1960's Norge Dryer

[westytoploader]

Now this is something you don't see every day! 60's Norge electric dryer with pushbutton door in great working condition! 4 heat settings.

Bid (if you dare) and turn your laundry room snow-white!

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[whirlcool]

When Did Norge...

When did Norge stop making laundry equipment? Were they part of the WCI catastophe?

 

[gansky1]

Be careful Norma Rae!

Set up your artificial christmas tree in the same room, turn it every few weeks, and it will be flocked by Thanksgiving and ready to decorate!

 

[kenmore1978]

Norge

escaped WCI, but got sucked into the Maytag sinkhole

 

[jasonl]

Maytag Atlantis washers are Norge and Maytag's plastic children.

The good news is they're still belt driven and they have the long agitation strokes. The bad new is it ain't your mama's Norge.

 

[toggleswitch]

Flocked by Christmas?

Can I assume that this thing could not be vented to the great outdoors?

 

[gansky1]

Oh yes, it can be vented outside, but Norge was the only one to hold out this long with a pressurized cabinet for their dryers. They blew heated air through the drum, into the filter at the front or bottom of the machine and then out through a 4" vent at the back. It leaked air and lint through every hole, seal and joint in the air path - messy, messy! If you have a porch or protected outside area to use the dryer - it's perfect!

 

[gansky1]

But if size matters...

The porch dryers had HUGE drums though - 8 Cu. Ft. in the last models - HUGE!

 

[westytoploader]

Interesting...were there other manufacturers "back in the day" with the "pressurized cabinet" as well?

I think it was a good idea, but a bad design. Instead of blowing linty air in from the back, it should have filtered the air first.

How was the drying performance? Did these dry faster than the "non-pressurized" machines?

 

[toggleswitch]

O I C

Interesing I would love to know more about who made the very first tumble dryer and see the layout /mechanics.

Austin- If I read Greg explanation right (thanks Greg!) Instead of today's system of Sucking air out after the filter, (making every crevice an INTAKE) these would Blow air in before the heat source.

Then the 4" vent was ONE exit port, even though filtered but so was any other crevice, quite unintentionally!!

So then, based on the above, there IS a difference between S and B.

 

[gansky1]

Well, it wasn't intentionally "pressurized" like a Seal-A-Meal, but blowing air through the machine like that is a invitation to have lint everywhere air can possibly escape. Westinghouse dryers used heated air blowing into the drum as well, but I don't think they were as bad - lower pressure maybe.

 

[toggleswitch]

When I was a (stupid) young kid i'd start mom's Maytag GAS dryer with the door switch bypassed and the door open.

The heat and air was beign sucked through the door and out the filter to the outside. The airflow was not going over the flames was not pulling the heat and products of combustion out of the cabinet. WOOOOO boy did it smell as the dust burned and the temps reached the high-limit in seconds. The high-limit safety thermostat (near the burner I think) would turn off the gas real quick!

Still this is tame compared to putting water in the dryer to see a F/L washer in action. I forgot who used to do that.. it was SO amusing to hear..

 

[toggleswitch]

wrong...just room air was beign sucked in, not heat!!!

OOOOPPPS

 

[gansky1]

I used to do this too - you're lucky there wasn't a lot of lint in the machine to catch on fire!

With a Norge, you could run it all day with the door open and other than having to keep picking up the items that blew out of the dryer, it could run all day like that and actually dry clothes much faster since the airflow wasn't restricted through the filter and ductwork.

 

[westytoploader]

Westinghouse

Did these include the WCI machines, with the strange "through-the-door" lint filtering setup? I don't remember lint blowing everywhere, but that non-removeable filter was a real b*tch to clean! Not to mention having lint buildup in the hollow door that was nearly impossible to vacuum out...

 

[westytoploader]

In case anyone's wondering, we had a WCI-made Montgomery Ward dryer (paired with the 1986 White-Westy TL) with this setup. It worked pretty well until the drum bearings finally quit (it made this HORRIBLE noise the last day), which was the reason we replaced the set (except for the push-pull knob and rust around the bleach dispenser, the washer worked fine).

I have an 80's SpaceMates dryer (that came with the newer Dual-Tumble washer) that's the same and would be fun to use, but it's not in the greatest of shape so it's destined for the Krusher (will save a few parts though). However, if I spot a White-Westy or Norge "pressurized-cabinet" dryer in a used-appliance store I will definitely grab it!

 

[gansky1]

The later Westy dryers were a vacuum system like your space-mate dryer. I'm not sure when they went to that, maybe mid-60's around the time the slant-fronts went away?