What got you fascinated with laundry machinery in the first place?

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arbilab

arbilab

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What got you fascinated with laundry machinery? Everybody here obviously is. Long story or short.

At 5 I'd pull up a chair and watch the slantfront Westy, go to neighbors and watch theirs, remember Grandma's two machines--a Thor 'magic fingers' and Easy Spindrier. The Westy was an adventure. We didn't have Indiana Jones back then or much on TV either, but an unbalanced Westy galavanting across the floor was exciting. Not long before I learned to reset the top and bottom compliance springs. At 10, replaced the timer singlehandedly.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. In second grade there was a laundry/cleaners on the way home from school. After I hung around a while they would let me operate their 25# Cooks. But not the Bosch extractors.

Tribute to Grandma's Easy, in 1973 I got a Panasonic twintub. Wish I still had it. In 1997 I got a Frigi FL in tribute to the Westys. Would have got a Neptune but NO WINDOW NO SALE. Besides those early ones turned out dogs.

The smell of detergent and the ions agitation gives off. The random motion of tumbling or swirling water. Knowing what was coming next but not how it would play out (spins). Fixing it if it crippled itself. I do like machines in general, at one point working on $1/2M broadcast video recorders. But not sure if I liked washers because they were machines, or if I liked machines because I liked washers.
 
Sounds..., Cycles...,--Just the neat array of knobs, pushbuttons, levers & switches...!!!!!!

Are you sure these were only built for your mother (or sometimes father) to wash & dry clothes in??????

Easy to see how when these were front-loading & had windows on 'em that they could be more fun 'n' watchin' TV...!!!!!!

P.S. The boxes the new ones came in were the most fun!!!!!!

-- Dave
 
For me it was the whole washing process. Watching the agitator swish back and forth. Trying to watch the spin cycle and hearing the machine grind and clunk into the spin cycle. My Mom had a 1976 Whirlpool in Avocado Green and my Grandmother a 1971 Lady Kenmore in white. I learned how to do laundry at an early age, just so I could be the one to control the machines lol. And it just progressed from there.
 
mechanisms

it was the machinery underneath that got me hooked-washers were the first
complex machines i had access to,got a real good look under our 1970(RIP 1981..)
solid tub hotpoint around the age of 4 or 5:wheels with a rubber strap around,
a big gray cylinder with lots of little wires inside,under that a semi-clear
thing with a little propeller visable-oh my! neat stuff!!
About the same time,Ca 1973,got taken to the yard of an old man that sold and
collected appliances;two houses-one he lived in, the other packed full of
appliances the yard littered with parts-agitators,motors,and several BD trannys
-noticed that when the pulley was turned the shaft would slowly move(years later
figured out what these were....would love to go back to 1973 and visit that
place!!)
 
Yes, THE SOUNDS! The clicks, clacks and clunks!

The Thor was bidirectional. No idea how they accomplished it, but when it reversed it went BANG like a Whirlpool BD snapping into agitate but louder. I christened it the "bang washer". I was about 5yo. Grandma wouldn't let me help with that, only watch. Just as well I wasn't tall enough to reach the wringer. But I was the clutch operator on the Easy.
 
Guess for me the sounds of the machines and the odors of the detergents.and the treat of one of my Moms freinds that had a Blackstone with the side by side doors on the front to allow access to the works.My Mom and her freind were talking and I was along-guess Mom couldn't get a babysitter and I wasn't going to school yet.I remember the freind opening the doors and saying--"You can watch BUT DON'T TOUCH!"so I got to see the Blackstone mechanism go thru its cycles.and I like the "mechanism" shots on this site-wish the WHOLE fronts of machines was Plexiglas or Lexan-you can watch the mechanisms,too.I wasn't tall enough at that time to look into the Blackstone while it worked.Later did get to be "Spectator" for Moms Norge Burpilator,Grammies pregnant Roto Swirl Kenmore,and My Stepmoms RotoSwirl.And at some time had a Turquoise set of GE Machines-the Filter Flow with the copper colored metal lint dish and dryer.The GE washer was neat to watch.My GrandMom would always want me to go out and play instead of watching her Pregnant RS machine.would sneak veiwing when she wasn't around.Would like to have a Norge Burpilator(The BIG Black agitator one)A KN RS,and that Copper Filter Flow.The machines of my childhood.And of course My Dads power workshop tools fascinated me.The Rotating blades and things on his Shopsmith-the watching projects come together-and the sawdust piles to play in.And then the Sunbeam mixers with its beaters and attachments-the licking of bowels and beaters at the conclusion of cooking jobs.And My Moms Singer sewing machine-that Buttonholer attachment fascinated me with its movements and funny noises.My Mom still has that Singer and it still works!And today-working on ultra high power shortwave transmitters with their HV parts and moving parts.The tune drives.And I have two Shopsmiths now-occasionally use them.One of them is just like what Dad had!
 
