How did your interest in washing machines start?

[DADoES]

 
Story goes that the paternal grandmother was babysitting and showed me their running 1956 WP Imperial.  Maybe I was fussing and she was trying for some distractions.  Something clicked and I was hooked.  I don't know what was my age but I don't remember the incident.  Next early story is Grandpa gave dad the family crank telephone, which I got ahold and disassembled into enough pieces that they couldn't figure how to reassemble.  I remember playing with the crank magneto unit but not doing the disassembly.

 

[askolover]

As far back as I can remember I was watching Mother's 1966 Maytag basic PP washer "hot, warm, cold" and "small, medium, large" regular tub washer.  I learned earl on how to stick something in the switch so I could watch it.  Then when my neighbor babysat me she had a GE filterflo that would work with the lid up...now that was a treat.  We got our first dishwasher when I was 3 in 1974, a KDS17A and it was always my job to push the button to start it every night.  I was mesmerized by the glass front dishwashers at Sears and would stand there forever watching them wash.  But my interest  wasn't just in washers and dryers and dishwashers.  Vacuums, mixers, Daddy's tools (wondered what made them work), engines (especially diesels)...I'm still that way. 

 

[bendixmark]

Firsr Interest

My mothers 51 Westinghouse washer.I loved to watch it run.My grandmothers 63 Kenmore 800.My neighbors 54 Hamilton dryer with the rectangular window and germ light.I have a 1960 Hamilton in my collection now.My life is devoted to washing machines.I am building a Laundromat in my future home now.It will be the E-Z Sudsit Laundromat.

 

[blackstone]

It's not a Blackstone, but....

...it was in our back yard. We lived behind the store, so there was usually some type of old appliance in the yard.

 

[hoovermatic]

Sleep inducing

I was told by my mother that she discovered that if she wanted me to sleep as a baby she only had to put me near to the washing machine and the 'chug chug' of the agitator used to send me off. Even the spin dryer didn't wake me up. She said that once she even put the agitator on in her empty machine and it sent me to dreamland. I am guessing that is where it all started! It also helped that every house I went to as a child had a different type of machine so the interest grew and grew. Pictures in old mail order catalogues, appliance showrooms. I once went into a small independent showroom and there was a Hotpoint TL on display. When I lifted the lid it was plumbed in and actually washing clothes. I had to be dragged out the shop apparently.

I also thought that I was the only person in the world who had this fascination until I met a guy in Sydney who collected wringer washers and had them all over his apartment.

 

[paulg]

Dad and Hotpoint

My father was an engineer for Hotpoint, in the home-laundry department. 5600 W. Taylor. He was there from 1948 through the late 1980’s.
As a kid I would tour the plants, see washers, dryers, ranges and refrigerators being made.
And of course, as our stuff broke, we would pull it apart and fix it.
I had my own personal interest in electronics anyway and ended up in the television manufacturing industry. But as luck would have it, the Japanese company I worked for tapped into my appliance knowledge and I ended up doing training seminars on microwave ovens between training gigs for television repair, industrial video and the like.
Later on I did forensic evaluations on “incidents” for legal. That was interesting.

 

[chestermikeuk]

How did your interest in washing machines start !!

Mine was listening and watching mums trusty Servis Supertwin Mk2 from 1963, seeing it wheeled to the sink, filled with steaming water and then washed rinsed and spinning all the family of 6 washing, usually three times a week, mon wed fri, starting at 9am and finished by 11am all pegged on the line..

My gran used to pay us to catch sheets n clothing coming out of the back of the Hotpoint Empress wringer, paid us kids 1p a sheet, so we would take our money then go up to Haslams Top Shop, ( a local family convenience store at the top of the road)
where we would pick from the 1p sweet tray !!

Michael, fab story, those Hoover Keymatics where something else indeed, have included a couple of keymatic pics, was yours the A3008 ??

 

[vacerator]

My mom first had a

wringer washer. I don't remember the make. Then she inherited my aunts Whirlpool with a push button lid latch. It had a faulty mix valve, because she filled it up with a hose. In 1964, she got a new Kenmore turquoise mode 70. I recall the whirring sound the gear box made while agitating, and the wig wag shifting between that, drain, and spin.

 

[losangeles]

My Interest began when...

I was about six years old and I discovered our next door neighbor had a 55 Frigidaire Unimatic. Compared to our very early Kenmore this was the most interesting washer I had ever seen. The woman never minded me watching from beginning to end load after load. I was short for my age and she got a little step stool for me to stand on so I could see. I was most fascinated by the spin. I had never seen anything so fast. Made my mothers look positively turtle speed. After that I was hooked and stayed busy during the summers going from house to house on my street watching a Maytag, a Westinghouse and a Philco combination washer/dryer and then the 63 Frigidaire Imperial Custom with all the buttons and lighted panel. Of course I had to keep my insane interest under raps to keep my parent from having me committed. It wasn't till many years later later and being married to a very understanding woman that I brought home my first vintage washer.

