Hotpoint Combos

[tomturbomatic]

I don't know if anyone noticed, but in the first two pages of Robert's posting, the yellow background and then the control panel on the blue background, the capitalized words "Home Laundry" were used. Anyone who has looked at anything about the first Bendix washers knows that they were called the Automatic Home Laundry to distinguish them from wringer and spinner washing machines. The term did not catch on, but it was a trademark and it looks like somebody was really trying to give major attitude to Bendix/Philco Bendix. As for the suspension system, maybe Hotpoint figured that since AVCO (Aviation Company) held the patents and had sold off Bendix appliances, there would not be trouble. Or maybe they thought that they had worked out a deal with AVCO that fell through when AVCO sold Bendix. Bendix dealers had nothing good to say about how as soon as Philco got their hands on the Duomatic, they had to make it smaller. Something happened, but it shows how much harm Bendix did by tying up those patents on the suspended mechanism. And it's really unfair when you consider that Westinghouse had a suspension system in their automatic washer before Bendix did. The Hotpoint could have been the best combo next to the Bendix and could have helped save the reputation of combos, but then if Hotpoint could have continued with their design, others would have been able to also and combos could have been the future of laundry, just like the executives of Easy predicted. Easy was originally owned by the Murray Corporation and then by the Hupp Corporation.

Laundress: Many of the electric combos offered water heating and even a few gas models. Bendix offered the Magic Heater on the first Duomatic. It was automatic if you selected Hot wash water temperature. Only the first GE combo had a big button labeled Water Heater that when pushed heated the wash water. Maytag electric combos had a provision to heat the wash water. Don't know about the gas ones. Early RCA Whirlpool & Kenmore TOL models offered water heating in both gas and electric models; the electric by immersion elements in the sump and the gas by running the burner & blower with the air damper partly closed. I don't remember Easy offering water heating, nor Westinghouse, nor Norge. But any combo would make the wash fill hotter for a load that immediately followed a complete drying cycle because of the heat that remained in all of the heavy tubs, etc.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Demise of Westinghouse & Maytag combos

In the mid 60s, at the time Westinghouse redesigned the Space Mates and they had the recessed, side-swing door, there was a sales display that went next to them saying, among other things, that the two machines could wash and dry "12 pound loads" (nudge, nudge, wink)at the same time. The second load could be washing while the first one was drying. No waiting around until one machine finished washing and drying a load before starting the second load. Granted their combos were slow and prone to service problems, but this sounds like eating your own children. Westinghouse offered all of the service men at the Georgia Power Company a free Westinghouse combo if they would just keep it running and I was told by one of the service men that all of them turned it down.

I saw one of my friends in the major appliance department at our shopping center's Rich's selling a couple a GE combo one day. The next time I was in there, I asked him if they bought it. He started expostulating that they had bought it and already returned it and he would never sell another one. I asked him what was wrong. He said the complaint was that it took for ever to complete the cycle and that the lady said she could wring water out of the clothes after the spin. It was all true.

Maytag finally offered every combo owner a top of the line washer and dryer in exchange for the combo.

 

[peterh770]

I believe that when Easy was sold by Murray to Hupp is when they started rebadging Hotpoint machines as Easy. The Easy/Murray repair manual I have is very different from the Easy/Hupp reapir manual. When you compare the Easy/Hupp manual to the Hotpoint Repair Master, they are nearly identical.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Newer Hotpoint Combos

In the city of Columbia, MD, one of those planned communities, there is a high rise apartment house built on Lake Anne. It originally had Hotpoint electric kitchens with a rebadged GE undercounter combo so that everything could have the Hotpoint name. The combos are probably dead, and the building has probably gone condo. Columbia was a nice place for a while, then they had to let the poorer people live there and the crime rate soared. When they first planned it, they forgot to include crime, then they changed the plans to include crime, so now the planned town even has planned crime.

 

[mrcleanjeans]

HOTpoint was obviously a HOT POINT for Bendix

I would LOVE one of these,whatta beauty.I agree there was no
fire hazard except the dragons over at Philco-Bendix potentially breathing their threats.PITY.The Bendix combos were by far the best,my fave in fact,and yes,it seems like this Hotpoint wasn't too far behind,a close 2nd perhaps.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Jeff came by the house yesterday and I was telling him about the Hotpoint combo discussion. I looked it up in the 1960 version of the NARDA Blue Book for 1960. The Hotpoint LY1 was introduced in 1957 and sold for $530.