AHH! Something New Has Been Added! What Is This Dryer?

[launderess]

Now this is something interesting!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-1950s-P...ages?hash=item1e57c8d3e2&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[askomiele]

Wow thats a

dryingrack avant la lettre... Seems that you could flip the top open and put the flatdry stuff on top of the rack so it would dry while the rest of your laundry is tumbling... Nice idea!

 

[jamiel]

My grandmother had that dryer...it was a Rheem. Quite a handy design. The button was pink colored...there was a drum light and a UV light. The hood lifted up and you could lay flat whatever you wanted with the things tumbling below. 2 temperatures (no air fluff setting), clockwork timer (tick tick tick), Gas dryer. She had it teamed with a second gen Whirlpool (dials on backsplash, lid opener button in front) from about 1951 or so. Seemed like it might be a little newer (they moved into a new house about 1952). Pretty sophisticated dryer for the time.

 

[toggleswitch2]

oh my just don't forget an article of clothing in there! Fire hazard!

I wonder if that dryer throws out lint and flocks one's walls.

 

[jamiel]

It didn't seem to be particularly linty, in my recollection. The exhaust was from the middle rear of the backsplash (you can see a knockout on the right side which I'm guessing is that round panel). There was a spring-loaded grille on the center of the backsplash, under which (for a vented installation) was a blanking plate. I remember that blanking plate had some printing on it. If you removed the blanking plate, you could slip a lint filter in for an unvented installation (the lint filter size was roughly like that generation Kenmore...squarish). You did not use both the blanking plate and the lint filter. I seem to recall only a 3" duct, not a 4". There was an intake lint filter behind the toeboard (pleated wire mesh) which never seemed to have much effect. The dryer had some sort of ignition system (no pilot light). Grandma got rid of it in about 1982 or so (I was late teens) for a Maytag rectangular door model. It was definitely bigger than my mother's 1965 Kenmore, with a bigger drum (although I believe the drum was a little shallow).