How to use the site

On this site you will find pictures and information about some of the electrical and mecanichal relics that the Frank Sharp Private museum has accumulated over the years .
There are lots of vintage electrical and electronic items that have not survived well or even completely disappeared and forgotten.

Or are not being collected nowadays in proportion to their significance or prevalence in their heyday, this is bad and the main part of the death land. The heavy, ugly sarcophagus; models with few endearing qualities, devices that have some over-riding disadvantage to ownership such as heavy weight,toxicity or inflated value when dismantled, tend to be under-represented by all but the most comprehensive collections and museums. They get relegated to the bottom of the wants list, derided as 'more trouble than they are worth', or just forgotten entirely. As a result, I started to notice gaps in the current representation of the history of electronic and electrical technology to the interested member of the public.


Following this idea around a bit, convinced me that a collection of the peculiar alone could not hope to survive on its own merits, but a museum that gave equal display space to the popular and the unpopular, would bring things to the attention of the average person that he has previously passed by or been shielded from. It's a matter of culture. From this, the Washer Rama Web Museum concept developed and all my other things too. It's an open platform for all electrical Electronic TV technology to have its few, but NOT last, moments of fame in a working, hand-on environment. We'll never own Colossus or Faraday's first transformer, but I can show things that you can't see at the Science Museum, and let you play with things that the Smithsonian can't allow people to touch, because my remit is different.

There was a society once that was the polar opposite of our disposable, junk society. A whole nation was built on the idea of placing quality before quantity in all things. The goal was not “more and newer,” but “better and higher" .This attitude was reflected not only in the manufacturing of material goods, but also in the realms of art and architecture, as well as in the social fabric of everyday life. The goal was for each new cohort of children to stand on a higher level than the preceding cohort: they were to be healthier, stronger, more intelligent, and more vibrant in every way.

The society that prioritized human, social and material quality is a Winner. Truly, it is the high point of all Western civilization. Consequently, its defeat meant the defeat of civilization itself.
Today, the West is headed for the abyss. For the ultimate fate of our disposable society is for that society itself to be disposed of. And this will happen sooner, rather than later.
OLD, but ORIGINAL, Well made, Funny, Not remotely controlled............. and not Made in CHINA.

How to use the site:

- If you landed here via any Search Engine, you will get what you searched for and you can search more using the search this blog feature provided by Google. You can visit more posts scrolling the right blog archive of all posts of the month/year,
or you can click on the main photo-page to start from the main page. If doing so it starts from the most recent post to the older post doing simple clicking on the Older Post button on the bottom of each page after reading , post after post.

You can even visit all posts, time to time, reaching the bottom end of each page then click on the Older Post button.


- If you arrived here at the main page via bookmark you can visit all the site scrolling the right blog archive of all posts of the month/year pointing were you want , or more simple You can even visit all blog posts, from newer to older, clicking at the end of each bottom page on the Older Post button.
So you can see all the blog/site content surfing all pages in it.


- The search this blog feature provided by Google is a real search engine. If you're pointing particular things it will search IT for you; or you can place a brand name in the search query at your choice and visit all results page by page. It's useful since the content of the site is very large.

Note that if you don't find what you searched for, try it after a period of time; the site is a never ending job !

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.

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.

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.

Every OLD Washing Machine saved let revive knowledge, noise, thoughts, wash engineering, moments of the past life which will never return again.........
These were the days when some washing machines were more like machine tools and bristled with levers and gears. There was a sense of occasion when they were powered up and then helping to guide soaking sheets through those powerful rollers with torrents of soapy steaming water (roughly) pouring back into the tub.

Many contemporary appliances would not have this level of staying power, many would ware out or require major services within just five years and of course, there is that perennial bug bear of planned obsolescence where components our deliberately designed to fail or manufactured with limited edition specificities.

.......The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of todays funny gadgets low price has faded from memory.....
Don't forget the past, the end of the world is upon us! Pretty soon it will all turn to dust!

Have big FUN ! !


©2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Frank Sharp - You do not have permission to copy photos and words from this blog, and any content may be never used it for auctions or commercial purposes, however feel free to post anything you see here with a courtesy link back, btw a link to the original post here , is mandatory.
All sets and apparates appearing here are property of
Engineer Frank Sharp. NOTHING HERE IS FOR SALE !

Thursday, March 15, 2012

INDESIT (SPIREA) MOD. L.6.S.I. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM.

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM.


INDESIT (SPIREA) was originary from Orbassano Near TORINO In Italy and indeed the Product here shown comes from there.

It was a very big industry conglomerate present in all European lands even In Norvay.

IT was fabricating domestic appliances like Washing machines (INDESIT K5) and dish washers and even fridges (almost lasting forever).

In the 70's they started producing tellyes and radios for cheap market but good products.

As example of the television sets produced by INDESIT  here an example of portable B/W tv set.
 and here an example of INDESIT Color tv set.

And not last an INDESIT B/W tv set with tubes chassis.

INDESIT has a very heavy controversed history which is made of high loss of work places for people, financial disasters, loss of market, closing of production location and finally a complete destruction of one of the bigger Italian industry on European level.

It was then brand name aquired by Merloni Elettrodomestici known as Ariston the reconverted to Indesit company......................

