Amazing article on Designing the L-1000 Program Computer Westinghouse Laundromat

[Unimatic1140]

It's washing machine Monday on Product Stat, great ariticle up this morning:

Designing the L-1000 Program Computer Westinghouse Laundromat

Enjoy everyone! Tons more to come. This afternoon I have another great thing scheduled to go up as well.

 

[classiccaprice]

That makes me want to go to my local Westinghouse dealer and bring home a pair today. Lol.

 

[bluejay]

Robert,

ProductStat is fantastic!  I look forward to each post and have shared a few with friends and family.

 

[gizmo]

WOW!

Were these ever sold, or were they just a prototype? I've never heard of them before.

The pushbuttons linked to a remote timer work like a Hoover Keymatic - effectively, each face of a Keyplate selects a set group of "buttons." And the big start switch looks like a Keymatic switch.

 

[combo52]

Westinghouse L&D 1000 Laundry Twins

Thanks for posting this interesting material Robert.

And YES they actually did build and sell these neat machines, and thanks to AW , Tom [ turbomatic ], Jeff [ moparvrigna ] and shipper Jackie we have a beautiful set of these in the museum.

This was a very important milestone in automatic washer development in at least three ways, Great styling and color, Introduction of one button control, and a complete redesign of the washer itself which for the first time in AW history in the US allowed a Front Loading washer to perform as well as a good Top Load washer.

Foot Note, the 1953 Bendix Combo was probably the first FL automatic washer that washed and spun very well.

Although it is questionable who had the first one button washer control system and used printed circuits in a washer, Controls Corporation also built the same system for the 59,60 and 61 LKMs and for the Hotpoint Touch Command washers and dryers as well.

John L.

 

[jamman_98]

I love this quote from the article

[COLOR=#444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px]"Laundromat with the feeling of a Lincoln Continental."[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px]Who designs appliances with that kind of luxury in mind today.[/COLOR]

 

[COLOR=#444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px]Joe[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#444444; font-family: 'Open Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px]jamman_98[/COLOR]

 

[jetcone]

My thoughts

exactly Joe !  A Lincoln. 

I've seen John's set and the burlap is stunning to say the least. 

So much went into these and they never sold big. Too bad.

 

 

 

[akronman]

1959

All brand new for 1959!!! So was I!!! It would be cool as hell to have a set of these, but my list of personal holy grail machines just keeps getting longer.

 

[appnut]

Wow!!!!

 

[supersuds]

I thought the best line was: "...key roles were played by: E. O. Moron, manager of laundry equipment engineering..."

We have our top men on this. Top men!

 

[spiralator60]

1959 L-1000 Program Computer Laundromat and Following Models

Thanks Robert for posting this fascinating article!

Does anyone know if the Program Computer technology was carried into the design of the flat-front post 1964 models? All I have seen about them is that the TOL models had pushbuttons and rotary controls.

Also, did the capacity of the drum change after moving from an inclined to a horizontal axis?

 

[frigilux]

John, you mentioned Controls Corporation also made the rapid-advance timer system for 1959, 1960, and 1961 Kenmores. I'm assuming the 1960 Model 80, with its one-button cycle selector is an example of this. Did the Laundromat make the same rather loud clickety-clacking sounds associated with the Kenmore rapid-advance systems? That's a sound and rhythm that has always fascinated me.

Go front-loaders!! (I am also of 1959 vintage)

 

[arbilab]

Read somewhere that 1959 was rather a slump for the whites industry. Little worse time to introduce a reinvented-- and rePRICED-- machine. As explanation for how rare these machines are 55 years hence. A one-off departure in style.

Thanks for 'best of' Product Stat. Always find another article of interest as well.[this post was last edited: 9/16/2014-04:01]

 

[combo52]

Westinghouse L&D 1000 Laundry Twins

The L-1000 washer did make the cool clicking noise when selecting a cycle, the dryer had a much more conventional just turn the timer to the correct cycle with a built-in guide to direct the user. Overall the 1959 LKMs were far more sophisticated in terms of cycles offered.

I don't think that the new washer tub design was much if any bigger, I believe it to be around 2 CF, the good thing is that you could finely get clothing clean and it did not come out in a tangled rope, although it was easier to unload the tangled rope of clothing as it could be done with one hand, LOL.

Rapid-Advance timers like these disappeared from laundry appliances by about 1963 with the exception of the MT A900 and the later A906 washers. Similar all PB dual motor timers did appear in the mid 60s and continue into the 90s on many different Dishwashers however.