scary vintage bradford automatic washer...

[hippiedoll]

ok so, here is the story on this bradford washing machine....

my mom was willed, a little old house from her great aunt, when she passed away, many years ago, like maybe early 1970's. the house was empty for a few years, until my mom rented the house out to her aunt (my grandpa's sister) the last 2 or 3 decades. i don't know if anything was ever boughten for the house or replaced in the house except for a refrigerator and an electric stove and maybe the dryer. but i don't really know cuz i never really went inside the house. well recently, my mom's aunt passed away and we are going to be in the process of cleaning the house out pretty soon.

we have gone to the house a couple of times to make sure that nobody has broken in or started squatting in there. and i did spot in the little washroom, an old washer. i didn't know much about it but that it was a "bradford" brand of washer. the electricity & water have been turned off on the house. so, it is dark, dirty & has alot of spiderwebs all over the house.

well, just yesterday, we made a trip out of town, to go check on this little old house & to lock it up, cuz we had to air out the house from all those years of my mom's aunt living there. i finally brought my cell phone with me & took some pictures of the washer to post on here & share with you guys.

i have to say, please forgive the blurry, bad quality of pictures, but it was dark, dirty, spider webs & scary in that little wooden backroom!!!

now from what i could see, this is a solid tubbed bradford automatic washer WITH a black agitator. i hope you enjoy the pictures.
oh and by the way, as luck would have it, when i was taking pictures, my phone wouldn't let me take anymore than like 4 or 5 pictures and then it flashed a message that the memory was too full and i had to delete some pictures, downloaded materials, or videos to take more pictures. WOULDN'T YOU JUST KNOW IT!!! ;o/

enjoy the few pictures i did take for your viewing pleasure....

 

[hippiedoll]

control panel...

here is the left side of the control panel showing the 6 control buttons of this bradford automatic top loading washer....

 

[hippiedoll]

control panel...

here is the right side of the control panel showing the circular timer dial (i guess??). i don't know how this washer works, as this is the 1st time that i am seeing it, through these pictures, in detail. but i'm guessing the red line turns as it is going through the different wash, spin & rinse cycles......

i forgot to mention, it has a "LIGHT" button on the left side of this circular timer dial and a "RESET" button on the right side of the circular timer dial display (or whatever you would call this?). i pushed in the "LIGHT" button and i also pushed in the "RESET" button, but then remembered that there is no electricity in the house right now. so of course, nothing happened when i pushed in either button. i am curious to know, where the light would be on this washer cuz i didn't notice a light panel or anything? i'm thinking maybe the circular timer cycle lights up?? i think that would look cool if it did! and i love that light blue color too.

it says in scroll writing:
TWO SPEED (on the bottom left side of the circular timer dial)
FIVE CYCLE (on the bottom right side of the circular timer dial)

 

[DADoES]

 
Reminiscent of Norge.

Probably the dial is backlit and maybe the panel at base of the console and text of the buttons.

 

[hippiedoll]

money shot???

here is what you all like to call it, the "money shot".

although to me, it doesn't look like there's much "money" here in this shot!!!
LOL....

just look at how dirty this washer is!! you can tell that by the dirtiness that, it has probably not been used in a very very long time! and there is water in the tub with bugs floating around in there and there was like dirt or dead leaves or something, sitting at the bottom of the washtub too.

you notice the black agitator and the solid tub. and that "basket weave" edge trimming around the tub. i am guessing these are tell-tale signs of a spin draining or over-filling rinse washer?? or whatever you call it.

and like i said, this is the first time i am seeing this bradford washer in detail, only through these pictures that i took. and i think i can see that, below the blue control panel, that is where the "light" panel is located. man, i wish i could drain this washer & clean it up to see if it works & how it works!!!

i can't wait til we go over there and really start to clean up the house. there are a few things that i liked over there;
there was a vintage dining table with the metal tube legs,
a pair of green glass globe lamps
a 1970's side table
a console stereo/record player
but like i said, everything is very dirty, dusty, & covered in spiderwebs!!!

there was also a brown dryer next to the washer. i think it was a kenmore dryer from like maybe the late 1970's or early 1980's. i didn't get any pictures of the dryer cuz that was way too far into that old dirty washroom and i wasn't brave enough to go in that far!!!

