UK 1967 House & Garden appliance report - with a NEW old machine!

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

M

matchboxpaul

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
5,030
Location
U.K
Hi all.

Myself and Rob went on a trawl to the antiques and bric-a-brac place in the next town and came a way with a handful of mid to late 60s and early 70s House & Garden magazines.

One of the 1967 editions contained a neat little report on appliances of the day, with the laundry section containing a real eye opener!

Only 4 pages long, but nonetheless .... Enjoy!
Paul

matchboxpaul++12-9-2013-12-14-11.jpg
 
and here is the eye opener....

in the form of the fabled ACME Automatic.

Previously only read about in Which magazines, that only ever mentioned it by name, it was a real surprise to finally see a photograph of one totally out o the blue.

Anyone any ideas as to who made it?
Quite a smart, if a bit plain looking machine....

matchboxpaul++12-9-2013-12-18-51.jpg
 
Swansmaid/Kitchenaid???

I remember seeing a post by a member, of an old Swansmaid machine he had or found in an old English Manor house and it looked like a KD11 Clone. So does the one in the picture from the magazine article.
I have to wonder if they were granted licensing rights by Hobart to produce their machine. Never heard of that over here. Maybe a UK or European member can shed more light on these machines via pictures or brochures?
 
@stevet

Steve

I think the thread you referred to is the one below. You could also try entering "Swanmaid" into the searchalator as there are a few threads about it. Not sure when it was introduced here it was definitely on sale in 1960. It continued right through the 1960s which some small modifications. There was another Swanmaid model in the 1970s but do not know the origin of that one, it was definitely not Kitchenaid. Which (our version of CR) tested a Kitchenaid Surperba in around 1970 or so, so they must have been on sale here (possibly limited numbers) at that time.

Al

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?36450
 
Appliances

Great report Paul, just goes to show what you can find with a lot of patience and searching....The Acme..hhmmm, thinking Stokvis, Castorama or Gorenje group?...

Lee and Pete, the Sinkamatic, I think thats the one that you could use it with the impellor shown as a washing machine, (think Hoover twinny) and a dishwasher (drainer in the sink with dishes in, water swirling around) and a flexi drive for use with attachments such as a whisk/mixer - interesting concept, not sure how practical is would have been!!

And the Frigidaire Jetamatic Jetcone top loader with the heater and fast spin. The only one of the above I used at the time was the Bendix Tumble Dryer badged as a "Fisholow" very fast dryer with high/low and air fluff setting!!!
 
Sinkamatic

I have seen a similar thing, in the early 80s I lived in a flat in Fulham, the landlady next door had one she said she bought it at the ideal home exhibition, hers had the single pulsator at the back but had a rack on runners that allowed you to pull it up to load it, this is the first time I have seen anything like it.

These machines to me are all great and interesting I like em all, so have them delivered! :-)

Nice to know Paul you are both settling in and finding time to enjoy yourselves with more leisurely pursuits

Thanks for posting this
Gary
 
Sinkamatic

Haha Gary. Your post reminded me of Kitty being concussed at the ideal homes exhibition by an electric potato peeler!! Made me snigger

Great magazine Paul. I love all this old stuff - they just do t make em like the used to ;)
 
Kitty being concussed at the ideal homes exhibition

Not to mention, Steve, her mother gave birth to twins in an un-heated wash house and got straight up and finished the manglin'!

Paul, what a find!! These are brilliant, thank you very much for sharing!
 
ACME Automatic

I was looking at 'CandyBimatic's videos, and the Zoppas 563 is surprisingly similar...

same oval filter access opening, although the Zoppas has it hidden by a full cover panel.

MatchboxPaul's blow-up of the ACME in Reply #4, reveals a detergent lid on the top rear left, and a button on the top of the machine, near the front edge. Door release perhaps?

 
Blimey!

Its frightening how time flies - I can't believe that it was way back in 2013 that I found the magazine and started this thread.

Looks like, after getting for 6.5 years later, the origin of the ACME Automatic has been identified.

Agree with you Rolls_rapide, it certainly does have a number of design cues that the Zoppas 563 has.
I had never noticed the door release button on the top, until you mentioned it.
Apply a deeper fascia to the front of the cabinet and the gap looks like it would be the right depth between fascia bottom and the top of the bodyshell crease around the door.

Although the Zoppas 563 has a full width door across the front of the machine, open that door and the access space to the pump is a match too.

I think you have solved this mystery.

It's a shame one has never surfaced - pretty sure they will all be either buried in the ground, or have been recycled in the 1970s/80s - as, going by the video of the Zoppas, they would have been a really smart looking machine.

Paul
 
I wonder if Zoppas supplied unfinished machines to ACME, in order that ACME could put their own fascia on the machine? Didn't Bosch once do something similar with dishwashers for Hotpoint UK?

Bearing in mind the likes of English Electric farted about with moving control panels from front, to back, then front again, between different models of washer. I suppose the ACME could have been a one-off hybrid design before complete Zanussi-fication set in.

The Zoppas 563 has a left-hand rear dispenser, door release button, but the three control knobs are on the back edge of machine.

The Zoppas 570 moves the dispenser to the rear right-hand side, door catch is a handle on the door, control panel is on the upper front edge of the machine.

The Zoppas 580 has front-mounted dials.

Regarding the Currys advert and the Zoppas DL23T, that particular design seems to have all the design cues of Zanussi/REX. Reply #30 in the following thread appears a good match for it.

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?23704

I noticed that the ACME Automatic seems to have two dials, and what appears to be a rocker switch on its front fascia.

An advert for the Zoppas 562 apparently shows two rear-mounted dials and possibly a switch, rather than the three dials of the Zoppas 563. But the filter access port seems not to be shown in the Zoppas 562 advert.

rolls_rapide-2020042817541606823_1.jpg
 

Similar threads

Unimatic1140
The Life / Look Magazine of Appliances
Replies
18
Views
268
Unimatic1140
Unimatic1140
N
Why do we like washers so much?
Replies
24
Views
162
westytoploader
W

Latest posts

Back
Top