beekeyknee
Well-known member
Summer of 2014 I expressed an interest in acquiring a mangle ironer (see link). That was on 6/18/14. To my surprise on 6/20 I got a personal message through AW message center. The little grey message box had turned to pink and there was "1 msg"
It was John (oldskool) McWhorter from Kansas City. He said he had an Ironrite in storage and if would take care of it I could have it. I told him that I would certainly take care of it. I wasn't going to post anything about it until I had a room to put it for use. Well, it's taking longer to get that darn room cleaned out than I expected, but I'm working on it.
I decided to go ahead and start a thread on the story as it's taking too long to get everything done and I didn't want to forget the story. I can add to it as it goes. I remember it was mid September, shortly after Labor Day, because I was at my Mom's house fixing the dryer that matched her washer that I had restored two or three years before that. The dryer wouldn't heat. Drew and Mark chimed in and said it needed a new cycling thermostat. That's why the timer wouldn't advance in the Auto Dry mode. The thread # is 56059.
So I called John and told him what was going on. We had discussed meeting since I was going to be at my Mom's house. That would put me much closer to KC. He told me I could get the parts for my Mom's dryer at Marcone, so we arranged a day, time and place to meet. We met south of the Sports Complex in Raytown (a KC neighborhood) and he led me to his storage facility where he has a stash of goodies. Among them was a nice little Ironrite 95 in need of a little TLC. We loaded it up and started to leave. On the way out John stopped and asked if I wanted to go get something to eat. I said sure and we went across the road at Denny's.
We started talking and had a big old time. Being both Missourians we had quite a bit to talk about. John ordered a milkshake and the waitress brought the can off the mixer and set it on the table. We both looked at it then looked at each other kind of puzzled. He said he didn't think he'd seen that before. I said I didn't think I had either. We both laughed and I said she probably had extra and didn't want it to go to waste.
Here's some pictures of the restoration. I should have taken more while fashioning the new drum cover. That was quite and experience. Me and the Singer and some aggravation. I used a light weight canvas instead of muslin. It holds up better and won't scorch, or not as easily.
1: Getting ready for kerosene wash (yes, this got kerosene too).
2: Some pieces. The gear box cover lid is setting in the black plastic tray. In that is a heavy cardboard type material that's kind of
waxy. It covers the gears and keeps them from slinging the oil.
3: Gear box.
4: I hope nothing ever goes wrong with this.
5: The bottom of the gear box appears to be covered with a red rubberized or oil proof paint.
6: Closer pics of gears for gear heads.
7: Metal shavings from the kerosene wash. There wasn't much oil left in the bottom of that box and it was very dirty.
8: Chopped away a milk carton to catch the kerosene.
9: Drain hole for gear box.
10: Factory Label.
11: Rods that operate drum. Lower and turn and pause drum on shoe.
12: Electric connections on switch.
13: Drum with a name, maybe, and #96?
14: Controls with shoe covers off.
15: Gear box still draining.
16: Chain for driving drum.
17: Various states of repair.
18: Forgot the name of this piece. The part you lay the fabric on before it goes in the machine.
19: Shoe covers.
20: Yuck in shoe cover.
21: Gratuitous pic.
22: Ditto
23: Finished cabinet.
24: Back
25: Front angled view.
26: Open
27: Ditto
28: Close up of finished drum cover.
30: Underneath
[this post was last edited: 11/18/2015-06:53]
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?54066
It was John (oldskool) McWhorter from Kansas City. He said he had an Ironrite in storage and if would take care of it I could have it. I told him that I would certainly take care of it. I wasn't going to post anything about it until I had a room to put it for use. Well, it's taking longer to get that darn room cleaned out than I expected, but I'm working on it.
I decided to go ahead and start a thread on the story as it's taking too long to get everything done and I didn't want to forget the story. I can add to it as it goes. I remember it was mid September, shortly after Labor Day, because I was at my Mom's house fixing the dryer that matched her washer that I had restored two or three years before that. The dryer wouldn't heat. Drew and Mark chimed in and said it needed a new cycling thermostat. That's why the timer wouldn't advance in the Auto Dry mode. The thread # is 56059.
So I called John and told him what was going on. We had discussed meeting since I was going to be at my Mom's house. That would put me much closer to KC. He told me I could get the parts for my Mom's dryer at Marcone, so we arranged a day, time and place to meet. We met south of the Sports Complex in Raytown (a KC neighborhood) and he led me to his storage facility where he has a stash of goodies. Among them was a nice little Ironrite 95 in need of a little TLC. We loaded it up and started to leave. On the way out John stopped and asked if I wanted to go get something to eat. I said sure and we went across the road at Denny's.
We started talking and had a big old time. Being both Missourians we had quite a bit to talk about. John ordered a milkshake and the waitress brought the can off the mixer and set it on the table. We both looked at it then looked at each other kind of puzzled. He said he didn't think he'd seen that before. I said I didn't think I had either. We both laughed and I said she probably had extra and didn't want it to go to waste.
Here's some pictures of the restoration. I should have taken more while fashioning the new drum cover. That was quite and experience. Me and the Singer and some aggravation. I used a light weight canvas instead of muslin. It holds up better and won't scorch, or not as easily.
1: Getting ready for kerosene wash (yes, this got kerosene too).
2: Some pieces. The gear box cover lid is setting in the black plastic tray. In that is a heavy cardboard type material that's kind of
waxy. It covers the gears and keeps them from slinging the oil.
3: Gear box.
4: I hope nothing ever goes wrong with this.
5: The bottom of the gear box appears to be covered with a red rubberized or oil proof paint.
6: Closer pics of gears for gear heads.
7: Metal shavings from the kerosene wash. There wasn't much oil left in the bottom of that box and it was very dirty.
8: Chopped away a milk carton to catch the kerosene.
9: Drain hole for gear box.
10: Factory Label.
11: Rods that operate drum. Lower and turn and pause drum on shoe.
12: Electric connections on switch.
13: Drum with a name, maybe, and #96?
14: Controls with shoe covers off.
15: Gear box still draining.
16: Chain for driving drum.
17: Various states of repair.
18: Forgot the name of this piece. The part you lay the fabric on before it goes in the machine.
19: Shoe covers.
20: Yuck in shoe cover.
21: Gratuitous pic.
22: Ditto
23: Finished cabinet.
24: Back
25: Front angled view.
26: Open
27: Ditto
28: Close up of finished drum cover.
30: Underneath
[this post was last edited: 11/18/2015-06:53]
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?54066
