Thor Automagic

[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

 

[toggleswitch]

Levitt built slab-on-ground basementless homes in where else? Levittown, New York. This is on Long Island, a suburb of New York City.

This suburb was constructed to house the soldiers returning from WWII. NYC rent regulations were also enacted at this time to prevent gouging of tenants when demand (but not supply) increased subddenly.

Basmentless is rather odd here.
These homes had oil hydronic radiant heat with pipes hidden in the concrete slab. Domestic hot water was from coil in the boiler. The boiler was actually in the kitchen and shared a chimney (with two flues) with a fireplace that was behind the wall separating the kit and liv rooms.

The stoves were 27" GE electrics and [electric cooking is/was relatively unheard-of in this market]. I believe the washers that came with the home (this was a very unique thing) were bolt-down bendix-es IIRC.

Most owners have added on to the homes with the most common feature an attached garae with rooms for the laundry machines and the boiler, which is normally now relocated. Most of the homes radiant pipes sprung leaks and were retro-fitted with baseboard heating.

Click on Levittown NY on the left side!

http://www.levittandsons.com/Levitt/aboutus.aspx

 

[toggleswitch]

Here is an example of baseboard style convectors ("Radiators" ) for our international friends

http://www.slantfin.com/prod-fineline15.html

 

[toggleswitch]

There is no modern MORE EXPENSIVE (to install) combination of climate control than hot water heating and central air conditioning!

http://www.slantfin.com/heating_guide/