Remember when department store washing machines had clear plastic replicas of washers running full of poker chips? Both mom and dad left me in the washer department while they went about their retail business. That was back in the day you could leave kids on their own and nothing bad would happen.

Know who designed most of those see-through demo washers? Robert Kinoshita. Who also designed Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet and B-9 from Lost in Space. FP is my favorite movie of all time and LIS is in my top 10 series.
 
The Water and the Power

Growing up without running water or much money I was left to sneak away in every store or friends house to investigate appliances.  I love to see the clothes swirl through the soapy water and hanging them crisply on the line is a rewarding eperience.  I enjoy the comparisons of sounds, action and design of every machine. I was totally mixerated at infancy and would spend hours just looking at them when I was told not bug the house wife about turning it on.  Somewhere along the line I got the clean gene so vacuums chimed in along with cleaning products.  I made my first scratch cake by myself in the 2nd grade and the rest is history.
 
For me it was that lighted console and push buttons on my grams 1966 GE Filter-Flo pair, and using the wringer on my aunts second hand Maytag E2L. Oh how I wish more than anything that I could have a pair of 66 GE's
 
my story

Was that I liked things that went round.(rotated) And when my brother came home from being born he gave me what is my casdon hotpoint wich got me stuck in.

There you have it, Chris.
 
Maytag Wringer and Philco Automagic

Doing the laundry with my Grandmother and her Maytag Wringer Washer. I was intrigued by the process; filling the tub with a hose, pushing in the big red knob to start the agitation, digging out the clothes with a stick when it was time to put them through the wringer, watching them come out on the other side and fall into the big galvanized tub of rinse water, trying to figure out how that flip thing under the wringer knew which way to flip so the water would run back in the right tub, flipping the lever so the wringer would swing and lock in the right position and finally watching the clothes come from the final rinse, go through the wringer and drop into the clothes basket on the floor before going to the line.

Seems so primitive now, but I learned a lot about the proper way to do laundry from that experience.

Secondly, watching my Mom's Philco Automagic and wondering how the clothes moved.
 
I was facinated

with the way our Frigidaire went up and down and had the colored rings on the agitator. Pretty neat. I would sneak down to the laundry room and turn dial and hold the button down while it bobbed up and down. Probably not too good for the machine perhaps, but great fun for me. I've been facinated with washers ever since!
 
I was always interested in mechanical things, but I remember my Mums Kenmore BD as a child with the bed of nails lint filter. My Nanny has a Maytag A710, loved that machine. Whenever I would visit her, we would do laundry! She saved the laundry for when I came over haha.
 
That was a great way to keep you entertained!

When I went to visit aunt, she had a pink Sunbeam steam iron with a pink fabric cord. I LOVED that iron. I would iron and of course do spray mist on anything in sighted that could be ironed.
 
Dr. Freud...

When I was born, my family occupied an apartment in a building that didn't have a laundromat in the basement, so a lot of families had "illegal" portable washing machines with casters on them in the kitchens. The kitchens had large double basin sinks; the big sink was meant for hand washing laundry but many people took advantage of this second sink by hooking the rubber drain hose over the edge of it and connecting the faucet to a washing machine with a dishwasher connector. There was a porcelain enameled metal drain board specifically designed for that sink that had a corner that was beveled to allow a drain hose to be put through it. And yet both washers and dishwashers were NOT allowed in these apartments. Local appliance sellers were very savvy and cooperative here because there were hundreds of potential customers in each building (and there were twenty buildings in the complex) so they would sell people like my parents a new small washing machine (ours was a 24" wide Whirlpool "Deluxe" that, I'm told, was purchased from the old Mays department store on 14th Street) and send it over to the apartments disguised in a TV or a Phonograph/Radio console crate. Remember that back in the '50's  those were large items. If any of the building officials happened to schedule a visit, the washing machines would be rolled into a bedroom closet and that was that.

