Vacation? That joke's on you: who would have been able to afford something like that for *vacations*, much less the space to pack it in their luggage, in 1943?
These were designed for apartments. There are many similar machines, as well as some that looked like fattened-up pressure cookers with the motor in the lid, that could even be put on the stove to heat up the water (the latter type didn't have wringers, presumably you wrung out the wash by hand over the sink).
All of these are the predecessors to the current "blender-style" micro-washers you see on Ebay for $40 - 80 new (and you still wring out the wash by hand over the sink).