research help: why did front loaders drop off from 70s-00s?

[kbailey]

Hi all,

I am working on a project on the history of washers and came across this website during my desk research. The photos of all of the vintage washers have been a great help.

Something I am wondering (and hopefully someone out there has an answer or speculation) is why front loaders essentially vanish from the main market from ~70s-00s. The early washers had models with top and front loaders. But then front loaders vanish until recent years. Why is this the case? Why the ~30 year disappearance?

This community seems to have a lot of expertise, so that's why I posted this question here. Sorry if its not in the right forum or if this post is out of place.

Any response would be great. Thanks so much!

 

[coldspot66]

Top loaders had the advantage of not stooping to load and unload. Also you could add items easier with a top loader. Westinghouse/Frigidaire/WCI ALWAYS made front load washers up until the late 90's , when they retooled for the porthole style Frigidaire models. For the size load that these Westy front load washers could hold, I don't think they used that much less water than a top loader. Also Consumer Reports said they did not clean as well.

BTW I grew up in Cambridge, Ma.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

I don't know that front loaders vanished completely during that time, they simply weren't a popular as the "normal" toploader.   I know one manufacturer, Westinghouse / White-Westinghouse continued to build and sell they're front load set which could be used stacked or side by side. 

 

I'm not sure there were many other options until the later 90's when the Westinghouse FL was replaced by a Frigidaire set.   (I've had one of these Frigidaire FL sets since 1997)   Not long after this Maytag came out with the ill-fated Neptune.

 

This set in the photo is (I believe) from the early - mid 70's.  Even though they have a "water level switch" I feel they used more water than necessary.     I also have a 1990 version of this Westinghouse set.

 

[tomturbomatic]

A few observations

I have an even better observation for you. If not for the apartment & condo market, front loaders would probably have disappeared entirely during that time. It was builders giving a stacked washer and dryer in 27" of space and the replacement market that kept them in production. I don't know that the design with a control panel ever completely disappeared, but by far the majority of the Westinghouse front loading washers sold were the stackable Space Mates with the controls on the front. The lack of a market for low sudsing detergents needed by front loaders became so bad that Sears detergents and powder formula All were the only two widely available low-sudsing detergents for a few years.

Only Bendix and Westinghouse made front loading tumble action washers in this country. Neither were liked by the testing magazines in the early years of automatic washing machines because of several factors, including the washing products available then. Until after WWII, soap was the only laundry cleaning product and it makes lots of suds which are not good in a front loaders because they cushion the drop of the clothes into the water. It is hard to rinse soap suds out of a tumbler washer without leaving soil and scum on the load. Soap is just fine when using a wringer washer because you lift the clothes out of the sudsy water to the wringer and the rinsing tubs. Getting rid of that in the small tub of the Bendix was more difficult so the rinsing was not as good as with a wringer. The water extraction was not very good either. So these were the early judgements of magazines people looked to for information about expensive purchases. Despite those judgements, however, women loved the idea of an automatic washer and formed a ready market. Bendix eventually sold the rights to make their machines to Philco, a company that did not have really wide distribution in the US so the washers did not receive much advertising, virtually a fraction of the advertising for their top loaders. Another factor in the 50s and early 60s was that low sudsing detergents were judged not to clean as well as regular sudsing detergents like Tide and front loaders needed low sudsing detergents. The ironic thing was that there were many owners of front loaders who were very happy with the machines and the results they gave. Neither brand had the dependability record of Maytag, either.

