Way back in 1996
I advertised for ABC's in the Peoria area. One day I got a call from an elderly gentleman. He said he had some for me!
He also said his name was Bill Altorfer.
He invented the ABC washer along with John Castricone & Doc Evenger?? I think,must check that name again.
So off I went with a U Haul to Peoria Ill with my friend Jim.
We had a wonderful time with the Altorfer Bros, Hank & Bill. They filled us in on all the details.
When the factory was sold Hank & Bill had set themselves up with a parts warehouse so they could always keep there machines going. Unfortunately one night the warehouse caught fire and burned to the ground. That forced Hank to have to go buy another washer. He said " It was a sad day when an Altorfer had to go buy a Maytag, I can tell you!"
ABC at the turn of the century was bigger than Maytag.
The 1952 sale date is pretty close.
Bill Altorfer told me the sale went through the end of 1952 begining of 1953. It took a couple years to retool for Kelvinator models to be produced and that wasn't until they moved the plant from Peroia, ILL to S Bend Ind. So Kelvy made only ABC models until then.
The Altorfer's decided to sell after the war because they realize to compete in the new markets they would need a complete line of appliances , DW, STOVES, DISPOSALS, Esp FRIDGES. And they didn't want to take on the debt and development.
Bill and Hank stayed on for several years after the sale , their father and uncle retiring after the sale.
The Altorfers finally left and opened several large warehousing operations and now warehouse appliances for maytag ( or at the time I visited them) and WP and Amana.
They made scads of money just warehousing! A lesson there, but I think in talking to them , they did miss the daily challenge of the factory floor!
