1961 Tappan Dishwasher Distributed Wire Photo

[xpanam]

A different view of the Tappan DW that is sometimes on the pic of the day. Now we have a better idea of why the hump in the middle? I think this one and the Gas Preway are very interesting Dishwashers from the 1960s!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270960529510

 

[appnut]

Yep, that's a very good picture!!  Taht little plastic thing in front of the dinner plates which kind of looks lie a small items basket was the detergent dispenser. 

 

[appnut]

Yep, that's a very good picture!! That little plastic thing in front of the dinner plates which kind of looks lie a small items basket was the detergent dispenser.   There was a news clip on the back of the photo which stated this dishwasher had been in experimental testing and use for 7 years.   The guy in the center was from Tappan, the other two from some distributor.  Note the black cylinder in the bottom of the tub which caused that big "hump" in the bottom rack.  That's what churnned the water up and around. 

[this post was last edited: 2/26/2013-20:17]

 

[combo52]

Tappan Drum Style DWs

Great photo, can't believe that they actually tested that DW for 7 years and then went on to built it LOL. These were one of the worst performing DWs of all time, certainly the worst of any DW built after 1960. I think the next worst appliance award will go to the new Frigidaire Immersion Care TL washers, I have never seen any full sized washer that did such a bad job of cleaning or rinsing.

 

[rollermatic]

i saw one of these tappan

dishwashers in 1968, in a garbage pile behind a plumbing supply house i used to frequent. i got my very first dishwasher from this same garbage pile, a hotpoint!

anyway, i always wondered how that roller or drum as you called it (combo52) could kick up enough water to actually clean the dishes well! i understand it did reverse so it was paraded in advertising as being able to "wash both sides of the plate". i remember that ad somewhere in the 60's.

question? did it have a seperate drain pump and motor since both directions of the drive motor went to washing (or attempting to wash). or did it use a drain valve like hobart used up thru the 20 models?

i've always been curious about these rare tappens! i have never seen anyone here on the site that actually has one. i assume they were so bad no one bought them and they long disappeared! would love to find one! never say never on this site!

 

[peteski50]

Tappan!

We had family friends that had one from 1963 with a full upper rack. Quiet machine.
But they always pre rinsed so couldn't judge performance! I remember the big timer dial that light up. They always had some type of service problems with this unit. I cannot recall what. But after 18 years in 1981 it was replaced with a reverse rack maytag and they always complained about the new machine being real noisy. This was opposite the norm where when most people get a new DW it is actually more quiet than the old!
Peter

 

[tomturbomatic]

You will notice from the ad that they are loading clean dishes into the machine. That way they came out clean. Early ads for the machine likened the wash principle to the way a tire throws water upward (notice I did not say the tire throws up) as it rolls over wet pavement. Well, this roller did not have the tread of a tire nor the traction of a rubber surface and would not even remove wet mashed potatoes from plates. Even though it said it had two washes, it only washed one side of the tank at a time so each side got one wash. This machine was probably the biggest failure in machine dishwashing, even compared to the Ling Temco. Someone at Tappan should have remembered Queen Isabella's admonition, "Zapatero, a sus zapatos" and stayed with stoves.

The photo, obviously from a convention exhibit, has the Tappan microwave in the background.

 

[ray]

We had one of these. Our house was remodeled in 1963 and we got the Tappan dishwasher as well as the nifty Tappan electric rotisserie wall oven and Nutone fold-away range hood! I think they were all yellow.

There was a textured grayish panel where the controls were, and metal vent slots across the top. I guess the big drum was quiet. It had a rough surface so it actually did sling the water around a bit. The water level had to be just right. If it wasn't, the drum made a wave-like whooshing noise as it kicked up all the water, ran dry for a second, and then kicked it up again after enough water collected back in the tub.

That little box on the front of the rack in the picture was the powder detergent dispenser. It was split in the middle with metal screens on the bottom, and the drum spray would hit the bottom and dissolve the soap. Sometimes they didn't empty all the way. The drum was also spinning during the drying cycle, presumable blowing air around, and always sending a little vibration through the counter top.

There was something weird about how the door opened. The chrome trim around the control panel was also part of the latching mechanism and it all pulled outward with the handle. I might be wrong on that though. I recall my dad doing a number of repairs on the machine, and it was used into the 1970s when it finally rusted through.

 

[appnut]

latching mechanism and chrome trim

Ray, you remembered exactly how it worked.