Westinghouse, by 1960 had redesigned their washers to perform better and in 1964, Consumer Reports rated the washing ability of the machine as average, but the top capacity was judged to be 8 lbs. when top loaders were claiming capacities almost twice that. Westinghouse did little advertising of the front loader at this time. Once they came out with the top loading agitator automatic, that is what they featured in most ads until the mid to late 70s when they began running ads in national magazines for the front loader featuring Pearl Bailey. This was when all of the manufacturers were striving for larger and larger capacity top loaders. Consumer Reports went about 10 years without testing a WH front loader until in a report of washers, they printed a letter from a reader asking if front loading washers were still being made in the US. This was during the first energy crisis. So they tested a WH washer and reported that it was pretty water efficient and washed pretty well with modern detergents. After that they did include them in more tests, but the nation's eye was on giant capacity top loaders. During the period from 1964 to the late 80s, Westinghouse did not make major changes to improve their machine. They were hanging on, but not spending money on modernizing the washer. Also in that time, the company's ownership changed hands. It is a testament to owner loyalty and to the builder market and replacement market that production continued through that time.

 

[kbailey]

thanks and another question

OK wow, thanks for the responses. If anyone else has more to add, feel free.

Another question I've been thinking about:
So teal / pink appliances were popular in the 50s and avocado green / harvest gold were popular in the 70s. Does anyone out there know why these were the popular colors?

 

[fido]

In UK the opposite happened. Most people didn't have automatic machines until the '70s so before that they were using twintubs, separate washers and spinners or even wringer machines. When autos became popular they were nearly all front loaders because they had to fit in small UK kitchens and a front loader allowed you greater worktop area. I was quite astonished when I saw on here, photos of front loader machines with a control panel at the back of the top. Nobody in UK would have wanted a machine like that as they could not shove it under a worktop.

 

[philr]

About colors. I don't know exactly why but they switched from the almost pastel colors like turquoise, yellow and pink to more earth tone colors around 1967/68. I guess the tones did fit better with the new kitchen styles often featuring colonial style dark wood tones.  The same also happened (but not as clearly) in the auto industry around the 1968 model year.

 

See the picture in the link (and comments on the Flickr page) for a style that became popular in the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies.

 

[launderess]

My Late Grandmother Had The Same Set As In RevinKevin's

Installed when she had her kitchen redone during the mid to late 1970's so yes, front loading washers were always around.

Appliance Colors:

Pink was *HUGE* during the 1950's. In various shades and hues it was everywhere from appliances (small and large), cars, women's fashions, interior design, poodles, hair tint, and so forth. You name it and aside from most men's fashions it came in pink. Many feel this was part of the post war era with it's return to femininity and by extension motherhood and nurturing. Remember the 1950's ideal woman was all about curves (Marilyn Monroe, Mamie Van Doren, Jane Mansfield, etc), and softness.

 

[machinehead]

Gotta love the Poppy!

Frigidaire, that is-- and not the dull brick that I believe was a later design change. That flaming Chinese red wasn't that popular (yes?) but it looks reel good on a 1-18! Like an old vette-- maybe the red hot rod of washers, at least in paint jobs!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Colors are sorta determined by a color board somewhere that forecasts what will be hot and what is not. They pick colors for homes and home furnishings. I think that after a while people get tired of the same colors and what seemed attractive and or sophisticated begins to look tacky and dated because nothing new is offered in the old colors which makes replacing old appliances in a discontinued color such a party. Some colors have more longevity. Coppertone appliances, in the right setting, don't seem to me to look as immediately of a certain period as do pink or turquoise. In fact, when the world was deep into avocado and harvest, coppertone stayed on and then became coffee. Another color and a neutral brown that still can look good is the GE/Hotpoint color Woodtone Brown.

 

[danemodsandy]

Colors:

"So teal / pink appliances were popular in the 50s and avocado green / harvest gold were popular in the 70s. Does anyone out there know why these were the popular colors?"

The Harvest/Avocado popularity was an offshoot of the era's interest in things that were "natural." These earthy colors seemed more right for the times than pastels, that's all.

I would like to gently and with all loving kindness correct something. The color you refer to as "teal" was not ever referred to by that name in its day. It was called turquoise, and it was hugely popular at the time. My cousin Betty Ann had a full set of Westy majors in turquoise in her kitchen, plus an early-60's Lady K laundry pair in the same color. The washer and dryer were not nearly as reliable as a politician's promise, but that's another post. Our family had turquoise countertops in the kitchen, plus a turquoise '56 Chevy in the driveway, and my bedroom was painted that color.

