The History of the Introduction of the Automatics thru Newspapers

[Unimatic1140]

After that the next one I found is Houston where the AMC was introduced on March 15, 1948 in the Houston Chronical...


It takes most of 1948 and into early 1949 before AMC reaches most states and seems to be widespread after that.

End AMC.

 

[circlew]

Next up in the study of the introduction of early automatics is the AMC! Beam Manufacturing Company of Webster City, Iowa, began producing washing machines in 1937 after reopening the former Monarch plant. By the late 1940s, Beam had gained a reputation for innovative washer engineering, developing and patenting new mechanisms under the direction of designers such as George Castner and the Foster brothers. Although Beam never marketed automatic washers under its own name, the company built and rebranded machines for other retailers, including AMC (Associated Merchandising Corporation) and Coronado for Gables Department Stores in the Upper Midwest which were the first of any brands to be "Beam" made machines.

There were two primary Beam automatic washer designs: the first, produced from about 1947 to 1951, featured separate motors for washing and spinning; the second, introduced in 1951, used a single-motor configuration. Beam was also supplying key components that Speed Queen used to produce its first automatic washing machine in 1952. Beam was the company that created the Fluid-Drive clutch system that Speed Queen used for nearly 20 years in it's automatic washers.

The AMC automatic with it's early round lid is the one last dream machine I'd love to find, I'm surprised I haven't found any since they seem to have proliferated the upper Midwest first before anywhere else. I did find a 1956 Coronado in the late 90s and I still have the red 4-vane agitator from it. These earlier machines used a similar 4-vane agitator but they were made out of aluminum, they were referred to as the "Thoro-lator".

The very first AMC washer became available on Sept 26, 1947 with this ad in downtown Milwaukee's Boston Department Store...
View attachment 320075

Soon after that Gambles Department stores across Minneapolis-St. Paul started selling the same Beam machine but under it's own "Coronado" name brand on Oct 8, 1947. This from the Minneapolis Star...
View attachment 320076

Dayton's in Downtown Minneapolis also featured the AMC starting on Dec 11, 1947...
View attachment 320077

For the first time outside of the upper Midwest the AMC because available in St. Louis from the Post-Dispatch on Dec 14, 1947...
View attachment 320078

By January 18th, 1948 the AMC showed in one the east coast in Philadelphia in the Philadelphia Inquirer...
View attachment 320079

On January 28, 1948 Manitowoc WI now has the AMC for it's branch of the Boston Store...
View attachment 320080

The AMC now shows up in Cleveland on Feb 9, 1948...
View attachment 320081

The on Feb 15, 1948 in Cincinnati from the Cincinnati Enquirer...
View attachment 320082

The AMC now shows up in Pittsburg in Press-Page on Feb 16, 1948...
View attachment 320083

AMC Continues...

I remember Shillito's selling AMC appliances, and always thought they looked "cheap" in comparison to the GE models they also sold. I see in the ad that the downtown appliance department was on the sixth floor. By the time I was old enough to observe anything, that department had been relocated to the first floor of the garage building, diagonally across Seventh and Elm Sts. We nearly always parked there, so usually passed through that part so I could look.