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Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

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Boy the sharks are circleing aren't they?

LOL!

Anyway, here is the deal with the new Wash 'N Dry Combo. The timers, heater, motor, pump all work just fine. The problem with the machine is it wont spin. So this is going to be a major project that I really don't want to take on right now and I'm not really a combo person anyway. So I spoke to John in Washington and he has a spare transmission, motor and pump for this machine. Since this is one of his absolute dream machines and he has the parts to restore it, its going to go to the museum in Washington where it can cherished by John and Tom and Robert Stokes, etc. Another fabulous rare machine saved and to be enjoyed by all.

But I did scan the owners manual for everyone to enjoy and added it to our club Owners Manual Library. Click on the link and scroll down to the very last manual on the list...

 
Wow, the interior looks MINT! These definitely have some capacity, IMHO; I was amazed at how much Greg's could hold--rivals even the largest of modern FL's! Of course you couldn't dry an 18 lb. load but you could definitely wash it!

Interesting about the spin problem...considering the amount of water it removes you won't need it anyway! ;-)

On a more serious note, how is the spin controlled in these Westinghouse combos?

--Austin
 
Hey Steve...

The hell with waiting...gimme that address and we'll nab the turquoise for you. Come along if you like, we can take turns driving...don't let me forget to snag the Glasbak mugs on the way to the gold mine downstairs. Since we're there, might as well make a sweep of the place.

My email addy is in my profile...with just a click of the mouse and a wee tad of information, the 58 Unimatics are yours!

We need to move fast -- I live in the Shaw neighborhood in South St. Louis -- and can rustle up da boyz from da hood for muscle to load 'em up in the truck. We wait too long, and our drive time increases exponentially. He's already yapping about sending that babe off to foster care in Washington. To hell with everyone else, that machine exists for my enjoyment only! This is ALL about me! Not a combo man he says -- well duh, those awnings scream that to the entire neighborhood!

1 Address + 1 Mouse Click = Two perfect Unimatics for Steve. It's really *that* easy.

On a sidenote Steve, I don't understand what you mean about my humor? What humor? Christfr/Chris from St. Louis has met me, and can vouch for my dourness. I'm serious. I've already printed the pic of his house, I'll just hit every fairie prarie in Minneapolis -- someone's gonna recognize those awnings...

My father was in the Marine Corps during World War II -- decorated for valor and distinguished service in the Battle of Midway -- I have his honors in my safe deposit box. My mother was a union organizer for the Teamsters in the mid to late 1940's. My sister, doing geneological research on our parents discovered our mother was blacklisted as a Communist. My sister has a picture of our mother and Jimmy Hoffa speaking jointly from a lectern at a Labor rally.

Let me sum it up for you: A father distinguished in a key battle of democracy versus tyranny, a mother, branded as a communist standing next to a labor executive who went *POOF* -- and I was their little bundle of joy!

I want that Westy. The address, please.

Thank you.

:-)

John
 
The LUCKY DOG strikes again! What a sweetie to give it away! Your so good hearted Robert!( Or was Neal standing at the door with a bat when you got home? LMAO! )
 
no sweetie here

Hi Bethann, how do I put this delicately, actually I'm not giving it away, John and I are going to make a dream machine trade. Enough said about that and don't ask. That means you too Austin :).

W001.gif
 
Terry you asked about the serial plate, I wasn't sure until now when I went and checked. It's intact, I guess Westinghouse never got their little hands on this one.

9-18-2005-21-04-41--Unimatic1140.jpg
 
Thanks for checking Robert, this one must have gotten away from them. Did you get any history on the machine at the sale? Just wonder how long it was in use as their main washer/dryer?? So many Questions!!! Terry
 
Robert, congratulations. All the superlatives have been stated. I don't think I can add any more.

How do you know it's not spinning, I mean that rapid 181 rpm spin, it almost looks like it's tumbling. Are you sure you're not getting senile in your old collector age? (runs and ducks for cover very pdq).

Well I will not ask about the dram machine trade, BUT MISTER YOU BETTER HAVE PHOTOGRAPHS PRONT. Bob
 
Great Googlie Mooglie!!!!

Congrats on the find! And congrats on the DC contingent for getting this machine! Wow! That is incredible!

Robert, when did a Philco Miss America become one of your dream machines? I'm so ENVIOUS!!!
 
Well Robert, I'd say I don't believe it, but you seem to have all the luck finding these great machines! Nothing you find surprises me any more. Add my congratulations to the list!

Greg--Oooooh, I'd pay cold hard cash for your dream machine! Anyone we know? Tasty!

veg
 
Anderson Cooper

Someone who knows him said that he is an extremely nice man. I can't remember who, but then again, I had trouble with my phone number this morning. Maybe they will let me sit in the laundry room at the mental institution.
 
You Guys!!!

You`ll have to explain who Anderson Cooper is???

You Guys just crack me up....after having a rather fraught few weeks, have just read the last few posts and started laughing so much that Ty ran upstairs, thinking I`d finally flipped and ready to have me committed to the mad house (along with Tom Turbo on the phone there) !!!wanted to check was I REALLY okay...

GREG:
Send Anderson one of your Keymatic Calling Cards...the intreague might just do it...LOL....LOL

9-19-2005-13-13-35--chestermikeuk.jpg
 
Westinghouse named their combo Wash'n Dry Laundromat. In the late 60s, maybe trying to escape from the near universal curse on the combos, Sears changed the name on their washer-dryer combinations as you can see on Jon's 1969 Lady Kenmore Combination Wash'n Dryer.

A sad note: Westinghouse finally offered to give the service technicians at the Georgia Power Company a Wash'n Dry Laundromat for use in their home, FREE, if they just kept it repaired and running. They all turned it down. I was told that by one of the techs. I am not sure if maybe a small number of techs might have accepted, but he let me know that they went through hell working on those machines. Those techs had to know by the time they completed training on these combos how poorly they extracted. They also could see that there was no cold water setting, even for rinses (CU rated the GE and WH combos the two machines offering the fewest options to the user). They probably also hated all of the screws around the big round access hole in the back of the cabinet that they would have to deal with every time they had to go inside one of these machines, and that's when they were new. Once they were in use and the service techs encountered the leaks caused by the action of the intense heat from the dryer heaters on the rubber seal to the heater box and the water that got in and started the heater box to rust out, they had to deal with the reality that there was no silicone rubber at the time to survive the intense heat of every 1.5 to 2 hour drying cycle. Many of these techs, indeed most GAPOCO employees had Westinghouse Laundry equipment in their homes and could see the difference in performance and time between service calls for the washers, dryers and combos.

I read somewhere that a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That is sort of what the combo makers (except Bendix)were doing. They offered machines that did not extract well and took greater amounts of resources than separate washers and dryers to wash and dry a load of laundry and yet they kept trying to sell them. There were certain laws of physics that could not be overcome after Bendix tied up the patents, but they tried to sell these very flawed machines anyway. I'm not saying that they were not fascinating; they are, but they are not monuments to industrial success.
 

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