 

[pdub]

Question re: color and times

This relates more to kitchen but also some to laundry appliances.

I know white has always been considered a "standard" no frill color that has always been available and remains today.

The 50's to mid 60's were known for the pastels. Then mid 60's to late 70's were the earth tones. Then the 80's brought about almond and what some called the black mirror finish. Almond and white seemed to go into the 90's with black still an option.

Then we were hit in the mid 90's with stainless steel being all the rage. I keep waiting for it to die out and be replaced by something else or revert back to some of the retro shades but for the kitchen, it seems like stainless is still going strong.

Any opinions as to why? Have the design trend setters run out of ideas or is the American public tired of replacing based on colors of the times?

Just wondering!

 

[mattl]

I seem to recall reading that pink was popular in the '50s due to Mamie Eisenhower's love for the color.  I recall that there was a lot of pink in the White House at that time.

 

[mickeyd]

Regional Differences

Coming of age during the 60's and checking out the washers in the basements of virtually every person known to me, just as many other members here have done, I can only report sightings of 3 front loaders out of about 50-odd machines observed. The Balls, the Conleys, and the Meegans had them, a Westinghouse with maroon dials, a Westinghouse programmed washer matching moparwash's dryer, and a Bendix Combination, respectively. A very fertile time for automatics, I saw almost every brand and most models manufactured at the time.

 

Citing other writers in the thread, the front loaders' lack of popularity was threefold: stooping to load, small capacity, and weak spinning, or so the urban myth went.

 

When I was about 15, I went to my Great Uncle Frank's BF's house for the first time. Immediately in the basement, I was soothed by the distinct aroma of Fels Naptha Bar Soap, and there on the line, were the bell-bottom jeans, a boatneck summer shirt, over-the-calf socks, and a pair of underwear that he had worn the day before and washed that morning,

 

Over in the corner was a very small old Bendix, which I now can identify as the first year run, When I asked him why he washed by hand when he had such a cool-looking little washer available, he said: "Oh, I like washing by hand, and that machine is more bother than it's worth. I have to wring the clothes by hand anyway." I thought he was crazy not to want to use that weird little beast.

 

Fast forward to 1995 when my brothers and sisters rented a cottage that had a stacked Westy pair. It didn't do a great job: loud shaky spinning, small capacity, oversudsing (our fault). Of course I loved it anyway, but would never want to do the family wash in one forever.

 

Rewind to 1963, the Westinghouse Laundromat in southern Ontario had round slant fronts that were fabulous, interesting machines; they even worked with the door open. Heavenly. Small capacity, but that meant more machines to fill and play with. Not one of the other Laundromats around the Buffalo, NY area were Westinghouse.

In the Northeast, front-loaders never caught on. In hindsight, peer pressure, of the "keeping-up-with-the-Jonses-" vintage may well have been a factor. Even now, manufacturers are bending over backwards to refine top-loaders to meet the requirements. One way or another top loaders are here to stay. Around here no one wants a front loader. But, then again, I mainly only know old people, and what do we know?

 

K, what are you doing this research for, a course, work, what? Love to know, and glad to help.

 

[arbilab]

I want my 1973 Panasonic compact twintub back. I like to DO laundry.

My 1998 FL is a 2nd choice. I grew up with slant Westys. Today's quarter-fill toploaders? You couldn't give me one.

In the era under study, US makers of frontloaders (Bendix, Westinghouse) found themselves in an awkward position. They were underrepresented at dealerships and in advertising, and their low sales volume didn't justify updating their production facilities. Which fell behind making them even less competitive. Whirlpool, Maytag, and GE held 90% of the market. Of the remaining 10%, they either just gave up or got acquired by White.

There is some rounding off in that last paragraph, but it's the big picture.

