Vintage Monitor Jet dryer, Hattiesburg, MS

[spacepig]

Looks like it's listed on craigslist as well as e-bay.

https://hattiesburg.craigslist.org/app/6078043246.html

E-bay listing has ended, but it doesn't look like it sold:

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[kenmore58]

I have two of the matching washer to this dryer. Maybe I'll find a dryer like this closer to me.

Ron

 

[spacepig]

I originally thought it was a dishwasher at first glance, since it looks similar to my GE Mobile Maid. I wish Hattiesburg was closer to me as I would love to go take a look at it.

 

[launderess]

As usual for Monitor

This dryer was "borrowed" from another maker; Flatley IIRC.

http://www.adverts.ie/other-antiques-collectables/rare-1963-flatley-laundry-dryer/8073686

http://www.1900s.org.uk/1950s-60s-flatley.htm

These units were compact versions of larger drying cabinets found on estate homes, apartment buildings, or large laundries.

You hung the washing on racks and via convection (heating elements located on bottom of unit) warm air would dry things. This was opposed to hanging one's washing on a horse or all over the house till it dried.

Two things helped kill off demand for these drying cabinets; tumble dryers and better indoor (central) heating.

The first is self explanatory, but second was that in days before central heating you hung wash on a horse in front of a source of heat (fire, range, etc...) if it couldn't be dried out of doors. Once you got indoor central heating you could in theory hang wash anywhere on a horse or whatever. Coupled with washing machines that extracted more water out of clothing than a wringer, you needed less energy to dry things, so even hanging they dried quicker.

These small cabinet dryers were also dangerous. If something fell to bottom or even touched it for prolonged periods it could scorch or even catch fire. Given the lint that comes off washing you also had to keep the area around elements clean of fluff as well.

 

[peteski50]

Monitor Jet dryer!

I was trying to figure out for years how this worked. Now I see from viewing the Flatley. Seems like a good idea but doesnt look like you could put large bath towels across those rods. It would be nice if they made a larger unit. I think it would take off today if they were made larger and with more safety features.

 

[launderess]

But they did!

Staber, Asko, Maytag and a few others offered or are still offering drying cabinets.

https://www.amazon.com/Staber-Industries-DCR-1000-Residential-Cabinet/dp/B00NSXZF3S

http://www.asko.com.au/products/laundry-appliances/drying-cabinets/dc7573

http://www.maytag.co.uk/product/laundry-room-concept-drying-cabinet

 

[peteski50]

Drying Cabinets!

Thanks for the info somehow I never associated the both had the same principal.
I assume they are all 220 volt! Do they make them in 110 volt here in the states?

 

[circlew]

I remember seeing the 49 Antique & Flea Market when I was down there the last time. Didn't stop as I wasn't feeling well that day.

 

[spacepig]

Launderess,

Thanks for the information. It looked really cool an I had actually thought about going to take a look at it on my way home to La. next month, but the fire hazard is concerning. Jeannine

 

[launderess]

Asko drying cabient sold in USA

Ran on 120v power.

https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/DC7171.html

So does the Staber:

https://www.amazon.com/Staber-Industries-DCR-1000-Residential-Cabinet/dp/B00NSXZF3S

Maytag offered a "Neptune" drying cabinet that was built on top of a tumble dryer. The upper dryer ran on 120v power as well.

https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/MCE8000AY.html

You don't really need a lot of heat for these drying cabinets, hence the ones seen so far have no more heating power than those compact/portable dryers Whirlpool has been making for generations.

Mind you it likely would take many hours to "hang dry" something thick, heavy and very wet in one of these units. Again which is why one assumes they really didn't catch on. I mean you can buy a portable laundry maid/horse, hang up one's wash and let it dry merely by the heat already in your home, and it would be dry in about the same time. Better still you aren't using electricity. If worse came to the worse you could turn on a fan to circulate air, but even then you would be using less electricity than one of these cabinets.

Again these drying cabinets were designed after the vintage ones from years ago that solved a problem *before* tumble dryers were invented. How to dry laundry when weather outside was not the best. And to avoid having wet laundry (and the moisture it created as drying) mucking up indoor air, especially during cold and damp months.

http://lacqueredlife.com/laundry-with-martha/

 

[wayupnorth]

Back in the early 60's we had the matching Monitor washer here, motor pooched and my grandmothers round late 50's Maytag was brought here and the tranny seized on it a few years ago on me. Still here if anyone here wants it to bring back, not scrap, you can have it. The people that gave us the Monitor washer had the same dryer and said the dryer was more work than it was worth.

 

[launderess]

Voila!

This website has everything!

http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~799~~

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?45781

Seems was mistaken.

These "jet" dryers were called so because they directed a warm air flow though the inside of cabinet. Probably like a hair dryer or some such appliance; air currents generated by a fan blew over a resistance heater then up into the cabinet.

 

[spacepig]

Oh wow, as much stuff as I've downloaded from this site, I never thought to check to see if it had anything on the Monitor!