Another addition to the Vintage Appliance Emphorium

[vacbear58]

Its been a busy week, not only picking up the Miele washing machine, and vacuum cleaners for two other collectors, this dishwasher came up for sale about 20 miles from me. I knew that Richard (ricky5050) had one similar so it seemed too good to miss.

 

[vacbear58]

Here is a video from 1952 featuring this machine and a waste disposal that the company also made. It seems that this was originally an independent company but by 1960 it had been absorbed in Kenwood who continued to market the dishwasher and the waste disposal. I wonder what the third switch was for?

 

[vacbear58]

Although I know that there was a fully automatic version of this machine, I was surprised to find that is is actually semi-automatic. As you can see there is not a great deal to it underneath. This was "hard plumbed" into the water and waste systems.

The pipe on the left is the hot water supply (this machine has no heater), the waste is pretty obvious and the power cord is on the right. The automatic machines also had a hot water tank under the wash bowl and presumably a more sophisticated timer.

 

[vacbear58]

Money shots

In the last picture you can see the impeller (which seems intact) is protected by a fine screen filter. I did not had time to clear the crud out if it yesterday, it was too cold and wet anyway. The little conical receptacle that sits directly above the impeller appears to be for cutlery.

 

[vacbear58]

Instructions

I am almost frighted to post these as it may be more fuel to those who perpetually whine on about how long their dishwasher takes to complete a cycle - I think three minutes might be a bit of an exaggeration as it does not account for filling and emptying - which would probably take it up to maybe five or six minutes.

It seems that the machine controls the intake of water, and when switched off a solenoid presumably releases it

 

[foraloysius]

That's a very nice find! I love impeller dishwashers. Funny that it was designed in New Zealand. Perhaps by Fisher & Paykel?

 

[cuffs054]

Hope those racks were padded. Miss Thing dropped that basket in pretty hard.

 

[washdaddy]

According to the directions it mentioned..."Fill your second set of baskets now."

Did the machine come with two sets of baskets or I wonder if there was an option where you could buy them if needed?

 

[vacbear58]

Baskets

@ Washdady
I read that comment to read that you could buy extra baskets, no version of this machine had a heater in the wash tub so it would depend on residual heat from the last rinse helped with the impeller to dry the dishes. Although there is no reference in the instructions I have, the machine was so fast that in order to clear though a lot of dishes (the capacity is quite low) you could leave one washed load on the draining board in the baskets while the next load washed and drained in the machine.

More research indicates there were four models (prices from November 1960)

A430 manual, no heater - which I think mine is £76/13/-
A440 manual with hot water boiler £96/12/-
A470 automatic with heater £122/17/-
A471 automatic with heater & drain pump £133/7/-

As a point of comparison the Swanmaid (very similar to Kitchenaid models of the same era) was £123/10/- At the time it seems like the Bendix Gyramatic was the most expensive automatic washing machine by a considerable degree at £120.00, you probably could have got a Hoovermatic twin Tub or at a push a Parnall semi auto for about the price of mine