Kevin / Charles -
What Charles said in his informative post above pretty much covers it. What we have called the 'keyboard' Lady K machines did originate in 1966, and were deveolpments of the push-bottom timer-stop design that goes back as far as the 1962 800 at least (I guess even to the 1961 70 that I have). The mechanism worked on the same principle that a depressed buttom sends a stop pin into the timer shaft at the proper point so that the user didn't have to even pay attention to what cycle they were passing on the dial, just push a button and turn until it stops. In some years, especially my '61, the cycles aren't even differentiated in the dial.
The very common '63 and '65 Lady Ks did a good job of establishing this fundamental design, and the '66 streamlined it into a very attractive package with yet more buttons. Initially, some of the standard cycle settings in the early push-button Ladies were rather restrictive, especially if the user wanted a cold rinse on a cotton cycle, etc. This was solved on the '66.
The '66 and the follow-on '68 continued the push-button tradition. At some point in the later 60's, at least a couple other models that were not Lady Ks, but were very "Lady K-esque" debuted, including one with a Roto-Swirl, one with a Vari-Flex, at least one with and one without 3-speeds. I am not entirely sure why Sears marketed all these, but there were four 900 series machines in 1966, I am sure the first was a Lady, and that the last two were not. I do remember hearing something years ago about a temporary shortage of 3-speed motors in the mid-60s so perhaps a 2-speed non-Lady machine had to be devised to keep warehouses stocked with something? Who knows...
I was very surprised to find that once the garage door machines were developed, the previous Lady and 900 panels were retained for the "V.P." slot. They have most if not all the same features as the '66 Lady, but with different agitation and 2-speed motors. I recently found a parts list on ebay for a '71 800 with the '66 style controls, very similar to Jon's '70 machine. My thought is that since these did not have the flip-door design, they had to be relegated to the 800 status vs. 900.
Kevin -
As to your question/comment about 900-series and Lady Ks being the same, that's a "yes and no". The 900 started in 1964 when the Lady K went to 3-speeds. There were 900s that weren't Lady Ks, but not until 1966 I don't believe, and not every year. To my knowledge, other than the 4 models in 1966 (which is very odd) there was usually only one or two 900s at a time, as compared to other series which often had a half-dozen models, per year (five 60-series models in 1972 for example). I am not aware of any other 900 series machines once the 'garage door' machines debuted.
This lasted until 1976. That year a lot of things changed, and there were three or four 90-series machines, each consecutive model one-upped the previous until the Lady. These did not offer distinct styling from the rest, and never did again really. All the panels were black-panel clones, even the lady except it had black padding on the top vs. the rest with woodgrain. Gone in '76 was the familiar push buttons. These were heavy, probably very expensive to make, and complicated. The control panel on my '72 weighs over 20 pounds by itself (I had to take it off the machine to address some of the damage from the machine's trip to the dump).
Your machine Kevin is a nice example of the last of a pedigree.
Gordon
What Charles said in his informative post above pretty much covers it. What we have called the 'keyboard' Lady K machines did originate in 1966, and were deveolpments of the push-bottom timer-stop design that goes back as far as the 1962 800 at least (I guess even to the 1961 70 that I have). The mechanism worked on the same principle that a depressed buttom sends a stop pin into the timer shaft at the proper point so that the user didn't have to even pay attention to what cycle they were passing on the dial, just push a button and turn until it stops. In some years, especially my '61, the cycles aren't even differentiated in the dial.
The very common '63 and '65 Lady Ks did a good job of establishing this fundamental design, and the '66 streamlined it into a very attractive package with yet more buttons. Initially, some of the standard cycle settings in the early push-button Ladies were rather restrictive, especially if the user wanted a cold rinse on a cotton cycle, etc. This was solved on the '66.
The '66 and the follow-on '68 continued the push-button tradition. At some point in the later 60's, at least a couple other models that were not Lady Ks, but were very "Lady K-esque" debuted, including one with a Roto-Swirl, one with a Vari-Flex, at least one with and one without 3-speeds. I am not entirely sure why Sears marketed all these, but there were four 900 series machines in 1966, I am sure the first was a Lady, and that the last two were not. I do remember hearing something years ago about a temporary shortage of 3-speed motors in the mid-60s so perhaps a 2-speed non-Lady machine had to be devised to keep warehouses stocked with something? Who knows...
I was very surprised to find that once the garage door machines were developed, the previous Lady and 900 panels were retained for the "V.P." slot. They have most if not all the same features as the '66 Lady, but with different agitation and 2-speed motors. I recently found a parts list on ebay for a '71 800 with the '66 style controls, very similar to Jon's '70 machine. My thought is that since these did not have the flip-door design, they had to be relegated to the 800 status vs. 900.
Kevin -
As to your question/comment about 900-series and Lady Ks being the same, that's a "yes and no". The 900 started in 1964 when the Lady K went to 3-speeds. There were 900s that weren't Lady Ks, but not until 1966 I don't believe, and not every year. To my knowledge, other than the 4 models in 1966 (which is very odd) there was usually only one or two 900s at a time, as compared to other series which often had a half-dozen models, per year (five 60-series models in 1972 for example). I am not aware of any other 900 series machines once the 'garage door' machines debuted.
This lasted until 1976. That year a lot of things changed, and there were three or four 90-series machines, each consecutive model one-upped the previous until the Lady. These did not offer distinct styling from the rest, and never did again really. All the panels were black-panel clones, even the lady except it had black padding on the top vs. the rest with woodgrain. Gone in '76 was the familiar push buttons. These were heavy, probably very expensive to make, and complicated. The control panel on my '72 weighs over 20 pounds by itself (I had to take it off the machine to address some of the damage from the machine's trip to the dump).
Your machine Kevin is a nice example of the last of a pedigree.
Gordon
