crosley dishwasher

[bwoods]

Please check the Ebay ad for the Crosley dishwasher.

It had a rotating upper rack. Similar in appearance to the Sears (McGraw-Edison built) "Roto-Rack" of the sixties.

Was anyone aware of this? I was quite surprised to see this in a dishwasher from the 1950's, especially one from a smaller company, like Crosley.

Did it rotate by means of a motor drive, or did it have a wash tube directed at it, as in the Sears?

Barry

http://cgi.ebay.com/50s-vintage-kit...5QQihZ012QQcategoryZ13596QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[appnut]

There's one of these in a collector's collection. There was no wash tube that caused it to rotate, no motor either. It was simply the spray and water currents from the impeller which caused the top rack to rotate.

 

[chachp]

I wondered about that.

Bob, every picture I have seen posted of the interior of this machine has been at such an angle that I could see if there was any water source other than the impeller driving the upper rack. I bet it doesn't spin like the Kenmore Roto racks. My Mom had one of these for a short time in one of her houses. I used to love to open the door quickly to see how fast it was spinning. She replaced it with a Kitchen Aid. She never liked loading that machine. She always felt she lost valuable space on the upper rack where there were no corners to fill.

 

[appnut]

Ralph, I used to do the same thing to both our roto racks when da mom wasn't around lol. I loved listening to the water flying off teh rack as it hit the door during rotation. I found it fascinating much of the water in concave top rack stuff got spun out and remember no food debris when I got aawy without rinsing. My mom didn't know how to load it too well either. But lemme tell ya, I could get just as many glasses and such in that things as our old waste king, which the rotorack replaced in houston. I jsut knew how to do it. I dind't really feel like I missed much by not having the corners.

 

[pturo]

We had a TOL Lady Kenmore all pushbutton with the roto rack and the thing cleaned great, as I remember. To credit the above poster, there was never any crap on top of the glasses, it spun off like a washing machine. Our neighbor had a Westinghouse with a "full upper rack" she used to boast about, but alas, no top arm and her glassware had schmutz on top that used to dry on because she used the heated dry to "sanitize" as she did not have the heated wash cylce we had in the Lady K. We never used heated dry when I was a kid and I still don't to this day, but I use the water heat instead. Who the hell wants to bake on any leftover problems? The performance of the roto rack was worth the sacrifce in space of a full rack, which at best was about 4 more glasses, washed poorly. So, MEoooow to her.

 

[exploder321]

I wish they still made em.. I have seen a few, but never have had the cance to play with one...

There was one in a house i sold no long ago, that had never been used, it was underthe countor installed, but still had all the interior packing in it.. The couple who bought the place put a newer kitchen in, but suprisingly kept the dishwasher (I asked to buy it or to swap a new one for it not long ago, but she never called me back) because she hardly *if* ever uses one her self she said...Although she did think it worked very well the one time she did use it

 

[tomturbomatic]

ROTO RACK

Design and Manufacturing came up with the idea early in dishwasher manufacturing. The ad shows old cabinets by American Kitchens that had the strange drawers underneath the counter that angled out from the cabinets below them. The American Kitchens dishwasher shown in the ad had the same style front panel with the big bulge at the top. Friends had the entire kitchen with that 50s copper finish on everything including the Chambers cooktop and wall oven. In the early D&M machines, the rack turned only by the force of the water from the impeller. Even before the D&M machines went to a wash arm in the bottom, they were using the pump turning in the washing direction to power the plastic phallic spray tube that stuck out of the rear of the tank under the Roto Rack. If the rack was not loaded properly and the weight was not balanced, it could break glasses and make funny sounds when turning. It was a pretty neat system with the way the height of the rack could be adjusted. KitchenAid, Hotpoint and some of the D&M dishwashers were the early ones that offered height adjustment to the top rack. We found one, minus the lower panel 10 or 15 years ago with all of the packing inside the tank and the around the motor behind a kitchen remodeling place. The front did not have this old design, but it was an impeller machine with one wash, two rinses and dry with no detergent dispenser. It just sat unused like our 56 or 57 Bendix hi speed gas dryer that still has the wooden block for shipping protection under the motor.

 

[toggleswitch]

Lights action camera!

I miss mom's old Knemore by D&M roto rack. Both the 1968 TOL model she had and the 1973/1974 MOL. (she moved)

The TOL had TONS of indicator lights. Needed a small nuke plant just to power those suckers.

I didn't miss those corners one bit. Flung off dirt from over glasses? Brilliant. Had not thought of that.

Got mom over to "light wash" (R-W-R-R-Dry) since she was a compulsive wash-them first kinda girl!

 

[appnut]

Steve, my Mom ALWAYS chose light wash for every dishwasher from the 1968 KA to the GSD1200 (she selected energy saver wash on that one). Only time I did a normal cycle was when I was able to get dirty stuff in there. And sani-rinse? Hmm, she avoided unless someone was sick usually. Sometimes she'd use it, but then would advance the knob wehn she got tired of it holding the timer while the water heated to set temp. (which you know drove me crazy).

