Tabletop Mystery Model

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

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Spiffymat

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Jul 22, 2005
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Hey there all. Recently, I was looking in a small shop in Iowa and was surprised to find a tabletop version of a washing machine. All white enamel, the lid/motor assembly has vanes on the underside and holds a small load. I am not an afficiando of washing machines in particular but of course have that built-in appreciation for all old appliances that was first stoked during my early college years (who could afford new appliances when you could go to Goodwill/Salvation Army?) when I acquired through donation my first Atomic hand mixer.. it looked like a mint-green rocket ship and had the most bitchen' grille - it used to shoot sparks out the back end like afterburners (accidental, but still cool). Then I was also given a refrigerator that had a spindle in the center and semi-circular shelves that rotated out for convenient access. It had a heated butter dish to keep things spreadable. My friend had an auto shop and I had it painted fire-engine red for $35.00. That was about 20 years ago when it wasn't cool yet to be using old things. Anyway, the lid/handle has the initials "W/W" on it (White Westinghouse?), and it still works fantastically. Can anyone tell me about this kind of relic? I've never seen anything so novel before! Convenient! Compact! Barely Practical! Not Very Quiet! What a marvel. Totally intrigued - Spiffymat
 
Those sort of table top models pop up on eBay all the time under various brands: Kenmore, Handy-Hot, Silex, and others. Some were designed with a wringer attachment that fitted onto the side of the unit for wringing out the laundry, others weren't.

Basically one put detergent, water, laundry into the units, closed the lid, then set agitation time via the timer. When the wash cycle was done one had to either wring,squeeze or some how get the wash water out of the laundry, dump the wash water out, refill with rinse water, put the laundry back into the tub, set the timer again, allow the "rinse" cycle to complete and repeat the wringing out and or rinse cycle again.

Basically a small wringer type washer without built in wringers, and cannot spin dry. These washers were sold as popular for doing very small wash loads (danties, baby's laundry,socks, etc), or taking along on vacation (camping, cabin at the lake, etc), and when compared to beating your laundry against a rock were only slighlty better in saving time and effort! *LOL*

Some units were actually designed for use on a stove top, so one could have a "hot" wash. This might have come in handy in a cold water flat, or cabin/camping where hot water supply was scarce. Again compared to hand washing probably took only sighly less effort.

Launderess
 
I have 15-20 of these things that I'd love to get rid of in one lot & CHEAP (like $10/ea)! I'm moving my business & I don't want to take them with me. I just don't get anything out of 'em. They just don't thrill me.
 

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