The Automatic 50s

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

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GEEEEZ I remember those. Yup, saw it in Florida and I did get the dolphin. I was small so it kinda scared me at first when it started up, but I was fascinated by it.

It had two plates that would come together and then it shoots hot plastic into the mold. Then after a while it would separate and your dolphin or whatever would fall into the hole where you pick it up. The mold comes out still hot and smelling of hot plastic.
 
fortunately the devices are still being maintained on the web link-and they point out some of the machines are 40 years old!I like the idea of the miniature injection molding machine that you can see it work.Usually such molders are hidden away in factories that make the plastic items we use all the time.If you look on the website-beleive they have detailed tech descriptions on how the machines work-the machinery in the unit required the Mold-A-Rama to be plugged into a 120V 30A circuit!And the makers of the units can have molds made to whatever needs you the purchaser of the machine require!I too liked watching the unit work.
 
Flash O Matic Lasted until 1972 and other gimmic names

The Borg Warner made Flash O Matic automatic transmission was offered in AMC cars from 1958 until 1972 when it was replaced by a clone of the Chrysler Torgue Filte called Torgue Command. I got that info from a Collectible Automobile article on the AMC Gremlin. Previous to 1958 Hudson and Nash had both used Packards Ultramatic Drive (when ordered with the optional Packard V8) during 1955-56 and GM Hydra Matic Drive from 1951 to 57 (Hudson and Nash both offered Hydra Matic before they were combined into AMC on May 1 1954 and it was used on the 6 cylinder 1955-56 cars and on the 1957 AMC V8 cars). Hydra Matic was first offered on the Rambler for 1953. Studebaker was the first auto manufacture to use Flash O Matic in 1954. It replaced the more expencive Studebaker produced Automatic Drive first introduced for 1950 and discontinued after 1953.
FYI. The first Chrysler automatic offered was the POWER FLITE DRIVE. It was a 2 speed auto introduced on the Chrysler Imperial halfway through the 1953 model year to replace all the then current versions of Fluid Drive semi automatics (depending on which division of Chrysler you were buying from you got either Gryol FLuid Drive or Tip Toe Shift Fluid Drive in Chrysler,DeSoto,and Dodge, Plymouth never offrered any version of Fluid Drive). Starting in 1954 you could get Powerflite across the board in any Chrysler Corp. car (Plymouth dodn't get it until mid year though). In 1953-54 Powerflite had the convetional gear shift lever on the steering wheel. In 1955 the gear shift moved to the dashboard (an arrangement copied by the Corvair in 1960, and the Pontiac Tempest in 1961). It wasn't until 1956 that the Pushbutton Powerflite Drive was introduced. Halfway through that same model year saw the introduction of the 3 speed TorgueFlite Drive on the Imperial line of cars (Imperial became it's own division in 1955 and would remain so through 1975). Powerflite was last offered in 1961. It was completely superceded by the more efficent TorgueFlite Drive in 1962.

Here are a few gimmic names you all forgot:
MercElectric---What Kiekhaffer Mercury called their electric starting Mercury outboards from 1954 into the 70's
MerControl----- The Single lever remote throttle/gearshift control unit for a Mercury Outboard
Ease A Matic------Packards name for their Power Brakes
Powerglide Drive----Chevys 2 speed automatic made from 1950 to 1973.
DynaFlow Drive/Twin Turbine DynaFlow Drive/ Triple Turbine DynaFlow Drive------ Names for Buicks original automatic and its descendants.
Fabri_Matic----What Maytag called their 1 Speed washers with the phony delicate cycle (all itamounted to was a couple mihnutes agitation and then a couple minutes of soaking repeated a few times).
Fabric Master-----used by Frigidaire Circa 1960 to describe their automatic dryers, and then by Kenmore to describe their dryers automatic dryng cycle circa 1970 into the 80-'s
Futuramic-----What Oldsmobile called its styling of the 1948 98 line and then the whole line of cars in 1949 and 1950.
Roto Matic-------What Eureka called its new swivel top cannister for 1952. Eureka offerd this model for years (at least into the early 60's)as well as making it for Wizard, Montgomery Wards, and Bradford to name a few of the private brands it was offered by. In the Sevenies Eureka used that name for its power nozzles.
Cinerama----- A filming technique using three projecters and a curved screen to give the impression of being surrounded by the movie.
CinemaScope---a one projector flat screen version of Cinerama.
Ultramatic-----what RCA Whirlpool called their 1961 Washer/Dryer combo (I have proof of that in an RCA Whirlpool ad.
Ultravision------What Ge called their Tv's in the 1950's
AutoMAgic------A name used both by THor and Philco Bedix. THor used it in the 40's and early 50's to describe their washer that could also be a dishwasher by removing the wash tub and inserting a dishwashing tub. Philco used that name starting in 1958 to describe it TOL and MOL washers and dryers.
Automatic Drive----as stated in the above diatribe---this was Studebakers first automatic transmision and was offered from 1950 to 1953 when it was then replaced by a less expensive Borg Warner Flash O Matic unit.
Bail O Matic------- a device connected to most 1950's Scott Atwater and 1960's McCloucch made outboards, including Elgin (changed to Sears name in 1964) sold By Sears Roebuck & Co and Wizard brand outboard motors (sold by Western Auto), that bailed water out of the bottom of your boat when ever the engine was running.
Ice Magic------The name Whirlpool has used for years on the icemakers in their fridges

