Other Thor ads stressed that no part that touches the clothes touches the dishes, so the "ick factor" was addressed from the start. The nice thing about manually controlled dishwashers like the Thor was that you could run a prerinse long enough to heat up the machine and dishes before shutting off the water and adding detergent for the wash. See other threads for a description of the shallow base pan that held the water so during the prerinse, the excess water just overflowed the pan and went down the drain. Back then detergents for dishwashers were not that great so cleaning tough soil was not expected. The only one I saw used was in early 1955 before we moved from Illinois to Georgia. The family lived in a beautiful home that I guess was considered a mansion and had help. She was the person who ran the Thor, but my mom and the lady who owned the Thor joined with dishtowels to remove and dry the dishes after the meal. They had a fountain done in green tile where the staircase made a turn to the landing in the entry hall. It was not big enough for swimming.