INDESIT INDUSTRY (Photography showing original INDESIT factory near Turin in 1980 with 52000 Square meters) was founded in 1953 in Turin with the denomination of Spirea, by three members: Armando Campioni, Adelchi Candellero and Filippo Gatta.
The society moved some years later to Rivalta of Turin, and another three times it changed denomination up to 1961 (SPIREA - INDEL - INDES - INDESIT), when it assumed the definitive social reason and the mark Indesit was born. (INDustria  Elettrodomestici Spirea ITalia)

The three founders belonged to that race of pioneers who in the second post-war Piemonte region of Italy showed that they are not particularly influenced by the excessive power of Fiat and the monoculture of the Cars (still actual). They choosed to set up a factory to produce household appliances   !

They have understood that they can do like Americans with lower costs and better on the plane of style because they work with designers and advertisers (In Turin there was that genius of Armando Testa) that in that decade begin to collaborate closely with the industry.





 Giving life precisely to that phenomenon that will be made in Italy. The intuition is rewarded and the products of Indesit do not struggle to find a market first in Italy and then also ABROAD. The growth of the company, in the Roaring sixties, is constant, also because its products in just over a decade are no longer prohibitive for an ever increasing number of Italian Families.

Indesit was producing "white" household electrical appliances like washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, dishwasher and kitchens,  television sets and shops fiscal recorders and portable radios. Despite their economical market sector they were very well made in fair semplicity and combined very long lasting simple construction.

All mechanical parts and general components of the household appliances were made by INDESIT Itself (even fridge compressors) with few exceptions as example electronic components were aquired from known fabricants but development , design and product fabrication/production  was all Indesit made on his own.

The company knew a swift productive and commercial development in the period of the economic boom, becoming the third one of the sector at national level .

 It conquered wide shares are in the national market which foreign countries of the household electrical appliances even in UK, and Germany were they have commercialized under the Quelle brand (Indesit fridge rebranded Quelle.



In the sixties and seventy, Indesit was counting quite eight rich productive installations, of which five to the North ( between Rivalta,  and Orbassano, ) and two in the South (Teverola and Carinaro (Council of Europe)), where they were used about 12.000 workers.

In those years, in the time era of the "fashion" of the refrigerator as the status of the modern family, the company expands its facilities, and despite a first crisis of 1962, the production volumes are flying exceeding two million and 500 thousand pieces annually and the workers Employees become 12000. At the beginning of the seventies, Indesit has seven factories in the North (freezers, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions), not counting the induced, and we start to build plants in the south in the province of Caserta.

In the same period to the Indesit there was tried a system of televisional broadcasting to colours named ISA, whom the Torinese company proposed in 1972 to the RAI, but whom it was not accepted by the Italian Government (guess why), because not conformable to other European systems!!! .

Starting from 1973 Indesit have had a new Crisis. Competition from Eastern technology is pressing, small businesses begin to be absorbed by monopolistic preordained organized Giants.

In 1977 the company denounces a heavy budgetary deficit, in 1978 the prices of the products are increased, but the sales are lowered because they are not Competitive. In 1980 for workers, the layoffs start, no more televisions will be produced at None (to). On 12 June 1980 Indesit communicates the total crisis in the household appliances sector in addition to the electronic Sector.
 The workers exhibit protest at pinerolo, orbassano, Torino and None.

There was acquired also the mark Hirundo, with which a line was proposed in the white sector (refrigerators, washing machines and other household electrical appliances), as well as apparatus in the brown sector, like radio to transistor branded Indesit-Hirundo. Such a mark today is not long time more used.

Indesit participated for 6 % in the Sèleco of Pordenone, to the epoch in which the control was held by Giovanni Mario Rossignolo, giving installations in disuse for the television sets manufacture. Zanussi and Rel were the greatest shareholders in Sèleco to that epoch.

In 1980, the Indesit went to big crisis and was put into checked administration, of which it went out in 1984, when it was recapitalized for 74 milliard lire and there new members  entered. Still for the Torinese company the crisis continued and the recovery was not going; following this in 1985 it gave his electronic division to the Olivetti .

In 1981 Indesit is divided into three holdings, the redundancies confirmed, but following the mobilizations you get a government intervention that buffers the Procedure.

In 1984 Indesit officially announces that its problems are structural, that because of this it is no longer possible to continue to limit the damage with forms of rotation on the work of part of the re integrated work force, and for the workers  "surplus " is required the cash zero Hours system to fund the unoccupied workers.

Much was the negotiations to find an industrial and financial partner, but the situation was so heavy to lead, in the same year, the company to the extraordinary administration, on the grounds of the law Prodi, and the Court of Turin appointed commissary the doctor Giacomo Zunino.

 For a long time now the work places had drastically decreased, and were reduced to a little more than 7.000 workers, the greatest part of which in case integration then unoccupied.

Even though it was commissioned, the company improved gradually the accounts, and in 1987 it was purchased to the auction at Merloni Elettrodomestici's already known for the mark Ariston and until then principal competitor in Italy of the Indesit itself. In the operation the of the Marche group invested quite 50 milliard lire in the acquisition of the society, and another 100 milliards it were provided for the reorganisation and the curing .
Indesit became the first mark of the company, and the factories were maintained only of None, Carinaro and Teverola.The factory in Orbassano is closed, None (Turin) unfolded and resized, until the last 400 workers are fired at the end of the year 2012.

TODAYS THERE IS NO MORE OF ANYTHING OF INDESIT SPIREA !!


R.I.P. ITALY !


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