Great olfactory memories!
The little plastic grid kept small items from being carried into the agitator by the water that sloshed over the top of the agitator during the dramatic agitation and, possibly, during drain to the point where they would be in danger of going down the agitator and blocking the hole leading to the pump without the grid.
I thought it almost magical how the machine filled from under the agitator. Once the machine was started, water just began appearing from under the agitator and pooling around it in the tub. This required a sophisticated air break in the fill line in the machine because the inlet was in the perfect place to siphon water back into the water lines, but it also required a valve beyond the air break to prevent air from being sucked through the fill opening during the sucking phases of the cycle.
The reason this machine could do what it did to extract water from laundry was that the pump could suck air as well as water. Once all of the water was sucked away, the pump kept sucking air to pull a vacuum to hold the tub tight against the fabrics pressed against the agitator. Because the pump could suck air as well as water meant that it was self-priming which was why it was also used in the early WP-designed combinations where the lint filter was above the bottom of the sump where the drain opening was located. Each time the machine started to fill, the pump had to suck air to pull the water up through the hose to the filter and then down to the pump. Later models of the 33" combos had a different filter chamber with a curved filter that went down into it so that it was not above the water in the sump which allowed a more traditional pump to be used.
The big church downtown that allowed the MCC to meet in it had a Kenmore combo in the kitchen for dish towels and such, clearly from brighter days in the church's financial history. I had heard from people for many years about this machine. One day an organist friend took me down to the church to hear the sanctuary organ, but it was closed for painting. As we crossed into the adjoining building, I looked over the stair railing and a couple of stories below sat the combo! It was taken out of service because of a leak and I made a $100 contribution to the church for the privilege of hauling it away with Jeff and Bob Wirth. John looked at it and figured out that the pump seal from a 16 or 17 series KA would be the right thing to stop the leak in the newer style pump that did not have to suck air and he was right. Sears would only have tried to replace the pump which was probably NLA which is why you need people with DEEP knowledge across the brands in the history of appliances to keep the old ones running.
