This very rustic turn-of-the-century era manual washing machine features two tubs, a washboard, and a hand-cranked manual wringer. It was made by the Simmons Hardware Co. of St. Louis MO. Blasters think the crank is Model TBB 11.
From THCKK.org: (
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"Brief History of The Simmons Hardware Company
Compiled by
Elaine and Jerry Heuring
THCKK members
From the Archives of
The Winchester * Keen Kutter* Diamond Edge Chronicles
The Official Publication of The Hardware Companies Kollectors Klub
Edward Campbell Simmons was born in Maryland in 1839 and moved with his merchant father to St. Louis, Missouri in 1846 At the age of seventeen he began his career in the wholesale hardware business on the bottom rung of the ladder as a cleaner/stocker for Child Pratt and Company.
1859 he entered the firm Wilson Levering and Waters as a clerk. This hardware business eventually evolved into E.C. Simmons and Co. He successfully developed the Simmons Hardware Company into one of the most extensive corporations of its kind with divisions in Wichita, Sioux City, Ogden, Toledo, New York, Minneapolis, and St. Louis. By the turn of the century warehouse space occupied over 1,500,000 sq feet. The company's tool plants were in New Hampshire, and its pocket knife plant in New York was the largest in the U. S. They had their own saddlery factories as well.
Mr. Simmons retired from active participation in 1898, but he still took a great interest in the business. Simmons capitalized on the overwhelming customer demand for his Keen Kutter items by using the KK format on many different types of products.
The Simmons line included King Koaster children's wagons; Klipper Klub ice skates; Korn and Koffee Krushers; Karpet King sweepers; Kool King ice boxes; Klear Krystal lamp chimneys; Kar King accessories; King Kord tires, Keen Klipper lawn mowers; even Klicher mousetraps and locks.
Items stamped or labeled Keen Kutter or those from the KK line rank most popular with collectors, followed by those marked Simmons Hardware or S.H.Co. Many collectors include items from the company's registered lines such as Polly Prim, Run Easy, Blue Brand, Oak Leaf, Delmar, Sterling, American, Delft, Van Dyke, or Wonder.
. . .
Not only did the Keen Kutter line include every conceivable type of tool and hardware item needed by carpenters, mechanics, gardeners handymen and farmers, but those for household use as well. Kraut cutters, food grinders and choppers, lard presses, knife sharpeners and grist mills, waffle irons, several models of coffee grinders, apple peelers, china, silverware, ice cream freezers, stoves and sewing machines, kitchen ranges, ice boxes, parlor stoves-- all marked Keen Kutter ( or with some form of the KK mnemonic), brought this quality line to the housewife's attention on a daily basis."