white-westinghouse laundromat 1982

[cfz2882]

in 1982 a new laundromat opened up featuring westinghouse
top loads,two sizes of westy front loads(neither was the oval
window,oval pulley style)a big SS milnor bolt down,and an
italian dry clean machine.The westy front loads said "white-
westinghouse"on them,but i am not sure if they were actually
westinghouse machines-got a look behind one and there was just
one belt and by the sound may have had 3-phase induction motors
on the larger style.On the smaller style,the toeboard flipped
down and the drain pump could be seen mounted to the front of
the motor.These washers must have been quite rugged as they
were still goind strong in 1993 when i was last at the
laundromat.

 

[laundromat]

Laundromat

When I lived in baltimore down on Broadway in Fells Point,ther was a real Autorized Westinghouse laundromat on Fleet Street. It had the smaller,original Laundromats in two rows back to back and they cost 25 cents for one half hour.They also had the bigger ones that were the reverse tumble kind and 20 pound capacity.The larger ones were harvest gold and rarely broke down. The smaller ones did a 10 pound load and tangled everything up but did a great job getting the clothes clean. All of them were made in Mansfield, Ohio and all of the directions were on the walls above the machines and the huge illuminated hanging sign that said "Authorized Westinghouse LAUNDROMAT Equiped" hung above the main entrance door.the huge gas dryers were made by Hoyt.I am pretty sure that the ones your refering to were also the originals made in Mansfield,Ohio and probably as well as the ones I earlier speak about.Not many changes occured during the 1973 takeover. Just the emblem saying White Westinghouse instead of Westinghouse was noticeable.In fact,the oval windows and cross vain tumbling arms were not changed for years.The Cross vain tumble arms changed around 1980.however,the original dryer style is still,to this day, being manufactured with very few changes at all.The loweer end Frigidaires still have the smaller drum and the back berring centerd on the axis. A lot of times,they'll squeek and need some good grease to stop the noise.WD40 is not recomended.It's flamable and can cause some serious fires.
Later on,just before they opened their new Agusta,GA. factories, the front loaders got a sort of face lift and were made with single belt drive and reverse tumble action.They were real noisy and had some rust issues.They were also made for Sears and Montgomery Ward.The dryers had no changes or improvements until just recently within the past year where the capacity has almost doubled and they are so much more up to date in features and capacity.They need to incorporate that into Frigidaire's commercial laundry line.

 

[peterh770]

There is no Frigidaire commercial laundry line. Parent company Electrolux sells true commercial machines in the US under Wascomat and Electrolux name. They sell very, very few domestic machines with a coin drop under their own name and a few other brands (GE and maybe Kenmore).

The original big Westy machines were very cool, not pausing between changing tumbling directions while washing and rinsing.

 

[cfz2882]

one thing i remember from that laundromat is the cool sound
the larger size westy front loads made when they would switch
directly from tumble to spin and vice versa-it was a screeching
sound from the motor as it switched from 16 pole(?)tumble to
2 pole spin-it was great when several of these larger westys
were running.I remember also enjoying the sounds of the top
loads and the smaller front loads too,though i don't remember
the exact sounds.

 

[laundromat]

Excuse me, but---

---The coin drop machines under the Friigidaire,GE and kenmore labels ARE considered commercial.They'e also made under the Wascomat label.

 

[laundromat]

"Flush,lift,turn,tumble 52 to 56 tiimes a minute"

You can be sure...if it's Westinghouse