Parnel Tumble Dryer At Work

[electron1100]

Well I was busy sorting out the fridges today at work and found this lovely old Parnel tumble dryer in amongst them

Looks to be in good condition, made in Bristol on the ratings plate.

Only thing is it smells of disinfectant ????? a bit wiffy to say the least so i drove home with the windows open and dumped in the garage for inspection this coming week

 

[electron1100]

Tumble dryer

another shot you can just see the yellow drum through window

 

[electron1100]

Last one

obligatory arse shot

 

[vacbear58]

That's a keeper

Nice one Gary! Mike has one of those too

Now all you need is a Parnall Spin Washer and you are all set

Al

 

[electron1100]

a Keeper

Hello Al

yeah i think so it is in nice condition, so i will see if it works and if it does i will clean it up and remove the smell :-(

 

[robliverpool]

Hi Gary
Who made these dryers, I have never heard of them before but they look really well built. Wonder what the disenfectant smell could be, unless its been stored in a garage or shed and there has been a leak.

Would love to see it up and running

Robbie

 

[electron1100]

parnall history

Hello Rob

oh yes it is built like a brick sh*t house, i had a Burco dryer of a similar age and that was the same sort of construction, every thing over engineered and built to last.

The company i know nothing about really, i think they were the first to introduce a tumble dryer in this country in the 1950s

they probably got taken over by one of the other major appliance manufacturers

I would think there are others on this group that would know a lot more about this dryer and the company than me.

I will try and plug it in this week and see if still works, it has 3 heat settings, cold, warm and hot (left knob) and a timer (right hand knob)

We will see

Gary

 

[chestermikeuk]

Parnall of Yate - Bristol

&Hi Gary yes its a keeper, just dont try lifting it around too much...its a killer with all that steel & heavy duty motor!!!

The bottom panel drops down to reveal the vent / lint bag & plunger, like the Fisholow / Bendix models...

Interesting how only three wheels, like the Servis Burco models etc...which makes me think who made what and which came first!!

Parnall Yates are an old British company originally making Airplanes and then later diversified into appliances, following a division in the company, they made a couple of dryers and the famous Parnall Spin Washer (see Keiths pics) which diversified from the Thor...It was then bought by GEC in the 70`s

I picked one up (well tried to - sooo heavy) from Bjorn last year, it was his grans dryer and had been in the family since...also have the first model with solid door!!!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnall_&_Sons

 

[chestermikeuk]

First Parnall Dryer

 

[chestermikeuk]

Controls & Vent Filter

a

 

[chestermikeuk]

Drum

Lovely green hue which is in Garys later model, sort of the company colour!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Working Away

very quick to dry, good airflow for what was a passive dryer, not vacuumed or pressure sealed!!

 

[electron1100]

Thanks

Morning Mike

nice to see you up early

Thanks for all the information, i am glad some one came to the rescue.

Heavy yes it is!, humping in to the back of my car was like moving a washing machine.

But all the heavy construction bodes well.

Some years ago at another site i worked at i remember seeing the first tumble dryer.........they still come up on ebay so i guess they have proved themselves to be reliable well built machines

MIKE
Hot tubs still too big?

 

[vacbear58]

A bit more to the story

As well as the tumble drier Parnall also produced a wringer washer in the 1950s. I am not sure, but it may have had a built in tank to act as a sud saver. A big, well engineered machine, it was on a par with the Hotpoint Empress, Servis Superheat & English Electric wringer washer. As Mike says, by 1960 they were producing a varaint of the Thor Automagic (I wonder if perhaps they manufactured the Automagic under license - they were still around in 1960), which eventually morphed into the Spinwasher, which Keith has one of. Its a lovely machine!

I dont know when, but at some time in the early 1960s Parnall APPLIANCES became part of the Radiation group (along with Jackson & Revo cookers). It would interesting to know if in fact the drier which Gary now has and the Bendix/Fishlow machines were built in the same factory as there are some similarities.

We have talked a lot in the last few days about Twinnies in other threads, but the Spinwasher bears some examination too. A semi-automatic machine (with suds saver) it was actually CHEAPER than the HMDL/Supermatic/Supertwin but never achieved the same sort of market penetration as these twin tubs in spite of the added functionality.

The last Parnall appliance I am aware of was the compact Parnall 275 tumble drier - 6lb load with a full width drop down door, venting through the front. Sound familiar? Shortly after this machine was lainched Radiation was taken over by/merged with the appliance division of Tube Investments, otherwise known as Creda. The Parnall name was dropped and teh Drier renamed as Creda, under which is carried on for very many years, also growing to become the 400 (9lb load) and also a reversing tumble version - one of these could be seen in Mike's recent collection pictures. This may have been teh first reverse tumble machine in the UK, appearing in mid 1970s.

