Hotpoint History - Filling a gap in the 70s

[matchboxpaul]

How do David.

I stand corrected. You are quite right of couse - the 1509 and its top loaders variants were the top of the tine through the 1970's.

One of my mates parents had a purple one in the early 1980s which, when it gave up the ghost, was replaced by the 9600 variant - she liked them that much.

I am not going to even attempt to eassay write about the top loaders - that is your territory David, most of my knowledge having been gleened from your good self.

Suffice to say that they were great machines.

Being the only top loading machines I had contact with (apart from a Philips slimstar which I have the vaguest of memoris of) I certainly have a large respect for them - the 1504, 1509, 96700 and 9600.

Here is quite possibly the rarest Hotpoint top loader though. Sold alongside the early versions of the Liberators - possibly into 1974.

The Hotpoint 1508 Automatic.
Enjoy.
Paul

 

[superelectronic]

Mystery Model 1721

Finally - I have something useful to contribute! Paul mentions mystery machine 1721 above and I happen to be be in possession of the instuction booklet.

I can confirm it is a compact tumble dryer - the sister model to the 1730 my Mum had; they share instructions - with rear venting, solid purple circle on the door and a ribbed silver facia. I believe these may well have been called "Home and Dry" in later incarnations. The instruction book dates from March 1979 (the 1730 having been purchased in August '79 in light of my impending arrival). Much I as would love to share the marvellous illustrations (no photos in these books) which have spared the booklet from being chucked out previously, I can't get the scanner to work so can't give you a visual...colour photocopies available upon request if you're keen to see the full colour glory of a Liberator instruction booklet.

Mystery solved!

Al

 

[seamusuk]

OMG!

So the question is- has anyone ever seen a 1508??

Seamus

 

[liberator1509]

Paul (and others!) - thanks for the great pics!! The 1508 is a cool looking machine - basically a decapitated 1504! I wonder why they went for the front controls? Surely one of the advantages of the conventional top-loader design was the easily accessible panel - having them at waist-height doesn't make much ergonomic sense. The 1508 styling is like the American Whirlpool-Kenmore compacts, which Servis, I believe, imported to the UK for a while (or maybe the produced them under license). I remember as a kid seeing a Servis top-loader in a 'Shop Electric' shop when we were on holidays in the UK in about 1981 (who else did washer-shop tours on holidays as a kid?) - I don't think the machine ever made it to Ireland. It's a bit off topic, but does anyone have a pic of the Servis machine?

The Hotpoint 1508 didn't last long, so I doubt if many if any survive - a real shame...why is it that automatics from the 1960s in America seem to be found, yet UK models from the 70s are rarities - I knows its a much smaller place, and that we took to automatics much later, but you'd think a few more might be out there...

 

[matchboxpaul]

You have my attention Al!

Many thanks for clearing up the mystery 1721 machine. By the sound of it it was a Liberator development of the previous 1720 'home and dry' which used shades of brown and is shown below.

A sheet of solid purple on the door - weird to say, but i bet it looked great!

Can I be cheeky and take you up on your offer of a colour photocopy of the instruction manual, as I have never see the 1721 before. I will drop you an e-mail with my address details, if the offer still stands.

Another mystery solved and some more red squares off the spreadsheet!

Thanks Al.
Regards
Paul
p.s was the 1721 badged as 'home and dry' or 'home n' dry'. I did hear/read of a model being called the latter with the n' lark going on!

p.p.s the 1720 is shown below

 

[matchboxpaul]

and here is the 1730 Liberator Dryer E.

(I think this was either Mark or Mike's photo - hope it was OK posting it again)

 

[matchboxpaul]

Hi David

You mention the servis toploader, with the controls on the front in a similar style to the Hotpoint 1508.

The machine concerned was the Servis 311 Toploader.

Like the 1508, the 311 is a slightly strange looking bit of kit.

1981 would be about right, as the machine was on sale alongside the servis 600 quartz, hotpoint 18780 microtronic and Hotpoint 18361 Super Electronic.

Enjoy.
Paul

 

[liberator1509]

Hey Paul

Thanks for the pic - great looking machine - though the concept of a top loader under a counter is very strange indeed. I love the idea that "extra items can be added during the wash sequence" for an under work surface TL - were you supposed to leave the machine out while it operated? Doesn't appear to have handles to pull it out either! How long was it in production for I wonder?

