POD WED DEC 10; ABC60 = AMC ??

[arbilab]

Bit of history in those abbrvs.  The ABC ad says 'division of AMC' and dates itself 1960.  Where was Kelvinator?  When did the Altorfers bail out?  A quick summary of this swaparound would be interesting if one had a few mins to tap it out, thanks.

 

[turquoisedude]

The Altorfers sold the ABC washer design to American Motors/Kelvinator in something like 1953 or 1954, IIRC.  There were still ABC machines offered along with Kelvinator-badged models for quite some time.  I don't recall exactly, but I think the ABC models were built in Peoria, Illinois until something like 1957 or 1958.  American Motors dropped the ABC brand in 1960 and just offered Kelvinator washers and dryers. 

 

This is by no means complete, but I am sure that others will have the 'fill-in' information. 

 

[launderess]

Might be a good place to start reading for answers.

http://eastpeoriahistoricalsociety.com/abc-altorfer-brothers-company/

Altorfer Bros. Company - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[arbilab]

Thanks y'all.  About as clear as corporate genealogy gets.  Hey, ABC made spindryers!  Nice sturdy ones, looks like. 

 

[launderess]

ABC, General Electric, and maybe a few others all made twin tub washers with spin dryers. Easy didn't have a lock on that market, but they did on "SpinDrier" which is why none of the others are named such.

These early attempts were at getting household away from wringers, powered or hand cranked which still dominated domestic washing machine market. Results varied which is why in end pretty much only Easy remained until they finally went away.

Though none of these extractor ran higher than 600 rpms (IIRC), not all households had the real estate for twin tub washers. Also the units tended to shimmy, vibrate and even walk. All of which didn't endear them to housewives or consumer testing/reporting groups. The latter liked fact hated wringer was gone, so that was a plus.

 

[arbilab]

Spent hours 'helping' grandma with the Easy clutch handles.  Seemed she and the machine got along famously.  There is a feel/knack for loading the spincan evenly.  I might have inherited it.  Seldom got a banga-banga with the Panasonic or even the flimsy Panda.  But then, I'm no housewife.