 

Up until the time I was three or so, I was bathed in that same large sink and I actually remember it as a pleasant experience. Lots of hot water and soap and the happy hum of lots of people coming and going in the kitchen. At some point, Mae, my surrogate Mom, would park me on the drain-board of the sink and I would watch the washing machine going through all of its motions. There was, of course, no lid safety switch back then to spoil my fun and I remember watching the famous neutral drain do its thing. I was fascinated by the layer of white suds that would sink down and wrap around the shiny black vanes of the agitator and wet clothes. I remember clearly waiting with great anticipation for the machine to go into its spin (which I called the"Ca-ca-ca" because of the noise the machine would make as it wound up to speed). I remember that machine fairly well; it had a gray-blue plastic cycle dial and I believe that was it; a real BOL. It didn't have a spray rinse, but that may be because it wasn't connected to separate cold and hot water valves, only the sink faucet connector. I used to run into the kitchen when I heard the thing drain so I could watch the spin happen. I remember Fab detergent being the house soap; I remember no bleach or fabric softener at all. I think because the machine and I shared the same auxiliary sink for our business a relationship grew.

 

I was crushed the day we moved into our first house and discovered that the Whirlpool was not going to join us in our new digs. My Mother had kindly given the machine to one of her fashion models who was moving into her first apartment. Although I didn't know it at the time, ahead of me was our very first Filter-flo and our very first matching clothes dryer. When I saw them I thought my parents had bought two washing machines. Hadn't seen a matching dryer before. I've had a good life.

bajaespuma++6-4-2011-20-21-36.jpg
 
Dr. Freud?

Nahhhh. Not Dr. Freud. He placed too much emphasis on dreams! :-)

Loved those roll-away washing machines. Auntie had one. A little different from the one you described. And not the pink Sunbeam steam iron auntie. Another auntie. Anyway, her's was a Sears and it was a portable with a wash chamber and spin chamber. A lot of times I made sure I was at her house when she did laundry. Like you, I was facinated with it. There was another older woman on our block that too had a portable washer. Some of the houses were really really old and before the days of automatic appliances so portables dishwashers and washing machines were abundant.

Thanks for your cool story and have a great day!!!

Andy

P.S. "Ah! You say you dream of washing machines......verrry interesting, indeed!"
 
Fascinated With Agitators and Lint Filters

I cannot fully explain my interest, but I remember being fascinated with the agitator of my Aunt's Frigidaire washer; it went up and down and had a turquoise cap and yellow and pink rings. I also remembered noticing that my other Aunt's washer, a Norge, had a beige lint filter and that it fit around the exposed agitator cap. I wondered why the fill flume didn't spray water into the filter pan (like Mom's Filter-Flo) but that water still got into it somehow. I rembered my Aunt being amused by this.

Finally, I noticed that a friend of my Mom's also had a Filter-Flo but that it was a little different from ours; it had a "prettier" filter and agitator -- the filter pan was copper and the agitator cap was pink! My Mom's washer had the turquoise pan and a black-capped agitator that was otherwise identical to the friend's prettier washer.

My Mom actually understood me and my unusual interest in washers. She was always amused that whenever we went to a store that had washers, I was drawn to them by some mysterious force and that I just HAD TO lift the lids and check out the tubs and agitators.
 
From an early age I have been fascinated by watching the clothes go back and forth in the washer.  Watching the washer wash a load of clothes, especially towels,  was something "magical" for me.  I could watch all day.  Helping my aunt with her wringer washer was just the most fun!  I begged my Mama to trade her Lady Kenmore in and get a wringer washer!  Mama thought I was insane!  I loved doing laundry and by age 9 I was doing the whole family's laundry and you better believe NOBODY did a better job than me!  I loved going to the big Sears store in Greenville and going thru the appliance department and watching the washers on display wash.  Whenever we would go to someone's house I always slipped away and found the washing machine and studied on how it would work.  The detergent aisle is my favorite aisle in the grocery store.  I love the brightly colored boxes, bottles, and smells.  I don't know, I guess it's in my blood.  I love washing machines and watching them work!  That's just me.
 
It took G.E.'s to create a Maytagman...

My grandmother had a set of GE Americans Dispense All's in the old house in Laguna Beach, CA. I was entranced with how the water flowed thru all the little compartments in the lid. I also loved the 'Clack-Clack' it made when the spin cycle ended. I found that for some reason, when I'd visit as a kid, I'd sleep better with the console lights on both the washer and dryer shining thru the doorway... To this day, it has been my dream to find a set of Dispense Alls for my collection. Seems to me it would be coming full circle.