 

[pturo]

Funny thing, the older generation thinks dishwashers use power and they are much more costly to run than "hand washing" I have to guess this is not true, you could not wash and rinse the entire load of dishes a modern unit holds by hand with the same water consumption, and hot water it the major energy use in washing dishes. Anyone know of a study done? I have a father that thinks that anything that plugs in and runs on power is a waste of electricity, like a dishwasher,then add the hot water and he thinks it is stratospheric in cost and a luxury. He would spend 1/2 hour in front of the sink rinsing dishes in hot water running down the drain than turn on his own dishwasher at home, that takes power. Are there any compelling statistics to show that it is better to just load the son of a bitch up as you go along and hit on, than do handwash Grandma loads all day long,wasting water and hot water ? Seems to me a study needs to be done. Dishwashers for Seniors.

 

[roto204]

Oh yes...

It's been done a few times. This link can take you to the original study (but it's published in German), but it summarizes the findings nicely.

CR cites this fact on just about every major report they've done for dishwashers. Especially with modern machines (but even with old ones), there's just no comparison--machines are far more efficient.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/dishwasher_vs_h.php

 

[toggleswitch]

Funny thing, the older generation thinks dishwashers use power and they are much more costly to run than "hand washing"

Dad agreed to a DW because Consumer Rerpots magazine stated that with automatic DW-ers there was a measurable amount of hot water savings.

Mom wanted one for the time savings, the lack of visible clutter(dirties in the sink, cleans air-drying, etc.)

But their #1 reason to buy one? GERM-phobia. *DING DING DING DING* An automatic DW (without any special cycles /programmes leaves dishes with literally 100x fewer germs. (high temps, caustic detergents, mechanical action. etc)

Now add a "Sani-rinse" option (155*F [70*C+/-]) to a TOL Sears Kenmore (by D&M) with more lights than a space-ship and tell mom about the lack of cross-contamination when one of the brood is ill, and you get.............. SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bottom line is, methinks that people LOVE to play with water. (When their egos allow them to lower themselves to actually wash something!) It's primal. We are gestated in it.

 

[toggleswitch]

there was a measurable amount of hot water savings.

If one lets the water run constantly that is. When using a dish-pan or two (wash and rinse) the water use is comparable, which makes the DW just a "sanitizing" convenience, and a prime de-greaser; not necessarily a (huge) water saver.

 

[roto204]

True

...and the "rinse pool" method was what we used when I was a kid. The idea of running the hot water constantly was ludicrous.

However, part of the argument of the study was that the machines did a more thorough job--but then again, considering that BSH, Electrolux, and Indesit were sponsoring partners on the study.... *ahem*

 

[chestermikeuk]

Meaning!!!!

Nowthen Nate , Whatever could you mean??????Lol...those lovely Euro dishwashers....

Actually, The dishwasher was the only labour saving appliance that my mum took to like a duck to water...although there where six of us, and we all took turns to wash dry and put-away...mum really loved it,

Mum hated her first auto washer because having used her trusty Servis twinny for 18 years, her washday was never finished....i.e. twinny meant everything was washed on washday, whereas with an auto there was always one lonely item in the washbasket which was left for another load on another day.....

Do I take it that your dishwashers have a waste disposer effect, i.e will grind n shred large scraps etc...

Mike

 

[roto204]

Hi Mike!

LOL! I mean nothing by that. I think that European machines are the BEST!*

I understand about the automatic washer effect--I hate that random leftover item that really should get washed NOW, but would gag the machine and wreck the whole load.

That's why you have to have at least two washers to resolve such complications!

Dishwashers here sometimes have a sort of waste disposer (older/cheaper GEs come to mind), a food macerator (older D&M dishwashers with their metal star-blade in front of the wash impeller), or a combination of that and soil separator. Most have filtration of some sort, though, and it seems that most machines are heading toward the filtration route in some form.

*^{poster has been compensated by Electrolux AG}

 

[roto204]

Either way...

...the end result of food disposal systems of the macerator/disposer sort that lack other filtration is to grind things like rice bits, beans, and other light duty items (nothing like bones or anything significant) into smaller particles, which are then redistributed, via the pump system, into the wash water, whereupon they are deposited evenly on all dishes throughout the machine, most especially the drinking glasses and such in the top rack.

This prevents food from being left solely on dirtier items.

 

[toggleswitch]

YIBBLES AND BITS! OH MY

reminds me of.................

http://www.kibblesandbits.com/

 

[bwoods]

Several of you have mentioned "D&M" manufacturing the Sears Roto Rack machines.
-
Was D&M bought out by McGraw-Edison?

We had a Modern Maid dishwasher, when I was growing up, that was identical with the Sears machines with the exception of the Roto-Rack.

It had the same lower wash arm, motor, macerator blade, tub and detergent dispenser as the Sears. However, instead of the roto-rack it had a conventional rack with a small second wash arm beneath it. An plastic tube, against the inside back of the tub, feed water to the upper arm.

I was told that it was made by McGraw-Edison Corporation in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

 

[appnut]

I'm not sure about McGraw-Edison, BUT they were an OEM producer for anumber of brands that all were essentially the same: Caloric, Modern Maid, Gaffers & Sattler, Kenmore, Norge, and the like.

Sears was the notbale exception I do believe that had the differentiator of the top rotorack.