1955 Hotpoint Washers!

[norgeway]

Great machines!

Lenoir, my hometown had a fair number of these, a friend of mine had the TOL lighted pushbutton model ,bought in late 54,they used it as there main washer until the late 70s and as a rag washer until the 90s,he had a car clean up business on the side so it saw lots of use there, I wished I had been able to save it,he got a 606 Maytag which was some newer, and hauled the old one off, I would have rescued it but had no idea he was in a throw away mood, I never knew him to get rid of anything!!..I loved to hear it run...WHAM! BANG !! as it changed cycles!!

 

[norgeway]

Hotpoint Dryers!

These were a fire waiting to happen!!! they had a clean out door inside the drum, if you didnt get it snapped shut...the clothes would get thru to the outer drum and onto the red hot calrods!! our neighbor had one that did just that, she smelled something and went to check..when she opened the door it nearly singed all her hair off in front..its a wonder she didnt get burned!!She being the calm person she is, just closed the door and pulled the plug,and waited for it to burn itself out!!

 

[laundromat]

When my Aunt Nat's Spacemates died, she was in a bad situation. her husband walked out on her leaving 7 kids for her to fin and they were aged from 7 to 1 years old including a set of fraternal twins.She had laundry to wash daily and needed a new set. She found an older Hotpoint like these and hung the wash out until she was able to buy a Kenmore pair on credit and had them in coppertone for almost 17 years.But,she liked the Hotpoint better than the Kenmore claiming it spun faster and her clothes dried quicker.

 

[combo52]

1955 HOTPOINTS

Wow some great pictures but talk about poor durability appliances from the 1950s, I would wager that not 25% of these washers and dryers made it till 1965. But what beautiful styling.

 

[northwesty]

This hotpoint I had worked great, it was from 1953 and still going, but I wasn't too keen on the semi-automatic aspect of it. Seemed durable enough.

 

[peteski50]

Hotpoint!

Thats a nice machine Brian - I like the back open lid - I wish they would have kept that design. I thought this was automatic after the first fill.

 

[akronman]

Semi-automatic

Any explanation of "SEMI" automatic would be appreciated-
Thanks

 

[tomturbomatic]

I noticed that only the top two models were listed as having the Coaxial Automatic Transmission. Was this the changeover year?

No, the HP condenser dryer was quite fast as those dryers went. It had an efficient condenser system and dried loads spun in a waterfall front KM in an hour or less, but the friend said she just always set it for an hour and made sure that everything was dry. I liked the little plastic cage on the door that held the freshener tablet. It always caught a little bit of fuzz from the load.

 

[bajaespuma]

HP means Hotpoint what does KM in your thread mean? Not Kenmore?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Yes, everything in the kitchen was woodtone brown Hotpoint except for the white early 50s KM washer. They had bought all of the HP appliances new when they moved into the house, but already had the washer and it just kept going, much to her dismay. I was there when she put the load in the dryer and was there when it stopped and the load was dry.

 

[northwesty]

Semi Automatic

Well, as I remember it, you had to turn off the water manually with the dial, and then advance the dial to the wash cycle and yes it was automatic after that. This was sort-of a value-added feature since one might not need all that water for a small load.

I guess I was spoiled since both the Kenmore & the Bendix, which were older machines I had were fully automatic. The capacity of these older machines is such that I just fill them to the top anyway. I usually run the Kenmores with one less piece of clothing rather than one too many. It does sound a little different with a load of towels loading it down.

If for some reason you were called away as the Hotpoing machine was filling, it would just fill and fill with the water draining out. Not that that would ever happen.

One note: The hotpoint was the washer my Mom had when she was a newlywed back in the mid 50s so she got a kick out of seeing it when I had it. She remember well the time it broke and just kept filling but not draining and it flooded out the house. Don't know what cycle that was on though.

The above machine originated in Portland Oregon and now resides with another member up in Canada.

 

[akronman]

Semi-automatic

Cool, thanks, but how did it know the water level for RINSE?

 

[cornutt]

I wonder how long it's been since it was possible to buy that Wonderinse concoction...

 

[bajaespuma]

The Wonderinse was just an early design for a fully automatic rinse agent dispensing system. I know that by 1961 Hotpoint replaced it with what was to be a conventional rinse cycle dispenser that was filled in a small reservoir under a little flap built into the lid of the machine (with a matching bleach dispenser right next door) both controlled by solenoids just like the ones on KMs and WPs of the same era. From what I understand, they worked very well and that dispenser design lasted until the late 60's.

 

[tomturbomatic]

There was no need for a water level for rinse. It was a continuous overflow while the fill valve was energized. The pump could handle the flow rate from the inlet valve.

 

[hydralique]

Pardon my ignorance of pre-rimflow Hotpoints, but was this design completely different from GE washers of the era? After GE introduced the Filter-Flo in the late '50s, how long was it before Hotpoint washers shared most of their internal design?

 

Wonderful photos and scans in this thread BTW!

 

[peteski50]

Hotpoint!

Yes the Hotpoint designs were completly different before the GE design rimflow. For one Hotpoint was a division of GE but a lot of the appliances were different. Also before Hotpoint went to the rimflow GE design they were all solid tubs!