POD 062910

[bajaespuma]

Very Cool! A brand I've only heard about from the side panel of an old box of Tide. These Marquettes look like the Great-Grandmamas and Granddaddies of most of the machines we admire. A fiberglass tub in the Forties?!? And from Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis? Wait a minute...

 

[jamiel]

Yeah, wonder what the story was on these? I'd thought Marquette was a brand from one of the hardware wholesalers in the Wisconsin area (somewhat akin to Gambles'-Coronado). This looks more unique than that, particularly with the fiberglas tub.

 

[jetcone]

Is that a HOTPOINT APEX

cross breed???

 

[mrcleanjeans]

This was a 1953 ad

 

[mixfinder]

Montgomery Ward

My neighbors had a Montgomery Wards Automatic Washer that looked a lot like this machine. Were there shared genetics?

 

[westyslantfront]

I never heard of a Marquette. I guess they did not have them in the New York City area, but it sure looks like a fun machine.

Ross

 

[polkanut]

I have family in both WI and MN, and no one in my family ever had an appliance by Marquette that I know of. I don't think this brand was too popular, and therefore had a short lifespan. If I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.

 

[Unimatic1140]

These Marquette brochures were found this weekend at the estate sales.

This machine is sort of a mystery. Marquette was produced for Gambles Department Stores here in the Northland. They we're headquartered here in Minneapolis. Coronado was a Beam machine made for Western-Auto which was a different company. I have a price list that came with these brochures and it claims that the dryer was shipped from Minneapolis, but the washer was shipped from Sandusky, Ohio which means to no surprise to many of us that the washer was manufactured in Ohio. Sandusky is only 64 miles west of Cleveland where Apex produced its automatic washers for Apex and Universal. The fiberglas wash tub is clearly an Apex design with the water balancing pockets and the control panel looks very similar to the 1952-1954 Apex automatics. Apex did market an agitator (non-bouncing basket) designed washer around the 1956 time period right before they went out of business, but this brochure is from 1952, four years earlier!! At first glance I thought this to be a Beam machine, but no where in the text does it state "fluid-drive". It probably has a beam transmission for the agitation, but I suspect a different drive system for spin. This really is a big mystery.

Greg posted a parts list from that Apex agitator automatic a few years ago, although I cannot find it now. Greg do you still have that .jpg file to re-upload???

Also I found this for the Zenith automatic washer from 1955 which seems to have the same wash tub design:

 

[laundromat]

I remember seeing a Marquette refrigerator

at my friend,Ms. Mary's house next to a Blue Ribbin upright freezer she also had. I'd go there to watch her wash clothes in her Maytag wringer.

 

[bradross]

Marquette washer POD

Would LOVE to see one of these in action! I really like the very rounded corners - true 40s or 50s design. The over-flow rinsing sounds great - just like the Thor AutoMagic or Speed Queen. Wonder if there are any working models to be found???

 

[peteski50]

Picture of day and Zenith!

Both are very interesting washers and would make great finds.
Thanks for posting!

 

[pulsator-power]

Very cool- looks like a APEX, with an inside that reminds me of Speed Queen-- and a fiberglass tub. Wow! I was wondering about the Universal from the other day.

 

[laundramatt]

Hold Cycle

I was wondering...some of the high-end wringer washers had a "hold" setting on their timer which would keep the agitator running indefinitely. Did any early automatics have a similar "hold cycle"?

 

[laundramatt]

PS My mother used a Dexter double tub washer. It didn't have any timers on it, but my Aunt Margie use to be the "hold" setting for it. I knew that whenever she called while my mom was washing clothes, the wash time would increase from about 10 minutes up to 20, or maybe 30 minutes. I loved when my Aunt Margie would call.

 

[gansky1]

looks like I should be scanning tonight...

I'll start digging tonight - I can't find the .jpg file of that Zenith/Apex/Universal washer info I had.

While researching the history of Beam-Franklin-WCI a few years ago, I found the obvious early traces of DNA in Speed Queen, Hotpoint, Coronado, Wizard, etc. but those ended rather quickly for most companies once Franklin absorbed much of Beam - though the Beam design carried on in the Speed Queen lineage for many years after. I have some late forties washer service books from Gambles and their Beam machines were branded "Coronado" back then and I have seen no reference to the Marquette brand in any other Gambles literature. Western Auto had the "Wizard" brand, also made by Beam and later Franklin. Do you have anything showing this inter-mixing of brands between Gambles-Coronado or Western-Auto Wizard?

I have a catalog from a builder's supply house in Minneapolis called Janney, Semple, Hill & Co. from 1956 that carries a few brands but their premier offering was Marquette and the machines were Beam - 212 degree agitator arc, porcelain inner and outer tubs and fluid-drive. All Beam just a couple of years after the Apex-made POD.

This Apex agitator design was also made for Zenith, Universal and Montgomery Wards - the Marquette half-sister discovery adds another piece to the branding-puzzle of the 1950's appliance trade. Very cool.

I'll get the scanner going tonight after work.

 

[pulsator-power]

This all sounds really interesting- can't wait to see all the renditions. I didn't realize that Beam became Frankiln-- and we know the rest from there. Were there ever any Beam or Franklin branded machines, or did they just build them for other brands?
Jerry

 

[Unimatic1140]

Do you have anything showing this inter-mixing of brands between Gambles-Coronado or Western-Auto Wizard?

I don't Greg, all I have is early Coronado service manuals and these machines were 100% Beam. If we can find that scan that you did of the parts breakdown of the Apex Agitator Automatic I seem to remember it having a Beam transmission for agitation and a different drive for Spin, like my 1956 Hotpoint has but their own spin drive system. The memory is kinda fuzzy though.

I was really surprised to see the Apex Agitator Automatic as early late 1952! I really had no idea. And that control panel, so Apex like, but not exactly the same as the controls are sticking out of the left and right sides of it as opposed to the front.

Jerry, I've never seen any evidence of Beam or Franklin ever branding their own machines.

Well I guess its time to start looking for a Marquette! No better place to find one than here in MSP.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Well I guess its time to start looking for a Marquette! No b

Uh huh...

 

[gansky1]

OMG - you totally need that VW van, Fred. Love the Gremlin shirt, BTW.