Oy My 1000th!

[Unimatic1140]

Working my poor fingers and scanner to the bone over the past two years I have now finished working on my 1000th scanned document for the Ephemera Library!

Fred asked me what my 1000th document would be last week and I had to think about that for a few days. I decided to scan the earliest piece of Frigidare washer documentation, printed by General Motors, that I have found to date. It's a handy reference guide to the very first Frigidaire washer in order to "Keep It Ticking!".

The document is so old that I believe the washer on the cover might be a pre-war/pre-production model as it has the toe indentation at the bottom front of the cabinet, not found in actual marketed post-war models as far as I can tell. Images show the earliest design of tub and pulsator mounting parts, some of which were changed and modified within a year or two to the more common Unimatic parts used through the 1950's.

Now onto my 1001th!

[this post was last edited: 3/13/2014-13:26]

http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~1000

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Congratulations Honey!!

I've witnessed first hand all of the hard work that you've put in to creating the Ephemera website as well as scanning all of the documents for the library.  I fondly remember burying your first scanner in the backyard - kidding, of course... Your scanning and document cleanup is done with such patience and precision. I'm sure I speak for everyone who has ever downloaded one of the documents you've scanned... your hard work is majorly appreciated! Major congratulations; 1000 documents is a huge milestone! Yay!

~Fred

 

[ken]

Robert:

Many thanks for all your hard work in first creating this site and continuing to make it grow. I for one enjoy it very much and check it out every day. Ive learned a lot from the collective knowledge found here. I appreciate all the members efforts in making this a great site!

Regards,
Ken K.

 

[chestermikeuk]

A Huge Milestone Indeed!!

Is your right bicep bigger than the left lifting that scanner lid page after page and positioning said articles?

Well done, I had no idea of it being so many documenmts / brochures / manuals available!!

 

[hippiedoll]

1000th!!!

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

that's alot of notches under your belt for scans to the library!!! much appreciated & such a valuable mountain of information.

i'm sure i speak for others when i say,
THANK YOU.
(for your time, patience, organizing, etc....)

)

 

[turquoisedude]

WOW!  1000 already!  I know it has been a lot of time and effort, Robert, but please know how much the information you have scanned and posted here is appreciated and valued.   I know it has helped me crack a few tough cases, believe me...  Thank you again!!

 

[lotsosudz]

Hey Robert

I looked throught the Ephemera, and was wondering if I missed the Possibly seeing a manual for a 1972 Lady Kenmnore 800 Alphabet washer owners manual, or if that is something I would have to plea to the masses for. I am about one week away from having mine up and running, and I thought it would be helpful to have, with as many options as this machine has. I would sbe very thankful to you, or anyone, that would be able to help me out with this!
Hugs, David

 

[Unimatic1140]

Why thanks everyone for the super kind compliments! It's been a lot of work, but it is worth it. What has been so fabulous is the idea that we can all share these super rare documents at an affordable cost for everyone. While I had a large library to begin with, the help I've been given from other members donating or letting me borrow items to scan has been an enormous help! We've taken materials that were out of reach to most people due to the scarcity of these items and been able to share them over and over again to anyone who wants or needs them.

Too bad we can't scan and reproduce vintage washing machines! Now that would be really amazing.

David I don't have that manual yet, but I suspect it will show up over time.

 

[bajaespuma]

Thank you Robert!

You must be told loudly and often that your efforts are well appreciated!

 

There is a bright, dust-free spot in Heaven for those who create Archives.

 

[robliverpool]

as sir Cliff Richard would sing

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[akronman]

Yea, I second that praise

Robert------The Ephemera is WONDERFUL! Such a resource. I think the spot in heaven is LINT free, not just dust free!

And I think Fred kinda has a man-crush for you, congratulations.

 

[wringer]

Thanks Robert,

for all of the extra hard work you put into this for all of us to enjoy. But, most especially, thanks for adding some wringer washer info for us wringer lovers. Best to you BOTH !!

Jim

 

[danemodsandy]

Robert:

You have my heartfelt appreciation for your work on Automatic Ephemera! Your efforts have made it possible for me to own rare sales literature, service manuals, installation instructions and owner's manuals. In one instance - my KitchenAid KDS-55 dishwasher - I have every piece of literature that was used to sell, install, service, instruct and convert the machine.

