Finally I Know Where I Can Put My Silverware!

[Unimatic1140]

Chris (Machinehead) was kind enough to email me a PDF copy of his James Dishwasher Owners Manual. For years I thought my 1953 James was missing the silverware basket, but now I know it's not, they tell you to put the silverware under the dishes in the bottom rack of all places. Well I would have never guess that! Give this file a minute or two to download as it is 10mb in size.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/LIBRARY/OWNERS_MANUALS/JamesOwnersManual.pdf

 

[bajaespuma]

What an amazing dishwasher! I love the idea of having that "7/32" plate glass so you can check on how well you loaded the machine. My kind of people! I have never seen one and only knew of its existence from the "Manufacturers that recommend Electrasol" panel on the side of the box. Have you posted pictures of your machine?

It's a pity that as appliance evolution progressed everything moved towards sameness. When people ask me to recommend a new appliance these days, my stock snide response is: "What's the difference?"

 

[Unimatic1140]

Yes here are lots of pictures:

When I First Found the James, probably five or six years ago

James Mechanicals

Washing Action in the James

 

[dj-gabriele]

So good! Who would have tought about it!?

 

[Brent-Aucoin]

This is great! Thanks Robert for posting, and Chris for sending it to Robert!
Do you use it often Robert? Have you ever did a huge load in it? It seems like a very good dishwasher.
Brent

 

[alr2903]

Robert isn't there a statement in the ad copy for the James something like " the only diswasher used in hospitals to wash hypodermic syringes" For you much younger ones hypodermic syringes were at one time made of glass, and nurses actually "sharpened the needles". Guess maybe a few things in our throw away society have a redeeming value. I would imagine an injection back then was a religious experience. Ouch. arthur/ alr2903

 

[mayken4now]

I would have never guessed the silverware arrangement. How funny and how exciting to know the arrangement sequence.

Thanks for posting

 

[bundtboy]

figure 13

Shows how to load the upper bowl of your cory glass vacuum coffee brewer also.

Very cool booklet. I've never seen a James dishwasher in person.

B

 

[machinehead]

It is kinda strange...

Hi folks--

Glad to be of service, i definetly found the manuals interesting too!

The silverware "rack" is somewhat bizarre, but it works! The
James i have isn't running yet, pending a pressure switch R+I (thank you Robert for the advice!) and then continue with the test drive. Looks identical to Roberts except the racks are blue and there's a little green glass bottle where supposedly you put the hard-water additive or rinse-aid. For those of you who haven't seen one in person, i was surprised at how small it really is: maybe 4 feet high, 29 inches +/- wide and not quite 3 ft across. Very tiny! But, you can cram the thing with dishes and it gets them clean in about 1/2 hour! (so the manual says)

Anyway, there you go. I can post picts of it as it sits but its not exactly pretty or all together...

 

[toggleswitch]

Very cool.

Thanks for posting.
Perhaps a YoTYube video & audio one day?

 

[Unimatic1140]

Do you use it often Robert? Have you ever did a huge load in it?
Hi Brent, I love to use it in the winter cause it really heats things up, this time of year I don't really use the James, but I did tonight just for the fun of it. It doesn't really wash that much, the Frigdiare and Westinghouse upstairs hold a lot more.

It seems like a very good dishwasher.
It's OK, you really need to use the Sterile rinse function to ensure clean dishes, but boy does it get HOT.

That is interesting about the syringes, I never heard that, OUCH is right!

Chris, the only part my machine is missing is the glass bottle, can you take a couple of pictures of it and post it here so I know what to look for? Thanks!

 

[machinehead]

Here's the bottle picts

Ok Robert, here you go! Sorry for the delay, and the pict res is high, but i thought it would be better in this instance or accuracy purposes. Hope this helps!

 

[machinehead]

Pict # 2 of 4

Another view...

 

[machinehead]

Pict 3 of 4

and another view... this time of the neck showing it has only one thread around its entire circumference/diameter/radius/roundness WHATEVER! You get the idea...

 

[machinehead]

and the last one!

the overall view, JIC...

 

[Unimatic1140]

Hi Chris, thank you so much for the pictures. Now I know what goes there and what to look for. Like the rest of the mechanics in this dishwasher, there is a whole "Rue Goldberg machine" style way of filling that little green bottle. There is a separate tiny fill hose for the bottle mechanism and the hose is sandwiched between a metal platform and a wall. Normally the platform is pushed up hard against the wall which squeezes and kinks the hose which prevents the water from entering the jar. But during the final rinse one of the timing cams pulls the platform away from the hose which unsqueezes the hose and lets water fill the bottle. I'll have to film that sometime when I get a chance.

How about some pictures of your machine, I'm dying to see the blue racks!

 

[alanlendaro]

what is the glass bottle for?

I checked through the manual, but could not find a reference for it. That manual is very cool, btw.

 

[machinehead]

And the bottle's for..

Hi Alanendaro, Robert and everyone else--

Somewhere in one of the manuals it mentioned something about the bottle is where you put something like Calgonite. At some point during the last rinse (IIRC) there is a small hose, like Robert mentions, that diverts water into the bottle and flushes out the contents into another hose/pipe and that leads back into the water injector ckt i think...

Either way, that was for the rinse-aid. What you did when you dropped it into the stainless steel bottom and it broke, i have no idea. Few people i've talked to other than the ones i meet here have ever heard of the James Manufacturing
Company, and references are hard to find so far...

Rack picts are coming, i admit i am embarrased as they are severly minerally-encrusted however! The whole interior is like that, must have had very hard water, probably from a well, as where i found it in Iowa is definetly BFE. I'll snap picts anyway, just be forwarned nothing is mint! (working on that)

BTW, i took apart the pressure switch to see how it worked and if it was repairable. Any interest in seeing it's guts? Very simple design, and very cool!

 

[machinehead]

Further bottle this and that, and rack picts too

PS Robert-- i found somebody at some point had neatly installed a machine screw into the port going into the bottle, some stain evidence on the service panel interior that there may have been a surprise water leak (i bet that was a mess!) that led to the plug. Here's a good picture of that, and the top section with the service panel removed. Obviously, there's work to do! Also is another pict of the barnacle-covered blue racks.