I think economics unsold US frontloaders, rather than the design itself doing it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Westinghouse did not initially offer turquoise, but more of an aqua green color that was lighter and less blue than turquoise. I don't know when they made the transition to turquoise and do not remember seeing turquoise WH appliances except in sales brochures.

 

[DADoES]

 
House my parents built in 1964 had orange Formica countertops in the kitchen, turquoise wall oven, cooktop, range hood (all Martha Washington brand), and porcelain sink.  Refrigerator was a white Philco bottom-freezer.  One side of the Hollywood bath had a lilac sink & toilet, and the bathtub was lilac.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

DaveAMKrayoGuy is doing Research, too!

My research is based on Charles Klamkin's recommended appliances in his book, HOW TO BUY MAJOR HOME APPLIANCES, in which he recommends WESTINGHOUSE FRONT LOADING WASHERS, as "Best Made, regardless of price"... (Maytag is best top loader, and there is a GE, which I would guess as a reg. cap. T/L and a Whirlpool, which according to CONSUMER REPORTS is a lg. cap. T/L, but he cites it as a 14-pound mach, & the GE as an 18 lb., as well as a Sears Kenmore w/ the same features as the Whirlpool, recommended...

The book was published in 1972 and I would guess W/H made only a few front loaders by then! (One reg. cap. and maybe two lg., one designed like the W/H TOL top loader, except for the front-loading door & dispensers for det. bleach & soft. on top to make use of space there & compete w/ what ever other makes were offering that in their 'Best' machines!

I really should have bought the Daily Doctrine Dispenser w/ the 1966 Westy machines, but there were a whole lot of different models & might have made my research too complex, (at least if my memory serves!) & the 1969 Westy one only featured top loaders, so that's why I dismissed both...

I did purchase/download both Norge washer & dryer ones (the large & reg./Stow Away models) since only one model Norge dryer was listed under both electric & gas configurations, while Maytag made 'Best regardless of price'...

The whole point of my research is to see if it's possible for a household (from 8 to 16 to 24, actually) to each have a: Refrigerator, Washer, Dryer, Dishwasher, Separate Freezer & Stove (or B/I cook top & wall oven) in each of the four colors offered at the time; and I think the more knowledge I would gain from what I learn here, the more I would "unlock the Zen"--just for fun! (And at least ONE of those households would get the one compact refrigerator--a SANYO! While as for garbage disposals, only a GE made the list (they're both under "Compact Appliances & Garbage Disposals" chapter) but there is the ISE Badger, and a few "off brands" to fill in the cracks, as there would be Amana, Litton & a few of the Japanese makes if any oor all of those households had Microwaves!)...

-- Dave

 

[kbailey]

now what about laundry spaces?

--> noted about the word turquoise used in the 50s instead of teal, thanks

I like the cultural reasoning behind the color trends: return to femininity in the 50s (pastels) and the desire of things natural in the 70s (earth tones).

Also thanks for the info on the vintage front loaders. All of your information has been a great help.

Another question that I've been pondering is where the laundry was done in each decade. I know it's hard to generalize, but if anyone wants to take a stab at general trends, feel free. I know these days the trend in new homes is to have a laundry room or nook on the second floor near the bedrooms. Some vintage ads from the 60s and 70s sometimes show the washer and dryer in or next to the kitchen and I was wondering if this was the actual case. That might just have been for ease of advertising all of the company's appliances in one go and not actually what consumers did.

Thoughts on the location of the washer and dryer, reasoning behind the colors of the machines, and front vs. top loaders are all welcome.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[danemodsandy]

Laundry Locations:

Not many houses I have been in, at any age, have had laundries in their kitchens. I think your theory about showing off all of an appliance maker's lineup in one shot is a likely reason the arrangement is so often seen in ad photos.