 

[hippiedoll]

dadoes...

thanks for replying!!

i know everything depends on personal preference when it comes to washers but, in your opinion, if you have one on this brand of washer, is this a good performing washer??

i know i mentioned bradford to someone else before and they said that bradfords weren't the best washers.

any comments or opinions....

 

[appnut]

thank you for the pictures. Very exciting. That was a very nicely featured washer when it was new.

 

[mrb627]

Wizard?

Looks like a variant of the Wizard machine that Robert did a video of a couple years ago...

Malcolm

 

[bajaespuma]

Thank you for posting these pictures.

It's one of the most unique machines I've seen for a long time.

 

IIRC Bradford was the WT Grant's brand of major appliances. During a period that I'll remember as a golden era of department stores, our local Grants, Western Auto and many stores that I can't remember the name of were selling their own brand of white goods. I don't remember solid-tub Grants machines, but I do remember the ones that had white agitators in the same shape as the one you have pictured above in huge perforated washbaskets. They also had a cheap version of the Filter-Flo style lint removal system. The flumes looked like average black garden hoses that had been cut to measure with a fishing knife.

 

I wonder what the record was for number of brands of washing machines in a year of the US market. It still seems to me that there were never more brands tested by CU than for the washer edition of the 1969 volumes.

 

[hippiedoll]

any ideas....

of what year this washer could be???

 

[danemodsandy]

Bradford Was Sold By:

W.T. Grant, a chain of stores that no longer exists. Bradford was their "house brand," meaning they had stuff made to their specifications and no one else sold it. They went belly-up in the '70s when they loosened up their credit requirements in an attempt to expand their business and got stuck with a lot of bad debt.

Bradford appliances could be very decent, if you elected for the nicer ones. A cheap Bradford anything was about as cheap as it got.

We had a Bradford console stereo when I was a kid. My dad worked for RCA and usually got deals, but when my mom started campaigning for a nice stereo, he couldn't find a deal, and when the Mom Wheel started squeaking, it seriously needed to be greased. So he sent her to Grant's.

We never had any of their major appliances, though, just the stereo and a couple of fans and some clothing purchases.

P.S.: There are members here who have restored machines that were just as dirty and neglected as this one is, believe it or not.

 

[hippiedoll]

posting pictures....

you got it darlin'!
;o)

i'm just sorry they weren't better pictures and that my d*mned phone hadn't stopped up on me, so that i could've taken more, better pictures. but like i said, it was dark & SCARY in there!!! and it was just me & my mom. so, i took as best of pictures as i could without going too far into that backroom, that's connected off the bathroom.

and i just remembered, that when my d*mned phone decided to quite taking anymore pictures, i told my mom to get her phone so that i could take more pictures. i tried to use the flashlight on my phone to get good lighting. let me grab my mom's phone and send the pictures to my email so that i can try to post the pictures to this thread.

give me a few minutes....

 

[hippiedoll]

dirty & neglected....

you know, i kinda figured, with the condition that this washer is in, with water sitting in the washtub for so long, that this washer was going to be a lost cause. especially since i know NOTHING about fixing mechanical things (other than changing a belt or hose). but....

i've had this "buzzing" feeling (for lack of better words) in my gut, that i would really like to get this washer cleaned up & tested, to see if it works. but i'm afraid that i would find it to be all rusted out with no remedy or fix....

 

[hippiedoll]

ok more pictures to follow.....

my mom's phone doesn't have the best picture taking quality but here are more pictures to share with you all. they may seem like repeat pictures but they are taken from my mom's phone. please forgive the "not the best" picture quality....

here is the washtub 1/2 full of water...

 

[hippiedoll]

another shot....

of the button controls showing the different "cycles":
1. cottons and linens
2. non color fast
3. wash and wear
4. delicates and woolens
5. soak
6. partial fill

i'm curious here, what exactly does "partial fill" mean? and why would "partial fill" be used??

 

[yogitunes]

I remember our Grants having Norge/Hamilton machines with the Bradford name on them....and rare that the endcap washers were hooked up with a Plexiglass lid and a load of towels to show the wash action.....

ashame places like Sears don't do that anymore...

 

[hippiedoll]

circular cycle dial/knob...

here is a picture of that circular cycle knob/dial showing the different washer cycles.

i see numbers;
1.
2.
4.
5.

i don't know where numbers;
3.
6.
are or would be?? this is a confusing cycle knob?? LOL...

 

[hippiedoll]

here is...

a picture of the "LIGHT" button...