RCD
 
I've always been fascinated by complex machinery of any sort. And back in the day, other than an automobile, the washing machine was the most complex device most people owned. I recall, when I was about 4, watching the washing machine and wondering how it knew to do all of the different operations it did -- filling, agitating, draining, spinning -- and when it should do them. I asked my dad and he explained to me about the timer. He drew me a few diagrams of what the inside of the timer looked like and how it did its thing. I didn't really understand it all at the time, but it was still interesting. Over the next few years, whenever the washer needed repair, I'd watch my dad when he worked on it, and he'd point out the various components and what they did -- the motor, the transmission, the pump, the fill valves, and so on. One specific bit I recall was trying to understand how the water flowed for the filter (the machine was a Kenmore with the manual-clean screen filter). I always wondered why, during neutral drain, the filter kept flowing water until the water level in the tub got down to a certain point, then it stopped. I never did figure that out until I started browsing here!

In the era of electro-mechanical automation, the washing machine timer really was a work of art. Today, when everything has a microprocessor in it, we tend to forget how much effort went into making something like an automatic washing machine function properly. It sounds corny to us now, but these machines really were miracles of the technology of their day.
 
draining into drain pipe

I was always fasinated by the sound of the water draining into the drain pipe. My aunts 69 GE ff when it drained you could hear it fill the pipe right up and if she put too much soap it would over flow out of the pipe! Awesome! To this day I still love to hear my washer draining!
 
That little fist size gizmo made everything else happen. A few might wonder how a 10yo manages to change a timer without so much as a suggestion how to go about it. Mechanically, nothing to it. Right under the lid, nothing in the way, 2 screws holding it in. Electrically, well I figured all the wires were in the right places on the old one, only a matter of moving them to the new one at a time eh?

Then I had a used timer with one bad contact to play with! Now, how to make it do what I wanted, with no idea what the connections were for? Take the covers off and see what contact corresponded to what part of the cycle. Can't do that with a microprocessor LOL.

Not sure you can do it with a modern clockwork timer either, that was the only one I ever had to replace. But I scavenged 3 more from the scrap bin behind the appliance store. 2, the motor didn't work but one was like the one I had, one bad contact. What to make them do? Hookem to motors, lights, solenoids, even hooked em to each other. All with open 120V wiring scattered on my bedroom floor, wonder I never shocked myself or set fire to the house.
 
My brother used to work at a sign shop at one time-and he brought me several sign flashers,neon sign transformers and neon tubes.I made up my own light display in the basement-the flashers with their cams and contacts were interesting to watch and hear-the clicking and clacking noises.One time while turning on my display-a wire came loose and shorted-boy was my Dad furious-so I redid the wiring.Then everyone happy-and guests like to see the stuff of mine in the basement.Then there was times my brother called me to help him in wiring signs and such.That sign shop was a fascinating place-Rushmore Signs I think it was.Also watched the tube benders there and a tube being "bombarded"for prepartion to be used in a sign.Bombarding is burning the gases from electrodes and tube walls.They use a very large and powerful 15Kv .5A transformer with a variac on its primary.
 
DADoES ....

Your profile photo above. Is that the washer that someone in the blog commented about where the water dispenses from the lid? Until then I had never heard of one the the water came out of the lid. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
The Domination of Washing Machines!

<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I was born partially deaf and when I was a toddler I was a naughty child, simply because of the stress of not being able to hear (I've been told). Before I got my first hearing aid, I use to scream and tear the house down. </span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My Mother would get desperate and find ways to calm me down. </span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Eventually my mother found the solution and she'd stick me in front of the washing machine. Apparently I use to lean my head on the side of the machine and listen to the machine spinning around. The vibration use to calm me down and I use to hum with it (bad idea, this went on for years, me humming randomly round the house lol)</span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My Aunty (my father's sister) owned a launderette, my mum and I use to go and visit Aunty often. My memory on this is very vague though one thing I remember is My Aunty would give me coins to start the machines. Through out the years my Uncle's owned several launderette's and dry cleaners. Came in really handy when my family needed there dry cleaning done lol. My brother and I would visit regularly and at the age of 16 I worked at my uncle's Dry Cleaner's every Saturday for a few year's. </span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">So back in 1985 I got my hearing aid at the age of five and I was starting to hear...that year Mum had got the Hotpoint 95260 "New Generation" Super Electronic De Luxe. At this point my love for washing machines grew more stronger because of the amazing sounds Hotpoint had made. Not only that, it was a comfort for me, listening and feeling the vibration of the machine working that my mother instigated. </span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was age 7/8 years old, I started helping mum do the washing. I was fascinated how the machine worked from start to end. I use to read the manual like it was my "bible". I learn't what each programme and button's did etc and knew the machine inside out.</span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I then started comparing my machine with other people's machine. I would rush to kitchen and if there washing machine was on I would sit and watch, sometimes wishing I had there machine instead of Hotpoint.  </span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In the 80s catalogue's were big and everyone had them...I use to ask my family & friends, if I could tear out the pages from the Washing machine section's and collected them. (Shame now though after years of hard work, I ended up throwing them away, like most teenagers, you think to your self why would I need them for and thought it wasn't a cool thing to do. Wish I hadn't now...)</span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of my secondary school years was designing washing machine's on the school computer. I even included washing machine's in my story's...In the last years of my schooling, I really wanted to design washing machine's or work within that industry. I was young and a confused teenager and I wanted to become a lot of things... there wasn't much information within that area and the internet in the mid 90s was still very limited. It wasn't till years later, I decided to become a musician and actor, my interest on washing machine's became my hobby and as they say the rest is history.  </span>
 