Basements are a usual location, and they have one huge advantage: If the washer leaks, little harm is done, because the floor is concrete. There is also no expense incurred for concealing pipes and connections - it's a basement, who cares? In the South, where I grew up, many slab-foundation or crawl-space-only subdivision houses built in the later '50s and early '60s had a "utility room" built at the rear of the carport; on one-car carports, it could hold the washer and dryer and not much else. This arrangement is not feasible in areas of the country that get really cold in Winter, of course.

In the late '70s and early '80s, when the condo craze was on, there was a huge vogue for stacked pairs tucked into closets, preferably somewhere close to the bedroom. I think this may be the genesis of today's vogue for dedicated laundry rooms located near bedrooms.

The kitchen is not a great place for a laundry, because of the proximity to food substances that can stain the laundry if accidentally contacted, and because laundry can contain soils that should not be anywhere around food, like those found in dirty diapers.

 

[xraytech]

Around here everyone I know except two people have their laundry in the basement.
The two that dont one as their laundry in the corner of their attached garage, the other is in a fore poch that has been made into a room off the kitchen

 

[golittlesport]

Laundry locations

Growing up on the east coast, almost every home I was every in had the washer and dryer in the basement. The exceptions were usually older apartments or duplexes where sometimes washers were installed in the kitchen. (This was probably because of proximity of plumbing and available space when adding an automatic washer to the household, not the design of the builders.) Two of my aunts in Buffalo NY had washing machines in their kitchens so they wouldn't have to go down the rickety steps into the dark musty basements in their very old houses.

Moving to California with my family in the early 70's it was interesting to find no basements in the houses. Most homes build in the 50s and 60s in CA had washer and dryer in the garage, or in the kitchen, or sometimes a separate utility room near the kitchen. In 50's homes, there was often only space for a washing machine in the kitchen, as many people line-dried clothes year round. As automatic clothes dryers became more common in the 60s and 70s, people would sometimes install a dryer in the garage or on a back porch off the kitchen.

The home we moved into in CA had the washer and dryer in the kitchen, on the other side of a breakfast bar. It was really a large kitchen and laundry room without dividing walls. We had avocado Westinghouse appliances. My mom was thrilled with the arrangement after having to carry laundry up and down two flights of steps, from bedrooms to basement and back, in our house in Pittsburgh, PA. She often said it was heaven having the laundry close to the kitchen. In CA, she had clothes lines just outside the kitchen door in a side yard, and the house had a separate large backyard patio off the living room for entertaining and relaxing. It was really an ideal setup.

New homes in CA mostly have separate laundry/utility rooms near the garage, kitchen or bedrooms.

 

[maytagbear]

Location, location, location.....

The house in which I grew up had the washer and dryer in the basement, for that was the only place where they could have been, without major remodeling. There were concrete utility/laundry sinks already there, which were capacious enough for the SudsMiser (also known as suds saver) feature on our 1964 Whirlpool Imperial.

My last three apartments have had the washer and dryer in the kitchen. Not ideal, but far, far better than no washer/dryer hookups at all.

If I were building (having a house built) a house, I would have a fairly stripped down pair in an alcove off of the kitchen, for kitchen towels and the like, and my main pair in an alcove of the master bath.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[golittlesport]

front loader

We also had two front load washing machines when I was a kid, both Westinghouse Laundromats -- first a 1957 and later a 1966. My mom liked them. When we moved to CA, we had a Westinghouse top loader. I recall my mom using Dash and Salvo in her Laundromats.

I read in a consumer magazine that the average/low score on front loaders in the 60s - 70s was due to the sub performance of low-suds detergents available at the time, and of course using a high suds detergent like Tide would also impair a front loader's performance.

Women were indoctrinated at the time that clothes could only get clean with "mountains of suds" - a carry over from wringer washer and soap days, when reusing the wash water over and over necessitated adding more soap and maintaining a "rich 2-inch layer of suds" as I recall a soap box instructing.

