White-Westinghouse front loaders

[ea56]

These old spriklers were much better than a spray bottle because the water went mostly on the clothes or sheets, not all over the surface they were on or surrounding areas. It was my job to do the ironing when I was a teenager. And all our cotton sheet s were ironed as well as the clothing. I would sprinkle 2 or 3 laundry baskets full of ironing, roll up each item and let them set to get uniformly damp, and then iron for hours. I still use an old Proctor Silex steam iron from about 1970. It gets hot as the hinges of hell and gets the job done fast. We have a Rowenta too, it doesn’t hold a candle to the old Proctor Silex.

Before I retired I used to starch all my work shirts. I used liquid Vano in a spray bottle mixed 50/50 with water. If I had a lot of clothes to iron I would sometimes starch in the washer, setting the water level to the lowest setting, letting it fill, add a good glug of Vano let it begin to agitate and add the dry articles to be starched. Let them get uniformly saturated with the starch, then set it to spin. Put the clothes in the dryer for a few mins until they are damp, then iron. Very easy to do. And when you starch I think its easier to iron too, Some West Coast members may remember the old Vano TV commercial, “If your not Using Vano, your working too hard”.
Eddie

 

[johnrk]

Proctor Silex steam iron

Eddie--I have an old Proctor Silex, bought NOS on EBay a couple of years ago! I seldom use it simply because I don't iron much that I don't do in the Swiss Elnapress. What's really cool about it to me is that the electric cord can be set to go out either side of the base. You just take off a piece, swap sides, and then put the piece back on. Being left handed, it's great. Of course, no Teflon or any of that mess on it. And yes, it gets hot as Hades.

One of my mother's sisters used to pay me a dime an article to do her ironing for her. I never minded ironing and it was an easy way for a kid in the mid sixties to make some spending money. She had an ancient non-steam iron that again weighed like an anvil. I don't remember the brand, and yes, I used one of those little sprinkler things on a Coke bottle like another member posted.

I have a little collection of around 30 vintage blenders, just an appliance that always fascinated me. My mother had that Nutone kitchen center built into the counter, that had the weird plastic pink-tinged blender. I have an NOS Silex blender from the 50's, when it was still a separate company. I have an NOS Iona blender from the 50's when they were still in business. I have one of those rare 23K gold plated Osterizers from the 70's that were given out as company awards to management. If I were indeed wealthy, which I'm not, I swear I'd build one of those metal warehouses and just fill it up with appliances!

There's just one kitchen appliance that I never have liked: electric can openers. I don't own one now. They just always seemed to be more trouble than they are worth, and people tend to let those little cutting wheels and the gear to get full of food crud.

Proctor Silex always marched to a little different drummer; these percolators with the removable glass carafe are a perfect example. Believe it or not, you can still find NOS ones on EBay from time to time, and reasonably priced, too.

 

[rayjay]

Model LT800E

I had a White Westinghouse front loader purchased in 1984. This by far was the best machine I ever had. I had it for 8 years, and then the dispensers for fabric softener did not work. I then put the machine aside and then had an AEG Bella. This was a fine machine, however with a baby coming along, it was too small of a tub. I then went back to a Maytag toploader. The machine was okay, but I miss my Westinghouse LT800E.