 

[volsboy1]

I was fascinated by anything that was mechanical, so much so that I had to take them apart to figure how they work, although not always successful putting them back together.
My best friend Mom had a Frigidaire 1-18 and a Maytag Food disposer I was hooked on both machines, He was fascinated in them also .
We had alot in common and I don't know if it is just me but, it seems that 75% or more people in here are Gay like me and he is also.
It's peculiar and I have wondered why that is?
My Dad tried to get me involved in sports but, I was much happier helping Moma or Mamaw in the kitchen, save for fishing.
I can still hear my Mamaws G.E. filter flo washing machine in my head to this day.
Those are some of my best memories and will always be so.

 

[kate1]

I remember being absolutely obsessed with sitting atop the washer when it reached the spin cycle because I loved the feeling of the vibration. It was calming and soothing for me. My parent’s old Speed Queen was the best, it vibrated quite a bit which was helped I think by the laundry room being upstairs at our old house. When they replaced it in 2001 or so with a Kenmore and the new house they had built had a basement laundry room with a concrete floor, there wasn’t as much vibration. I still went and sat on the washer occasionally even through my teenage years. Even now, when I’m upset, if I happen to catch the washer on its spin cycle, I’ll hop up and it’s still comforting to me. I’m going through a divorce right now so I’ve found myself doing that more frequently lately.

The other obsession for me comes from having started doing my own laundry at around 7 or 8. And now having four kids to keep in clean clothing and wanting a washer that is up to the task. And then, of course, having used cloth diapers on my littles I had to do a lot of research on proper laundry techniques and what is most desirable in a machine.

That and I just love clean laundry. It’s the one chore I enjoy doing (folding laundry is another matter lol). I love fresh, warm, fluffy clothes. I love the smell. This is another thing that goes back to my childhood. I used to climb into the laundry basket right after the clothes were pulled from the dryer. The fresh, clean smell and cozy warmth made me feel so happy and safe.

 

[unclejohn]

Very interesting question, Michael !

The point of view / subject raised by Ken (Bajaespuma) is equally very interesting.

There exist a photo of myself taken next to our Hoover washer, from 1966.

IIRC, my mom started to use a small Hoover twin tub washer back in 1965 (the year of my birth). As a person she's been very courageous because she's gone through so many health problems, most notably tuberculosis at young age which resulted in the removal of one of the lungs followed by half-a-year stay in a sanatarium. The tiny portable washing machine was bought brand new; back then, the unit came to Canada as an import from England (it was manufactured by Hoover in Wales, right before twin tub machines began to be manufactued in Hamilton). In 1965, for about 150 bucks you got one of those BNIB Hoover machines--ready for the laundry tasks!

Some friends of mine used to ask, jockingly, 'why don't you collect stamps instead of washing machines?' ...'It would take far less space in your dwelling!' ...To what I always answer that I personally have 'no thrill' in collecting stamps or coins. I'm a passionate in twin tubs, in particular. Why? For some reasons, the twin tub types of washing machines have always been part of my childhood. So much so as to become 'obsessive'. Not only we had that noisy but so practical Hoover in the home, but also my grand ma, a couple of my aunts, one cousin as well as a close neighbor, had one of the various brands who actually made those portable twinnies. That kind of a machine was a very popular concept and made twin tubs big sellers during those years. It was portable, enough small, lighter than the huge fully automatic Maytag (who, BTW, did also manufacture their own twin tub, the small but efficient A-50 Porta-Washer)...

Suffering from severe anxiety, I know too well what obsessional-compulsive is all about. However, where exactly sits 'the line'? That imaginary red line which separates obsession from the passion for something. Me? It is that love for the vintage appliances--or furnitures--of the past (I'd rather say of MY past). That period (up to the late 1980s) whence you bought something with absolutely no planned obsolecence in mind; when things used to be built solid and made to last forever, so to speak. I know I might sound like an old nostalgic buff who wants to resurrect the past. But, hey, those years were the results of pioneering R & D which began well before the Second World War, from Nikola Tesla to Henry Dreyfuss.

In sum, I'd say my interest in washing machines--and other vintage home appliances, such as vacuum cleaners--is part obsession part passion, and simply for the pleasure of collecting things. Why not washing machines? ...Or stamps!! : )

 

[whispermatic]

Hoovermagic...