I remember a neighbor talking to my mom about her Westy always overflowing with suds and breaking down. She used Cheer and didn't measure....just poured it in. My mom tried to tell her to use Dash, but the neighbor wouldn't hear of it. (I was only about 6 years old at the time, but remember thinking that woman was so stupid and didn't know how to properly do laundry.) The motor on the neighbor's Westy finally burned out and they got a Whirlpool -- a better choice to use Cheer in, but she still didn't measure and the Whirlpool would often suds lock during the first spin. She never learned.

I can count about 6 families with front loaders in our neighborhood in the late 1950's, all Westy Laundromats except for one Bendix.

 

[launderess]

Location, Location, Location

Where laundry equipment is located has most always depended upon easy access to water. Hopefully running hot and cold, but in the early days it would mean having space for stove that provided heat not only for water but often the flat irons as well.

When indoor plumbing including hot water became the norm it did allow greater choices in placements of laundries. Have laundry design/product manuals going back to the early 1900's that show all manner and sort of home laundries. Basements, dedicated rooms off the kitchen, back porches, etc.. Until modern tumble dryers came along one over riding concern was saving women from having to haul baskets of wet laundry up flights of stairs, out to clothes lines and back again.

Regarding basements in terms of home construction it greatly depends upon location. While common in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states many places either out of construction cost containment or high water table homes elsewhere lack basements.

 

[ronhic]

This could be a great project if you looked at

the US, UK/Europe and Australia....Asia too.

From an Australian perspective...

Major appliances were very expensive here...though not as dear as say the UK or Europe after WWII.

American made Bendix machines were sold here from the earliest days. Stopped for WWII and then started again. They were stupid money to buy...but people did.

Here, the ringer machine was king (queen?) in the early 50's...followed by the British twin tubs (assembled here). Then Semi-automatics (look the same as an automatic, but you have to turn the dial to change the function from wash/spin/rinse and they would not change until you made them) followed by automatic top loaders and then front loaders....

The percentage of sales of other machines - wringers, twin tubs automatics and semi automatics all changed so that fully automatic machines were the leaders by the 1970's....

Front loaders maintained around 5-10% of our market from the mid-late 1960's until about 1995 or so. There was no 'drop-off' as such. They had always had a small share, often selling to apartment owners who used them in either a small laundry room, the bathroom or hall cupboard. Europeans who migrated often bought them as witnessed by Scottish friends of our family who had 2 British Hoover Keymatics when I was a kid.

From around 1995 or so, local councils started to provide incentives for people to buy water efficient appliances. Australia is the driest permenantly inhabited continent on the planet (apart from Antartica)....and parts of Australia have just come out of a very long drought with strict water restrictions. Anyway, the incentives in Australia are not paid to the manufacturer to produce, but rather to the consumer to buy thereby ensuring that one cycle feeds the others needs rather than forcing the other to comply - The consumer is in charge, not the manufacturer.

Since then, front load washers, which were always around 30% (closer to 50% today) more water efficient here than a top load washer anyway, have increased sales so that they are generally around 50% or more of the market today.

Potted history.....and the UK and European experience is different for different reasons

 

[vintagekitchen]

My 2 cents (Ok, more like 20 cents)

As far as why front loaders fell out of fashion, according to both my grandmothers, they were prone to leaks, ridiculously expensive, in our area it was hard to find proper low suds detergent for them, and did they mention prone to leaks? One aunt refused to listen, and bought herself a stacked Westy set like the one in the photo, but in white. The opening around the door rusted out on their well water. Leak city. Her cure was jam a towel in the rusted gaping maw to minimize leakage, toss a few towels in the floor in front of the washer to catch any leaks, and keep going using it until she felt like she had gotten her money's worth.

As far as colors, then as now, colors have always cost extra. Plain white is cheapest, unless the store has leftover stock of no longer fashionable colors they are trying to shift at a lower price. My memories of childhood are from the 80's, so here goes..

