Easy Washing Machine Co.

Exploring the roots of the Easy Washing Machine Co.

By Gas Engine Magazine staff
May/June 2001
The Easy Engine
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Easy Engine as diagrammed in company brochure.
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Thanks to a quick response from the Onondaga Historical Association in Syracuse, New York, we were able to compile a rather complete history of the Easy Washing Machine Co. by press time. 

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Apparently, the Easy Washing Machine Co. had its roots in a business called Dodge & Zuill, named for two Vermont natives, which manufactured clothes washing devices from 1877. Cyrus Dodge was the inventor of the original product, called a "funnel-on-a-stick" or a "cone-on-a-stick," which was a hand operated unit. In 1907, experimentation began on a power washer operated by an electric motor. By May of 1910, the first motor-driven machine was sold to P. F. Schneider of Detroit, Michigan. The washer had a galvanized tub and was designated as a model F. As the machine was improved over the years, it was renamed the model C, and in 1915 it was granted the highest award in the model kitchen exhibit at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

A pamphlet on the award winning model C said this about the motor:

"Equipped with well-known make one-sixth H.P. motor. If you have a gas engine, the motor can be omitted, and in place of it we equip washer with countershaft and pulley, so you can operate it from gas engine or line shaft."

The company entered a golden age of growth under the leadership of John N. Derschug. An enterprising young salesman and advertising executive, Derschug invested in and joined the company in 1915. With his encouragement of outside investment, the company reorganized as the Syracuse Washer Corporation in 1917. High overhead, in part from the rental costs of cramped manufacturing facilities, prevented profit for the next two years. By 1919, under Derschug's leadership, significant outside investment was again attracted and the business was once more reorganized, this time as the Syracuse Washing Machine Corporation.

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