1962 GE Products Catalogue

[bajaespuma]

To whoever who won the 1962 GE catalogue on ebay today, congratulations. But would you please be a mensch and scan and post some of it for us(especially dishwashers, laundry and stoves)? That's what I would have done.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320473936706

 

[turquoisedude]

If it was me who won, I would be posting scans as requested! Neat catalogue! I LOVE that pink dishwasher featured on the cover!!!

 

[bajaespuma]

Me too! One of their first front loaders. Here it is, although I always thought it was a 1963 model and that the pull-outs went all the way to 1962. We'll see, maybe if we're lucky.

 

[turquoisedude]

Must be a top of the line model!

I picked up a '63 GE Front-loader this summer, but the lower panel is turquoise (well THERE's a surprise) not chrome. No pushbutton cycle selctions either. I am pretty sure mine is a BOL 'builders' model (an SD203...)

 

[appnut]

Ken, I think in 1962, they introduced the front loaders but still had the drawer type pull out models simultanoeusly being marketed. A friend of mine from college, their house was built in mid to late 1962 and they had a front loader. That machine lasted until it was replaced with the first of the non-rotorack Kenmores.

 

[appnut]

Ken, would you mind scanning in the rest of that SD402 literature?

 

[bajaespuma]

Already done.

page 2:

 

[bajaespuma]

page 3:

 

[bajaespuma]

I guess about the beginning of the decade, KitcheAid DW sales were either beating or catching up to GE and somebody must have figured that the front loaders were easier to load and unload. As far as I'm concerned it's a draw but I remember my Mother griping about how she liked our neighbor's Hotpoint better than ours. And she was the one who hand washed every single item before she'd put it in the machine.
page 4:

 

[bajaespuma]

which really needs page 5:

 

[bajaespuma]

And finally, Don and Betty running away from the incredible 50 foot spray armature:

 

[bajaespuma]

love those wacky lenticular GE push-buttons. Appliances don't have signature styles anymore. Maybe that's because they're all made by the Whirlpool Corporation.

 

[spiceman1957]

bajaespuma,

You talking about my mother as well God rest her soul. She would hand wash every item before placing in the dishwasher. Go figure!

 

[tomturbomatic]

You should have a chance to read the Consumer Reports' evaluation of that machine. When the TOL model first came out, there was a decorative plastic piece across the front of the top rack. In the absence of a filter, the food washed off the dishes was redeposited between that plastic piece and the door liner and other places; just the thing you wanted to see when you opened the door after the cycle. CU called GE about that. GE removed the plastic trim piece and said it had been discontinued in newer models. GE tried to get by without a filter and use the big wash arm jets of the Hobart Big Blue wash arm. Unfortunately, the GE's motor ran at half the speed of the KitchenAid motor so the water pressure water was much less than the KA and unfiltered. And in all of those years of using a wash arm and tower, GE did not significantly modify it to serve as a good source of washing action for the top rack; a pot loaded in the lower rack created a dead zone above it. The performance of that machine was a step back when compared to the bow tie impeller machines unless you rinsed the dishes before loading them, but with GE supplying so many machines to builders, GEs were many people's first dishwashers and they rinsed before loading, not believing a dishwasher could actually remove food from dishes.

 

[bajaespuma]

Thanks Tom,

Good to review the great value of Consumer's Reports back in the days when they used the written words rather than dots. As I thought, the new front loaders heralded the beginning of GE dishwasher Dark Ages which would last well into the nineties.

Exactly as you said, my Mother was a rinser and never allowed anything but dishware in her machine. Her favorite phrase was, "Perfectly fine" which in my opinion meant "mediocre", when dealing with things she didn't care about. These were perfectly fine machines.

 

[mrcleanjeans]

Tom,this literature rates GE's motor at 3450 RPM, which is the same speed as the KitchenAid. I agree that the bottom rack -loaded pot would block the top rack area just above it despite the so called Power Tower, though some on here feel the tower reaches all of the upper rack. Back then, GE did say do not load glasses in upper rack above pots in lower rack, though their modified tower later was supposed to be an improvement.

 

[combo52]

Frist drop door GE DWs

As Tom said and I can attest These dishwashers were very poor performers. My parents house was built in 1966 and had a TOL model and even with a new water softener and good hot water it was a huge come down to the WP DW they left behind.It was probably the only appliance i ever talked my dad into getting rid of that still worked (mom helped a lot also).

 

[bajaespuma]

A formality?

We had this BOL model(of course not turquoise) and we all loved it(myself as well although I resented that my Mother had "learned" not to buy a DW with any buttons, bells or whistles whatsoever) but remember, the dishes all went it clean. I guess the folks felt that the value of owning a dishwasher was that it sanitized everything.

Have any of you noticed that as your parents get older they steadfastly REFUSE to use the dishwasher? Even if they have enough stuff to go around. I'm beginning to think that there must be some comfort in hand-washing dishes. Maybe the hot water is therapeutic for older hands.

 

[toggleswitch2]

I believe playing with water is comforting. After all we are gestated in it!

I have found that as my relatives mature they put more and more things in the DW!

 

[tomturbomatic]

soothing warmth for hands

I don't know if any of you remember the organist E. Power Biggs, but he developed terrible arthritis in his hands. A group of us were talking with him one evening before a recital when he moved the group to the flower room in the church so that we could continue to talk to him while he ran hot water over his hands for what must have been 15 minutes so that he would be able to play. So the warmth of the water is probably soothing, but I think most older singletons just think it's easier and cheaper to wash up the few things they use as they use them. As far as I know, my mom was the only person in her independent living building who had a dishwasher (breakfast & dinner were furnished) but she usually ate in her apt. We moved it with her to assisted living where all three meals were supplied, but of course, she did not like the food or eating with old people, some of whom sat at the table and farted loudly. I think if more of them had been able to hear, they would have laughed themselves into cardiac arrest over that. So, anyway, mom would fix her meals and warm up what I cooked for her in her microwave and rinse the dishes and Corning Ware and place the stuff in the KA portable. When I came over, I would reload it, wheel it to the sink and start it before going shopping for her or taking her out to eat. By the time I returned and put her food and other stuff away, the dishes were ready to be put away and most of the time, so was I. We kept a quilt over it and no one said anything. Now it's back at the museum, the last of the KA top loading portables.

 

[turquoisedude]

this BOL model(of course not turquoise)

Wow, that is the one I picked up last summer! I've not actually used it for dishes (yet!!) so I can't comment on performance or washability. The one I have IS turquoise (bet you didn't see that coming...LOL)