Thanks to our friend "Acme Ron" in Phoenix, we are going to take you back to an Appliance Show held sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s. From your perspective, the refrigerators, ranges, washers, etc. are pretty mundane -- everyone has these things. However, eighty years ago, things were very different -- those noisy and small General Electric (GE) "Monitor Top" refrigerators were the cutting edge of technology. They sold for $215 when $1/day was a good wage for workingmen (The Average Joe of the time would have had to work almost 7 months to earn enough to pay for this. $215 then is equivalent to about $10,000 today.)

So, as you look through these photos, put yourself in the mindset of going to a fabulous home design expo to see all the marvelous (and expensive) things that the rich and famous have today. Also, make a note that these items, overpriced in 1932, were to become commonplace. So, if some movie star, drug dealer, or environmental lawyer has an exotic gadget today, you'll be able to afford one tomorrow.

Here is the booth of the Pacific Tire Company, one of two purveyors of General Electric appliances at the show. At the time, many stores that dealt with auto products diversified into home appliances. Examples are the Western Auto chain and Firestone stores.

The Pacific Tire Company Booth
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Here is the booth of the L.H. Bennett Company that seems to be offering the same products as Pacific Tire. The only difference seems to be that the Bennett Company has taken great pains (and 24 inch letters) to advertise its "4 Year Service Plan."

The L.H. Bennett Company Booth
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GE was popular at the show: the L.E. Kinkaid Company offered GE appliances as well. This booth features a display that shows clearly how the "Direct Drive" dishwasher (see below) works.

The L.E. Kinkaid Company Booth
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The Refrigerators

Household refrigerators, of a sort, had been on the market for about 20 years before this photo was taken. GE was the first, marketing in 1911 a wooden model invented in France by a French monk, Abbé Marcel Audiffren. Called the Audiffren, it sold for $1000, twice the cost of a car, and was produced in France. Spurred by World War I, the first successful US-made refrigerator to enter full scale production in the US was the Kelvinator after Lord Kelvin the father of Thermodynamics. Introduced in 1918, it was made of wood, and looked pretty much like a small bedroom night stand, with a single door. (See the Westinghouse page below).

  
(L.) The Two-Door Model (R.) Good for the Whole Family
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Two years after the "Monitor-Top", in 1929, the Kelvinator Four refrigerator debuted with no visible "legs". Its cabinet and compressor were cleanly encased in a simple white metal box design reaching the floor. It set the design type form for home refrigerators for the rest of the century. Freon was discovered in 1930 by Delco chemist Thomas Midgely. Non-toxic, Freon was adopted by all manufacturers, and refrigerators became safe for use in the home, until it was found to be creating a hole in the Ozone layer. Now, other environmentally safe (but much more expensive...) chemicals are used.

From then on, it was a battle of the Industrial Designers...

General Electric, noticing the success of the Kelvinator Four, engaged Henry Dreyfuss to re-design its Monitor-Top, who designed a flat top version, placing the compressor beneath the cabinet to achieve the simple white box shape. The design was introduced under both the GE and Hotpoint brand names in 1933. Norman Bel Geddes designed an Electrolux refrigerator for Servel in 1934, who had introduced their first model in 1926, using a gas-heat absorption system invented in Sweden. In 1935, Sears, Roebuck & Company wanted to join the fray, and asked Henry Dreyfuss to design a refrigerator for them. He was too busy, so recommended Raymond Loewy. Loewy did the Coldspot Super Six for Sears, making it a leader in the industry, and, not incidentally, providing Loewy with his first major career boost.

The Dishwasher

1909 the Walker brothers, hardware merchants in Syracuse, applied for and received a patent for a new dishwashing machine. As a marketing dvice (to see if anyone would be interested in buying their machines),they sent out postcards showing a rather small lady operating the machine prospective customers . The response was so good that they decided to manufacture the machines in the rear of their store. The 1911 model shown below included a pulley and a belt so the machine could be operated "automatically" by means of a gasoline engine. Of course like the earlier dishwashers the machine still need to filled with water and emptied by hand.