My family on my father's side always felt paying the extra was worth it, they felt keeping up with the Jones's was VERY important. Grammas kitchen had coppertone brown Kenmore appliances, and her laundry room had an avocado green Whirlpool set. Her eldest daughter bought all almond when she was married in the late 80s, Speed Queen in the laundry, and Hotpoint in the kitchen. Other daughter stuck with white, simply because she hated almond, and said it looked dirty (she had the Westinghouse set, no idea what was in her kitchen). When gramma redid her appliance in the late 80's it was almond Kenmores in the laundry, and almond Maytags in the kitchen. (This side of the family would always replace washer/dryer or stove/fridge as pairs, even if only one needed replaced, because "unmatched appliances look tacky, and you cant get that color anymore, etc etc.")

Mom's side of the family however, could squeeze a nickel till it was paper thin, and refused to pay the extra, or even worry about matching appliances, and didnt give a damn what the Jones's thought. Gramma had a white Hotpoint stove, paired with a single door non-self defrost Frigidaire fridge in harvest gold. When I asked why she bought the fridge that color and not white to match the stove, she said they had all the harvest gold stuff on sale because no one wanted it anymore, so it was cheaper than white. Laundry wise, she had a MOL GE filter flo in white, and a kenmore wringer in white, (no dryer until I was 16). Aunt had an avocado green Magic Chef stove that came with the house, paired with a white Roper fridge, (one that matched the stove came with the house, but died a year later). Laundry area had a white Whirlpool set. Other aunt had a gold frigidaire stove, paired with a white GE fridge. Laundry area had a white Kenmore washer paired with a brown GE dryer (dryer was purchased used, before that she used a clothesline).

Mom herself refused to pay extra for colored appliances and all we ever had was boring white, starting with our Hoover twin tub, then the GE filter flo set bought when I was 5, along with the GE fridge and Kelvinator (I think) stove.

As far as laundry location, Mom's side of the family lived in mobile homes and theirs were all located in either the hall next to the bathroom, or in the bathroom. Dad's side of the family, one aunt in mobile home, laundry in hall (she had the westinghouse set). Gramma in a big farmhouse, big laundry room off the kitchen. Other aunt in a house, laundry on glassed/screened in back porch off kitchen. I think in this area it seems not so much to be whats convenient for the housewife, as whats convenient for the plumber. Wherever the water pipes were closest, thats where the laundry area seemed to end up.

 

[launderess]

Front Loaders ='s Rope Makers

Do not know when Westinghouse changed their design but all front loading washing machines sold in the USA until recently tumbled one way. That combined with the slanted drum of some designs produced a tangled mess of washing.

As VintageKitchen noted there was the problem with high sudsing detergents.

When soap was the main wash day choice for cleaning it requires a pretty decent rich layer of froth to indicate good cleaning. By this one means it showed that there was enough soap in the wash water and that the active components weren't used up softening the water/dealing with dirt.

After P&G introduced Tide and other "detergents" followed most all had to use surfactants and or add ingredients that created the froth housewives and others were used to for laundry day. If they didn't the stuff simply wouldn't sell as women and others had been brainwashed for ages to equate froth levels with good laundry results.

Sadly for front loaders high froth creates all sorts of problems, and not all could find and or were motivated to look for "condensed/controlled" sudsing detergents like Dash.

 

[circlew]

My mom owned two front-load washers, both Westinghouse. The first was a '55 and it required a visit from the serviceman frequently. Once it got so out of balance it walked far enough to unplug itself. Don't remember any rusting on it, though.

The second was a '64 (straight front) with an inset side opening door. It didn't have to be serviced as often, but the front and door developed rust early on.

