Thor Automagic

[petek]

All the dw talk got me to thinking about these machines. I recollect the ad from some of my old Popular Mechanics mags. Anyone ever used one or have one?

 

[petek]

Here's another one

Now you can wash your babies poopy diapers and the fine china at the same time..

 

[jasonl]

It's funny how Thor used the name "Automagic" and then in the late 50s, Philco picked it up.

 

[mrcleanjeans]

AS a DW,how did it wash?I know you put a seperate tub in for each function,but was an impeller used for the wash action?

 

[toggleswitch]

Quote: Now you can wash your babies poopy diapers and the fine china at the same time..

I cant really get past this thought, either.

 

[retromom]

Not exactly squeaky clean

I believe I posted a comment on the Thor Automagic on a previous thread. I'm not sure what would be worse, fur on the Frankoma or broccoli on the brassiere ;-)

 

[westyslantfront]

Thor Automagic

I grew up with a Thor Automagic. We did not have tub for dishes, only for laundry. It was a great machine and very
flexible. It would wash for as long as you wanted, overflow rinse as long as you wanted, infinite water level as hose was connected directly to kitchen sink, spin as long as you wanted.
I wish I could add a Thor Automagic to my collection but they are extremely rare and hard to find.

 

[gyrafoam]

I remember a neighbor who had one in the basement as a back up to their regular machine. I never saw it used as a dishwasher. That thing was a BRUTE! I saw it in action a few times and even then (as a child) thought it was VERY aggressive on the clothes. I sure would watch that wash time!

 

[mrcleanjeans]

my spin on things

Funny, they're not even automatic.Having to manually take the machine through all steps is what they called semi-automatic.Not that most of you don't already know this but I felt like ramblin'.I love this machine,tho,and I manually tinker with a washer alot anyhow when it is in progress.That's why I don't care for MODERN FLs.When I turn them manually to spin to speed up the process,they want to "rock wash gently,rock wash slowly" and will not kick right into spin.

 

[keymatic]

Hi Guys

Interesting comments about the Thor Automagic washer. They were available here in the UK as well, firstly imported from the US then manufactured here by a Company called Parnall - Radiation Ltd, up until about 1963

I have had 3 of these machines, but 2 i have had to let go because they are beyond repair...the only one i have left now is is the mk2/244 which was the last model before the dishwashing option was discarded.

They are fab machines as "westyslantfront" said you could wash, rinse and spin for as long as you wanted, and the sudz saving system was neat, all you do is push a special rubber stopper in the end of the empyting hose..!!

The picture below is of the machine i have, and you can see it in action at laundra-mat.net

Any questions let me know...regards

Keith - UK

http://www.laundra-mat.net

 

[DADoES]

ChestermikeUK sent a copy of the video to me, I ran it through Media Encoder and cut the file size by 1/2, from 22 MB to 10.5 MB. The picture size is also reduced, but the video quality is still excellent. I placed it on the club's so-called media server, which may be a faster download. Here's the link:

Thor Automagic

Right-click and Save As . . .

 

[golittlesport]

Great website, Keith! Thanks for making that video of the Thor...it is indeed a rare machine.

 

[westytoploader]

YAY for Thor

That machine looks like it is F-U-N to use!!! Check out that AWESOME turnover and rapid water throw/acceleration on spin!!

And very Deco "rounded" styling as well, complete with window lid for DW action! Would love to get my hands on one of these beauties!

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Love it, but it

scares me!!! Wow, what amazing sounds. Thanks for the video!

 

[Westingcan]

Great video, a rare treat! Thanks.

 

[gansky1]

Totally awesome video - and machine!!

 

[westyslantfront]

Thor

Thank you for the wonderful video. It is the washer I grew up with and as it is so rare, I think the video is the closest I will get.

Thank you,
Ross

 

[jasonl]

How fast?

How fast does that machine spin?

I love the solid tub! So I'm guessing if you wanted to save suds, you'd plug up the drain hose and use the machine to refill itself by pumping, right?

Although it said "auto" it's really a manual system.

 

[retromom]

Thunderous Thor!

Did you see the turnover on this one? Even with the indexing tub, it had lots of shredding action! I am assuming that this is the only wash cycle that the Thor had. Not for your fine washables!

 

[jasonl]

The hammer of Thor

I would not wash Bri's dainties in the Thor. She needs the extra slow loving handwash care that only a proper Lady Kenmore can give. None of that thrashing and beating.