 
Early Walker Dishwashers (l.) 1911 (r.) 1918
Not Exactly the Stuff that Dreams Are Made Of

In 1913 when the Walker Brothers hardware store was wired for electricity they produced thier first electric dishwasher. It sold for $120 as compared to the $20.00 hand crank model. Following World War I, the Walker dishwasher took on a new look. The tub was smoothed out and painted and the legs were shaped to harmonize with the age of short skirts. The building boom of the early 1920's stimulated the design of a Dishwasher-Sink combo which drew the attention of the builders of the day. These early machines were driven by an external motor through gear

 
In-Sink Dishwashers (l.) 1924 (r.) 1927
These Models Convinced GE

In 1930 GE acquired the Walker Brothers Company and moved the dishwasher production to the Hotpoint factory in Chicago. The first General Electric branded dishwasher was produced in 1932. It had a square tub, a single control handle, rubber coated steel dish racks and the first automatic water level measuring valve. The free standing unit (shown in the Pacific Tire photo) had a front panel which served as a shelf when raised.

General Electric still uses "Direct Drive" in is advertising.

Those of you with need for even more detail about the history of dishwashers should consult this website.

The Hotpoint Range

So, why were all the GE appliances named Hotpoint?

Earl H. Richardson was a meter reader for the Ontario Power Company in the early 1900’s. In his spare time, he experimented with electrifying flat irons. Designing a small, lighter weight model (flatirons could weigh 5-10 pounds each), he convinced his company to generate power all day every Tuesday (ironing day) so power customers could use his new iron. He reasoned that if enough electric irons were in use, customers would demand more power and the high rates would be reduced. It worked. By 1904, he left the power company and started up the Pacific Electric Heating Company on Euclid Avenue just below the railroad tracks to manufacture electric irons.

A major problem was soon identified: the iron got too hot in the center of the ironing plate. Richardson asked his wife Mary for advice. She suggested that he make an iron with more heat at the point for easier pressing around buttonholes, ruffles and pleats. He fabricated this new improved version and gave several to local laundresses to try for one week. When he returned, they refused to part with “the iron with the hot point”. In 1905, he made and sold more electric irons under the “Hotpoint” name than any other company in America.

I love this part!

Between 1911 and 1917, Richardson found other innovative ways to marry electricity with household appliances. Thus was born the “El” line (El meaning “electric”): El Perco (an electric coffeepot), El Chafo (chafing dish), El Tosto (electric toaster), El Stovo (an early hotplate), El Eggo, El Teballo (electric teapot), and El Warmo (electric heating pad). An early crockpot, (the “jug cooker”) came out in 1929.

Saturday Evening Post Ad for the El Perco, y mucho mas

During our extensive resarch, we found a highly copyrighted photo of a sign in the Arizona Power Company and Prescott Gas and Electric, (dated March 28, 1916) lists the costs of operating various electric appliances, such as “El Grillo, Toast and Eggs 12 cents”; “El Tosto, 8 slices toast 12 cents”; “El Perco, 7 cups coffee 11 cents”; “El Chafo, Welch Rarebit 11 cents”; El Boilo, Heat Your Shaving Water 6 cents”; “El Stovo, 12 cents”; El Comfo, 1 cent”; “Curling Tong Heater 6 cents”; “El Teballo, "El Teballo, 11 cents"; "Iron with a Hotpoint Iron 11 cents". If you visit the above link, you'll see that on display are several types of light fixtures and light bulbs, a hot water heater, a gas stove and a vacuum cleaner. Small appliances such as toasters ("EL Tosto") and a waffle iron appear to be for sale as well as several lamps, including an Arts and Crafts style table lamp in the foreground. There is only one light fixture which is not for display high above the work area - not very good lighting for a power company. Multiply by about 30 to find equivalents in 2008 dollars - the El perco would have cost you about $3.30 in electricity alone to brew 7 cups of coffee (close to 50 cents per cup!)

I think that if I could have any one of these, it would be the "El Perco", although the "El Stovo" would be a close second. These certainly are "non-PC".

With World War I raging in Europe, a merger was proposed with Richardson’s Hotpoint Electric Heating Company, George Hughes (owner/inventor of the electric range) and the heating device section of the General Electric Company. The new company, formed in 1918, was known as the Edison Electric Appliance Company. In 1952, Hotpoint became a division of the General Electric Company. The Ontario plant continued to manufacture electric irons until it closed in 1982.

