Antique Washing Machine History
1950s Washing Machine model
Technology has made us leap in terms of saving time and efforts. From the conventional pounding of clothes on the rock to the modern cubical white boxes which have several buttons for washing your clothes delicately or permanent press, we have come far from primitive hiccups of civilization.
Unlike other collector's items like watches, radios or cars, antique washing machine models do not allure the collectors, who try to avoid them as much as they can. One of the main reasons is that they are difficult to maintain.
1900 to 1935 saw the advent of old washing machines that were powered by gasoline or electric motors. Gasoline was hazardous and had environmental issues.
Before 1900, antique washing machines were actually run by people. But, invention of internal combustion engine and electric motor changed the scenario and electric powered washing machines became popular.
Since the old washing machines did not have on-off switch, if the clothes or hand of the user was caught in it, the electric chord had to be pulled out or the user could lose her anatomy. Basically, the safety mechanism was primeval.
Few Popular Old Days Washing Machine Companies
History of antique washing machine can be traced back to 1800's when rotary washing machines were invented. Then in 1908, Hurley in Chicago introduced Thor - a vintage washing machine that comprised of a galvanized tub and an electric motor. The tub was wooden and turned 8 revolutions before reversing. It was designed by Fisher.
In 1893, Maytag Corporation started manufacturing washing machines and in 1907 they introduced a wooden tub in it.
Upton Machine Company or Whirlpool started in 1911 in Michigan. It manufactured electric motor driven wringer washers.
In 1920 rocker type machines became extremely popular. Judd rocker was amongst them but this washing machine did not have wringer safety release. There was no earth and the terminals were not insulated.
Later, Horton Company in Indiana started manufacturing electric machines, which featured a powered wringer. Additionally, it had a safety release.
J. T. Winans got patent for washing machine that had pulley, which was driven by a water motor. The water motor was belted to the pulley and this was connected to a tap. The water powered motors did not become popular and eventually the company shifted its focus to electrical powered washers.
One of the most interesting antique washing machines belonging to early 1900s was the Laun-Dry-Ette which was manufactured by Home Specialty Company, Ohio. There was no wringer present in it but it comprised of two cups (having an agitator), which produced a twisting motion for better cleaning. This old model is a darling of many vintage washing machine collectors.
According to estimation, there were more than 1000 companies in the early 1900s which were manufacturing washing machines. Most of them were small scale companies, but they all had resources to manufacture electric washers.
Some Milestones of Antique Washing Machine History
Vintage German Model
- In 1691, first British patent was issued for the category of Washing and Wringing Machines.
- In 1782, British patent for a rotating drum washer was issued to Henry Sidgier.
- Nathanial Briggs was the first American to get the patent in this category.
- Louis Goldenberg of New Jersey invented electric washer in the early 1900s. Since he was employed with Ford, all inventions created by him during that time belonged to Ford.
- In 1928, US sales increased to more than 900,000 units, but the sales dipped by 1932 to about 600,000 units only, due to Great Depression.
- In 1930s spin dryers were introduced and the entire mechanism was hemmed in a cabinet. Manufacturers started paying lot of attention to safety issues. Spin dryers replaced the electric powered wringers.
- Almost 60% of the households in US owned electric washing machines in 1940s.
- In 1937, Bendix was issued a patent for automatic washing machine. The machine had to be anchored or fixed to the ground so that it didn't shift while functioning. Bendix Deluxe was introduced in 1947 and it was a front loading machine. It was priced at $250.
- GE was the first company that introduced top load washing machines.
- 1940s and 1950s saw proliferation of washing machines that were mainly top loading.
- Some companies manufactured laundry machines which were semi-automatic. The user was supposed to intervene with the wash cycle in order to wring and rinse the clothes.
