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
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.
Next up we have the Blackstone Automatic Washer. Blackstone was the world's very first top loading automatic washer ever to make it to the market for sale and they did it before the war started. Blackstone wins the top loader prize for the first. It appears that it was first available for sale in Cleveland in the Plain Dealer on June 10, 1940! You could purchase it or have it delivered to your home where you could try it first and then decide...
It seems to have made it to an Atlanta department store next as mentioned in this classified ad in the Atlanta Journal on June 23, 1940...
After that it arrives in Minneapolis in the Minneapolis Star at Dayton's on July 4, 1940...
Next it shows up in the Grand Forks, ND Herald on July 27, 1940...
Next it shows up in Sacramento, CA on in the Sacramento Bee on July 27, 1940. Unfortunately this ad has Blackstone's racist mascot Mechanical Mandy. She was used in a ton of ads in 1940 and I'm only going to post one for historical refence only, she was used in ads thru 1949 and gone by the start of 1950...
Next up the Davidson's department store in Atlanta starts running full page ads in the Atlanta Journal for the Blackstone on July 28th, 1940
Next up is Palo Alto, California where the Blackstone automatic is advertised in the Peninsula Times-Tribune on Aug 2, 1940...
Independence, MO is next on Aug 13, 1940...
Enid, OK has it Aug 25, 1940...
Freemont OH is next August 31, 1940 in the Freemont News-Messenger...
Over 1000 newspapers ads for the Blackstone are now found from Sept 1940 thru the end of 1941 covering 28 out 48 states. In 1942 ads quickly drop off to nothing as the war ramps up.
Now for the Post-War model. The earliest reference after the war to the Blackstone was a nation wide ad campaign by Blackstone as it was soon to be re-released on July 27, 1945 in the Portland Oregonian...
Next reference is found in the Daily Breeze Newspaper from Hermosa Beach, California on Oct 24, 1945...
The Daily Sentential in Grand Junction CO was next on Jan 1, 1946. They appear to have the machine on their sales floor but it's not clear if it's available for delivery yet...
Nearly 10 months pass before the next reference with this ad from Missoula, MT on Oct 10, 1946, they appear to have the machine although again it's not clear if they can deliver it and there is no price listed....
A dealer meeting in Wichita, KS on Dec 2, 1946...
And finally on Feb 23, 1947 the post-war Blackstone automatic is finally available as shown in Hartford, CT in the Courant...
