![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:05 • Filed to: TIL, International Harvester, kitchenlopnik, fridge | ![]() | ![]() |
i knew General Motors made some with the Frigidaire branding, also see how sexist they were back then.
“femineered”
yikes!
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:14 |
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The best worst thing ever. I love/hate it.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:24 |
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Femineere d Can’t wait to use that on my wife.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:26 |
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Yes it was on off shoot of their commercial refrigerators and freezers for the dairy and meat industry, add in that they had a means of distribution in rural areas they went for the consumer market as well. Yes you could buy your kitchen appliances and your tractor at the same place. Remember most farms didn’t have electricity until the early 40s and couldn’t by consumer appliances until the late 40s
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:36 |
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“ey honey, what do you think of this? Mmhmm, yes. Sounds like something a femineer would say. What's that, divorce you say?"
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:36 |
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We’ll say the same thing about Samsung in 70 years.
Really? The brand of implants we’re
wearing used to make refrigerators?????
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:44 |
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Never forget.
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/til-1844437369
![]() 10/10/2020 at 10:54 |
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Proof that Toyota isn’t the only one that produces soulless appliances. Badum-pshhh!
I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 11:06 |
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I miss colored appliances.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 11:44 |
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I’d expect a reply from her about “some big 12-incher she won’t outgrow”...
![]() 10/10/2020 at 11:46 |
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There was a mini-boom after the Depression from electrical power finally coming to the midwest, with appliance manufacturers riding the routes to sell washers and fridges to the newly liberated farm families.
I ha d a buddy who’s grandfather did that sales job for GE in the 1940s
![]() 10/10/2020 at 11:47 |
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But, are the femineered?
![]() 10/10/2020 at 12:58 |
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Considering IH these appliances might be TOO soulful.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 13:37 |
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This was when kitchen cabinets were made of heavy gauge
sheet steel, too, which could be enameled in all sorts of colors.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 13:40 |
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There’s a great book
by a guy named Michael Perry called “Truck: A Love Story” about his International pickup (and life in general). The whole first chapter is about I-H appliances. Great read, highly recommended.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 13:43 |
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GM owned Frigidaire, Nash-Kelvinator and (briefly) American Motors had Kelvinator (obviously), Crosley Motors started as an offshoot of Crosley appliances and electronics, Ford had Philco,
Chrysler had AirTemp (which only made commercial walk-in refrigerators
, though they did do consumer air conditioners and
HVAC), and Pressed Steel/British Motor Holdings/British Leyland had Prestcold.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 14:00 |
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Yeah, only like 10% of rural households had electricity in 1933, but it was up to 80% by 1950. Huge new, previously untapped market for appliance makers, since urban households were already pretty well covered by then. That said, my dad’s grandparents in Philadelphia didn’t buy an electric refrigerator
until 1955, and one of the main reasons they finally did was because they were the last ones on the block still getting ice deliveries and the ice man told them he couldn’t serve
them anymore. Was still a horse
drawn wagon
at that point, too.
![]() 10/10/2020 at 14:57 |
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“D-force? Is that a model of refrigerator?"
![]() 10/10/2020 at 20:01 |
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The funny thing is, they probably thought they were being progressive at the time. I’ll bet IH actually did get an all-female focus group together and work out what they wanted to see in a new refrigerator, things were so bad in corporate America at the time that even taking women’s opinions and needs into account like that wasn’t at all typical.
In a similar vein, Nash-Kelvinator made a big deal out of the fact that the interior on the new 1950 Nash Rambler was designed by Helene Rother, who was the first woman to work in automotive design. The car was, of course, heavily targeted toward female buyers, and they wanted a woman’s perspective for it.