The Last Bolt Downs?

[cornutt]

The Norge ad in yesterday's POD contained a mention of "No need to bolt down!" That got me thinking: what were the last bolt-down machines made for residential use? Were there any made after 1960? (I'm aware that there are commercial bolt-downs still made today.)

 

[kenmore71]

Bolt-downs were gone long before that all the way across the board.  

To my knowledge, GE, Maytag & Frigidaire never made a bolt-down.

I think the main bolt-down manufacturers were WP/KM and Bendix.

There may have been others that I have not investigated.

By about 1950 or 1951 the WP/KM machines were no longer bolt-down.

There were VERY FEW bolt-down machines produced after 1950.

 

 

[golittlesport]

Norge did make a bolt down

Actually, Norge's very first automatic washer was a bolt down. It was a front loader and only produced for about a year or so before their top-load, non-bolt down line was introduced.

Westinghouse also made a BOL bolt down machine for home use, similar to their coin-op washers that were produced well into the 60s, maybe beyond.

The Launderall/Horton top load H axis machines were bolt down too.

I think Beam may have made a bolt down agitator automatic for its customers like Western Auto, Gambles, etc. under the names of Wizard, Coronado and such. Not positive, but I've seen ads for round machines that look like a wringer washer without the wringer.

 

[jeb]

Frigidare Bolt down

I was helping at an estate sale once at a very old rundown farm house. They had a very early Frigidare that was fasten down with a clip thing bolted to the floor. It was a long metal piece with a fork on each end that hooked over the feet of the washer. It looked factory made and had to be removed to move the washer. The washer was installed in the corner of the kitchen on a wooden floor, so it might have been for vibration. jeb

 

[kenmore71]

It must have been for vibration.  A true bolt-down machine had to be bolted to a concrete slab either in a basement, garage, carport, etc. because it has NO suspension system.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Bolt down Bendix machines could be bolted to the joists in a wooden floor. The holes were drilled through the joists and a steel plate was put under the joists and bolted to the joists. The bolts came through the plate and the joists and the machine was attached to them. Lots of dynamic forces at work there.

 

[norgeway]

A friend of mine..

Said his Grandmother had a bolt down Bendix on the closed in back poarch off of the kitchen, he said if you left one of the cabinet doors open in the kitchen, when it would spin it would shake the dishes out on the floor!He said the whole house would rattle!

 

[tomturbomatic]

I remember a family with one in the kitchen and one day when it went into spin, the crockery container in which they kept the soap lept off the counter and crashed to the floor.