Changing Look

The wood-tubbed Laurel model (an electric dolly type washer) by Dowswell, Lees, and Co., Hamilton, Ontario, c.1910 (670116). Photo courtesy of Imager.

With technological improvements came changes in the material, shape and even colour of washing machines. Manual and early electric washing machines were typically made of wood (670116). But, fluctuations in the moisture content of the wood caused structural problems. If, for example, a washtub sat unused for a period of time, the staves would shrink causing the vessel to leak water. By the mid-1910s, most manufacturers chose to construct metal tubs with iron legs. Unfortunately, metal tubs caused rust stains on clothes.Frequently, manufacturers offered galvanized or copper tubs at a premium price (670114). The Beatty Brothers Co. of Fergus, Ontario, pioneered the development of tinned or nickel-plated copper drum washers (770307).

The form of the Cataract, a copper-tubbed oscillating machine, expressed its function. Manufactured by the Nineteen Hundred Washer Co., Binghampton, N.Y., c. 1915 (670114). Photo courtesy of Imager.

By the early 1930s, enamelled steel was favoured over other materials. The baked-on enamel finish - a process pioneered by manufacturers of domestic cookware like "graniteware" - was stable at a wide range of temperatures.

The blank appearance of automatic washers expressed the manufacturers' claims that laundry wasn't work, it was effortless. Wash and spin machine by General Electric, Louisville, Kentucky, c. 1954 (870246). Photo courtesy of Imager.

In the 1940s, machines enclosed in enamelled rectangular cabinets were introduced (840716). The white rectangular outer casing masked the working parts of the machine. The washing machine, looking more like kitchen equipment than it predecessors, blended into the interior landscape of kitchen and laundry-room cabinetry (870246) (Fig. 24).