HIGH SPEED EXTRACTOR

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Kenmore62

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Mar 26, 2005
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I just rembered this and had forgot about it.At the lundry
there was this huge machine bolted to the floor,You put your clothes in after comeing out of the washing machine and it would spin much faster than a washer to extract more water. I think it was a quarter at the time
about 1966. You loaded it like a toploader then put your money in and the lid would close automaticly.Then is would
whine like a jet engine and shake like crazy.Does anybody rember this. I only saw it in one lundry. I wonder how much extra water it removed???????????????????????

View attachment 3-26-2005-19-49-50--Kenmore62.jpg
 
"Bock" amoung others made extractors, and were a common sight in coin laundromats. However liability issues and high extracting final spin front loaders have rendered them all but obsolete.

Mainly the liability issues, as many insurers and even mat owners (not everyone working/running a laundromat is actually the owner), won't allow one in the door.

Extractors pop up on eBay from time to time. If you have the hankering, and can pour about 4 feet of concrete, you can have one.

Launderess
 
High speed Liability, extactors would take a arm off.

Hi Kenmore62 I too remember these extractors and they show up from time to time, on one of the internet coin op clearance sites just as Laundress stated. If I remember correctly you loaded it according to instuctions on the lid ( balaced evenly, which didnt always happen). The lid was spring loaded just as you said, I remember mother closing the lid then pushing in the coin slide with a DIME in it. The noise was just as you described. This was mid to late 60's. The ones we used popped their lids open when the power stopped at cycles end, with the basket running full speed and still had to coast to a STOP. in 1967, a sq coin op wash load was .25 cents, double front loader was .50, extractor was a .10 and dryers took dimes as well. towels in the extractor, then a dime in the dryer to finish, probably would take 3 dimes if you skipped the extractor. She only used if for towels and jeans.
 
sooooooo sorry to ramble

I guess the liability was they continued to coast when they opened, attracting children from miles around. And they must remove 2/3 or more of the water left from a coin op washer spin. As i posted above (ran out of space). You could run ALOT of towels through an extractor, and the dryer you placed them in would finish the same time as all your light weight stuff, that was already in the coin op dryers. IMHO the savings was TIME. One of the liabilities, when that lid popped open it was still flyin, Even being very young I found it strange that the Sq washer lid stayed locked until at least almost stopped. (even in the 60's) and these extractors opened still going FAST
 
Hi there...I remember when I was growing up back in the mid 1950's, there was a Bock extractor in the laundry room where I lived. It cost 5 cents but it cut down time in the dryer which cost 10 cents for 10 minutes. The extractor was bolted to the concrete basement floor. I have seen website for Bock as they still do manufacture commercial extractors.
 
Hi Westyslantfront

Someone in the club has a commercial extractor, it is in the convention video. I believe someone mentioned it came from a nursing home or hotel. I think the coin op version is a thing of the past. They do show up on ebay sometimes.
 
A couple of landromats in my area had them too. Several were still in use at least until the 1990's. They were exactly as described. Noisy, vibrated like you wouldn't believe and, yes, the lid popped before they came to a complete stop!

A friend of my sisters -- who lives in a co-op -- in New York City, once told me that the laundry room in her building had an one. I haven't seen her in a couple of years, so I have no idea if that's still true.

Mike

P.S. I know that it's not a topic for this category, but Creda makes extractors for home use in the United Kingdom. Follow the link below and then click on product range, then on laundry, then on spin dryers. They spin at 2800 rpms!


Loading…

www.creda.com
 
Extractors

I've used one before and yes, they are quite dangerous. Very effective. I worked in a gym washing towels and gym clothes at a college. Bolted down and loud! yeah baby, but you know it was a first class machine. I don't recall the large front loader being a spinning machine-just wash-drain-rinse. But we were able to get quite a bit of laundry done in a short time. It helped pay for my college.
 
I'd like to find an old Bock to use...would be pretty neat to see how much drying time it cuts off. While not the slowest by any means, none of my machines are really "speed demons" on spin...

How many of these are still being produced/in use? I recall seeing some pictures of a working laundromat in Minnesota with one installed...
 
Besides the liability issue, they are a maintenance nightmare. They literally shake themselves apart.

Besides the liability issue and the maintenance issue, they are an extremely expensive piece of equipment. A new Bock 18# extrator goes for over $10K. Today's coin laundry owner is better served using that money for a few new stacked dryers or new larger capacity washers.
 
We still have two

Our local laundromat still has two. One is a really large one ($.50 per load) and the other one is about the size of a toploader ($.25 per load). Both are Bock Extractors.

I usually take my comforter there to clean it 3 times a year. I use the really large extractor and can almost dry it with one time in the big dryer ($.50).

I can see where the liability issue comes in. These machines are really very fast and loud!! I used to be frightened of them as a child.
 
I can remember a Bock spinner in a laundramat in the Cocoa Beach Fla area that we used when my mom's washer was having problems.Used the laundramat a couple of times-Liked the Bock-sounded like a jet engine while getting up to speed and the lid popping open with sort of a "bang" sound when finished.
Bock still makes extractors but more for industrial use and for industrial type laundry services.The one I used had a 2Hp 3ph motor.
 
Old Bocks

Westy,

Have posted several links in the past to FleaBay auctions for old Bock extractors. Keep your eyes peeled there and for other laundry equipment auctions/sales for thes behemoths.

You would have to over come the concrete/bolting down issue though. Guess if you had a garage you could pour the four feet deep or so concrete there and bolt the unit down.

Extractors were great in the days of low rpm final spinning top and front loaders. But today's modern front loaders hit 1400, 1600 and IIRC even 1800 rpms, granted these are the small European units. Something capable of spinning at high G forces holding 25 or more pounds of laundry must be bolted down and respected.

Wonder why Bock extractors have lids that pop open like that? Am going to have to search case law to see if any lawsuits were filed in the United States against Bock or other extractor makers. Do know several makers of spin dryers in the UK and Europe were sued when children lost life and or limb in those units.

Launderess
 
Considering that a typical laundromat frontloader pulls on the average 90 G's, along with the rising cost of gas (99% of commercial dryers are gas fired), you'd think extractors would be in high demand. But no, cost, maintenance and liability have put the kabash on them.

The pop-up lid probably serves the purpose of not allowing the machine to run with the lid up and so there is no questions whether the machine is ready to start or not.
 
Lid interlock on Bocks

I beleive I read it on the Bock website-it mentioned something like the lid switch is a DOUBLE interlock-or if the switch fails the unit can't be started.they are serious about keeping body parts away from their spinning basket!!
 
Bock Extractors

In CT Where i am originally from, there was Bocks all over the place... In NC where i now live, many years later, theres only one place has them... a big monster thats 50c to use but saves a lot of time... The way i remember, there was a brake which stopped the basket THEN the lid would unlock...
But of course, they are pretty much obsolete now with the liability issues, as well as the newer washers are fast in the spin.....
ToddMan
 

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