German / Dutch Twin Tub

[keymatic]

Morning Guys,

Not sure if you can help or shed any light on this unusual twin tub which looks to date from the late 50's to early 60's.

The badge on the front says "C*ome" ?? I can't find anything on the web about the machine or company.

Regards [this post was last edited: 10/29/2020-05:43]

 

[foraloysius]

Nice twintub, but so far it doesn't ring a bell. I will have to get a look at my older brochures, but that has to be done with a face mask because they are beginning to deteriorate. And I will have a look at some copies of Dutch ads. I have no high hopes though, there were so many Dutch manufacturers, it's hard to get a full picture of what was made here.

BTW, are you sure it's Dutch or German?

 

[keymatic]

@ Louis,

Thanks for having a look, I am fairly positive it is either Dutch or German, as the seller has confirmed it was purchased while they were based in Germany but could have been an import from the Netherlands.

Another twin tub which was available in the UK for a while in the early 60's was the Lecmatic which I believe was a rebadged Dutch machine, great tear-drop shape sorry for the poor copy, this is when photocopying was down on fax paper and over the years has faded so much, and continues to!!

Regards
Keith

 

[ozzie908]

@keymatic

That LEC looks like an Easy spindryer from the USA !

 

[keymatic]

Hi Austin,

It does look at bit American, but it is a re-badged Dutch export. I only know this as this information and the above pic came from a lady called Faith Hinds who use to run the Laundry & Mangle Museum in Frant in Kent, I was meant to have gone there in the early 90's but never made it, but about 10 years ago I went to her home to see her but most of the collection had been sold to a private collector.

Cheers K

 

[foraloysius]

Well, I have gone through pictures, brochures and old news paper ads and did a search on delpher.nl (digital archive for newspapers etc).

1. C*rome

I couldn't find the name on delpher.nl. And I didn't find any other machine that looked like this one. Do you know what kind of wash system it has? Agitator, pulsator or perhaps a circulation pump? There were many Dutch manufacturers, but a lot of them went bankrupt or focussed on other products after making washing machines for a while. The C*rome looks like an expensive machine with what looks like a thermometer and control lights.

2. Lecmatic

That is definitely a relabeled Easy spindrier. It's highly unlikely that such a machine would be copied by a Dutch manufacturer and then sold to an English company while the Easy was sold in the Netherlands. I think Easy would sue that company! Perhaps these machines were imported from the USA and shipping went through Rotterdam harbour? A lot of American appliances found their way to Europe through Rotterdam. Overhere in NL a lot of American appliances were available for quite a while. Here's an ad for a similar Easy.

BTW, a search for the name Lecmatic gave zero results on delpher.nl. So no ads or articles for it, not even a small one for a used one.

 

[vacbear58]

lec matic

Louis

We have a company here called Lec which specialises in (lower end) fridges and freezers although I doubt this machine was early 1960s, more like 1950s. Could it be they were manufactured under license or with slight modifications rather like the ERRES (i think) vacuum cleaner based on a Universal design and also manufactured in the UK. The use of the word Spirilator indicated Easy straight away

 

[rolls_rapide]

I wonder, I wonder...

I wonder whether that 'Come' twintub should actually be 'Comet'?

Look at the stylised 'C'. It has the star and the comet tail.

Perhaps the 't' snagged on something and snapped off.

 

[foraloysius]

Alistair,

Everything is possible I suppose. Or perhaps they sent parts from the USA and they were assembled in England. But that's all a wild guess.

 

[tolivac]

Can we see the inside?

 

[vacerator]

Parts from USA, or Canada,

and assembled in the UK under license? Like the Parnall co. did with the 1959 Eureka 1000 series pea green vibra-beat vacuum, etc.
I deigress, but what I see as the chrome brand script in the phooto looks like C O M E, not LEC.

 

[foraloysius]

Come vs Lec

If you scroll through the whole thread, you will see another picture...

 

[keymatic]

@Louis, thanks for digging through the archives and finding the Easy Spindrier washer, the Lec-matic has got to be a variation of this machine, i luv the shape, like i said before its a bit “teardrop” shape. From the literature on the Lec, you could fill the spinner up for rinsing, let the clothes swirl round in a column of water at about 400rpm them release the valve on the empty hose and spin to damp dry. Great machine.

@rex, i haven’t got a pic of the inside yet, but i am to believe its a square washtub with a jet washing system, similar to another washer of the 50’s which was on sale in the UK - Parkinsons “live water” action washer, which purely used two jet to swirl the clothes around..

I will update when i have more info
Cheers
Keith

 

[chestermikeuk]

German / Dutch Twin Tub

Interesting find, looks a bit Stokvis Acme ish and Goblin with the handles recess in the sides and cabinet joins, will be great to see if its a Parkinson Cowan Jet Action Type..

Look forward to seeing more pics..The LEC is most obviously a variant Easy with Spiralator, I do like the sleeker full cabinet of the Schiefelbusch model.

 

[foraloysius]

Yes!!!

I mentioned washing machine types with recirculation action, so when I saw Keith mentioning jet system I knew I had missed a few leaflets. So I dove into the archives again. I knew I had to find leaflets of what the German call a "Düsenwaschmaschine".

I found brochures of the Dutch Viking and the German Fontana twin tubs. The Viking brochure mentions only a few towns in the Netherlands where it looks where the Warmte & Komfort firm sold them. On the Fontana brochure the name of the "Maschinenfabrik Wilhelm KG, Niederdielfen Kreis Siegen is mentioned. It's a small town in Nordrhein-Westfalen. So it looks like that's the manufacturer and the C*ome machine could be manufactured there too. If you have a close look to the Viking front, you can see it looks more like the C*rome than the Fontana.[this post was last edited: 10/31/2020-08:13]

 

[foraloysius]

Lecmatic

Mike,

Have another look at the Lecmatic, it has exactly the same sleek cabinet as the Easy, it's just that the picture isn't very clear. Both have the more modern trapezium form lid for the spinner too. IMHO the Lecmatic is just a relabelled Easy.

 

[foraloysius]

There is a brochure for a simpler Fontana twin tub for sale on eBay.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/132936408360

Unfortunately no scan of the inside.

 

[keymatic]

Hi Louis,

Fantastic, thanks for looking through your archives !!
The Viking machine, is the big dome a filter? and the side areangement at 9 o’clock is the jets ?
I have now got a pic of the tub, nice pale blue tub with 4 jets to the right handside of the tub.

Cheers

 

[foraloysius]

Darn!

I thought I had nailed it. lol

Yes, both the Viking and the Fontana have a 3 jets system with the jets at the 9 o'clock position and a dome shaped filterindeed. The drum is exactly the same. And with a German reference, I think the conclusion is justified that they come from the same company. So they are different from the C*ome. Nice wash system, I assume that gives a tumble type of wash action?

The Viking and the Fontana have no timer, the wash action according to the Viking brochure is very gentle. Letting the machine wash for a long time doesn't harm the laundry. However within 10 minutes the laundry should be clean.

At the bottom of the linked article there is another brand of "Düsenwaschmaschine" mentioned, a Fringer from 1958. Unfortunately no description or picture.

https://www.ksta.de/aelteste-waschmaschine-sie-laeuft-und-laeuft------12051248

It would be great if there is a tag on the machine with the name of the company that built it.