Top load washers in the USA

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brucelucenta

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It seems that this country is really one of the very few that top load washers were king for so many years from the 50's on. I have seen machines from other countries that were top load that simply had a rotating basket inside and were like a front load machines after all. What or who was it that allowed this country to be so indulgent in almost exclusively manufacturing top load washers with agitators for so many years? They do use a lot more water than front loaders and usually more detergent, so why do you suppose it was allowed to happen that way? What kept top loaders from catching on in other countries like they did here? Seems strange to me and seems as though it is something almost exclusive to the USA and the surrounding areas. It now seems kind of wasteful, but went on for over 50 years.
 
Could be, I really am not sure how that all came about. I know that I still see posts from different countries that have top loaders which are just front loaders that load from the top. It would seem to me that it would be cheaper to build one that only rotates as to one that has a transmission and such. Seems like there would be a lot more to it than a front loader had.
 
Who allowed this country to be so indulgent?

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Who<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>ALLOWED this country....?   What kind of question is that???   </span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span>

<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You make it sound like "someone" made a conscience decision about it: "Hmm, shall we build washing machines that are really inefficient and use LOTS of water and LOTS of electricity to clean our clothes... OR... shall we build a different type of washer that uses very little water to clean our clothes?   Naaah!”</span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Come on, you are old enough to know / remember.  Look back at that time in our history, it was a very selfish and wasteful time.   Our country was prosperous and NO ONE thought about, cared about or knew the meaning of “conserving our resources”.   Water and electricity was plentiful</span> and inexpensive (just like gasoline, but that’s another thread).</span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Plus you have to look at the available technology and engineering of the time, then add in the cost of manufacturing and that’s what we got.   Like Tolivac mentioned above, it costs less to build a top load machine, even today.     Plus top load washers were the first design created and to be mass produced. </span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Look at other countries like Australia for example, they are where we were in the 60’s & 70’s, meaning the vast majority of all washing machines sold and used in Australia are non-HE top loaders.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">The UK for example has front loaders out of necessity.  They have always been more "aware" of water usage / waist, etc, plus apartments / flats over there are much smaller than here and they simply didn't (and still don't) have the room for large machines like we have here. </span>

[this post was last edited: 6/22/2016-10:00]
 
I guess so, just seems odd that in this country they were the preference for so many years. Some had a novel way of washing clothes too. It certainly seems to be all over now.
 
Creatures of habit

I've spent a lifetime observing how even educated people are creatures of habit when it comes to some ordinary areas and things in their lives. I think most of our Grandmothers had/used Wringer washers at some point and they translated better to the Top Loading Automatic than to "horizontal axis" machines in the minds of those who did the laundry.

 

Furthermore, I think this preference is still strong even after the "High Efficiency" revolution. We started out strong about 10 years ago with all of our stores shifting over to Front Loaders only to see companies like Samsung, Whirlpool and LG bolster their lines with tons of top-loading "Calypso-style" high efficiency machines. I think the average American is still more comfortable with top-loaders.

 

I remember that Fisher & Paykel came out with a very interesting Top-Loading dryer a couple of years ago that is NLA. Did any of you have any experience with it? I'm kinda curious about it now and looking for one on Craigslist.
 
Toploaders are not exclusive to the USA. You can still find a lot of them in Asia and in South America. Also there are still a lot in Australia although frontloaders seem to gain a market share there. Europe is actually the only continent where frontloaders took over the market from the beginning.

I guess it's for various reasons that toploaders became popular in the USA. A few possible reasons:

1. Convenience. Toploaders are way easier to load than frontloaders.

2. They are more similar to wringer washers, so it's easier to make the change from a wringer washer to a toploader.

3. The 110V system which meant almost always no heater in the washers. In a toploader with a lot more water in it a higher temperature is easier maintained than in a frontloader that uses less water. Hot water becomes warm water very fast in a frontloader.

Just my 2 cents.
 
It is only for the American domestic market that top loading washing machines came to dominate. As have said before commercial laundries almost universally went with side loading machines. Mind you they could because the devices were heated and often powered by steam. This and they could be bolted into floors which made up for lack of suspension systems.

When you look at how washing clothes evolved it went from doing washing by hand in some sort of container to the addition of some sort of hand or later motor powered.

Early in the last century there were more than a few washing machines being offered that were H-axis for domestic use. Thor, Hurley, Eden, Gainaday, Maytag, and others built such machines. Take a look at the various contraptions at the Olde Wash museum:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hWI1CYKHVxtAvUQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=LN6fTtwGQ9ItRM:

My personal favourite and holy grail is the "Cylinder" washer by Thor (Hurley Machine Company). Have been trying for years to find one in decent to good condition... http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?36327

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?21790
 
That's what I'm talking about, this really is the only country that top loaders completely dominated the market of home use washers. Now in the beginning I know they were much better at washing and spinning than the old bendix and westinghouse machines back in the 40's and 50's. Perhaps that is why there were so many different manufacturers of top loaders in the 50's and 60's. They sure used a lot more water to do their job though. That was never an issue until recently. Thank goodness the front loader has improved to the point of being far superior now. I just think it is interesting when you see how it all unfolded. Even westinghouse came out with their own top loader in the 60's to get a bigger share in the market.
 