I have also seen the Parnall name crop up in Australia, this time on cookers, although they looked nothing like what we had in the UK under teh Jackson name
Al

 

[chestermikeuk]

Parnall SpinWasher

And here is the most famous of their appliances - The Parnal 1960`s Spinwasher, semi automatic top loader rather like the Hotpoints... i first saw this when I was 8, I had gone to see my Aunty Pats new house with my nan & like then you didnt get new stuff you had the best of everyone elses till you could afford new!! So Aunty was using a rather old wrringer washer boiler, "Washes by Electric, Boiled By Gas and Hand Wrung by Humans"

Neighbour across the road called to welcome and saw Aunty wringing cousin Joannes terry nappies, so she offered to spin them, so we carried these wet nappies across and into the kitchen to what I thought was a hotpoint Toploader, then she proceeded to switch these dials (I was glued at this point) to "Spin to Save" took her own washing out and then proceeded to spin the nappies, then put her own clothes back in and pumped the water back...well I thought I`d died and gone to washer heaven!!!

After only seeing twinnys and single tubs this was rather magic!!! Every time I see terry nappies I think of that machine, the next week Aunty Pat had a new Servis MK3 Twinny!!!

Keith , your cue!!!
Gary, yes - can you hear the wailing & nashing of teeth, and a rye smile from me!!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Al - Yes The Wringer

Had slipped my mind completely, do you know the more we read & discuss, its a rather nice company history dont you think - we need to capture it me thinks , its one of those forgotten laundry institutions!!

Parnall Wringer Washer!!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Parnall Wringer

 

[chestermikeuk]

Parnall EW51H Wringer Washer

Its a machine I never ever saw in action, the wringer reminds me of the English Electric Wash & Rinse machine....Did any family member have one that you knew of guys??

Made for overseas terratories too, and look at that exclusive telephone number: Willesden 1234...fab..

 

[robliverpool]

Parnells first dryer

Hi Mike

Your Parnell dryer the first one they produced, I am sure the science and industry museum in manchester have that same one on show there. Couldnt actually get to have a propper look but almost certain. I know we all say the same on here but its a shame that nothing is really built to the same quality these days.

Thanks for the info aswell mike

Robbie

 

[electron1100]

Those adverts

Arghh these old style ads make me want the products, everything then was new and exciting...........not like now days........cheap technology and cheap build qaulity:-(

Mike
Thanks for link to wikipedia about the company, what a history, airplanes..........bit like english rose kitchen units being made by an aircraft parts manufacturer during the war

Anyway Todays efforts

Kwik wash in the computer logic 1300 , lovely no problems

The dryer!!!
I have taken some fots of its internals and motor, as you cans ee it was full of gooey and smelly fluff, 5 minutes with my trusty Hoover portapower and it was gone.

I freed off the pulleys and greased them, but the motor is stiff as a board, i have stripped and cleaned it but when it all goes back together it is still stiff to turn, so i gave up as my washing was finished i will go back to it later.

The heating elelments are working judging by the way the lights dimmed as i selected low or high heat.

nice collection of belts and pulleys, the pulley just above the motor is the tension pulley this has a tension spring on a sliding plate attached to it thus providing adequate tension for the belt which also drives the suction fan that draws hot air from the heating element ontop of the machine through the drum.

The drum is driven by a belt of a small pulley in the centre of the tension pulley, both belts look to be in good order as are the rest of the bushes for the pulleys.

Yes Rob definately a well built machine

Ah well if i get time i will have a another look at the motor and that fails the "universal adjuster" sitting in front of it in the picture will be used!

Gary

 

[electron1100]

After Portapower

bit cleaner

 

[electron1100]

a top

the heating elements

 

[electron1100]

The Stiff One

The motor and universal adjuster

 

[robliverpool]

Gary
Its starting to scrub up well. Amazing what a little time and effort can do. We have a recycling centre right by me in bootle and they wont even let you take parts off any of the machines (health n safety gone mad) but they get some cracking washers in now and then and its sad to see em get crushed.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Very Interesting!!!

Similar design to Burco & Servis with three pullys and heater on top!!! So it looks like Parnall had this design first and then either made for Servis & Burco or sold the set-up to them!!!

 

[electron1100]

aye they are

Hello Mike

yes they follow a similar concept(bit like todays stuff), except the burcos have that lovely illuminated drum ;-)..........nothing new is it

 

[chestermikeuk]

Er..Hello..!!!

Servis Lightbulb alert!!!, just because you have a bench with some fancy tools and someone elses stripped down motor doesnt make one necessarily an appliance engineer!!!

 

[electron1100]

Oh Yeah!

Reckon that do yah! well jus coz you have a selection of nail files in your clutch bag and a copy of Servis & Servis Washer Woman Monthly that dont make you some kind of expert yerr know, I hear you paid a fortune to have that light fitted to that dryer just so you could say you had one, an from what i hear you also still owe Kays for it!

 

[hotpoint95622]

hotpoint 95622

Gary
The universal adjuster is the only tool you ever need, works every time, also a great stress buster.

Nice dryer.

 

[electron1100]

Stress Killer

Lee

I cannot deny that there have been times in my working life i have put stop to a waste of time job with Harry the Hammer...........cut my losses and relieved the stress