Another thing that should be noted is that this model was not the high speed Duomatic with the blower. If it were, the door on top would be larger to grant access to the dryer lint screen. Without the blower, the drying was much slower and used a lot more water because like the Speed Queen and others, the cold water was sprayed on a condensing plate behind the drum but the drying air was not forced against the plate.
The AVCO corporation invented the combination washer-dryer, but it also killed it by tying up patent rights for the suspended mechanism (the shock absorbers and springs) for the combination appliance. They also tied up what might be called the intellectual property rights for the combination so anyone making one had to pay like a royalty to AVCO for each machine produced. So that's why no other combo could have the water extraction of the Bendix or later the Philco until the Whirlpool engineers devised the ballast tanks for balancing the load before allowing it to go into the high speed spin. Of course, this resulted in a machine with 1600 parts or as many parts as a VW Beetle according to John's oldest brother Jerry.
When AVCO sold Bendix, Whirlpool should have bought Bendix to get the only perfected combination with patent-protected design. With the sales of Whirlpool laundry products to Sears, we could still be having combinations that were a practical size and efficient to operate. Philco appliances never had huge national distribution. Their advertising campaigns touting the high speed extraction appeared in women's magazines where the concept was as well absorbed as pouring water on a rock. It was sad and then Ford, which bought the Philco appliance line spent a lot of money downsizing the Duomatic. They could still work, but the real performers were the Duomatics with the blower so that meant either the High Speed No-vent electric or the vented gas or electric machines. We had one of the High Speed no-vent machines and it dried fast unless the load was heavy and then it took some time to condense the steam. I have never seen a vented Duomatic. My 36" Duomatic dried pretty fast because it had a huge condensation tower with cold water running down the sides like those cooling towers for electrical power generating plants and a fan to circulate the air.
