Hotpoint and GE wash action

[mixfinder]

I had a 59 GE and later in my apartment at college we had a coin op Hotpoint. Both of the would let the tub turn forward, a half on the forward stroke of the agitator and the clothes just followed. When the stroke came back, the clothes would stop turning in a circular pattern, but roll over was un heard of. I would stand and hold the tub still, during the eash cycle. In some of the demo videos, I notice the 56 Hotpoint tub stays still and so did the 58 GE Filter Flo, I saw in another video. Why did some tubs fly around and not stand still?
Kelly

 

[mixfinder]

Duh

I just read an earlier thread discussing indexing and coaxial trans. The transmission in the GE would start at slow agitation and then click and move to fast agitation, with no change in motor pitch. The washer was totally indestructable. MY aunt had it after us, and granted, she was single but it ran for about 20 years. I had a neighbor, later in life, with a family of 4 who had a 59 GE. She used it 18 years and then gave it away, to get a matched set, with a dryer. In fact, I have never seen a GE, even the plastic one that weren't dependable. Tub rust out and leaking along the top where the outer tub met the top of the washer seemed the biggest issue for the 70s and 80s models.
Kelly

 

[bajaespuma]

We had, all told, 9 General Electric Washers, in several homes and renter's apartments. The only trouble they gave us, as I recall, was that occasionally a sock would get into the outer tub and clog the drain. The repairman would have to come, pop the top and remove the washbasket to get at it. It prooved impossible to persuade my parents to by Maytags; they had always had good luck with GE appliances. Unfortunately, towards the end of their run they became disillusioned with the very last batch of machines they bought from GE. By then, GE had betrayed their customer base by outsourcing to WCI for some stuff and some of their own products had become so visibly junky. The last washing machine that Dad bought in 1990, however, is still going strong.

Ge machines allowed partial indexing of the tub so it would "creep" counterclockwise during agitation, oops, I mean, "activation". The machine would beging the wash cycle with the tub spinning freely so it would do a 360 with the firs agitation strokes then the tub brake would "grab" and it would begin its "creep". Rollover was never better than on the V-12 models--that spiral activator really did it's job. I observed that the fewer "fins" towards the top of the agitator, the better for rollover. I guess they started putting vanes towards the top of the activators to service the mini-baskets.

I remember our 1958 Frigidaire Unimatic (?) Custom Imperial used to start its wash cycle with a brief spin to get the clothes moving in the right direction. In fact, the first time I saw it work, for a split-second I thought the machine was broken. I'm still not quite sure how that was engineered because, from what I've learned on this site, the motor reversed to change from agitation to spin. Unless they were able to reverse the motor very quickly...

 

[mixfinder]

Spiral Vane

Thank you for the reply. I agree, the GE Spiral Ramp Activator did a great job. The machines from the 60's couldn't be killed with a bomb. I remember in the 70's, Consumer Guide consistently down rated them because of a dated design, but then that was made them great. But then Consumer Guide also downrated the Big rear wheel drive Roadmaster when it came out, saying it was eerily quiet and left the driver feeling isolated from the road. Isn't that what a luxury car is supposed to do? Consumer Guide, topic for another discussion.
Thank you for answering the question, I appreciate it.
Kelly

 

[westytoploader]

Ken,

The Frigidaire Unimatics did not reverse the motor for spin. Instead, a solenoid pulled a lever down which moved the trip shaft and engaged the clutch torque spring with the tub. All of this was done in one quick "SNAP" with no need to pause between agitation and spin. Because there was no reduction gearing, the tub spun at the same speed as the motor which was 1140 RPM.

The later designs, beginning with the Pulsamatic and Multimatic, did simply pause and reverse the motor for spin.

 

[westytoploader]

Oops...almost forgot! Like I mentioned in another thread, the Unimatic tub did rotate clockwise before agitation; I believe it was to unwind/loosen the torque spring. If you have seen a Unimatic in action, remember how at the end of spin the tub "bounces back" counterclockwise a short distance as well. The turning to the right before agitation corrected this.

Hope my (rudimentary) explanation helps!

--Austin

 

[bajaespuma]

20/20 Hindsight

My uncle owned this machine for about 10 years. It was in a Dutch colonial "Jug" house built in 1762. He only had the washer; the dryer that came with the house was a very crappy Norge, probably bought years later. I remember it had a painted drum that was peeling. When I first saw this picture, I recognized the machine immediately. It had a beautiful speckled dark blue porcelain tub and a black rubber agitator that had a detergent dispenser in the middle that looked like the basket on a coffee percolator. There was a looped piece of metal in the center that made it look like you would pull it out, but I couldn't budge it. I believe this is a "Unimatic"?:

 

[bajaespuma]

When we lived up there on a farm we had this machine that was in the house when we moved in. I believe it was a "Custom Imperial". It was paired with an ancient Hamilton dryer c. 194-something. I wish I had known back then that this was top-rated by CU, but it was a gorgeous machine. I remember the WASH temp selections were HOT, WARM & COOL, and the RINSE temp selections were WARM, COOL & COLD. I always thought that was smart. I'm kicking myself for not having had the forsight to somehow keep these machines. We had barns to put them in but of course my parents wouldn't allow it. Oh well, would'a, could'a, should'a.

 

[DADoES]

Both of the pictures you posted are Unimatics.

 

[lesto]

The 58 GE of Robert's in the cyber museum has a 60 tranny in it so the indexing and detergent dispensing action is not original to that machine. The 60 was the first model with a spin brake. In our old 59 GE the did not grab and lock during wash like the post 59's with the spin brake did and the activator began immediately with full stroke speed. The tub was held still by a plastic "pawl". Robert has a thorough explanation of the pre 60 GE trannys in an earlier thread when he was working on the 58 turquoise.