At the end of the 1930s, manufacturers introduced automatic washing machines with agitation for washing and spinning for removing water. These machines meant no more running clothes through wringers between each part of the wash cycle (Cowan, 1983, p. 94). Bendix developed an automatic washer in 1937. When the war broke out in Dec. 1941, 330,000 Bendix automatic machines were in use--1.5% of washers in U.S. homes. The photo above is of one of those Bendix washers. The military used the Bendix automatic washers during the war (Bendix, 1950). Kenmore added an auto-timer feature to their washers in 1941, which automatically shut off the machine at a pre-set time (Sears Brands, 2017, http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/detail/kenmore/1940s.htm).
Once the U.S. entered the war, factories stopped producing most home appliances and switched to producing equipment for the war. Only customers with demonstrated needs could buy items made with rationed materials (Sears Brands, 2017, http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/detail/kenmore/1940s.htm). The largest washing-machine factory in the world, the Maytag plant in Newton, Iowa, produced 2,000 washers a day in 1938 and had produced a total of 4 million washers by May 1941. As of April 1942, it stopped producing washing machines to conserve resources for the war. By that time, only 3% of its production was devoted to manufacturing washing machine repair parts, while 97% was dedicated to defense production (Ossian, 2009, pp. 77-79). The first photo below shows a 1941 conference of Army and washing machine company leaders meeting to discuss how factories might be converted to defense production.
Westinghouse began touting the features of automatic washers and building demand in 1944, before it even had machines to sell. It had test-marketed the “Laundromat” model before the war and began to advertise this machine that “fills itself with water, washes, rinses, spins the clothes amazingly dry, and then shuts itself off.” No more filling the washer from the taps; starting, monitoring, and stopping the machine; lifting heavy wet clothes to run them through a ringer or move them to another tub; rinsing again; and wringing again (Strasser, 1982, pp. 267-269). The second picture below shows a 1945 ad for the Westinghouse Laundromat with makes reference to the military, "When mother's little helpers make a mess of K.P....you need a Westinghouse Laundromat."
With the end of war production, manufacturers rushed to convert factories to produce home appliances to meet demand from households that had money to spend. Factories produced about three times as many machines in 1947 as in 1939. The automatic electric washer became common after World War II (Cowan, 1983, p. 94). Many Americans first used an automatic washing machine in a launderette, or laundromat, in the years after World War II. (The third photo below shows a laundromat ca. 1947 (Bendix, 1950). Once they tried them, Americans wanted an automatic washer in their own home. Sales of washing machines soared and it became a standard household appliance (Cohen, 1982, p. 96). Sears offered its first automatic, agitator-type washer with one speed, one water level, one cycle, and three water temperatures in 1947 (Sears Brands, 2017, http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/detail/kenmore/1940s.htm).
In spite of the new automatic washing machine, a 1948 U.S. Department of Agriculture brochure, How to Choose and Use Your Washing Machine, indicated that, even after the war, the first question in buying a washer was, “Shall I buy an automatic washer?” The brochure pointed out that an automatic washer could be used only if there was a water system in the house—plentiful hot and cold water that was reasonably soft with adequate water pressure. The brochure also suggested considering the higher price of an automatic washer and extra charges for installation (Sater, Sater, Chalmers & Myers, pp. 2-3).
For a while, machines were produced that combined the capability to wash laundry with other functions like dishwashing (Cowan, 1983, p. 151). The 1935 advertisement in the second row below describes the Thor Electric Servant, which could be used as a buffet or work table with its top on and a washing machine with the top removed; it also had attachments to convert it to an ironer, wringer, and mixing machine. A 1946 Works Progress Administration video demonstrates how to convert a washing machine into a dishwasher. The second picture is a photo capture from that video, and shows the operator removing the washing tub from the machine before she replaces it with a dishwashing tub. The Kenmore Turbo-Matic, introduced in 1957, was the first clothes washer and dryer combined in the same machine (Sears Brands, 2017, http://www.searsarchives.com/brands/detail/kenmore/1950s.htm). The third picture in the second row shows the cover of a brochure for the Turbo-Matic.
After the war, the number of U.S. households with washing machines grew. By 1960, 55% of households had a washing machine (Lebergott, 1993 as cited in Woersdorfer, 2017). By 2015, 83% had one (Energy Information Administration, 2017, Table HC3.1). Now, U.S. consumers wash about three times the amount of clothing they did in the 1950s (Woersdorfer, 2017, pp. 1-2).