rolls Twin tub

[lancethecook]

Here are a couple of photos of my Rolls twin tub.
Many thanks to Ozzie who kindly came and installed the new spinner mounts and Keith who sent me the drawings of the spinner assembly.
It is probably about 50 years old and is certainly a very basic machine.
On and off for the heater and a 4 minute wash timer.
Just one motor which means that the wash agitator only works when the spinnner is operating.
Austin (ozzie) said it is so basic it reminds him of something from a communist state!
Im glad i have it but its not one i shall use often.
I will put a short clip on youtube soon.

 

[lancethecook]

second picture

picture of the wash deck

 

[lancethecook]

a short video

here a link to youtube to see the Rolls in action

 

[gorenje]

Hi Lance,

interesting machine.

The water that comes out of the faucet is the ricirculating water from the washing tube or the water from the spinner?
Is the same faucet used also to drain the machine or it has a separate draining hose?

Interesting. I've never seen this washer in action.

Thanks!

Ingemar

 

[ozzie908]

Don't forget Lance it....

Was available to everyone via the "Knock" it cost was it 3/4 ? As in 3 shillings and 4d....!

Tell you what though its so basic its a doddle to work on !

Austin..

 

[ozzie908]

Ooops

I forgot to put that the "knock" means you buy it by paying weekly for it hence the price mentioned in previous post was so cheap.
I have no idea how long it was paid over though !

Austin

 

[vacbear58]

Cheap & Cheerful

Lance

Very much bottom of the line for its time - literally "lets get one of those direct from the factory jobs". It was developed over its life time to become a bit more sophisticated, via Colston to become eventually (if very short lived) Ariston in around 1981. After Rolls went bust the manufacturing facility was taken over and variations of these machines appeared under the Goblin, Pye, English Electric and of course Colston

Congratulations on getting it though, they are few and far between.

And definatly no cold water washes in your household

Ingemar
I believe it was originally a Dutch design (later 1950s) although these were manufactured in the UK.

The nozzle you mention is the wash water recirculating, and yes, to empty the tub you just stuck a hose on the nozzle, simple but effective. There was a separate hose for the spinner. The wash tubs were circular with an impellor on the bottom to one side, the pump cover was about the same size as the impellor, offset to the other side of teh base

Al

 

[gorenje]

Thank you Al for all the explanations

Ingemar

 

[keymatic]

Hi Lance...
Nice pics of the "Rolls" I think it is a Rolls Super 66..and i would say it dates from roughly 1960.
They were very basic, bizzare you have to have the spinner going to operate the washer, however not unheard of in the 1st Philips Top Twin who switched that method around and you had to have the washer going to operate the spinner.
I have just had a rumage in the archives and i have the operating booklet for this machine, it is what i thought it was the Super 66
Anyway, keep up the good work Lance !!
Keith

 

[keymatic]

....wash deck

 

[whirlcool]

Holy Moley is that thing loud! I think it's the loudest washer I have ever heard!
But it's nice that it does have a built in heater. I can see you like washing in hot water as I saw the steam escape from the wash basket when it started to agitate!

 

[mickeyd]

Hey guys

I don't think the wash tub is on at all. It's the powerful pump making the waves......and all the froth during a suds-return.....good God.....you could make lattees and expressos with that. Amazing. What a roaring spinner, and that pump is off the charts.

 

Many thanks, Lance, for the rocketing vid.

 

[lancethecook]

It's is loud

But to be honest the video makes it sound much louder than it really is.
In the video the agitator is running but I think the water recirculating does help to keep things going round.
It certainly makes a huge amount of suds, in my first trial run I used my regular amount of powder and it was probably twice as much as I needed.
It does have a heater which is very good , I'm not sure if it is supposed to but when it is at boiling point it heats for 5 seconds then stops for 10 seconds , perhaps this is a safety feature to stop it boiling over.
I know that in the 60s thousands of these were made but not so many survived so I'm just happy to have this one.

 

[hoovermatic]

Never seen one of these in operation before but they are similar to some of the Eastern European machines that are on YouTube. Indeed bizarre that the spinner has to be on to operate the wash tub - not so good for wear and tear but as you say it is BOL and sure easier on the hands than handwashing - earplugs were optional? HUGE gap between the spin can and the body of the machine - I bet a few socks found their way through that gap in many households!!

 

[lancethecook]

You're right

There is a huge gap between the spinner and the outer spin can , indeed we found a few small items in there including a ladies handkerchief when we took it apart.
I did use the spinner yesterday and it is very very good although I'm not sure about the exact spin speed.

 

[mickeyd]

So interesting, and I think I understand

When the video starts the washtub is perfectly still, then as you close the spinner and the suds shoot back into tub, the load revolves, but then when you stop the spinner, once again, the washtub is motionless. So these are pauses in the agitation, correct?

 

To my eyes, the sudsing is caused by the forced air shooting in from the pump once it is empty of suds. Is that what's going on or am I seeing things

 

So envious of machines that boil; we are deprived here.

 

[paulc]

mickeyd

The impeller in the wash tub only works when the spinner is running, when the spinner stops so does the agitation. From what I can gather the water going into the wash tub is from the re circulation pump rather than from the spinner. I am I right Lance?

 

[ozzie908]

Paul you are right..

I can tell you that as I helped Lance get it going...!
Its a strange way of working I have to admit and I had never seen anything like it before.
When its upside down you can see that there is one motor directly under the wash tub so the impeller is connected to the motor then a V belt runs round a pump for the wash and then around the spin drive and around the pump for the spinner.
The wash water is circulated constantly and it helps push the laundry under the water as the impeller moves it round. Its rather clever and very simple in its mode of working, it is mad that the spinner has to be on at the same time but like Lance says back then its better than by hand.
When it was tested it heats from cold very quickly and is able to boil very well there is the ability to use just enough water to cover the washing no need to fill the tub completely so its quite efficient.
Another plus in its design is the entire casing is 1 piece if you need to work on the machine you undo 4 bolts in the sides and lift the chassis right out and everything is on that so you can get to it. Most ingenious...

Austin

 

[optima]

Re-circulation pump

Yes Paul.

The water in the wash tub is pumped back into the same tub. There is no linked pump combination to the spinner.