Kaiser Community Homes

"In the early 1940s, Kaiser established a research and development laboratory in Emeryville, near Oakland; Howard V. Lindbergh supervised several engineers, who tested products with potential for postwar consumer markets. At “hobby-lobby,” the first Kaiser automobile prototypes and many other experimental products were developed. Kaiser’s engineers came up with dozens of their own ideas, and they tested many more. Inventors of gadgets attracting Kaiser’s interest sent samples to Emeryville, where engineers examined them thoroughly. The handful meriting serious attention then were test marketed. After Kaiser started building houses, it seemed for a time that Lindbergh and his engineers specialized in home appliances. Between 1945 and 1948, the laboratory tested an endless stream of dishwashers, air-conditioners, washer and drier combinations, kitchen ranges and cabinets, lawn mowers, and vacuum cleaners. Only a few products passed muster. In such cases, Kaiser usually bought the rights to manufacture the item, and production was turned over to Kaiser-Fleetwings, a small aircraft plant in Bristol, Pennsylvania, which he had acquired in 1943. In 1945 Kaiser’s manager at Fleetwings, Sherlock D. Hackley, proposed turning out 100,000 dishwashers, featuring almost no moving parts. Those not used in Kaiser Community Homes kitchens would be marketed through two hundred retail stores within a four-hundred mile radius of Bristol. The eastern plant eventually offered four models. Kaiser’s commitment to appliances paralleled his commitment to home construction: high initial enthusiasm followed by gradually diminishing interest. Yet as late as 1952, the organization was still cooperatively producing and marketing many kitchen and bathroom items through Sears, Roebuck, and Company."

"In the early 1940s, Kaiser established a research and development laboratory in Emeryville, near Oakland; Howard V. Lindbergh supervised several engineers, who tested products with potential for postwar consumer markets. At “hobby-lobby,” the first Kaiser automobile prototypes and many other experimental products were developed. Kaiser’s engineers came up with dozens of their own ideas, and they tested many more. Inventors of gadgets attracting Kaiser’s interest sent samples to Emeryville, where engineers examined them thoroughly. The handful meriting serious attention then were test marketed. After Kaiser started building houses, it seemed for a time that Lindbergh and his engineers specialized in home appliances. Between 1945 and 1948, the laboratory tested an endless stream of dishwashers, air-conditioners, washer and drier combinations, kitchen ranges and cabinets, lawn mowers, and vacuum cleaners. Only a few products passed muster. In such cases, Kaiser usually bought the rights to manufacture the item, and production was turned over to Kaiser-Fleetwings, a small aircraft plant in Bristol, Pennsylvania, which he had acquired in 1943. In 1945 Kaiser’s manager at Fleetwings, Sherlock D. Hackley, proposed turning out 100,000 dishwashers, featuring almost no moving parts. Those not used in Kaiser Community Homes kitchens would be marketed through two hundred retail stores within a four-hundred mile radius of Bristol. The eastern plant eventually offered four models. Kaiser’s commitment to appliances paralleled his commitment to home construction: high initial enthusiasm followed by gradually diminishing interest. Yet as late as 1952, the organization was still cooperatively producing and marketing many kitchen and bathroom items through Sears, Roebuck, and Company."