During the coming New Year, the News begins a series of articles featuring -Histories of the companies and organizations that actually manufactured the various makes and styles of the laundry equipment we have used in the past and still operate today.
During this series of contributed articles, we will also offer some background of some of the several major suppliers that have come and gone during our industry’s period of growth. We also intend to offer comments about the over all industry’s perceived and actual problems, and how we coped and are still coping with them today.
Following is one such article.
Shortly before the beginning of World War II, two well known manufacturing companies, Westinghouse and Bendix, each had patented designs for a single load household washing machine that was loaded from the front. This design was common in Europe, but for some reason or another had not yet been patented here. So these two companies did. Later, both saw that it would be an advantage to use the other’s design as well, and so they cross patented one another. Both, prior to the war, began manufacturing small front loading automatic washers designed to sell for home use and later for use in coin and service laundries.
These patents kept other appliance makers from competing to build an equivalent small front load washer. That was important, because in home use automatic washers were a true time and labor saver for those women who had grown accustomed to working outside the home in the war effort.
As the war came to an end, pent up desire for labor saving products such as automatic washers, created a huge market and sales were booming. Those who made wringer washers were losing sales, and so they began to try to convert their products to compete with these new automatic washers by building one of their own. But, because of the existing patents, they could not compete by using a front axis, front loading automatic washer.
They had to build something entirely new. So they began with the agitator from the basic wringer washer design. All that was needed then was to add a spin cycle to replace the wringers. That is how the basic automatic top loading washing machine was first born and designed. It was a wringer agitator that spun within a sheet metal box.
To augment successful efforts to introduce their automatic washers, most companies put salesmen on the road, sponsored national advertising campaigns and they put on lots of dealers. There were dozens and dozens of brands and collectively their advertising and promotional activities to reach the market simply drowned out the efforts of only two front load washer makers.
It took just a few years until, unlike the rest of the world, America became a nation that used top loaders in the home and in laundries, even though their designs were admittedly less efficient than were front loaders.
Because of huge production, it was actually less expensive to build top load washers. Those who made them, such as Whirlpool, Maytag, General Electric, Speed Queen, Blackstone, Hot Point, Frigidaire and others, had such an advantage in production volume that most of the laundries then being built were equipped with top loaders. That was because top load washers just made more economic sense.
Larger front loads were also included in some new laundries, but only in a very limited way. Seen at first as “Rug Washers”, there were only one or two of them in a typical coin laundry design, and most laundries had none.
These front load washers used far less water per pound of laundry done, but water was cheap back then. Despite a water use edge, it took front load washers many years to catch on, and even then it happened so gradually that hardly anybody noticed.
Rising water and sewer rates caused more and more operators to reconsider washer styles and the laundering public was getting used to seeing front loading washers in better coin laundries. As the use of front load washers began to increase, the number of them installed in coin laundries began to accelerate too.
Today it is not unusual to find all front load washer laundries. It is less usual to find all top load coin laundries, as most over the years have put some front loaders in operation.
There still remains a basic argument over which style of washer is better accepted by coin laundry customers. Most people were raised on home washers that loaded from the top. Some were loyal to the old brand name. Some operators felt that it’s hard for customers to change their laundering habits.
Laundry owners and operators were very familiar with, and mostly satisfied with the top load washers that they owned. They knew how to fix and repair them, and their clientele liked them too. So they were also reluctant to make any change that might rock the boat with their clientele.
As usual, it all boils down to money. The all front load washer laundry is more expensive to build. It thus requires more capital investment to build or remodel a laundry.
Plumbing and wiring costs are higher, plus there is a substantial difference in the cost for installation of bases, etc. The machines usually have to be bolted down.
The arguments for the front load washer are that they enjoy a longer useful life and have a lower cost of operation per pound washed. The per pound cost for both electricity and water and natural gas required to heat the water is much lower.
Lower cost per cycle may be a good reason, but the best argument for choosing to install new front load washers is the ability for a laundry operator to charge a higher wash vend price per load. As a result of that ability to attain higher pricing, there could be more income per square foot of floor space.
In recent years some major brand names of washing machines have introduced more energy efficient washers that are not quite the same style and design of typical coin or card operated front load units. These units are basically designed for the home market, but have already developed a strong position in the coin and card operated laundry market as well. They don’t require being bolted down, which saves on costs of installation.
European based manufacturers have begun countering that by bringing in some smaller units as well. These are basically European style home washers. They do have a heavier frame, but so far they have smaller doors and so give an impression that they can not accommodate as large a load of clothes as newer American made models.
Some of these new models from overseas do not require being bolted down either, which does make them better able to compete cost-wise with energy efficient models from America. The principal savings being in costs for installation.
Regardless of the benefits gained by installing either traditional style front loads, or the newer models made in the USA, we should not see a shift of titanic proportions to the front load washers for many years to come. In new construction yes! But already built laundries will make the change only after their current top loading washers have died and gone on to washer heaven. The typical laundry operator will continue to use his or her top loading washers as long as they have economic life and can be kept looking half way decent. That is for as long as savings that will be gained from water conservation and energy are roughly the same as is the capital and interest expense of buying new machines will be.
For marginal laundry locations, that may be forever, or until their lease runs out, whichever comes first. Almost all future coin or card-operated laundries will be installed with the more energy efficient front load units. It just makes economic sense.
One often over looked consideration is the size and type of dryers required to accompany installation of larger capacity front loads. Dryers too will have to be part of economic decisions made to add front loads to a laundry’s equipment mix. What is the point of adding more wash capability unless it’s accompanied by more clothes drying capacity? Why create a drying bottleneck?
Deciding to change an existing laundry’s washer styles from traditional top loaders to front loading washers is made more difficult by the overall investment required. Front loaders, depending on size, will cost three, four, five or more times the new price for top loads.
On one hand a laundry owner wants more capacity to earn. Larger capacity front loading washers make more money per square foot. On the other, it takes a much greater outlay of cash to make the change. In marginal coin and card operated laundries this will be hard to do. And, in some cases impossible, unless the changes are made by purchasing and installing only one or two washers at a time. | 