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Hass</span>
 

http://www.youtube.com/hasszanussi
 
I know some of you have heard me brag before...

...about my "Appliance Disneyland" I enjoyed as a kid. Working at Western Appliance in San Jose (I started at 13) cleaning used appliances for resale was no picnic (think 3 bottles of caustic Easy Off and a filthy grease-laden chrome-top Wedgewood range) but a real paycheck for after school/Saturday hours sure beat having a paper route. But the real perk was the ocean of trade-ins in the parking lot, tons of washers & dryers from the late 40's to the early 60's...all the best stuff. Western was a busy store so even after the scrap guy came and cleaned the lot out (except for the "chosen few" that made it to the resale floor) there would be more trade-ins the next day and the day after that.

I discovered a 120V receptacle hidden at the bottom of a light pole next to the washers and dryers. I'd plug a long industrial extension cord in and have a field day playing around with anything that wasn't 220. I got plenty of shocks standing on wet asphalt and grabbing a hold of a chrome timer knob. Even without water those machines were very cool. Saturday the repair shop was closed which allowed me to bring in washers for "testing." There was a long trough and places to connect 6 machines at once...there was a 220 plug there too for combos. I always kept a "dummy" appliance nearby like a refrigerator to make it look like I was working just in case a salesperson wandered into the service department but they were a pretty dumb bunch. There was a time or two when they'd question why a Bendix combo or Apex Wash-a-Matic was running but I never worried. My dad was the service manager and my parents were good friends of the store's owners.

I really had great fun with those appliances which is why I continued to work there through high school. I would rebuild some machines like Whirlpools, Maytags and Unimatics but I'd still sneak out to the parking lot with my trusty extension cord and see whatI could bring back to life like Dr. Frankenstein. It's very sad to think about all those machines being thrown on the scrap truck. There'd always be that washer that came in, it looked brand new regardless of age, the owner's book and any accessories would be sealed in a bag inside the tub...like the lady who owned it was passing it on like a family heirloom...and there it would be on that scrap truck, the porcelain top all smashed and chipped from the 2 or 3 machines that were stacked on top of it...really sad.

twintubdexter++6-8-2011-12-01-1.jpg
 
round and round, up and down...

My obsession began with my Grandmother's Unimatic...she had a red Cosco stool that I would climb up and watch her WO-65...I distinctly remember the aroma from the hot water, mixed with the Wisk in the metal can, and Clorox...

 

In the meantime, at our house, we had an RCA Victor Mahogany phonograph, the kind that played only 45's...I used to sit and watch all the records go around, from the front, sides, and back, for hours on end...and it's amazing now when I hear music from the 50's, on 9 songs out of 10, I know all the words...and I still have about 500 45's...

 

Then Grandmother got a slant-front Westy, and thus began my interest in front loaders...I still can sit and watch my current Westy through the entire cycle...so much more splashy and fun than the current wet-slap models...

 

And on the rare occasions when I go to the Laundromat, I make sure I get a machine that I can sit or stand in front of with an unobstructed view...

 

George
 
Being a guest in the homes of European friends, as a middle aged adult, and noting how much cleaner-feeling clothes washed in their FL machines came out---vs. our TL machines. After I noticed the difference, I began looking at FL models to replace my TL when and if it died. It died in 2006, could not be repaired, and I replaced it with a FL. Immediately noticed how much cleaner clothes felt, because they'd been rinsed three times. My former TL did not have an extra rinse setting, which probably would have helped clothes rinse cleaner,  but at the cost of 50% more water use (filling three times instead of two). "Estra rinse" was a setting found on some higher-end TL washers. Generally was not seen in base and lower end models. Prior to that, wasn't interested.
 

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