It broke down in the Summer of '73, and Mom decided she wanted a machine of better quality. She got a Maytag A207 and DE406 set, which she used until her death in '95. I continued using them until I replaced the washer (still functional) in 2004. I still have the dryer.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

I already know that I will get alot of disagreements from the FL's lovers but you cannot tell it is not the truth.
I personally think that for what concerns the Front loaders in US it was and still is all about a piloted marketing maneuver, in the early days when automatic washers started to enter in most houses the majority were TL's, don't forget that were manufacturers that since the early days tried to distinguish themselves by making FL's and some FL's only (or Drum type) as Launderall also claiming every absurd wonder about FL's and the fact that they were someway better, many people got them many people "liked" them but most preferred Top loaders! No wonder!
It was not because of the soap or detergent as someone said before, there were many Low suds detergents at the time some of the ones became famous in Europe too like Dash, it was not an oversudsing problem of some detrgents the fact that made FL's drop off, that would be pretty ridicolous, but rather the fact that TL's agitator were and are better on washing.
Well,I think it is a simple question to answer this one, in the 70s everyone had a washer, and the simple reasons why the FL's dropped off was because people got that TL's agitator washer were and are the best ones.....
If you see some manufacturers since the 60s when washer market was saturated with so many brands tried to distinguish and make more sales by starting to producing and offering FL's machines also, claiming and advertising them with lies and exalting and magnifying the fact that were better than TL's just to sell more and inducing and tempting the lucky people who had the luck to own an automatic washer as they came out in the early days (About 1950s) changing their old TL for a FL wich was claimed being better even if their TL was still running fine .....
It was also a commercial technique of some manufacturers to get people to choose that kind of machines and so mark since who produced and offered them were very few compared to all the others ones that produced TL's only.
Don't you think that if they were really better people would not have choosen them and so been the majority in US rather than TL's which were the only type of machines owned and used by most americans till today?

But I do not want to start or transform this thread in TL's VS FL's, it is always an "on topic" matter.....
What I can tell you about today and the fact that FL's are pulled out again it is just a simple reasoning identical in certain ways to what happened in the past but with some crucial differences:
Well, it is not a case that FL's sold as the new commercial stunt named:"HE" got pulled out again during an economical crisis period which affected seriously and deeply the appliance market and not before, this should make you people think.....
What a better way of improving the appliances market by re-bringing out the FL's and new chain of magic "modern" "weird" machines I mean also neptune roller, plate etc... and claiming every possible wonder about them as they're doing?
What a better way to entice owners of old REAL washers and appliances that are still going strong to get a new machine anyway or avoiding people in need of a new machine to switch for the used market for another one?
Dah dah!
Here you have " HE " the new "b******t" of 2000s!
Today they still using the old spots and "reasons why" for these machines of the 60s with the difference that today they put in the hat the "saving" matter to which people in these periods are more sensible because of the economical crisis, put in also the fact that nowadays people are hypnotized by commercials, tv addicted etc and that they believe and follow every crap is told to them and that commercial and tv says!

Problem is that new generations of consumer cannot recognize and does not care about REAL efficiency and quality about products and you can see it everywere and on everything, so not just appliances they just care and follow what's the moment's fashion which is dictated solely by mass advertising!
Also the way of housekeeping totally changed to bad, I will make an example I recently watched an ad for a detergent, a kid stain his t-shirt with some Ice cream, desperate mommy about dropping the t-shirt in the bin saying " I've to throw it away this tough stained tshirt"? While she gets stopped by granma that says: "use this" (I do not remeber the brand) like if this detergent does something magical about removing a banal ice cream spot!
I mean throw it away a tshirt for a banal choccolate stain? I didn't live in the 70s but I'm sure it wasn't a possible option in the 70s nor 80s without mentioning 60s not a normal thing in an ad of the past, this was just a silly example but what I want to say is that now is pretty normal to do and common for the mentality of people! People got this mentality now! And if a banal choccolate stain won't get clean is normal! So I'm not surprised if they now can like an HE, most housekeepers lost the contact with reality when a washer is intended to wash and a tough stain for which you had to throw a t shirt away would be for example an acrylic paint stain! Not an ice cream stain! I mean what? So what about if they watch an old advertisement where wives used to get clean the grease stained overall of the husbands? Today it would be SF!
Anyway I'm writing too much, hope you understand what I mean.
It was my opinion about that.
That's all.....
Cheers