POD Wartime Westinghouse Laundromat

[lesto]

The boy wearing the super-starched apron is priceless. He must have surely grown up to be a member of this club!

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

What year is this ad from and when did Westinghouse first start making / selling their automatic "Laundromats"?

 

Thanks

Kevin

 

 

 

[hydralique]

I've been wondering when Westinghouse eliminated the inner door with the detergent slot as shown in the illustration.

 

[classiccaprice]

I know the dispenser was removed in the very late 40s, but I don't know the exact year.

 

[classiccaprice]

Hydralique, assuming the ebay sellers are right it was 1949.

1948 had them:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-VINTAG...387?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257f07280b

 

 

1949 did not...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1949-Westin...974?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43bbad2ef6

 

[this post was last edited: 8/6/2013-18:44]

 

[classiccaprice]

Kevin, According to Westinghouse Nuclear,

which is the only brand that was originally westinghouse that is still in business (If curious see the documentary "Westinghouse"), the laundromat was introduced in 1940.

 

http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/our_company/history/timeline/1940_1979.shtm

 

[hydralique]

classiccaprice,

Thanks for the answer to my question, and posting the ads!

 

[arbilab]

We had both the doubledoor and early boot models, but neither exactly as shown above. That boot model still had a "transmission", ours did not but of course the doubledoor did. I *should* know the exact years but when one is 8yo, model years aren't considered pertinent data. How to tell when the pump ingested an infant sock was pertinent.

I think if we look more closely, Westinghouse Nuclear is really British Nuclear which bought the name and the fuel contracts but is otherwise unrelated despite what they suggest in their blurbage. Westinghouse Nuclear doesn't even own the plant designs. Those went to either Toshiba or Hitachi, I forget which.

The true last vestige of Westinghouse is the last place you'd look, CBS. My brother worked for CBS radio in the same Dallas building where dad was the apparatus sales manager. Even after it was CBS, the caller ID on the phone still said Westinghouse. Below is the Pittsburgh Post Gazette series titled 'Who Killed Westinghouse?'. A highlight is exactly what befell the appliance division.

http://old.post-gazette.com/westinghouse/beginning.asp

 

[classiccaprice]

good point

To clarify, Westinghouse nuclear is the only branch of the former Westinghouse industries to still carry the name Westinghouse. It is not owned by the same people.