Iam sorry if this is to long and to out of place here but I just had to let it out.....(deep breath in...deep breath out) There I feel much better now. PATRICK COFFEY
 
And to go with all the wonderful car stuff, we can add Buick's "Air Poise Suspension" it used air springs instead of the usual coil or leaf springs. And Vibrasonic by Motorola. An amplifier and box of springs that usually mounted in the trunk to give an echo effect to your AM or FM radio. It was a lot of fun when you hit railroad tracks or pot holes, it then gave a loud kachang sound.

Also something old that's new again, my Mercury Mountaineer, has the Audiofile sound system. Now electronically, it adds various echo chamber effects, which is a real hoot listening to Yma Sumac CDs, the poor system just doesn't quite know what to do with those!

Scroll about 1/4 page down on the link, and you'll see a description for Vibrasonic in a home application, which I didn't know Motorola made. Click the orange Vibrasonic heading and you'll see the ad for the machine.

 
Ultravisions

What I find is interesting is that Hitachi now calls their Hi-definition projection TV's these days "Ultravision". Hitachi Ultravisions are some of the best projection TV's out there from a technician's standpoint. I remember seeing that name on vingage GE televisions made back in the fifties.

Now, in the eighties, when GE and RCA merged, they were actually re-packaging Hitachi projection sets because they did not have a projection TV program really going yet. Later on in the early 90's, they started manufacturing their own. It was a disaster. They took their CTC 169 chassis from their "big tube" televisions, added a dynamic convergence board and forced it to drive the 3 high-brightness CRTS needed for the projection system. What was a rather good, reliable TV chassis in a direct view tube model was just not up to the task of operating the projection system. The sets were terribly unreliable and had poor picture quality to boot.

I'd love to find one of those old Hitachi built projection TV's ...Remember them? They were a box with a reflective screen on top. Directly in front the projection box was a mirror that reflected the picture up onto the screen on top of the box. Almost the same as the common rear projection sets of today, but it was front projection. I remember seeing one of these things at the department store as a kid and being awestruck at the design. I also couldn't fathom anyone spending close to $10,000 for a television set when I saw the price tag!

RCA PFR100 Front Projection Television

The PFR100 front projection television, RCA's first such television design introduced in 1981.
www.cedmagic.com
 
weirdarama

I hope I get to see (and video) another Mold-A-Rama in my lifetime.

In new orleans we had a car paint place called "Fact-O-Bake". They paint your car and put it in an oven.
 
more about hydramatic

kenmore 1978

With your extensive knowledge of GM transmissions, you left out one designation: Pontiac for 1956 called their trans Strat-o-flite hydramatic. (Olds was Jet-a-Way hydramatic, Cadillac simply hydramatic).

These 4 speed transmissions had a fluid coupling instead of the now-familiar torque converter. The change for 1956 was the addition of a smaller fluid coupling which would fill to change from 1 to 2 and 3 to 4. No clutch or band change ocurred. These shifts were indeed liquid smooth. The shift from 2 to 3 was a little rougher, because clutches and bands were involved. I feel fortuate to have owned a 1961 Cadillac with this trans.

I was also luckey to have driven a 1959 Chevy Impala with turboglide, and a 1959 Buick with dynaflow. I always loved flooring those cars to feel the pitch switch. Those transmissions were not that efficient, but the engines were so powerful that the performance was pretty good.

When we were kids we made up the name coolerator, or at least I thought so until I saw a Coolerator freezer in our neighbor's basement.
 
transmission designations

"With your extensive knowledge of GM transmissions, you left out one designation: Pontiac for 1956 called their trans Strat-o-flite hydramatic. (Olds was Jet-a-Way hydramatic, Cadillac simply hydramatic)."

Yep, I knew about them, but i just lumped the Hydra-Matics together siince there was nothing differnt about them except the name

"These 4 speed transmissions had a fluid coupling instead of the now-familiar torque converter. The change for 1956 was the addition of a smaller fluid coupling which would fill to change from 1 to 2 and 3 to 4. No clutch or band change ocurred. These shifts were indeed liquid smooth. The shift from 2 to 3 was a little rougher, because clutches and bands were involved.".

It was sort of 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of another, since the new design for 1956 with the second fluid coupling simply exchanged 3 small "typical" bumps for 1 LARGE bump

"I was also luckey to have driven a 1959 Chevy Impala with turboglide, and a 1959 Buick with dynaflow. I always loved flooring those cars to feel the pitch switch. Those transmissions were not that efficient, but the engines were so powerful that the performance was pretty good."

Turboglide had a lot of problems, but the final version of the Dynaflow (Turbinie Drive" had been improved so much that the performance of my Grandparent's 1962 Buick Wildcat felt every bit as positive as a geared transmission. That car was FAST!
 
