A Little Maytag Fun ...

[mickeyd]

Then hopes for a dream machine are dashed

I never knew a timer model Maytag Wringer existed till a few months ago when you mentioned it. Wondered why with all their skill they didn't make a motor kill which really enhances a wringer. On my Norge, the automatic shut-off timer really makes the machine, but the Maytag wringer is so vastly superior to other wringers--especially in wringing--that I had hoped to get a Maytag with a timer. Are you sure, Geoff, that there was no timer with a HOLD setting?

Loved the wringer board. The fact that mine will take anything made me think it was just stuck permanently. You brochure explains it all. Thanks.
Like you, I have wringer mania , along with many other washing machine pathologies. ;-D

Your work here is amazing and inspiring. I have almost 40 photos entered into my computer (took hours to get it down), but they're too big for this site. Working on reducing their size so I can give back a tiny fraction of all I've been given by the many people like you who post so bountifully.

Mikey

 

[tomturbomatic]

Geoff, yes, it would complete the cycle with the lid up and the lid could be opened at any point. There was no shut off unless you unplugged it or mashed the timer dial. The owner's manual also makes a big deal about turning the timer by the knob, not the dial skirt.

 

[jetcone]

Fascinating Geoff

thanks for posting. and ofcourse I love the nod to Bendix!!

Yes Autin a NIB AMP would be a find indeed!

keep your fingers crossed.

 

[geoffdelp]

Mikey ... no, I don't believe the timer had a "hold" setting; it really didn't need it with the motor constantly running. You could still use the wringer even if the timer had stopped the agitation. I'll post a couple of sales/ad info I have on that.

What made you think your wringer is "stuck"? Do you mean it is stuck with the rollers divided? If so, that means the wringer cap is in the "storage" position. To release, press and hold the release bar and turn the reset lever one quarter turn counter-clockwise. That will drop the cap down.

Tom ... I wonder why Maytag didn't continue making their machines with the ability to see the cycles!! Everything I read about the stopping is about "safety". That wasn't very "safe" on their part, was it ... but I sure as heck like it! They also used a gyratator in the A4MP like a wringer? Didn't they do that in some of the Highlanders, too?

Jon ... I saw that "nod" to Bendix, too!! I LOVE your new machine, BTW!! I always liked the Bendix Duomatic; what a cool machine!!

Geoff

 

[mickeyd]

Sorry, Buddy

Norge, Kenmore and some others have a "HOLD" setting just to the left of "OFF" It's just a funny word and I have no idea why designers used it. It means ON, that the motor is running.

Excuse the confusion, but I can't imagine why people as bright as Maytag people were, never had a shut-off when the other big players, Kenmore, Speed Queen, Norge, etc, did.

I thought my release system was stuck, frozen: i.e, it never pops; it always accepts and successfully wrings anything i give it, that because of its old age, it had hardening of the wringer arteries. This was all before I read your post; now I understand . My wringer works perfectly.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hold on the timer meant that the timer was not running. Essentially the thing would wash from now 'til doomsday without the timer shutting it off.

Geoff: They called it safety, but it was just the stupid overly complicated path they took to have a pressure-determined fill in a solid tub machine. Yes, some of the Highlanders had the narrow-post Gyrator in them, but the A4MP was the first automatic, as far as I know, that did not need the big-barrel Gyrator to measure the amount of water for the lid switch. Plus, you know Maytag; if you are buying the cheap one, they are going to rub your nose in it. It's the only one of those AMP models I would have considered because you could watch it do it all with the lid open, but by 1955 far more exciting washers were available. Of course, if you were going away to live in some remote spot where transportation in and out was poor or worse and there was no service close by, I guess I would have gone with the A4MP because of the supposed reliability of a Maytag.

 

[geoffdelp]

Tom ... Maytag did make some of their BOL machines to look a little different, didn't they? I guess it was a "no-frills" issue, don't you think?

I'm still surprised about being able to leave the lid open; foresight on their part. That must have been their only machine ever to do that.

Here are some timer pictures I promised.

This one (bottom photo/machine to the left) is from a Maytag News in 1950 and it appears to be a pump model ... note the boxes of "All" detergent "floating" in the fish nets:

 

[geoffdelp]

Here is the information from the sales book that was on the dealer's floor for people to glance through.

