New for 1979...

[westytoploader]

The Kenmore Super Roto-Swirl agitator in white! David (brettsomers) gave me a heads-up on eBay about this, and since it was only $10 I bought it. Little did I know that it was not only vintage, it had never been used!

 

[westytoploader]

Check out the spline...free of grease!

 

[westytoploader]

No gunk on the underside either!

 

[westytoploader]

Of course I just HAD to try it out...

 

[westytoploader]

Detergent selected for this load...Lemon-scented Automat Fax! I forgot where this detergent originated from, or who brought this to Tucson (Steve toggle?)! It's very good, with a pleasant scent and low-sudsing.

 

[westytoploader]

Washing away on the maiden load of sheets!

 

[westytoploader]

Another wash shot!

 

[golittlesport]

sweet!

 

[bobofhollywood]

* Super

Super Roto-Swirl has always been a favorite of mine. It's neat to see the photo of it in un-used condition. Awesome.

Thanks for sharing and congratulations!

Bob

 

[frigilux]

Great, Austin! I, too, am a big fan of the Roto-/Super Roto-Swirl agitator. Thanks for the pics.

 

[volvoguy87]

Roto-Swirl vs. Super Roto-Swirl?

Not being as familiar with Kenmores as I would like, what is the difference between the Roto-Swirl and the Super Roto-Swirl? Also, what agitators were offered in the gold plastic that seems so familiar and when?
I should be posting more often, but I have been having entirely too much fun playing with my only vintage machine, my Maytag A208. It's not just a fun machine, it's also the only washer in my house now!

Enjoy the awesome agitator,
Dave

 

[gadgetgary]

Maytag A208

Dave,

Can you post pics?

I too am having fun playing with my new 'Vintage' Maytag A 108.
What is the difference?

GadgetSwitch

 

[~sudsshane]

Austin~

Did you use any Final Touch in the rinse cycle?? =)

 

[westytoploader]

Hi Shane,

Interesting you ask that...these past few weeks have been softener-free for me! It's definitely a hard habit to kick (especially when you see that bottle of Morning Sun Suavitel staring at you on the shelf), but the towels are more absorbent, the clothes smell detergent-fresh, and I know the machines like it better too!

 

[volvoguy87]

A208

I had posted pictures in another thread but it seems to have vanished off the bottom of the list. The A208 has a 2-speed motor with a gentile or regular wash speed, and perminant press. Its water selections are: Hot/Warm, Hot/Cold, Warm/Cold, and Cold/Cold. It is a regular capacity tub machine so the load selections are small, medium, and large. It also has the standard Maytag turquoise Powerfin agitator with a lint filter and a fabric softener dispenser (the former owners of my machine thought the cup on top of the agitator was for powdered detergent!). It also has a bleach dispensor which back-flushes and even overflows when the machine does its swirl-away drain.

I love my A208, but it is addictive, I need MORE! I also need a bigger house in which to install and use them!

Keep the info coming on the white Spuer-Roto-Swirl it is awesome,
Dave

 

[westytoploader]

Dave,

The Roto-Swirl agitator came in two varieties. The earlier "pregnant" version (which Greg sent me complete with original SD farm dirt, that I haven't cleaned up yet), and the Super Roto-Swirl. (When was the Super Roto-Swirl introduced? Experts help me out here...was it '63 or '64?)

Both the pregnant and early Super Roto-Swirls were black and used the hex drive. The color was changed to gold and the drive changed to the spline type sometime in the late-60's, and then the color changed again to white in the 70's.

As for other Kenmore agitators I've seen in gold, there was the straight-vane (which was the original agitator on the 24" in the pictures), the baseless Roto-Flex in 1965, and the Penta-Vane.

Any information anyone else has on Kenmore agitator history, or pictures, please share it here by all means!

 

[brettsomers]

Yay! $10 for a unused vintage agitator called "Roto-Swirl"... whats not to like?

 

[appnut]

WOW!!!

 

[jasonl]

AWESOME!!!

Now send me the gold cap for mine LOL!

 

[laundryshark]

Audio/Video Demos?

I would like to hear what that Kenmore sounds like. True, for most people, they probably sound the same, but with the different agitator and motor variants, at least the audio shots would be much appreciated. Same holds true for the above mentioned Maytag model. Many thanks!--Laundry Shark

 

[gansky1]

I love NIB agitators! How fun - and NO GUNK to spoil every load ;-)

 

[peterh770]

Super agitator. The flat blades pretty much keep the load from going around in a circle. Keep your wash times short, or your clothes won't last long!

 

[foraloysius]

That's one of my favourite agitators. Still have good memories of using a Kenmore commercial machine with that agitator some years ago. Great find!

 

[westytoploader]

Hi Peter, in this machine I mainly use the 10-minute wash time on the Regular cycle, although every once in a while I'll use Permanent Press. The maximum wash time on Regular is 14 minutes which may not be the gentlest on clothes, but still nothing compared to the "Heavy" cycle on the GE! I haven't been brave enough to try that (nor have I had any loads dirty enough to warrant using it), especially seeing as how the Normal cycle is longer than that on the others.

Last week I did a mixed load with a couple of pairs of jeans and some shirts. It was definitely a capacity load, but the Roto-Swirl did surprisingly well with good, steady rollover...better than I remember it ever doing in the Frankenmore. The smaller, narrower tub which it was designed for must have helped.

I like the RS, however, the real "brute" (as GyraSteve puts it) is the straight-vane. Talk about some action, no doubt *that* would cause premature wear at 14 minutes!

Austin

 

[toggleswitch]

Great find Austin! If its anything like the GE version, I'd have to say i'd love it!

Thanks for the shout-out.
Gotta see if I can find more Turkish FAX detergent....

Unless I meed it above..any chance of seeing a video of this puppy doing its thing?

 

[westytoploader]

Hi Steve,

I did take some footage earlier of the 24" washing with the straight-vane, which I seriously need to download & compile for YouTube. Right now my (severely undersized) hard drive is almost full with the past two Tucson projects, and even though I put them in ZIP files using maximum compression, that didn't help much. After I burn the ZIPs to DVDs for archiving (in case I want to dust them off and make a video DVD of both Tucson events), I'll start on the Kenmo' videos.

Austin

 

[westytoploader]

So the Fax is Turkish! I completely forgot where it came from and was too tired (after hauling several baskets of laundry) to go back down and check the box; all I remember is Rodney's comment about how whoever produced it probably made it for people beating their clothes on rocks or washboards, as it wasn't making any suds in the Blackstone. After which he added some Fresh Start...ha!

 

[toggleswitch]

I bought the front-load version, so I assume that is why no suds.

Next time I can do the hand-wash version and we can have suds-cakes galore!

 

[scott55405]

Austin, what vintage Sears machine is that that you're using here? Something looks/seems unfamiliar about the tub ring/opening that I can't place. Very nice agitator! I think you can still get it at Repair Clinic, but for a King's ransom.

 

[westytoploader]

Hi Scott,

It's the 24-incher from 1981. I agree that the tub ring is strange compared to the others; I'm not exactly sure why they designed it like that, at first I thought it had to do with the snubber, but it sits in the normal position (in this case, it's lower than the top lip on the tub ring). It may be to eliminate a gap between the tub ring and top that would be present with a normal "thin" ring.

Austin