More about Hydra-Matic ..Oldsmobile Whirlaway Hydramatic Dri

In advertising for Oldsombiles circa 1950 Old's version of Hydra-Matic Drive was advertised as "Whirlaway" Hydra-Matic Drive.
PAT COFFEY
 
Ultravision

i own a Hitachi RPTV Ultravision set I got from Circuit city about 3 years ago.These machines were top rated by reviewers from such magazines as "The Perfect Vision"A magazine publised by the same folks that publish "The Absolute Sound" and "Home theater" magazines.Its quality is unmatched by any other set.The CRT based models are the best. Hitachi now has added DLP and Plasma to their "Ultravision" line. the CRT based sets are still best.I have compared the images on my set to the $10,000 plasma sets from other builders and the "Ultravision" is still better and at a much lower price.At some point I am going to get a HDTV tuner for my set so I can really see what it can do.I use it to watch DVD and laserdisc movies at this point.It has a 57" screen.Love it-the best set I have ever owned.Sadly just about all set builders are trying to phase out CRT based projector sets.This is bad-they still give the best image quality and reliability for the price.
 
cinerama

Not only does it use three proctors that are syncronized together(A Sel-sync device was used)and the projectors had specially designed 3 phase motors run from the Sel-Sync unit.The projectionist had to "cue" and frame each 1 hr reel during thread-ups.The other thing that was unusual about Cinerama was the curved "Strip" screen-the screen was actually made up from many "Strips" of screen fabric hung like vertical venation blinds. In some theaters an annoucer or the theater manager would literally "walk thru" the screen to announce the movie and the experience the audience was about to encounter.these screens are still available-custom-and for a price.only a couple the theaters are still equipped to run Cinerama-and no more prints for it are made.Sad-I remember watching "How The West Was Won" in Cinerama in a theater near Wash DC.They had the announcer who walked thru the screen.Century made the special projectors for Cinerama.Many of these were "Recycled" to run standard 35MM film prints.the soundtrack was Magnetic-that explained the unusual high sound quality of these shows.Long before Dolby and DTS.
 
Psych-O-Rama

Who could forget the 50`s horror and sci-fi movies with there 3-d vision and glasses you wore. There were several names for these but the only one I can think of is Psych-O-Rama used in the Terror of the haunted house, Probably produced by Willam Castle who used to do all kinds of crazy promotionals for his movies including life insurance in case you were scared to death! Ha! Tolivac check out the link below to a Vintage Horror movie website. Don

 
names for gadgets

"we can add Buick's "Air Poise Suspension" it used air springs instead of the usual coil or leaf springs."

Air Suspension was available on all GM cars for 1958, and each division had their own name for it.

Chevrolet "Level Air"
Pontiac "Ever Level"
Oldsmobile "Newmatic Ride"
Buick "Air Poise"

Typicaly, Cadillac had no special name, it was just "air suspension"
 
Horror Channel

Don: very interesting site.My kind of movies-have most of them they discuss.Don't think Cinerama was used for horror shows though.those were too low budget to use such a system.Remember with Cinerama-three reels for each hour of movie!At best for Sci-fi-horror was 3D or even---"2D" standard-but named it to catch attention-the film was "Robot Monster"Sold together with "Plan Nine From outer space"a DVD set.I am always on the prowel for 50's and 60's movies-esp Sci-Fi and horror from that time-the "rubber suit" days was most amusing.
 
Run, don't walk

And pick up a copy of "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra." Hysterically funny. I mean hysterical. Can't remember the name of the guy who did it, but he definitely has an appreciation for the genre. Such as it is.

veg "There is obviously much humor in what you say."
 
Hi Rex,and Veg! I`ll try to find that movie, sounds like fun. Best Buy is supposed to be having a $1 movie sale for these old movies but I`ve been finding mine at oldies.com 5dvd for $25 and there always coming out with something old. You guys have a good week!
 
Air Ride

I had an uncle who had one of those air ride suspensions in the 50s. In the morning the car looked limp and sagged on one side. Then when you start the engine, the compresor comes on and the car goes back up to ride height. I never saw this but I was just told the story.

Bri's van, a Dodge Grand Caravan equipped with wheelchair ramp has air shocks that lower and raise the van for easy access. When you open the gate, the van lowers (with the sound of hissing air) and when you close it, the van rises (a compressor turns on). One day, the air bags broke and Bri had a PIMPIN' low rider. Only it rode like hell so it had to be fixed.

One day at Target, I opened the ramp and the van lowered. 4 teenagers were like "Dude! He's got hydraulics. Cool man." and they were giving us the thumbs up and stuff. Bri was embarassed but I thought it was cool.
 
BB dollar movies

I have a couple of these-forget the titles. They are packed in a simple cardboard jacket.Not bad for a buck though.I am looking for some of the Rhino titles that are recorded with "Rhino recording-Drive in Movie Theater Distorto-Sound"-to recreate the experience of watching a movie at the Drive-in-they even add sound effects like horns honking,people talking,etc.also I am always looking for Mystery Science Theater shows as well.
 

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