It gets better:

Several milestones marked the Ontario plant’s history: the 20 millionth iron (gold-plated) was presented to Una Winter, Earl Richardson’s sister in 1941; the 50 millionth produced in 1956 with President Eisenhower looking on; the 100 millionth in 1969 and the 150 millionth in 1980. Legend has it that in 1982, the last iron was buried in the grounds of the Ontario plant.

"Hotpoint" became the generic name for all of GE's resistance heat devices. As far as stoves are concerned, GE acquired the patents for a removable burner element called a "calrod". The metallurgical properties of this gadget enebled the burner to reach cooking temperature in a very short time. It also made it easy to change burner elements. This was a major advertising gimmick. here is an ad from the Montreal Jewish News from August of 1927:

The Calrod was the Key to the Hotpoint Range


Here's a lady cooking on the mirror image of the range at the trade show

The Magic Maid Mixer

In the background, you will see a "Magic Maid" fold-away mixer, designed by Patrick J. Fitzgerald of Torrington, Connecticut. The mixer dates from the early-1930s. The photos were sent to us by our friend "Acme Ron" from Phoenix.

Mr. Fitzgerald provided a very ingenious mixer with a handle and locking device that allowed it to supply power in both a vertical mode (mixing) and a horizontal mode (juicing), cutting, etc.

 

 

Click here if you want to learn how to get Patent Drawings

So, with that, we bid farewell to the Pacific Tire Booth.

Chanslor and Lyon were the dealership for Leonard appliances. You'll note their clever use of cutout figures of housewives using the product.

The Chanslor and Lyons Booth
Click Photo to Enlarge

Those cardboard cutouts are serving a purpose -- they are illustrating the New Feature for 1932, the "Len-a-Dor" foot controlled door latch (red arrow) that was specifically designed to aid "The Juggler" -- the busy housewife with both hands full of dishes.

The 1932 Leonard Refrigerator
..with the Len-a-Dor

The Leonard Company was founded in 1881 by Charles H. Leonard in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The famous Leonard "Cleanable" Refrigerator came about after a mishap in the Leonard home: a pail of hot cooling lard was left inside an ice box on top of a cake of ice, resulting in melted ice, a spilled pail and cooled lard spilled all over. Charles created his refrigerator with removable liners and flues. In 1885, Leonard introduced metal shelves and improved the door-locking mechanisms. 1907 saw the introduction of porcelain lined interiors, which further enhanced the cleanability and sanitation of refrigerators. The refrigerator cabinets were made of highly varnished carved-oak, brass fixtures, and enhanced with mirrors. Electrical refrigerators were introduced in 1918, and by 1925, Leonard was building one out of every five refrigerators produced in the United States, which amounted to 1000 refrigerators per day. Leonard merged with Kelvinator in 1926. The Leonard brand of appliances continued to be sold exclusively through Leonard dealers (such as Chanslor and Lyons), as well as through Canadian and English dealers.

This photo shows an owlish salesman surrounded by Norge refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. Note the interesting art deco rug in the foreground.

The Norge Booth
Click Photo to Enlarge

  
The 1932 Norge Refrigerator
..with the the Rollator

The Norge company history is a sad tale of corporate mergers. Norge was bought by Magic Chef which in turn was absorbed by Maytag which is now a division of Samsung. Today, the Norge refrigerator is mainly remembered for Dan Ackroyd's portrayal of a Norge repairman on Saturday Night Live.

It also appears that the salesman is offering the Premier Duplex vacuum cleaner:

  

Advertisements for the Premier Duplex Vacuum
Click Either Photo to Enlarge

The Premier Duplex vacuum "system" offered the lady of the house the opportunity to vaccum and scrub floors. (The vaccum configuration is on the table, the scrubber is on the floor). This was a fairly expensive "multi-function" appliance. In general, the appeals were based on savings of time, so a larger up-front outlay meant more leisure time in the future. These appliances were manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio. Through the miracle of YouTube, here is a video of the Premier Duplex in action

Right next to the Pacific Tire Company was the booth of the "Maytag West Company" featuring a big display of marvelous washing machines and two wide-awake salesmen.

The Maytag West Company Booth
Click Photo to Enlarge

Howard Snyder, a former mechanic whose inventive genius had led him to eventually head Maytag's development department came up with one of the most significant inventions in laundry appliance history. Its revolutionary washing principle was to force water through clothes with a vaned agitator mounted in the bottom of the tub.