Since I do not consider a vintage machine complete until I have at least an owner's manual, Automatic Ephemera has been a Godsend. Well, a Robertsend anyway.

A reminder to all of us who have collectible literature: Lending it to Robert for scanning would be a great thing - there are many, many common machines out there that are not yet represented on AE. We members are the ones who can fix that.

Happy 1000th, and I'm looking forward to many more documents to come. If your scanning arm can stand it, that is!

 

[circlew]

Thanks Robert

for this and ALL you do to make this my favorite thing about the internet.

 

[mayfan69]

Congrats Robert

That is a LOT of scanning!

Do you think you'd like to start receiving scans from other countries in the foreseeable future?

Cheers
Leon

 

[combo52]

Thanks Robert and Fred for supporting this great effort

And I promise to dig out some of my rare and unusual appliance literature this year for you to scan, keep up the great work.

 

[DADoES]

 
Yay!  Scanning is tedious work for sure.

 

[peteski50]

1000th!

Robert - Thank you very much for all these Great Scans!
Best Wishes,
Peter

 

[whirlykenmore78]

WONDERFUL, Robert

Just another example of how HARD YOU WORK to make this site the FINEST on the net. For that I am eternally grateful.
WK78

 

[classiccaprice]

Congrats!

 

[swestoyz]

Congrats Robert!  I can only imagine the hard work that you've put into this project - from setting up the site itself, testing it, and providing digital content after all the scanning and doctoring.  That is a huge undertaking.  Thank you!

 

Ben

 

[ovrphil]

400+ appliances and 1000 scans

Will ever the twain shall meet? (no pun intended) I have scanned alot manually, so you have my sympathy and respect.
Though I haven't yet downloaded anything, I'm appreciative of the library you've built.

Phil

 

[mattl]

1000, that is an impressive number of scanned documents.  Now, I wonder what is the number of pages you've scanned.  I'd guess its 10 to 20 times that!

 

I'm impressed with the quality of your scans, truly archival.  When I scan after the 4th or 5th page I get into the "good enough" mode, if it's not quite straight I go "good enough"...

 

Any scanning tips you can pass along?

 

[jetcone]

Compact , condensed and wonderful

Thank you Robert, I'll send some hand creme out too!

 

XOXOXOXX

 

[alr2903]

Robert,  I thank You!  It is wonderful that you  preserve these documents for the "washer folk" of the future.  alr

 

[Unimatic1140]

Any scanning tips you can pass along?

Hi Matt, the best advice I can give is practice, practice, practice. It took me scanning well over 100 documents before I felt like my work was worthy of being archive quality. It is extremely important to get the printed document straight on the scanner. This doesn't mean the page straight it means the printed text straight as very few documents I have seen are printed 100% straight on the page. This means analyzing the angle of every single page compared to the top and bottom angle of the page. Then every single page goes into Photoshop for a manual cleanup including removing punch holes, rips, stains and other imperfections to the best of my ability. I have written Photoshop macros that do some of this work automatically but much of it is manual. Also you need to make sure before assembling a pdf that every single page is the exact same size. If you do any rotation in Photoshop the page size will change slightly and throw off the page size which will make reading the pdf more difficult in facing page mode. Photoshop rotation should be the exception rather than the rule as it will reduce the sharpness of the text and images slightly.

 

[electron1100]

oh the Strain

first well done what an achievement...........how about repetitive strain injury ...............I had to BPM about 200 records once and that pushed me sooooo close to the edge.

Copying and touching up scans would easily do the same for me.

So thanks for your steadfast approach

Gary

 

[beekeyknee]

Gary,

 

You used to count BPM and label records? Did you used to spin somewhere?

 

Brian

 

p.s. Sorry about the drift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[revvinkevin]

HOLY MOLY Robert!

 

 

WOW Robert,  what an IMPRESSIVE feat and an even larger amount of work!

 

THANKS YOU!    I really appreciate all of the time and effort you've put into this project to date!     The archive you've created is a tremendous resource to have available to all of us.   I have downloaded a number of documents through it!

 

THANK YOU again!

Kevin

 

 

P.S.... just a little request when you ever have time.   The service manual for the Maytag 160 / 900 push button model washers. 

 

[rapidry1000]

Robert

Congrats and Thank you for all your work. They are a great reference.

rapidry1000 (Jim)