H-Axis washers for domestic use

Were hobbled by a couple of things.

Commercial laundries had access to unlimited hot or even boiling water via their boilers. Those things not only provided steam to run machinery (via belts)but for heating water either in central tanks and or washers and other machines. The domestic setting OTOH was another story....

Many homes right up until an even after WWII lacked indoor plumbing connections for hot water. That meant boiling kettles or whatever on a fire then hauling that water to washing machine. Well after doing all that nonsense you aren't going to just dump that nice hot water after one use. So yes, while various portable "semi-automatic" H-axis washers were on the market early, once things began to move towards fully automatic machines you can see the problem.

Next came the fact H-axis washers either must be bolted into several feet of concrete or have rugged suspensions. Bendix came out with the former and later the latter but since they held those patents everyone else either had to pay or find a work around. Even then not every home could or would have a machine bolted down.

Finally there was the question of cleanser, and until post WWII that meant soap. Pure soaps and H-axis washing machines do not play nice. In fact any high sudsing detergent causes all sorts of problems. Commercial laundries had ways around this but for the average housewife things were different.

Meanwhile it was generally known even early in the last century that H-axis washers were more gentle on clothing than those with central beaters. However until better designs, more powerful motors and so forth came along there was little makers of H-axis washers could do.

Contrary to popular belief there were top loading washing machines in Europe before WWII. It was just post that event as many countries were rebuilding the benefits of H-axis washers became clear.
 
In Europe they had top loaders before WWII? That was something I didn't know. Is there somewhere I could look at what they had? I am curious about it. I know that one of the first top loaders here was Frigidaire. Since they were solid tub machines, they didn't use as much water. I personally think that if Frigidaire washers had not had the tangling problem they could have well taken the complete market on automatic washers. They certainly did everything else well. It could have been Frigidaire instead of Whirlpool.
 
Yes, like other parts of the world we had wringer washers too with agitators or with pulsators. However in Western Europe (with exception from the UK) the focus was on frontloaders when the automatics were introduced. The first automatic washing machine in Europe came from Constructa (1953/1954). There were some toploaders too, but those were automatic H-axis twintubs like the AEG Turnamat and fully automatic H-axis toploaders like the V-Zug Unimatic.

Before the introduction of the automatics in Europe, American washing machines were imported for the well to do. Mainly GE toploaders and Bendix frontloaders were imported. The first automatic washing machine that was imported was a Bendix in 1948 for a family in Rotterdam.

I found in those pictures a picture of a typical French washtub from before WWII. Une machine à laver manuelle! An H-axis toploader!

foraloysius++6-22-2016-13-51-58.jpg
 
Ok, so my next question is this. Is there anywhere that still makes traditional top load washers in another country? Besides speed queen I mean.
 
Brastemp

From Brazil and perhaps some other South American appliance manufacturers.

http://www.brastemp.com.br/categoria/lavadoras-de-roupas/

Then there is Mabe in Mexico.

Quite honestly outside of North and South America and perhaps OZ and New Zealand the traditional top loading washer we know and love either never took hold or has been long since passed over in favor of H-Axis washers.

There is a thriving USA export market for American appliances. Top loading washing machines are sought after by households in Israel, the Middle East, Europe and other parts of the world.

http://www.eastwestintl.com/showsubcat.asp?catid=24&mcid=20

http://www.samstores.com/search-220-volts-laundry-appliances-960.html

IIRC Israel is big because many large Jewish families don't want to spend ages doing laundry. Top loaders are faster than front...

For the Middle East and Israel semi-automatics and wringers once were in demand due to the ability to reuse water; something much appreciated in desert areas.

 
Traditional in which sense? Asia always had the toploaders with the wash plates. They fill to the top with a full load, often by sensing the load. Brands are Toshiba, LG, Haier, Hitachi, Panasonic etc.

I have an LG Turbodrum that fills to the top. Made in Korea for the South American market. It ended up in the Netherlands in the end.

In Australia there is Simpson that still makes some traditonal models.

http://simpson.com.au/List?guid=B39084BD-E1B9-48D4-B783-C92C2F5B83B4

In South America there is ofcourse

Brastemp (Whirlpool)

http://www.brastemp.com.br/categoria/lavadoras-de-roupas/

I bet there are more.
 

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