A number of years back i bought a Savage washing machine. The machine came with its original bill of sale, note date and price not for the average working family.



Around that time a model T ford was a bit over $335.

,,,,,,, See it was a hardware store,,,,,,maybe in the day they had a special sale,,,,,,purchase a Savage Washing machine and get a free Savage 99 ,,,,???

It will be 100 years old in 2024,and it still works !!! take that Maytag !! Pretty sure the price to a customer would be around the $150, probably the cost of 4 savage 99's of the day.

A 99 in 1924 was MSRP at $35 - $50. So a washing machine at 3x price of a nice gun now would be.. $3000?

My wife would spend that rather than wash clothes by hand.

Seriously, the advent of washing machines probably gave the average family back at least one day of their lives each week. And they also gave the rest of us a far less smelly world to live in.

Rory, A lot more rare then a 99 also! send me the check for $3000 and i'll get it shipped right off ! actually i'll even throw in a savage push mower !

Could you post some photos of the washing machine?

Johno

$5 a day were excellent wages at the time. My grandfather was making about $3 a day at the time working in the woods.

This was a gizzmo for the filthy rich.

The maids of the people that could afford that machine are the ones that were actually using them.

That is a great piece of Savage history though Don

I would try to not lose that....

Except with the washing machine they were a little less filthy.

(turn down your volume first!)

Mine has galvanized body. Was that earlier or later then copper body? And I did not get cover which could have been hidden about anywhere on farm which had 1/4 of large shed with nothing but scrap metal? Hard to do good search during auction when sleet coming down horizontally, but prices were good!

Johno. Ill try to get cheryl to take a few photos today. Don

I saw one once at a farm auction. I did not stick around long enough to see what it went for.

That was the only one I've ever seen in person.

Pretty cool.

I need one for the man cave

I still say an empty one filled with ice would make a great beer cooler.

Didn't somebody (Jed?) do that once upon a time??

Yup at the first savagefest!! Ice and soda,could have been beer i dont remember for sure.Don

I love these old machines, the point Don made re the price of the washer and the T model really brings home just how expensive the washer was.
Gene being totally deaf I don't need to turn volume down lol I bet it made some noise

Johno

Heres a few pictures of the savage washing machine.It looks like i have to polish it up this spring,hadnt noticed how corroded it is getting.

That and the mower are great, a couple of years back I picked up a washer at a clearing sale at one of the original mountain homesteads here. It was hand operated the big barrel like Don's but inside was sort of an inverted funnel attached to a hand lever, the dear lady would pump the lever up and down and water was forced through the funnel thingy, the a big old hand roller on top to get the water out of clothes, gave it to a buddy who liked it

Johno

Amazing to me how much Savage stuff made it Down Under....

Just to clarify the washer was not a Savage but a British built unit. sorry for the confusion

Johno

Just Got back from a holiday and catching up on the gossip
this thread jogged my memory
Years ago I picked up the brass manufacturers plate of the side of one of these
Washing machines so I assume that at least one of them made its way Down Under

Lunch time browsing... October 27, 1923 news:

First month of sales: April, 1923 - Savage Arms sold 250 washing machines
In the month of July, 1923 they sold 700 washing machines
In the month of September, 1923 they sold 1,250 washing machines

Sales for the next year (1924) were estimated by the Wall Street Journal to hit 35,000 machines.

The Savage Arms refrigerating machine for family use was due to hit the market within a couple of months.