Maytag first introduced this type washer in 1922, and it was a great success. The new washer design put Maytag exclusively into the washer business, prompted the end of farm equipment manufacturing and propelled the company to a dominant position in the young laundry appliance industry.

Shipping Washers Five Trainloads at a Time

Trainloads of the Maytag "Gyrafoam" washers went out from Newton plant, and by 1927 the company had produced its first million. It has now produced more than 40 million laundry and kitchen appliances.

In 1925 the company went public with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. The company did not, however, turn its back on its rural base. It soon began providing butter churn and meat grinder attachments for its washers and adapted it Multi-Motor for use with a cream separator and, in the 1930's to function as a light generator. The power take-off for these appliances is shown in the picture. In 1924 an iron had been introduced as a companion appliance to the Maytag washer. From 1926 to 1940 the company was headed by E. H. Maytag, another son of the founder.

Maytag continued with a reputation for excellence, as typified by its iconic trademark -- the repairman who has nothing but time on his hands. Alas, Maytag was sold to Whirlpool in 2006, the Newton factory was shut down and all work outsourced to China. Consumer Reports indicates that Maytag is now right at the bottom of the quality scale... Apparently, the Chinese don't do washers any better than they do Human Rights.

Looking to the left, there is also another photo of the Magic-Maid Mixer in the Pacific Tire Booth.

With the Girls Scouts as their neighbor, the Colvin-Templeton Company presented a display of refrigerators

The Colvin-Templeton Company Booth
Click Photo to Enlarge

For 1932, the slogan was "Dual Automatic." Logically, this referred to two "miracle" features:

• The Built-In Watchman, an internal device that kept the compressor from overheating. The Westinghouse propaganda literature says that this is "..an invention worthmore than a million dollars...
• The 7-point adjustable-automatic Temperature Selector with constant freezing point, which seems to be a thermostat just like on modern machines. The freezing point remains constant at 32 degrees (F) whether or not you own a Westinghouse appliance...

The Built-In-Watchman

This campaign (in the middle of the Depression) was aimed at assuring folks that you got twice the value if you spent $180 (F.O.B. Mansfield, Ohio, more like $250 in the stores, equivalent to about $7,000 today). These gadgets definitely were NOT for the 25% of the country that was uneployed nor were they for the typical factory worker who made 17 cents per hour -- if he was lucky enough to get a job. It is no wonder the ads (below) feature folks in Tuxedoes regaling themselves over a midnight snack or teenage girls imploring the maid to keep the door open on a hot day.

Woman's Home Companion Ad for Westinghouse
Click Photo to Enlarge

It is of some note that this model was apparently the first to feature an electric light, adevrtised thusly: "... Simply opening the door floods the entire food compartment and automatic electric froster with brilliant light No more groping - you put your hand sinstantly on what you want. Light switches off automatically when door is closed..." If you ever wondered what happens to the refrigerator light when you close the door, you have the word of the Westinghouse copy-writers that the light goes out. This must have been a big deal because Westinghouse took out a two-page ad in the April 16, 1932 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, a monumental expense, akin to buying air-time during the Super Bowl.

Saturday Evening Post Two-page Ad for Westinghouse
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There is a direct "jab at the GE "Monitor Top" refrigerator -- the hernetically sealed cooling unit makes it possible to eliminate the external cooling coils -- and the resulting flat top is sold as"... the convenience of the flat, usable Buffet Top at shoulder height...."

  
At Those Prices, the Refrigerator Had Snob Appeal
You cannot cool off by opening the door... the girls don't understand economics or thermodynamics!
These things were shown at salons -- compare that with Costco!

Of note, Colvin-templeton had a "skeleton model of the underlying mechanics of the refrigerator. This would help relieve the concerns of folks who did not immediately see the condenser coils that they had come to expect based on the GE "Monitor Top."

Skeleton Model of the Westinghouse Innards

In 1927, Kenmore first appeared on a Sears laundry appliance, an agitator type, wringer washing machine. By 1936, Sears had already sold 1 million Kenmore laundry items. Its popularity hasn’t slipped. Today, nearly one in every three American homes contains a Kenmore appliance. You can see why, when you look at Kenmore’s history. The Kenmore brand boasts a long list of firsts in automatic appliances, energy efficiency, and stylish, modern designs.