I cannot tell what increments the timer was in!! I was guessing 2-minute increments (where the circles are) because Maytag had a "thing" about clothes getting washed in 3-7 minutes and overalls/work clothing being washed in 10 minutes.

If it is 2-minute increments this timer would take it to 12 minutes all the way around the dial.

Does anybody know what the increments were on these machines?

 

[geoffdelp]

And here is the written information from the sales book about the optional feature:

This sales book is from 1953. Which is great, because I have the whole year of 1953 in Maytag News and it references this sales book throughout. The only pages I'm missing are, of course, the AMP series. I even have the Dutch Oven, Ironer, and Freezer pages. A fun book to look through!

 

[bajaespuma]

A Maytag Atheneum!!!

What a great posting!! Thank you, I'm going to enjoy these images for a long time.

 

[tomturbomatic]

WOW Geoff! Thanks. All the E2M needs is a set of handlebars to grip when kickstarting the motor. The laundry person could use the bar for leverage to rise up high with elbows locked then jump down on the pedal. I guess is should have the throttle located there also. Did it come with the exhaust hose or did they figure that if you didn't have electricity that you would have to wash outside during the daytime? I can't imagine washing by the light of a kerosene lantern.

Do they still mention the attachments like the butter churn that can freeze ice cream when you fill the tub with ice? That would be an ice cream social that I would not want to miss. I wonder if our mothers and grandmothers would tell us to stop opening the lid because we were letting the cold out? Jeff once had a service call at a nursing home or some similar institution where they used an old Maytag conventional washer to mix chocolate pudding. I guess it was the instant kind. You would need an old Easy with vacuum cups and the gas burner under the tub for cooked pudding.

 

[geoffdelp]

Ken ... These magazines are a sort of historical library, aren't they? They sure are a wonderful example of what Maytag was like during the 1950's. I keep searching for more of them. Who knows ... more might turn up!!

Tom ... You're right! All you need are a set of handle bars and you could probably drive that E2M down the road!! No mention of the butter churn and/or ice cream maker. I think those were primarily for machines made before 1939/1940; they needed the tall agitator post to operate but I could be wrong!! I don't ever recall seeing a churn or ice cream maker for the E, J, or N.

I think our mothers would have just told us to stay away from the machine, period!! I know mine did (and so did my Aunts). I have heard of cleaning cucumbers for pickles, washing golf balls, cleaning collard greens, making pie crust, and even cleaning chicken gizzards (in various Maytag News articles) but I've never heard of making pudding in one!! Now THAT'S one more I can add to the list!! Maytag Company had a clear-tub Model J demonstrator that they would pull out for their company picnics and mix Kool-Aid in it. Can you imagine how many packets of Kool-Aid and how much sugar you'd have to use; guess we could figure it out ... the J held 18.1 gallons of water to the water line. I guess they would just lower the hose to get the Kool-Aid out.

HOPEFULLY, they included an exhaust hose with the purchase of an E2M. What if you bought one and lived in rural Minnesota. You couldn't wash out on the porch in the winter time ... unless you liked to do wash with a heavy coat, mittens, stocking cap, and boots on!!

 

[mickeyd]

Glad you work for us and not Homeland Security--SUCH DATA!!!

How many dozens and dozens of Maytag Wringers have I seen in my life, and not once did I see a timer model. The timersticks right out in that "ad for the month" Do you think Geoff, that there are any of these times models around?

I love suds-returns and in a while I'll find my magnifing glass because I can't wait to read the text, although the pictures suggest a marriage between a sump pump and guts of a toilet tank ;-D.

Still trying to figure out why there was no auto shut-off on the Maytag until I realized that my much beloved Easy has a 20 minte bell timer with no shut off for anything.

My aunts, too, told us to stay away, except for wonderful Aunt Lenore (Mickey) --my namesake--who let me play with and help her do the wash in her Easy Spin to my heart's content. Sure the she's in heaven, I pray to her often. And my Mom would hold me up to watch the fabulous Unimatic when I was a toddler.

