Yes, and the word "conventional" not only described the "usual" or common washer of the time, it also eliminated the use of the term "wringer washer" which had a train-load of baggage in the memories of people alive at that time. They had read the newspaper stories and heard the tales of body parts getting caught in the rollers of old wringers before adequate safety release levers, bars etc. were in places where someone in a panic because the wringer had a hand, arm, breast (don't laugh, it happened when a fold of a blouse followed a piece of clothing into the rollers, or the very frightening experience of having long hair caught the same way. The other very real danger was that many old wringers used hard wooden rollers. They did not have the feature that automatically allowed the rollers to move apart to accommodate large items as they passed through. If you look at many old wringer washers, you will see wringers with a big bolt on top with something like a giant wing nut that was screwed down for a specific amount of tension, but was not subject to instant release. It was one thing when the wringers were cranked with a handle and very much a different and more dangerous thing when a motor was powering the device. Maytag even used the term "roller water remover" instead of wringer to describe the water removing mechanism. Wringers could crush hands and arms to the extent that amputation was all that medicine had to offer. Later the rollers became softer and the release devices more reliable, but a wringer was always a dangerous part of a washer. The bad connotations associated with the word "washer" was one of the reasons why Bendix called their first automatic the "Automatic Home Laundry" and not an automatic washer. The growing automatic washer industry after WWII soon caused them to drop the term and soon put them at the back of the parade with more modern technology.
