Today 413 picture of the day

[combo52]

1955 Hamilton washer made by Norge, I love the enthusiasm in add copy where they say worst day freedom is yours forever with these Hamilton companion pieces when in fact, you would be lucky if this washer lasted a decade without lots of repairs.

This may be one of the first times that accompany sourced a washer from another company yet Hamilton was building the dryer in their factory and two rivers Wisconsin.

About four years ago, I took the ferry from Manitowoc Wisconsin, right next to two rivers and they were having a big celebration celebrating the history of two Rivers Wisconsin and there is no mention of Hamilton dryers. I was talking to one of the ladies at the fair and I said, did you realize, two Rivers Wisconsin was the birthplace of the modern tumble clothes dryer. She had no idea, lol.

Hamilton did build not only a very successful good performing dryer, but it was quite reliable as well, kind of a shame they paired up with Norge for the washing machine. It would’ve been neat if they could’ve paired it up with whirlpool to produce the automatic washer, but I think Sears had the rights on that.

John

 

[ea56]

We had a Hamilton washer almost identical to this one that my parents purchased in ‘56 to replace our Bendix Economat. By ‘58 it was toast and was replaced with a new GE FF.

The price of $309.95 written on the front of the brochure was a lot of money in ‘55. I’ve seen old newspaper clippings from that time period showing ads for used cars and a 4 year old Chevrolet could be bought for $350.00, about $40.00 more than this Hamilton washer. That’s WAY more than a washer costs today in comparison to a 4 year old used Chevy.

Eddie

 

[gyrafoam]

Hamilton did build great dryers. I have had both, electric and gas, although gas seemed to be the most popular in the Atlanta area years ago. Probably sold by Atlanta Gaslight Co. Many of the ones I found were in perfect working condition, many years beyond their expiration date, however, basements and gas-fired boilers/ water heaters could wreak havoc on the cabinet surface.
The last one I had was a neat 60's machine with a half-moon window and that wonderful purple back-ground light they had a catchy name for. I don't recall it. "Beam Ray" or something.
It looked great when operating in a dark room at night. Like San Francisco summer of '67.
Last I saw it, it was in John's Museum.