Which 1966

[keymatic3203]

thats just it Mike

I've salvaged so many spares, we just need the machines to fit them to, though on the otherhand it's not as though we are short of projects to work on either lol.

Hi Al, I think the GEC and also a Singer automatic are shown in a later 1960's which, which I dont have, they looked continental from memory, nothing like the English electric/westinghouse designs

With reference to the liberator 4027, it really was only a visual change in design, the controls were moved to the top, and just correspond to the dial and red thumbwheel of the 4021 and 4023 machines, it was still a single direction tumbling action, using the three belt transmission. I think they ought to have been viewed and advertised as simply a cold fill machine requiring one tap connection, with the option of adding hot water if you prefered, I'm sure most people who had them plumbed in never used the hot fill option.

Mathew

 

[paulinroyton]

Washer s

I have never heard to a Stokvis washer, and I thought Bendix machine where made in Italy. The Bendix LA is made in the uk.

Would love to find some of these vintage machines.

Paul

 

[matchboxpaul]

Hi Paul.

Many thanks for posting the old Which reports - always a very fun read, though painful to think of sooo many classic machines that we havent got a hope in hell of finding.

To find a UK based STOKVIS - certainly would be an interesting machine to have a gander at.
Thanks to Ingemar for posting the video link to the machne preserved overseas. Looks in superb condition and the video is superbly edited.

Hi Al.
Mathew is right, in that the GEC appears in the October 1967 Which magazine - have posted the picture below.
Thanks I think to Paul, for posting the 1967 report a few years back.

 

[chestermikeuk]

Just wondering

Do you think the 1967 GEC front loader with back panel and the 1969 Stokvis with front panel controls could be out of the same stable??

The porthole & fronts look very similar!!

 

[vacbear58]

Page the Oracle

Paul (Derby)
As noted in the other thread, you are just wonderful for keeping track of these things

Nomination seconded!

Looking at that GEC and particularly the soap powder dispenser I am thinking Philco bearing in mind from some of the postings of our Italian friends there seem to have been quite a variety of models.

Paul (Royton)
I find this confusing too - I wonder if they were assembled here only? Certainly the later ones are noted as being made in Italy (Paul (D) can you check the last wide bodied washer drier from the late 1970s - something tells me that was Spain) and the Philco connection is noted in Mike's 1977 report recently posted.

Al

 

[foraloysius]

Stokvis (literally translated from Dutch meaning stockfish...) was a Dutch company from Rotterdam. Full name was R.S. Stokvis. The company was named after it's founder Rafaël Samuel Stokvis. Originally it was a company selling stuff like British hardware, tools etc. Later appliances got the name Erres, after R.S. Other brands that Stokvis owned were EMI, Indola, ASW, Fasto and Solex. They also imported Austin cars into the Netherlands.

Philips took a business interest in the Erres brand in 1930. Some of the Erres products were relabeled Philips products that were sometimes sourced from other companies. Other products were still made in the Netherlands. In 1966 Philips owned the whole Erres label including the company that made products for Erres. In the 1980's Philips stopped using the name Erres.

IIRC, some of the Erres products were sold in the UK as Stokvis.

 

[vacbear58]

GEC

Having checked the rest of the report it says that the GEC was made in Italy.

Al

 

[keymatic3203]

GEC Italian manufactured

Hi Al,

it also occured to me, after reading you had confirmed the gec was italian, that a friend of mine who work with GEC serviceing back in the early 60's, said that the gec double plus twin tub was an italian design, could that have been by the same manufacturer. It was generally felt that this machine wasn't up to the usual high standards of there products, such as the economising of only having one motor, so washer, pump and spinner all ran at the same time as in the cheapest rolls.

Thinking further, there is that italian twin tub on youtube, I can't remember it's name, that has a cork screw implellor and a spin can at the side of the wash tub, so against that the double plus would be a step up in refinement.

So questions, as the gec automatic and if the gec twin tub both italian made/ designed and was the double plus if made in britain but italian designed produced by an italian company and sold elsewhere under a different name?

I would be interested to know,

Thanks

Mathew

 

[vacbear58]

Top twin

Mathew

Just checked back to the September 1960 Which report which tested the Double Plus and it states that the GEC was made in the UK - although there is nothing to say that the design was not of Italian or other origin - heaven knows there were enough products of that era where we "borrowed" the design from others.

I recall that twin tub you mentioned but was it not of Russian or other Eastern Bloc manufacture? Although again, designs may have been borrowed and/or developed from others. That same report features both the EE (Westinghouse design), the Thor (built by Parnall i think) and a Parnall of which it states operation if not appearence is identical to the Thor. Here is a shot of that Double Plus, a real oddity - photo courtsey of ChesterMike

 

[turnamat]

...it´s not abritish factory,it´s a german washer produced as "Wamsler",a company that produced ovens and stoves and this is the only waher by this company,I know!

 

[chestermikeuk]

GEC Twin

Thomas, that would make sense as was talking to Gary, Electron1100 earlier and he confirmed that his family had this machine when his Dad was stationed in Germany, it was their family washer..

Very interesting design

 

[turnamat]

...here´s another photo from this machine.A friend of mine got it on eBay.Somebody must have change the "Heat"-Button before.It now looks like a door bell!

...a nice weekend to All,

Thomas.

 

[turnamat]

....sorry!I mean the"spin" button!

 

[vacbear58]

Its a curious thing you know

There are often complaints about how long modern washers take to do a wash what with energy saving and water saving, but when I look back up the thread many of the washers seem to take a fair while too - the one that struck me straight away was the Servis Mk41 which is 1hr 45mins. My Miele (2004 model) takes 1hr 46 mins on its hot cotton wash and it is cold fill only compared to the H&C of the Servis. Most of the other machines seem to take around the same time.

I appreciate that many of the complaints about time taken come from US members comparing top loaders with front loaders (and let me be clear I am not making any judgement on the validity of those claims) which are not strictly comporable, but many of the above in teh thread are top loaders too using Hot or a mixture of H&C.

I suppose it may be that, with the benefit of heaters "our" hot cotton wash might be hotter than a US hot cotton wash (85C or maybe more) and with the volume of water involved that may be part of the apparently extended wash time (effectivly giving the clothes a soak) as the machine comes up to temperature. The one I will be really interested to check out when I get home to see the full report is the Frigidiare which I am guessing is about the only directly comporable model.

Al

 

[vacbear58]

More information

The Frigidaire took as long - who would have thought it?

Test results below.

Al