Westinghouse slant-front machines

[johnrk]

I've purchased all the pdf material available in the literature side of this site for the Westinghouse front loaders, and am grateful for it being available.

I notice in the 1963 Westinghouse w/d brochure, the notation is that while Westinghouse stopped using the slanted-tub configuration in the late 50's, this 1963 model year was the last for the slanted-front cabinets.

Please educate me: why did Westinghouse stop the slanted-tub machines? I've seen on this site that they were notorious for tangling--was that it? Or was it some manufacturing consideration?

Why did they persist with the slanted-front cabinet? Was it for product recognition and continuity? Or again, some manufacturing consideration? They certainly are attractive, but then so are the straight-front ones that succeeded them.

Thanks for your information.

 

[norgeway]

I think

It was the tangling, But I still want one, my theory has always been, if the clothes are tangled up, you know for sure they have really been washed!

 

[launderess]

Rope maker

Was the oft used nickname (others had much harsher bad words) for Westinghouse slant front loading washers.

This came from a tendency of the wash to emerge in one tangled mass of "rope" that had to be painstakingly undone before anything else could be done.

When Maytag introduced their Neptune washing machines also with an inclined drum instant comparisons and much derision was made how results would mimic the Westinghouse slant front washers of old.

Being as this may going back years there have been commercial H-Axis washing machines with tubs on various levels of incline. Reason is same pretty much as with the design of the Westinghouse and later Maytag washers; the incline makes for easier loading and unloading of laundry.

There are other benefits of a slant tub; but let Miss. Betty Furness in all her girdled glory explain:

 

[johnrk]

Betty Furness

Was there ever any better appliance spokesman?

I've watched all of her videos for Westinghouse on YouTube, have actually saved a few to my hard drive over the years, particularly the 'live test' that she did with some ladies' club members where they dumped black sand into their competitive machines.

It must've been really, really tough for women to decide on what to buy for their homes, because, relatively speaking, they were so much more expensive than ours today. And there were so many brands and so many washing actions, etc.

I know my mother liked her Bendix when I was very small, it was one of those cylindrical-shaped ones that had to be bolted to the floor. She line-dried then and I don't remember her saying anything about tangling--but of course it didn't slant.

Thanks, 'launderess', for your reply!

 

[gyrafoam]

The old Bendii didn't tangle. Their capacity and their ability to extract water was poor. But, hey, they were automatic.

If a homemaker had a lot of laundry to do on a busy day, it must have been very frustrating having to untangle the loads of laundry. I know it annoyed me. Even though their ability to extract water continued to be pretty lame, I much preferred it when Westinghouse came out with the newer non-slanted design. I wouldn't mind having one of those.

 

[golittlesport]

I believe when Westinghouse changed from a slant-tub format in the late 50's it was a redesign that improved capacity and cleaning performance, and of course, tangled less. The slant tub design had the laundry sliding backwards in the tub as well as going round and dropping down onto the "scrubbing dome" of the washtub. Those textiles were going every which way!

Westinghouse probably kept the slanted cabinet (with less of a slant) for loading convenience and brand recognition. When they introduced their top load agitator washer about 1965, they switched their Laundromat to a flat front cabinet to match the companion dryer, which paired with both the front and top load washers.

My mom had a 1957 Laundromat and she loved it. But I can remember her pulling tangled clothes out of it and unknotting them in the backyard as she hung them on a clothesline. My grandmother's 1955 Frigidaire produced the same results. As a kid I thought all automatic washing machines tangled clothes.

 

[moparwash]

In 1959, the tub was changed to an upright design, which lasted to the very end of production around 1988. The cabinet still 'slanted' from 1959-1963 until the introduction of the flat front in 1964. From what I can tell, the 1961 I have does not tangle any worse than my Maytag Neptune, as I found tangling depends on the load type..flat sheets with bath towels often need separating!

 

[bendixmark]

rope maker

The pair pictured is the pair my parents had when they bought our house in 1953.They got them used.My mother who is 89 now said that washer never tangled and she loved it.I can only assume then those who had tangle problems were somehow being boneheads with their machines.

 

[combo52]

Slant Front WH Washers

The original machines were among the worst tangling automatics ever built, they tangled because the tub was tilted, ALL slanted tub FL washers that I have used tangle to a more or less degree depending on how slanted the tub is.

[ Ever wounder why no one ever built a clothes dryer with a slanted tub ? ]

Well because it would tangle so badly that clothing would never dry evenly.

John L.

 

[hilovane]

I have a feeling Westinghouse redesigned the tub and housing out of necessity, as they quite likely were planning ahead to discontinue the slope-front styling, to the straight-line styling. My guess, is that way might have made manufacturing more cost effective in the long run; instead of having to design new "innards" for 1959-63; only to have to do it again for '64 and beyond. Plus, wasn't this redesign the one that incorporated that "potato" pulley?
The 1959-63.slope-front styling, could have been more or less a "transitional" design.
Personally, I didn't care for the look of those slope-front machines; too "squared" and "boxy" compared to the older design.