I found some Royalty in 'The Pile'...

[tomturbomatic]

Good to see you here again Drew. Healing takes time. As the Beatles said, "Whatever gets you though the night."

The original Stop & Dry Norges were roller driven and the lever to stop the tumbling just raised the drum off the drive roller. It had a rectangular spring-loaded bar or rack. If you positioned the drum so that two vanes were at the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions, the rack could be squeezed to make it shorter and placed between the two vanes and allowed to return to its original length where it would stay. Things could be hung from the rack to dry. If two vanes were at the 4 and 8 position the rack would sit on them and things could be placed on the rack to dry. I notice the huge fan behind the drum. Norge used to talk about the 21" diameter fan being the largest in the industry, which it was, but it was not as efficient as a squirrel-cage blower so a smaller squirrel-cage blower could move as much air.

If the large coil is only broken in one place, you can stretch it, make a loop at either end and use a nut and bolt to join the two sections. It's not ideal, but it would work for a while. The Her Majesty had a type of soft heat called Velvet Heat. It ran on high heat (both elements or high gas input) until a set temp was reached. After that, it ran on the lower heat input. It was not as fast as Soft Heat. I think Wards dryers had auto dry before Norge offered the feature on their machines.

I loved the power-washing a metal barn simile.

 

[dnastrau]

Hotpoint

Glad to see you back posting again!  I always enjoy your posts and look forward to seeing what buried treasure you have found.

 

That Hotpoint washer looks to be the same machine that my parents had from 1984 until 2009 or so.  It was simple but a real workhorse.  In all of those years all it ever needed was a belt and a new pump.

 

[pulltostart]

Drew

Welcome back and happy new year! Good to see your input again - I'm always up to read dog stories and look at dog pictures.

lawrence

BTW, I love how the timer ring glows with the night light.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Hi Drew, welcome home! Nice to see you.

That MW/Frigidaire dishwasher is very cool, very similar to the one that I got from Don. That one looks top of the line though and maybe a year or two later and just as avocado lol. I hope someone saves that, at least for a bit just to play with it.

 

[yogitunes]

Welcome back Drew....its a rough road we all cross at one time or another......AWO would not be the same without you!

what a unique set of appliances....always good to learn something new and discover things we have never seen before...

 

[gansky1]

That's a beautiful watch!

What an interesting day you had.  

 

I had a MW Her Majesty washer that matched this dryer, a truly beautiful machine too.  3 speeds, a dozen selector buttons and lights for all of it.  It was a 1969 model and looked to be the first of the white burp-up-filter agitators, moving away from the pump recirculating style Norge had been using since 64.  Mechanically, the washer was toast but I did save the panel.

 

[philr]

Hi Andrew, the MW dishwasher looks a lot like my 1969 Frigidaire.

 

 

[swestoyz]

Hey Drew! Glad to see you posting again! Hopefully someone wants to play with the Wards/Frigidaire DW, and there's nothing like the glow from a control panel labeled as, "Her Majesty". LOL

Ben

 

[dnastrau]

PhilR's '69 Frigidaire DW

Wow PhilR - that looks exactly like the '67-'68 Custom Imperial DW that my aunt and uncle had in their kitchen until about 1980 or so.  They replaced it with another GM Frigidaire (lesser model) that a contractor friend gave them (looked nearly new but probably mid '70s) that ran until 1990 when they replaced it with a new KitchenAid Superba.

 

Andrew S.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Very good to see you "get on that bike" and post again my friend!

 

Very neat to see inside that Norge/MW dryer, that fan sure is something!   I also like the clean lines and buttons on the DW.   Unfortunately not interested in either (SURPRISE!  LOL) as I have no room.

 

It will take time Andy as "time heals all wounds" as they say.   Great to see you are making those baby steps.

 

All the best to you!

Kevin

 

[rp2813]

Andy,

Add me to the long list of those who are happy to see a post from you again!  I was just about to write and ask how you're doing, but I won't burden you with the need to reply to yet another message.  I'm glad you received all of those well-wishes.

 

As you know, when I was a kid we had the '67 Snorge matched pair, but they were not "Her Majesty" machines.  The dryer had the Stop-N-Dry feature but we never used it.  Lint filter at the bottom.  A LOUD end of cycle buzzer, but when I discovered it was adjustable via a screw on the back of the console, I toned it down.