 

[keymatic]

HI Jason..

The machine spins at about 650 rpm which was quite quick back then, considering some of our first front loaders span at 350rpm. You were right about the sudz return, simply remove the stopper from the drain hose and direct into the wash tub for the second load.

Keith

 

[programcomputer]

Consumers Union.........

Did not rate the machine very highly. They complained about the fact that it was "NOT" automatic, and that they found it "distasteful" to do dishes in a machine that was used to wash clothing, even with the seperate tub and mechanism.

They also complained about the washtub mechanism not being very rugged , yet heavy and finally a pain to change from clothes washer to dishwasher. And as a diswasher they rated it as : C. Not Reccommended and as a washing machine as a : B. Intermediate.

It was tested in 1952 on it's own , yet compared to other washers in the A. Reccommended and B. Intermediate categories yet as a whole they stated that a consumer would be better suited purchasing the two machines seperatly and using them as intended...rather than go thru the hassle of retrofitting the machine each time the different actions were needed. And finally they complained..."where in the would would you store all this extra equipment while one conversion was in use"....

Sounds to me like this was the "transformer" of the appliance world.

I also have a "user manual " for this machie with the print date of 1951. This machine wasnot easy to use, nor was it automatic in any sense as stated above...

So yeah...

Chad

 

[drmitch]

Thor

Thanks for the great video! Fun washer, love the overflow rinse!

 

[Unimatic1140]

That video was great! I noticed the long slow stroke of the agitation is very similar to a Norge. I was surprised at the very fast throw of water over the top of the tub, just like a Frigidaire or Norge. Makes me think that there that the Thor does not utilitze a clutch to transfer the rotary power between the motor and transmission.

 

[jasonl]

30 amp circuit

Yup. I'll betcha it's coupled directly to the pulley or motor.

Don't you just love that WHOOSH!

 

[MrX]

Interesting but not supprised it didn't take off, particularly as a dishwasher!

Washer-dryer's one thing.. but clothes-dish washer ??!!
Did they also do a dryer-oven in that range?
Tumbles your scones to perfection

 

[petek]

Come to think of it

Another reason it probably never took off as a dishwasher. Most every house here since way back when have had basements and that was the place that probably +90% of homeowners had their washers and dryers. No one is going to cart dirty dishes down to the basement to wash them

 

[jamiel]

In the late 40's/50's there were scads of houses built in the US without basements...I had one in suburban Chicago (neighborhood built 1953, as I recall) and found the original newspaper advertising which was a hoot. One of the key selling points was the fully equipped kitchen (mind you, this was a GE kitchen...refrigerator, separate upright freezer, stove, dishwasher and washing machine all crammed (!) into a good-sized kitchen footprint (the main casualty was counter space which was seriously lacking). This was a key selling point to those people buying their first house (in the city they would have walked to the laundromat, and the rest belonged to the landlord.

JL

 

[petek]

Jamiel

Were any of those basementless homes the ones with underfloor heating? In the late 50's early 60's there were quite a few built on cement pads with the hot water piping sunk in. I think they were called "wonder homes" and all were a basic 3 bedroom ranch with attached garage, basically the same floor plan in all with subtle differences, some with gable ended roofs, some with traditional roof.

 

[jamiel]

Not in my neighborhood...there were two styles of homes...essentially widest part of house to the street, and narrower part of house to street. Plenty of room to expand (and scrape, recently ) They had forced air gas heat (suburban Chicago) and gas HWH in a utility room off the bathroom (actually a very ingenious design because ensured a good draft carrying away moisture and smells, but also a bit noisy). My house had been converted after being built (about 6 years afterward) to have a boiler with radiant convectors. That was the best upgrade which the house could have had...the boiler and circulator were silent--all you heard was the whoosh of the boiler lighting up--the circulator pump was so low-toned that it was inaudible--and eliminated the noise problem of the FA-G heat. The duct work was there to add central air, but I never did--had a honking big window unit at one end of the house that I ran just like central air (i.e. continuously) and the house was fine for me (wouldn't have been with a family, but was fine for me)

One other interesting thing was what they did with the laundry--some houses retained it in the kitchen. Mine had a laundry closet in the garage built subsequent (some houses had garages, others carports) in which my old reliable Maytag automatic would freeze...I'd just put a drop-light into the tub for an hour or so b4 doing laundry.

JL