I just purchased a copy of the Feb. 1991 issue of Consumer Reports. Great issue--they did fully separate testing of laundry detergents, laundry boosters, fabric softeners (all 3 types) and washers.
They obviously hadn't gone gaga yet for front loaders; the one tested, the White-Westinghouse, was at the bottom of the ratings because of small capacity and the worst reliability by far of any. However, they even have a graphic showing how top loaders should circulate the clothes in the tub with sufficient water, and how overloading the tub won't allow for proper cleaning because of lack of circulation of laundry.
They show three different types of agitators in another illustration (and by now, they are all in color): 1) The Gibson/Kelvinator agitator, which was considered more effective than the 2) White-Westinghouse top loader or the Frigidaire. BTW that Gibson/Kelvinator agitator looks very like the one on the 2018 Speed Queen--straight up and down. However, they illustrate an agitator that they say was "especially effective": a "two-part ratcheting agitator on the Whirlpool/Sears/KitchenAid family of machines". It had a bottom part of the agitator that went back and forth like everyone else's. But, it had a screw-shaped top part of the agitator that apparently only moved in one direction.
Is this the one that so many on this forum call the 'Shredmore'? Or is that something else entirely?
They obviously hadn't gone gaga yet for front loaders; the one tested, the White-Westinghouse, was at the bottom of the ratings because of small capacity and the worst reliability by far of any. However, they even have a graphic showing how top loaders should circulate the clothes in the tub with sufficient water, and how overloading the tub won't allow for proper cleaning because of lack of circulation of laundry.
They show three different types of agitators in another illustration (and by now, they are all in color): 1) The Gibson/Kelvinator agitator, which was considered more effective than the 2) White-Westinghouse top loader or the Frigidaire. BTW that Gibson/Kelvinator agitator looks very like the one on the 2018 Speed Queen--straight up and down. However, they illustrate an agitator that they say was "especially effective": a "two-part ratcheting agitator on the Whirlpool/Sears/KitchenAid family of machines". It had a bottom part of the agitator that went back and forth like everyone else's. But, it had a screw-shaped top part of the agitator that apparently only moved in one direction.
Is this the one that so many on this forum call the 'Shredmore'? Or is that something else entirely?