 

[hippiedoll]

lastly.....

here's another shot of the "partially filled" washtub. it looks like the plastic coating on the basket weaved trimming, around the washtub is starting to peel.
/

 

[cornutt]

I would guess that the "partial fill" button shortens the fill time. Being a solid tub, it probably uses timed rather than measured fill.

 

[hippiedoll]

partial fill...

would that be another way of saying, "small" load??

 

[norgeway]

WT Grant..

Went out of business in 74, I remember there store in Hickory NC well, that washer could be a Norge, but the agitator looks more like a Franklin built machine.

 

[mrb627]

Washing Action

Like This....

 



 

Malcolm

 

[ptcruiser51]

W. T. Grant

When I went to beauty school, there was a very large (2-story) Grant's nearby. I do remember going over from time to time for things like jeans and undershirts. Always a stop by the appliance section just to look. I remember their top-freezer fridges looked quite substantial (a friend of mine had one). Don't recall seeing washers/dryers, though. The store went under in 1975, I remember them selling-off the fixtures, overhead lights, mannequins, etc. A sad end to an American retailer. Your machine is unlikely to be older than 1975, based on my recall.

 

[DADoES]

 
Yes!  Robert's Wizard.

 

[frigilux]

Neighbors had a Coronado washer (sold at Gambles hardware stores) that looked almost exactly like this Bradford.  Definitely from the Wizard family.  Indexing tub, lots of interesting sounds. Not a quiet machine, that's for sure.

 

Partial Fill:  Let machine fill to desired level, then push the button.  Fill stops; agitation begins. You'd have to come back and do the same for the rinse cycle if you wanted less than a full tub of water.

 

[jetcone]

That would be a challenge for a beginner

but Robert would know more about the guts than anybody else. I think his Wizard needed some TLC when he got it. All solid tubs are rare machines nowadays.

 

Must be fun wandering around that house.

 

[norgeway]

So it definately???

Is a Franklin built machine???

 

[hippiedoll]

thanks.....

malcolm:
for posting the youtube video. in fact, when you posted your first message, i went to google "wizard washing machine" video and came across it. cuz i got so curious to see the washing in action of a machine that could be like this bradford.

ptcruiser51:
for trying to help me figure out when this machine could be from. but did you mean that this washer is "LIKELY" older than 1975?

dadoes:
for posting that picture of robert's wizard washing machine's control panel. it has almost the exact same features as this bradford washing machine!!! what a trip! the only difference i see is that on robert's wizard washing machine, it has that "NORMAL" & "COLD WATER" lever switch. which i didn't see that on the bradford.
but even the center of the circular control knob looks almost, if not exactly, the same on both washers. that is too cool.

frigilux:
indexing tub, does that mean the tub moves around with each stroke that the agitator makes? is that what an "indexing" tub means?? i wonder how this agitator would treat "delicates"? it does say "two speed" on both washers. i wonder if it has a slower agitation or a stop & go type of agitation for the delicate cycle??
(partial fill) thank you for explaining what the partial fill option is and explaining how to use it. very interesting.

jetcone:
yeah, i know it would definitely be a challenge. but i think the fun part for me, would be cleaning it up and seeing what is what. if it needed fixing, i don't know if i would be able to do it?? but i would like to clean it up and see how it looks all cleaned up!
;o)
as for wandering around the house, it's definitely interesting, that's for sure!! i say that cuz when we were there (me & my mom) yesterday, there was one dresser in the corner and my mom looked at it and said "i think that used to be our dresser. i think it was nana's dresser? i remember seeing that dresser. and there was this one other thing in another room, and it was in a corner. i don't know what you would call it but the best way to describe it is like a mirror with a frame around it and little shelves coming out from the sides, going in towards the mirror. like for displaying knick-knacks on. when my mom seen that, she said that she was sure that was my grandma's too.
so, it was pretty cool, to look at these things that my mom said, used to be my grandma's things before. to know that my grandma had, touched, & looked at these things, in the past, and now, i'm looking at them in the present. the sad thing is that these things are definitely dirty. and are aged & falling apart.
but it's a really old house, a 4 room (kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom) a bathroom & a very small wooden laundry room that was built off of the bathroom. it is a cute little house. it has 2 front doors (one that opens to the front room and one that opens to the bedroom. it's definitely different.

 

[gansky1]

Yes, Franklin built. That is a really cool find!