1960’s Waste King dishwasher

[63kenmore]

I ran across this dishwasher while searching for a trash compactor. Thought it was kind of cute.

https://boise.craigslist.org/app/d/boise-vintage-waste-king-top-loading/7256127692.html
View attachment 63kenmore-2021010422235600373_1.jpg

 

[appnut]

This is very rare. Tom, is this the elusive WK portable you have talked about that I also saw as a demon in a store when I was about 5-6 years old?

 

[chachp]

Rare One..

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Oh My, this is a rare one.  I hope someone gets it.  Here are photos for the archive.  Jackies didn't come through for me.  Not sure if they did for others.</span>

 

[tomturbomatic]

Great Find!

Thank you, Bob!  This is a different model. The one I saw had a black lid, but with the same sort of inset inner portion, and the machine had a coral interior, but yes, the timer knob coming up through the lid is just like I remember. This one also does not have the black Z-shaped wash arm that gave two level washing. It was not on the floor for long at the suburban branch of our Rich's store. Those detergent cups remind me of the ones that WP and Kenmore used; maybe sourced from D&M? I wonder if STEVED has any information on these machines.

 

[turquoisedude]

Damn!!

That's unique for sure!  I did not even know there was a portable version of a Waste-King of this era!!  The detergent cup reminds me of what the Frigidaire portable top-loaders had (the ones made by Frigidaire, to be precise).  It also looks like the cup on this one may be missing a hinged top cover... 

 

[jamiel]

This may be the Beam design which came and went in the mid 60s.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Waste King introduced their top loading portable around the very early 60s. They had front loading portables, too, but they were based on the built in design.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Wow now that is very interesting. The Beam dishwasher had a skinnier black wash arm, which looks very different than this machine. The spray arm kind of looks D&M shaped but the center of it seems to be open so I'm not sure if Waste King made this top loading dishwasher or not.

The interior of a Beam designed dishwasher:

 

[bajaespuma]

OMG!

What an incredible machine! This looks too well put together to be a rebadged fudge factory. So many questions:

<ol>
<li>Where's the hose couplers?</li>
<li>That beautiful blue Star-Trekkie looking round thing that sticks through the hole is the cycle dial?</li>
<li>Is there another wash arm under the lid?</li>
<li>Does anybody have a catalog that reveals this thing??</li>
</ol>
Those look like the Waste King racks my Aunt Sona had in her WK built-in. Hers also had a Lame-O type of detergent "cup" that held the powder only right up until the door was closed. I am very tempted to buy this thing sight unseen. Y'all know what a whore I am for TL dishwashers.

 

[appnut]

Ken, those racks are the exact same design and color as the racks in our 1959/1960 built-in. Including the flatware basket.

 

[steved]

Sorry , Tom!

Based on info in the Automatic Ephemera section, this is a 1961 model. That is the only info, other than a press release in a trade magazine, that I've seen.  I assume the hoses are stored in the front, like a Mobile Maid, but accessed from the left side.  I can't help but wonder if this machine was indeed manufactured by Waste King, based on the similar features to their under-counter models.  Much like the slant-top Frigidaire dishwasher is based on front loading models.

 

 

[chachp]

Speaking of Waste King Dishwashers....

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">This photo popped up on a Pinterest feed about how to load a dishwasher.</span>

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/how-to-load-a-dishwasher

 

[bigalsf]

Wasteking Design

This is definitely a WasteKing designed machine, not a rebaged Beam. Mechanically it's the same as their built in models; the washarm and rack pattern were typical of Wasteking machines of the era. Like Bob, my family had a Wasteking dishwasher from 1962. Their design was very unique, and was not copied by any other manufacturer (that I know of).

Great pic of that built in model! Thanks for posting it Ralph.

 

[63kenmore]

Well, I bought the dishwasher.
After seeing so many of you talking about how rare it was, I decided to check it out; it was clean and in surprisingly good condition Good thing that I did; the house is slated for demolition. For some reason vintage appliances just aren’t a big deal around here. I see very few for sale and when I do see them they don’t sell very fast, if at all. I will eventually use it in my summer kitchen.

Here are some extra pictures:

 

[repairguy]

Congrats! I am always thankful when someone posts an old appliance for sale or free instead of just throwing it on the scrap pile. The machine looks good I hope you have lots of fun with it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations./  That is the genuine Waste King wash arm. Are those rust spots?

 

[63kenmore]

No..... that is Capt Crunch cereal that is probably 20 years old.

 

[bigalsf]

Congratulations on getting this very rare machine! I'm glad it was saved.

I noticed that this dishwasher has a seperate drain pump instead of using the main pump for draining. I did not know Wasteking had two different pump styles for this series of machines (literature for these early machines is very difficult to find)

Bob (appnut) and I both grew up with a built in version of this series dishwasher. Those models had a drain valve which actuated to drain the machine using the main pump. When the timer advanced to drain a definite "SNAP" was heard and the water spray stopped immediately and draining started (much like a GE but louder!)
I remember as a kid sitting in the kitchen doing homework listening to all this action!

Enjoy the machine and if you could post a pic of the timer dial (close up) that would be great! Also, is the detergent cup a washout design, or does it have a closed lid?

 

[combo52]

Waste King Top loading Portable DW

Cool that you were able to save this rare DW. 

 

It is a very interesting and unique design, It appears to have forced air drying and a separate electric drain pump so it has three motors.

 

It also appears not to have a heating element for water heating and drying.

 

Waste King and several DWs from this time period were not very durable due to pot-metal pump housings etc and the plastisol tubs, it would be unlikely a DW like this would last even 10 years of daily use, probably much less.

 

John L.

 

[63kenmore]

John L.,
Are you saying you think the dishwasher isn’t any good? We will definitely test it out to check for any problems. I would imagine that many parts would be difficult to impossible to find.

 

[combo52]

Waste King Top loading Portable DW

Hi Jackie, I did not say this DW is no good, I said it was not a durable machine based on construction, your DW may run several hundred loads yet as it was certainly almost never used considering its current condition.

 

In this time period many DWs including, GE, WP, FD were all short lived designs and very few DWs from the 60s lasted more than ten years of daily use, the big exception was KA of course with was passed on a commercial design.

 

John L.

 

[63kenmore]

In a few months I’ll repost with the results of the test run. Hopefully with a video if the dishwasher works properly.

 

[turquoisedude]

Congrats, Jackie!!  I'm anxious to see how this works - I bought a built-in version Waste-King dishwasher last year, then could not get into the US to bring it home so I'm living vicariously through you!!