One for the Wringer Washer Guys

[Unimatic1140]

A big thank you goes out to Larry/cleanteamofny who was kind enough to donate today's doctrine. I found reading this quite fascinating. It shows off every wringer washer that Thor produced from about the 1910s thru the end of the 1940s.

The model 7 particularly fascinated me, it seems to be a washer/spinner like the predecessor to the Automagic. Also the design of the Gentle Hand washers was something I never really looked into before this. Interesting that Philco wasn't the first that come up with a nutating disk.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/DDD/Dispenser.cgi

 

[wringer]

This is

fascinating !!! Thanks for you two making it available to us wringer collectors. Makes me wish I had a Thor !!

Jim

 

[arbilab]

I can no longer open current PDFs, my puter is too old.

Anyone with this set, please reveal if you can how the wobbulator mechanically reversed. It did this by itself, not by operator action. And it did it with a loud mechanical BANG similar to how a Whirlpool wigwag begins agitation. Probably a sturdy pawl, but I'm particularly curious about how the timing was achieved mechanically.

 

[mickeyd]

Did you guys see

the Gentle Hand Agitator on p.96? The base plate has hand & finger protrusions, all swirled and woven together, to do the gentle washing. It's the coolest thing, like something out that famous Surrealist--I can't think of his name.

 

This Senate of Washers--almost 100 of them--is a real eye-opener. From Ancient dinosaur Grey Ghost-types to modern looking full-skirted beauties, and one whose wringer is so advanced it could proudly stand next to a Visimatic. All before 1950. I had to blink a few times and remember the era because a few really look like they came from the future.

 

Our friends across the Atlantic would love all the square machines--who knew?--and the "front-loading" tumbler and cylinder model.

 

A real joy was seeing the TT with a huge drain faucet like the Easy's.

 

Thank you both Larry and Robert. This is a treasure: 16 pages of Conventional Beauty Pageantry and then a long grand look under everybody's skirts for a comprehensive examination.

[this post was last edited: 6/25/2012-21:05]

 

[mickeyd]

Hi Robert

The other day a member cut and pasted a pic from the DDD. I would like to do the same for the Salvidore Dali-esque pic of the Gentle Hand Agi on page 96, and the two others, the Visi-matic forerunner, and the TT with the big faucet. It would be fun and the pix might be good teasers since this is the last day the Thor DDD is available.

 

While in the Adobe mode, I get a while gloved hand instead of a cursor-- a man's hand--and I always smile, thinking of Hyacinth Bouquet, aka the Bucket Woman; but Cut and Paste is either not available to me, or I don't know how to do it.

 

What do you think? Are you agreeable to minor excerpting of the Doctrine or would you rather keep it off-Forum like the POD?

 

[Unimatic1140]

What do you think? Are you agreeable to minor excerpting of the Doctrine or would you rather keep it off-Forum like the POD?

Hi Mike, good question and thank you for asking, I'm actually surprised no one has asked this yet. I am perfectly fine with people taking a snapshot of part of a page and posting it, if it is pertinent to the conversation in the thread. I'm not fine with people posting whole pages of doctrine, that wouldn't be fair to the people who download it.

The way I did this is I opened the document to page 96 and then I took a screen shot (Print Screen button on Windows computers) and pasted it into Photoshop (any paint program will do). Then I cropped just the section I wanted to highlight and created a new jpeg file...

 

[arbilab]

What a memorable design. Thanks.

 

[mickeyd]

My google won't snoogle

but I'm going to figure out. Until I do, if someone who can snoogle would put these machines listed below on the board, that would be awesome:

 

The wringer that looks like a whale baleen where the water is pressed out of a bowl. What the heck? IT"S JUST NUTS~ p. 1, Model ( 9&9A) the last one, and the spinner on page 4, Model 33, and the pre-visi Model 37A, also page 4.

 

Thanks, Robert for the info and the upload of the Finger Agi. The poor limbs at 5:30 and at 9 o'clock look desperate.

 

Ari, there are very few money shots, but when I find the wobblulater, after studying the tech pages, I' let you know what I find.

 

[cleanteamofny]

I like to thank Robert for taking the time to scan the Thor manual and converting it to a pdf file for everyone to view.
I hope that everyone enjoys it for it is a gem to have and share the rare history of Thor's wringer washers.

Remember, clothes washing began with a stream and a rock before the wash board was introduced!
Poor Pebbles......
LOL

 

[cleanteamofny]

Looking at pdf page 31, did you noticed the agitator looks like it belongs in a Kenmore?

 

[cleanteamofny]

Robert,

Do you think the Thor Gentle Wash was the first makings of the Calypso or Philco but in a wringer washer?

And the space between the base of the tub and height of the agitator in wobble position must be at least 5 inches pushing the clothes down the center??
What would be the speed of that agitator moving?[this post was last edited: 6/26/2012-23:24]

 

[arbilab]

The wobbulation rate was on the order of 60WPM. I believe the Philco and Calypso were substantially faster but at a much shallower angle. Or no angle at all because IINM there was no clearance beneath the swash in either of those. Estimating the Thor swash angle 10~15*.

What's most difficult to remember after 60 years is the interval between reversals. Standing on a stool at 6yo, I only remember that the BANG reversals were far enough apart to be startling when they happened. That doesn't tell us much since it doesn't take all that much to startle a 6yo. But if it was every 10 seconds, over the time grandma was running it I should have become accustomed. That and mechanical curiosity is why I'd be pleased to know the mechanism by which the reversals were achieved. It was NOT electrical, so it had to be clockwork inside the transmission.