Thanks for the explanation of the control ring. Now, what does one do if one accidentally pulls it out too far and gets into the wrong cycle? Is there a way to reset it before it turns on? For example, pull it out *all* the way to reset?
All in all, the whole 1950s era was a time of much interesting diversity in a whole range of technologies. Things hadn't converged to the present stage of uniformity. The control ring design you have there is almost an extreme case. But if you assume that people vary in the abilities & needs that go into the human side of the human interface design question, the 1950s era machines were more accommodating than today's: people could choose from a much wider range of different user interfaces than those available today.
(I for one have still not gotten used to, and probably won't get used to, flat-screen touch keys with digital readouts for anything except a microwave, but even that took a while. A microwave with rotary knob for power level select, and another rotary knob for a timer, would be quite sufficient.)