The first appearance of the Kenmore brand washing machine almost escaped notice. The Kenmore washing machine did not show up in the venerable Sears catalog that year, and no known photograph of the 1927 washing machine with a Kenmore brand on it exists. The origin of the name Kenmore is equally vague. One suggestion is that Kenmore came from Kenmore Avenue, a prominent street in Chicago.

With nearly 99 percent of urban homes wired for electricity by the end of the 1920s, Sears recognized the huge untapped market in household appliances. To reach this market Sears offered a wide assortment of Kenmore appliances, as illustrated in the line shown below:

The Sears Roebuck Booth
Click Photo to Enlarge It

As you can see, by 1932, Sears was offering quite a variety of Kenmore brand appliances. We'd first like to draw your attention to the washing machine on the left. We'd like to "sandwich" it between 1929 and 1933, remembering that the appliance show was held in 1932. On the left, you'll see a page from the 1929 Sears Catalogue showing the "Water Witch" washing machine. In addition to the strange name, note that it looks pretty flimsy -- more like an oil barrel on stilts. This sold for about $80 (something like $2,400 today). By 1932, you can see (click to enlarge the photo if you wish...)that the machine has acquired a fairly Victorian look about it, especially the pressed metal "Queen Anne" legs. The price also dropped by 18% ($64.95 vs $79.50). During the Great Depression, people thought that electricity was "modern" and thus wanted their appliances to be "modern" -- and, as we have seen with refrigerators, the great Industrial designers of the time applied their magic. We invite you to compare the washing machine shown in 1932 with the "Toperator" designed in 1933 by Henry Dreyfuss (of Twentieth Century Limited fame). With chrome bands and all controls on a panel at the top (hence "Top-Operator" or streamlined as "Toperator), this machine is the epitome of Modern and was ordered in great numbers by all social classes -- even folks served bt the TVA who had just got their first taste of electricity. (We observe that for $122.75 you could have bough a gasoline powered washer back in 1929)

  
1929 (l.) and 1933 (r.) Sears Washers showing evolution to "modernity"
Click the Ad to Enlarge It

Sears also used a certain coyness in naming its refrigerators "Coldspot" -- compare this with "Hotpoint" discussed above.

The other appliances shown are an ironer and a vacuum cleaner. We have an entire page devoted to irons and ironing with great details about Ironing machines. Please feel free to consult that page, should you want any more information about those devices. It suffices to say that even for Sears, these machines were for the homes of the relatively well-to do. And, you can be certain that they got streamlined very quickly.

The Kenmore Vacuum Cleaner is obscured in the photo from the show, so here is a large picture of the device in an ad from a contemporary Sears Catalogue:

The Kenmore Vacuum Cleaner
Click Photo to Enlarge It

Rettberg and Collins seems to have hitched their wagon to the "Buckeye" line of appliances. Unfortunately, this brand seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.

Rettberg and Collins Booth
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Little can be found about the "Buckeye" brand -- from the signs, they were offereing a one door (Model 51, 3 cubic feet $129.50) and a two-door (Model 71, 7 cubic feet, $189.50) refrigerator in 1932. These refrigerators looked a lot like the Westinghouse models (above), but were priced about 20% less. About the only thing that we could find in the internet was this long-dead trademark for these appliances, held by the Buckeye Water Heater and Appliance Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Please Contact me if you know more about the Buckeye brand.

The Buckeye Trademark

The show featured a number of booths that were not involved in selling appliances. Here is the Progressive Optical Company who would measure you for glasses "While U Wait". When was the last time that a woman dressed as a nurse was seen in an optician's store?

The Progressive Optical Company Booth
Click Photo to Enlarge It

Apparently, upscale consumers in the 1930s were addicted to Health Food much like their 21st Century Yuppie descendants. Here is the "Original Health Food Store" featuring items like the Nutradiet System and "Grant's Hygenic Crackers." The guy with the spectacles doesn't look any too healthy...

The Original Health Food Store Booth
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Here is a "Food Product Display" that was back in the corner along with the Parent Teacher Association. It looks like this might be part of some nutrition education project.

The Food Product Display Booth
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Apparently, a Ball or a large public reception was held, featuring comely young ladies dressed as appliances. These are, of course, my kind of girls.

The After Party
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Of these, I think that the Washer is the most creative, using balloons to simulate bubbles.

We hope that you enjoyed your tour of the Appliance Show.