Maybe some of our US friends can confirm the Kenmore/Whirlpool origins?

 

[hotsupermatic]

More info on Hotpoint 1600

Hi Guys,

The 1600 was exstremly advanced for its time. It had reverse
tumble, controlled by a brush motor and electronic module.
The tub was susspended on four shock absorbers of which two
of them had micro swithes mounted for out of balance check.
The machine would distibute then ramp into 1100 revs very quickly, if the load was out of balance it would trigger the micro swithches and then redisribute,(similar to the early 1800 series microtronic machines). Sometimes this machine would rock and roll all over the place before it achieved a smooth spin. The 1600 was also very noisy many complaints about having to leave the room while spinning. It also had terible reliabilty probs, used to go through modules and timers like crazy.

In the early 70's Hotpoint had a huge fire, at this time English Electric was under the same roof. This was at the time of the English Elecric Reversomatics. Many spares were lost which ended in the short life of the 1600's, Reversomatics, and English electric Liberators.

During this time many concesional exchanges took place because Hotpont could no longer supply parts for these machines.

During this time all Hotpoint front loaders were made in Italy
under license by Zanussi these were models 1823 & 1826 these were very reliable machines but only had a slow spin 500 revs.

Shortly after this Hotpoint started producing front loaders again 1850's onwards and 1700 dryer to match, incidentaly the 1823 & 1826 were the start of the purple colour coding.

Hope this answers a lot of you questions and you find it interesting,

Jamie.

http://hotsupermatic (Surrey UK)

 

[robm]

Jamie

Firstly a very warm welcome to the website! What you have written is brilliant! It's a whole period that I knew very little about but remembered vaguely through childhood. It certainely explains the 500 spin models which I remember so well.

Unfortunately, I can't open the link at work. Did you ever see one of these in action?

All the best

Rob

 

[seamusuk]

That makes sense..

Hi Jamie

Id read somewhere about the fire but it didnt register that it would have affected spares supply. Presumably Hotpoint didnt make any spares for the 1600 and EE machines after and so as you say were forced to exchange them for 18 series machines. This would explain why nobody has a 1600 or Reversomatic in their collection (well not that im aware of)- does anyone have a English Electric Liberator washer???

Seamus

 

[liberator1509]

At least one 45 year old English Electric Liberator survives

This a great story - I wonder how much longer this machine will last?

Thanks to Jamie for confirming the detail about the fire at Hotpoint - I knew I'd heard about that before, and the new info about the 1600 is really great too. Even if the fire hadn't occured, the Morphy Richards and English Electric laundry brands would have been dropped - Lord Weinstock's guiding principle for GEC was rationalisation, so product duplication had to be cut. It's a shame Hotpoint didn't keep the Liberator term alive for longer though.

I read somewhere that at some stage before the GEC merge, AEI and English Electric had an agreement where AEI built washers for both, and EE built cooking appliances - from the mid 60s- is anyone out there able to confirm that story?

As a modern twist - I wonder what's happening with GE appliances in the US - will Indesit make a move? If they did, Hotpoint would become a global brand!

My 45 year old washer is just soap-er!

YOU’VE read about the 55-year-old fridge in your ECHO.

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

 

[keymatic]

Hi Seamus, I have have an English Electric washer and dryer stacked on top of one another, the first pair that came out (Select-a-fabric) mid 50's. The washer is one of the first no-bolt washers that hit the market back then.
Cheers
Keith

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hotpoint

Hi Jamie, welcome, great information, interesting about how it came to be, have you ever worked on this machine?? when you say suspended from four shock absorbers, were the shock absorbers attached to the top of the machine frame?? or where they underneath like an asko etc?? it would explain a lot of the thrashing about stories it it was suspended from the top etc...

Paul, that Servis 311 is something else isnt it!! I wonder how many where sold etc?? and how many people bought this who might have had the previous Servis toploaders!!

Keith, dont tease us we need pics, pics, pics!! do they both work?? are they fully restored & how did you come to get them??

My great aunt & uncle had the English Electric reversomatic set, big doors, they where in an outhouse and where raised on a brick n concrete slab, I remember seeing them on a visit with my gran when I was 8 and was mesmerised by them, as my gran had the Hotpoint Empress & mum the Servis twinny you could imagine why!!!