Philco Twinamatic

[johnrk]

Having purchased the pdf for 1965 Philco wringer washers, I found they made a most interesting machine: a dual washer in one body! At least, that's what it appears in the brochure. It doesn't appear to be like the Easy machines that had a separate spin dryer attached to the washer. They advertise being able to wash twice as fast because of the twin tubs.

Are there any of these unusual machines still around? I can't imagine that by 1965 there was a lot of demand for them.

 

[launderess]

See:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?68196

 

[johnrk]

Thank You!

This posting came out during one of those periods over the last 15 years that I haven't been following on this site...

 

[gyrafoam]

They sold a lot of these and for a while a few years ago, they showed up all the time on the used market.

 

[launderess]

Dexter

Had been making twin wringer washers going back ages, early units were made from wooden tubs.....

The whole idea was to keep things moving; presoak, wash, rinse.....

Dexter and later Philco claimed laundry could get by with one or maybe two rinses (even when using soap), because the first pre-wash took away much of the muck/dirt. So the main "scalding or hot" wash water was cleaner and you thus didn't need heavy amounts of soap or even detergent.

Dexter also capitalized on something nearly every semi-automatic and later fully automatic washing machine would tout; boiling was not necessary thanks to the mechanical action of washer.

Certainly a short "power" pre-wash beats soaking laundry even for several hours. By the time Philco got their mitts on Dexter detergents were starting to replace soap on wash day. Going that route you probably could wash in first tub, rinse in second, and maybe do a bluing or starch rinse in a tub then final wring dry.

The original Dexter washers were smaller than the substantial later units including by Philco. One needed a pretty good sized kitchen, laundry room or other real estate for those big Philco/Dexter twin tub washers.