 

It looks like the "Her Majesty" machines got an upgrade with a full-width lens for the console light.  The lights on Mom's machines were about 8" wide.

 

Can't say I'd wish either machine on anybody.  In later years, the gas dryer started making it smell like a smog alert -- inside the house.  It couldn't have been healthy for my mom, who eventually developed respiratory issues.

 

As for the dishwasher, you and I know perfectly well that if Nate were still local, we'd be driving up to pay you a visit and fetch that machine.

 

[mickeyd]

Love the bike metaphor.

And remember old friend, you never forget how to ride a bike. Hope you have a safe ride today and every day, and soon you'll be doing bike tricks again over those wonderful piles that rank among Automatic Washer's finest.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Well there you go Mister Andy...

How's that for positive energy and karma? With such an awesome list of folks who love your pile finds, and such cool appliances to post about, everyone wanted to comment first on your return to posting. It should tell you that we all love you Andy!!

I am glad you found these, and REALLY GLAD you enjoyed playing with the dryer. I think that's the tonic you needed. May the pile soon cough up even more dandy items.

In the meantime, two alumni from the pile will be quite busy this weekend as I didn't wash much laundry last weekend, and the wicked cold snap of this week had Duke energy running radio ads asking us all to conserve power and not run our major appliances if we could avoid it. I don't recall them ever doing that in the winter before. So, two pile finds from 2010 will be busy washing tomorrow. Its supposed to be a rainy day, so perfect for staying in and playing with washers.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that these machines find adoptive homes so they too can be alumni of the pile!

Gordon

 

[goatfarmer]

<blockquote>
Now I gotta wonder how the pair together looked all lit up. Anyone have the matching washer?

 

</blockquote>
I have the console from the Her Majesty washer, if you find a vintage Wardge you feel the need to convert. It was the only thing worth saving on this particular machine.

<blockquote>
 

 

</blockquote>

 

[laundromat]

As far as "top of the line" goes,this wasn't it. Norge made the "Touch & Wash washer AND matching "Touch &Dry" dryer for the "Monkey Wards" line up.They had all space age componants and the washer was a true three speed model.

 

[roto204]

Oh, that dishwasher!

*thud*

 

[roto204]

washarm with a little mini arm at one end. Did this help?

Nah, not really, any more than they do nowadays. I had the original all-Bakelite arm from the little '69 Deluxe you found us, and the Imperial arm with the twirlie, and the washing was equivalent. But if you had your choice and it didn't hurt, wouldn't you want the mini arm, too?

This wash tower was what the '69 Deluxe came with, and kicked much more butt than the tall but single-slit tower that rode on the rack with the Imperial. This one had directed jets plus a jet to wash the silverware basket, and it worked. The only bummer was losing a contiguous section of rack at the back; the rack with the fixed/bearing-mounted tower made for much more flexible loading.

I love the concentric rings in the top rack that shoo dishes away, so that the stream shooting straight up from the tower could hit the spinning constant-rinse disc on the top of the machine.

Considering how amazingly well the Deluxe cleaned with its basic punch-to-start-and-stand-back cycle, I'd bet the Custom Imperial/Wards Signature here would be stunning, especially with the 150-degree wash option.

Sound-insulated? So, like power-washing a wooden shed instead? ;-)

I think quiet operation is overrated if the sound is satisfying, like a maelstrom of kick-butt unfolding within.

 

[philr]

On the Custom Imperials, only the top and left side of the dishwasher are insulated.

The constant-rinse disc in my 1969 Custom Imperial is tired, It's loose and doesn't spin much because of the wear. The wash tower isn't fixed to the spray arm but to the lower rack but it's the one with the ball on top. It works fairly well but you have to be careful that it sits on the center of the bellow when you start the dishwasher as otherwise, it probably won't turn. 

 

 

 

 

[frigilux]

That's quite a find, Drew! Thanks for sharing all the great photos. I'd have to agree that the FrigiWards dishwasher is a low-mileage unit. They were great candidates for rust-outs. I've always thought that upper rack was odd, and wondered about the purpose of the tower of rings.

Oh--and someone should be in charge of reviving Nate!


As someone who covets The Silence Of The Dishwasher in his kitchen, these all-too-true comments elicited big chuckles from me:

For The Win ...like power-washing a metal barn
Runner-up ...like power-washing a wooden shed

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

What ever happened to that Avocado Green Mont. Ward washer someone found? Maybe that woud make a good match for this dryer...!

-- Dave