By the way, that machine like the early Maytag you've been talking about had no lid switch either.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Geoff, I remember a Consumer reports article on wringer washers in the pre-war period where they tested them for corrosion potential. They showed a picture of a tall post drive Maytag after the test which was sitting for 12 or 24 hours with a solution of washing soda in the tub. The post on the Maytag was kinda chewed up because it was aluminum. I did not realize that the "attachments" did not sit over the Gyrator, but on the drive shaft.

Mike, The adults who took time to talk to us when we were children and who allowed us to wash and cook and vacuum with them must have a special place in Heaven, for they were the exception to the usual adults who dismissed our important interests and, by so doing, dismissed us, too. I have wonderful memories of mostly neighbors who let me see how they did laundry and cook. There were long distance trips to the grandparents' homes where I learned about washing in Maytag wringers. There was a wonderful family across the street from where we rented a house for a few months in Decatur, GA while our house was being built. I was not yet 5, but their older daughters were very kind to my brother and me. One Saturday morning, I was invited over there, and my parents actually let me go, and I and the whole family were in the kitchen doing laundry. I got to help load the Bendix Economat, watched it at the beginning of the wash agitation and saw the water slop over the top of the agitator which was hollow with that little grid in the opening. I watched the mother pick an item out of the suds and wipe around the side of the porcelain dome so that there would be a good seal when we closed the lid. After the wash extraction, I got to push the red button in the handle to release the vacuum so we could open the lid to watch the rinse. They all got quiet so that I could hear the hiss when I pressed the red button. It was fascinating to watch it fill from under the agitator. When the Bendix was done, the clothes were taken out of the washer and handed to me so that I could load them into the Bendix dryer and turn it on. The father worked for Carrier so they had window air conditioners and he was an electrical engineer which, I guess, explained why all of their appliances were electric. The only electric kitchen appliance that they did not have was a dishwasher. They moved to a very nice house after we moved, but my parents were not interested in seeing them so we never got to visit their new house. Several years later, the father helped dad install our air conditioner and told me that they had a set of Westinghouse SpaceMates in the kitchen. There was one other fascinating experience with that family that, like the laundry morning, was never repeated but still is etched in my memory as a wonderful experience. They were members of Decatur First Baptist Church. One warm Sunday morning, we met them to go out to lunch, I guess. The daughters took my brother and me to this hillside behind the Sunday School building and showed us this little park. I think that there might have been some playground equipment, but what I remember most vividly was a small waterfall trickling over the rocks in the hill. It made the place seem enchanted to have the waterfall in the middle of the town. Above all of this was a woods so it was like some setting out of a story where the kids are in a forest. I wonder if these 4 family members ever knew how much joy they brought into my life. I am sure that once the mother and father got to Heaven, they were made aware of how great a gift they had given a child that they had not known for long; not by doing a great or out of the ordinary or expensive thing, but "just" by their kindness that brought magic and joy to a child with a special interest and by raising such fine daughters who would bring magic and joy to others wherever they went.

 

[gansky1]

Corrosion

I saw this on Ebay a while back, never have seen one eaten away this bad so I saved the picture...

 

[geoffdelp]

Tom ... I'm "pretty" sure that you removed the agitator in the old Maytag's to add the churn and ice cream attachments. I'll double-check that, but I'm sure I've seen something where the agitator has been removed and the churn sits over the hex-head drive on the top of the agitator shaft. I know you removed the entire wringer head to put the meat grinder/sausage stuffer on.

The ice cream maker was not made for very long; for the exact reason you stated ... corrosion. Can you imagine what salt would do those cast aluminum tubs and agitators?

The story you told is very moving. Wasn't that great that you had some people in your life who didn't think it was "odd" for you to have the fascinations/dreams/desires/wants that you did? What a blessing you received!! AND what a fantastic memory you've got!!!

Have you tried to find out more about them since that time? That might be kind of cool to do.

Greg ... I think I saw that and thought "OHMYGOSH"!! What in the world did they put in there to make that happen? Do you suppose water just sat in there for years? They might have just drained it when they decided to sell it.

It would have taken a lot for that happen!!

 

[tomturbomatic]

corrosion

Maybe they used too much fertilizer in it when it was outside with flowers growing in it.

 

[geoffdelp]

Tom ...