My interest began really because virtually ever extension of my family had Hoover appliances of all description. Specifically though my grandmother had a Hoovermatic 3301L twin-tub and my mother a 3310E. I was equally terrified and fascinated by them. I loved every part of the design of them and the magic of the “little black circle” as I called it, that caused so much force and movement in the water particularly interested me, especially when the water was pumped out and it slowly was revealed again not moving having worked it’s mysterious magic under the water. Of course I now know it is called a pulsator and know how it actually works, but the magic still remains. I now own too many Hoovermatics to mention, and I still use a 1968 3312L weekly to wash towels and sheets with soap flakes... It still takes me back to watching and helping my mother and grandmother every time. I do also marvel that I am using a machine that still works absolutely perfectly and will be 51 in September. Not sure that ANY washing machines around today will still exist, let alone be powering through loads and loads of washing with such efficiency and well considered design and engineering 51 years from now..!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

But my interest in washers and dryers never STOPPED!

 

How do I stop miming using those appliances?

 

Every time there's someone buying detergent, I "borrow" a little, and mimic using my favorite classic machines...

 

 

 

-- Dave 

 

[thomasortega]

Very first washer
Bendix Economat fully automatic that washed my diapers until my mom was pissed off with replacing the tub every few months (She actually learned how to replace it watching the repairman and started to replace it herself).

I don't remember the washer very well, but i clearly remember the hissing noise it made after the cycle was done.

Then my mom bought a Frigidaire here in the USA, but she hated it and after 3 years she got rid of it.
After that a Brastemp Super Filtromática (which is nothing more than a 24 inch belt drive Whirlpool) that had the chrome "Tragic-Mix" filter. My sister still has this washer and uses it every day. That's the washer I started "doing laundry" with, and when everybody "begun".

Only two years later it was replaced by a Swedish-made Electrolux (Electrolux didn't have appliances in Brazil at that time, only vacuums and floor polishers). Coincidently, Years later I arrived at work to discover I was working at Electrolux. The day before, we all left by the end of the shift knowing we worked at Prosdocimo. Overnight Electrolux took the control of Prosdocimo and it was like a Mexican soap opera.
Jump 10 years in the timeline to make things shorter... nowadays I hate Electrolux and anything related to it since Hans Straberg (best CEO I've ever met) was fired and we got a new CEO that was >>>THE<<< pain.

 

[statomatic]

I was something like 2 or 3 years old hearing the sound of the Brandt Statomatic 418
(quite the same as the 416 on the photo but with a bleach distributor).
This machine was bought new in 1982 then it started to have issues in 94 or 95, I remember helping my father disassembling the machine to replace the bearings (not that easy on these ones).
Then the motor has started to fail so the machine ended in the basement and my parents bought an used 516 (same as the 416 but with larger capacity).
In 98 or 99 the 516's pump broke so we replaced it by the 418's pump and it worked great.
In 2001 my father found a trashed Vedette 5583 (same chassis as the Brandt) which was easy to fix (pump clogged by a pair of socks), my mother bought a new Fagor FE749 (she still have it now) and my grandmother bought a new Arthur-Martin AW3085T (I'm looking for one, always liked the gray/white control panel with red leds).
I've even worked on my own household appliance repair business but stopped after five years due to the increasing of taxes, the cheapo machines that cost less than a repair, the stupidity of customers...
Anyway I'm still maintaining my collection of vintage machines and doing some funny things like a machine controlled by a PLC.

http://electromenagerancien.forumactif.com/t60-programmateur-crouzet-millenium

 

[scrubflex]

I do not know how my fascination with washing machine started but, I remember love looking at my parents 1968 Westinghouse washer with the (2-in-1) avocado - green, 'SPIRAL' Deep-Ramp agitator with Hand Wash agitator...the ramps were BIG (did not know the name them at that time)...the tub was GIANT and it SPLASHED so much...was extremely young...

 

[quickii]

scrubflex

Wow those pictures bring back memories. Have not seen the 2 in 1 agitator in many many years
Cut my teeth on this machine and Westinghouse's FLW

 

[jons1077]

I can sum it up in one photo

I loved visiting grandma but I REALLY loved visiting her washer and dryer! I needed to wash something so I improvised. Who knew so many years later I’d be so lucky to find an almost exact set.

 

[eurekastar]

My Grandmother had a Maytag wringer washer that she'd had when my Mom was a little girl (my Mom was born in 1938).  It was in use by the time I came along too.  When my Grandfather was dying of cancer in the summer of 1967, I was staying with them when the wringer washer went out.  My Grandmother went down and bought a new Maytag Automatic.  She was so excited when it was delivered that I think she called everyone in town.  I remember her talking about how it was making her life so much easier.  Sadly, my Grandfather died about a month after that but I'll always remember how happy that new Maytag made my Grandmother and her friends coming over to see it too!  LOL!  I think that piqued my interest.