vintage dryers

[sdlee]

Why are vintage dryers so hard to come by? I hardly see them listed anywhere. Anyone got some old shots of them to share. Esp very old commercial dryers? What about info, when did it come in vogue to have both a washer and a dryer? I have an old speed queen ad featuring a wringer washer and a an old dryer from 1958 I think.Any thoughts anyone?

 

[turquoisedude]

Interesting... around these parts, you're far more likely to find a vintage dryer than a washer...  I had always figured that dryers had fewer moving parts and weren't full of water, so they lasted better.   I've seen a surprising number of 1950s and 1960s models turn up even in the past few years within my 'driving radius'.

 

Matched sets of a washer and dryer were not all that common from what I remember when I was a brat in the 60s and 70s.  There were some odd combinations of ancient washing machines with modern dryers and vice-versa; there were even a few wringer washers paired up with a dryer.  Fortunately most Canadians were 'thrifty' (read 'cheap') so at least most machines were white, but in the 80s, I remember a lot folks with a Harvest Gold dryer and a white washer.  

 

[norgeway]

The reason dryers are scarce

Is, I think, because they were so few of them sold to begin with, back in the 50s most women thought you had to hang out your clothes, at least in the South, the older women wouldn't think of using a dryer, Donalds Mother still does not have one.

 

[goatfarmer]

I agree, more dryers out there, than washers.

 

[launderess]

During The Post War Boom

Methinks most households if they only could afford one appliance, went for a new washing machine. While a tumble dryer is wonderful to have especially in areas of the country without nice weather four or more months out of the year, washing is the hardest part of laundry day. Once things are laundered (hopefully fully automatically), hanging things up to dry be it indoors or out isn't such a huge deal.

Once homes got indoor plumbing and you have a fully automatic washing machine it does mean laundry can be done more often. That frees up from saving one day per week to tackle mounds of laundry.

Just got a set of vintage Consumer Reports Buying Guides from the 1950's. Noticed while they reviewed ironers in the early issues, by the middle 1950's or so you start to see more reviews of automatic dryers. Indeed as dryers gained coverage you saw less and less about ironers. Indeed by the later issues reviews of dryers became more extensive and ironers all but vanished.

 

[combo52]

Vintage Dryers 50s-the 1960s

Even though early AWs outsold dryers more than 3 to 1 there are certainly more old dryers out there than washers, for several reasons

 

1 Dryers last longer, anything that deals with water will have a shorter life expectancy.

 

2 a lot of people who bought dryers in this time period did not use them much, AWs were almost always used very few owners went back to the wringer washer.

 

[launderess]

True

It may be difficult in some parts of the country but you can find old dryers in various condition.

Years ago when appliances cost dear when new the lively second hand market had plenty of washers and dryers. That or someone gave you their set because they purchased new.

IMHO one big reason you often do not find vintage dryers is when the washing machine went either from customer request or dealer suggestion, the dryer was replaced as well. Many people seemed to like matched sets and so perfectly good dryers were hauled off just because...

My mother like her peers on the street only used her dryer during the winter or when weather was bad. Otherwise laundry was hung out of doors on the clothesline we had in the back yard. While one loved the scent of line dried wash those scratchy towels and so forth were a pain. Happily when I took over wash duty would bung things into the dryer for a bit to soften them up.

 

[bvf]

dryers need love too

dryers are becoming rare and collectors i talk to usually like washers and care less about dryers…many a collector have sold the matching dryer or gave them away to rare machines …remember we only hold these for a short time and you have a responsibility to collect properly….i try to get gas and electric dryers now

 

[stan]

Fortunately

I have a dryer! by looking at it, you'd think it has never been used. That partially true.. I hardly use it! I'm fortunate to have good
(or good enough) weather to line dry most of the year. There's only been a few times when it was pouring down rain that sheets were ever put in dryer in the dryer.
But that's just me!
I still scrub my floors on my hands and knees with a bucket of warm lye soap. So don't go by me LOL

 

[tomturbomatic]

Many tract homes in the 50s did not have room for a dryer if they were built on slabs, just a washer usually located in the kitchen, one reason for combos. Many women stayed home so they had more time to devote to hanging out laundry in nice weather. Homes that had basements had space to hang a washer load a day in the winter and with the furnace running, they dried early enough that our mom could take them down after we got home from school so that we could roller skate in the basement. Dryers began to make inroads as families became more affluent and as women began to work more outside of the home. What really cinched a place for dryers was the improved Wash and Wear called Permanent Press. The dryer actually saved on ironing and no matter how light a burden hanging laundry was, ironing was something many people did not enjoy. Dryers were more prevalent earlier in more affluent areas. Conversely, in areas where domestic help was cheap, the wife was less involved in laundering so there was less need for a dryer.

Maybe in South Dakota, women got by with hanging laundry to dry in the basement when they could not go outside, although I remember my mother bringing in freeze-dried laundry during the winter in Illinois. In Georgia, we had lots of rain during the winter and that was when laundry was hung in the basement to dry; otherwise mom put on a scarf and coat and hung stuff outside to dry. She fought having a dryer for a long time, but we finally had our first by 1961 or so.

 

[circlew]

My mom didn't get a dryer until 1962, which was 6 years after the first automatic washer. Laundry was hung in the back yard in good weather, and the basement on wet or cold days.

Before that, I only remember a couple of neighbors having dryers. One was the Bates family, which were relatively rich. I think it was a Frigidaire. The other dryer belonged to the Tuckers, and it was a '57 or '58 Kenmore. Their washer was a Maytag wringer, until they replaced them in the summer of '72 with a Kenmore 800 set in Avocado. She now has a newer Kenmore set.

My Aunt Doris in Mississippi had a dryer in the first house I can remember them living in - they moved there in '57. She said clothes took too long to dry outside due to high humidity. It was a GE in Turquoise, and they had it for several years.

 

[bvf]

cleaning floors

I have several enamel ware buckets for I love to scrub floors …It is wonderful to mop and clean floors …I love this work and find my help would not know how to clean at all.. I have given up on others and do it all myself…I also use a different vaccume each time…I vaccume before and after for the china maid mops leave lint...