HOME    SEARCH   ALL TOPICS

You are here: home > everyday work in the home, early-mid 20th Century > weekly wash/laundry

Twin tub washing machines mid-20th Century: a blessing or a curse?

Experiences of the webmaster and others of using early twin tub washing machines at home: prices, advantages and disadvantages

Twin-tub washing machines were welcomed in Britain in the 1950s and 60s as a further release from the drudgery of early-1900s washdays and the chore of having to go to the bagwash or laundrette. They were the first type of domestic washing machine for the mass market.

As the name implies, they had two separate tubs – one for washing and rinsing and the other for spinning and draining.

Prices, mid-20th Century

Twin tub washing machines were expensive in real terms, and by no means all families could afford one.

My mother never had one, and when my husband and I were first married in the early 1960s, we couldn't afford one either. Only after a few years, when we moved into our own house, did we decide to buy one, and that was when my experience with twin tub washing machines began. It was distinctly not good.

Twin tub washing machine, photographed in the Willis Museum, Basingstoke

The twin tub in use: major disadvantages

Essentially the washing machine was far too labour-intensive and time-consuming in use. Yes, it was semi-automatic in that it did save the pummelling and squeezing of washing by hand, and we didn't have to go out to laundrette, but - and it was a big but ... Read on.

Our twin tub was not plumbed in. I suppose it could have been, but that was clearly not expected because the manufacturers supplied two hoses. One was for filling the wash tub and the other was for emptying the other tub. The one for filling had to be attached to the hot water tap in the sink and be hooked over the wash tub and the other had to be hooked over the sink for drainage. Neither the filling nor the emptying was automatic.

Once the dirty clothes had been put into the washing tub, someone had to stand over it while it filled, ready to turn off the tap when the tub was full. Then someone had to add the washing powder and set the washing going. The time that the water moved round the clothes for could be set. Then someone had come back to use large wooden tongs to pull the dripping washing out of the wash tub and put it into the other tub to drain or spin. It was steamy business, even standing back and using the tongs.

Once the washing had spun or drained, it had to be returned to the wash tub, which now had to be filled with fresh water for rinsing. This to-ing and fro-ing between the two tubs had to be repeated several times, depending on how many rinses were wanted. It was not quick.

As for the quality of the wash, that was another disadvantage. Our model washed by rotating the clothes in just one direction. Probably later models agitated; I don't know. The result was that the clothes wound together and had to be unwound to separate them and were probably not as clean as I would have liked. Of course the damp washing still had to be dried and ironed.

I was not alone in my disappointment with the twin tub washing machine. It was a topic of conversation in coffee breaks at work.

Why we got rid of our twin tub washing machine

Automatic washing machines for the domestic market were coming in around this time, and although they were more expensive than twin tub machines, we felt we had little realistic alternative but to buy one. After all, we both had full-time jobs. So the days of our twin tub were short-lived.

Some households, though, kept their twin tub machines for many years.

NEXT  The Flatley for drying and airing

---

sources

webmaster

contact

what visitors say

Privacy Policy      Cookie Policy

Text and images are copyright

If you can add anything to this page or provide a photo, please contact me.