... not a UK built model, but one sold in the UK and probably in very small numbers.

Is anybody able to confirm that 'Italy's leading manufacturer' will have been Candy?
If not Candy, who was it and what brand this machine was sold as?

Regards
Paul

 

[keymatic]

Hi Mike,

Following up on the Rowen Twin Tub I attach the pamphlet that I recently acquired.

Regards
Keith

 

[sesteve]

Colston

Hi Paul

I’ve thought the same about the lack of Colston twinnies turning up especially as they seemed to be in all the catalogues for years! Interestingly, the autoplus in the Argos catalogue that Chris Parker posted is listed as discontinued!

My theory is the plastic dog clutch on the spinner was it’s weak point along with the gasket to seal the spin can. We fitted a new one on my Colston Ariston twin tub to get it going and because the brake was too harsh it shattered after a couple of runs! Had to shim the brake so it now coasts down more and so far it’s been fine. Here’s couple of pics of it

That Rowen twintub looks interesting Keith. The wash tub looks really small though. Does it have any info on the company that made it? I’m wondering if some of these more random makes makes may end up having the same addresses!
S

 

[keymatic]

Afternoon Steve,

I have got a feeling the Rowen was a bi-product of the Easitwin which was re-badged as the Midelec, there is no information on the pamphlet regarding the company as I think t was commissioned and backed by the Midland Eastern Electricity Board. I have checked on the wash tub capacity which is the same as the Easitwin & Midelec 5lbs.

While flicking through the 4 Domestic Electrical Appliance monthly magazines I recently got, there was an advert for one of the earlier Frigidaire Twin Tubs, which I think Paul mentioned in reply #306

Regards
K

 

[chestermikeuk]

Rowan Twintub

Morning Keith hope youre well rested after the hols, Thanks for posting the Rowan brochure, this must be like many others and appears not to have survived anywhere.

Was talking with Al about it and it does look like the EasiClene model also with features from Servis like the top openings, the spin lid of Philips and a touch of the Acme as well. In fact looking at Pauls ad for the Midelec, it says swirling wash action with 3 automatic programmes, I wonder if it could have been a sub dept of Wilkins Servis although we see the add has an agitator wash action.

I wonder if the small agi I found years ago is the one for this. would love to seethe insides and workings.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Rowen twin tub

According to Al's 'Which? 1964', (from the lengthy DUOMATIC twin tub thread), says:

"The ROWEN, made by Easiclene, and similar to the EASICLENE EASITWIN, was also sold in certain shops as the INSTAMATIC."

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?73450

 

[rolls_rapide]

D.E.S. twintub

Seems to be a DUOMATIC clone, according to 'Which? October 1967'.