New to me...1959 GE Princess!

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cadman

cadman

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I've never been much on dishwashers, but I think I'm finally coming around : )

Thanks to Don for the offer, Mark for the transport, and Ben for the holding, this '59 GE has been given the spa treatment and successfully completed it's 'maiden' wash this evening. For those with 1.5 minutes to spare, I've posted a condensed video to youtube from start to finish (forgive me for any foibles, it's my first diswasher AND first youtube upload).

On the interior, the Plastisol was in excellent shape and needed only a light scrub. Since I'm not building this in at the moment, I added casters, a supply hookup and fresh wiring from the rollout unit to the frame. New clamps, grease and adjustments took care of the rest. Ben came through with a new seal which brought the Dole valve back to life and with a Radarange as ballast to counteract the cantilevered 'drawer', we were in business.

Ultimately, I'll build a formica countertop for it (if I can find a decent pattern), but the long term goal is to use this as the occasional 'daily driver'. Enjoy! -C



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congratulations to the wonderful world of automatic dishwashing.  I cannot imagine, even thought it's just me, being without a dishwasher.  Very NICE vintage dishware in that load!!!  I've never seen one of these with a turquoise "grill" on the front.  all I've ever seen were white, except for a 1961 that was black. 
 
Glad to see that everything is working well! I knew that the timer, motor and heater worked and that she didn't leak. Glad you rehabbed the water valve and drain hose.

 

Enjoy years of better living with your new GE hygienic dishwasher!
 
And in Pink too.

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I am [COLOR=#ff99cc; font-size: 18pt]PINK [/COLOR]with envy.  What a beautiful machine!!  I would love to find one of those.  We had a neighbor growing up with one and she never used it because her husband was too cheap and thought it would use too much electricity!</span>
 
Aferim!

Congratulations! Like Bob, I'm impressed with that beautiful blue plastic grille which, up to now, I've only seen in pictures from ads that were color-retouched so I wasn't sure they were in fact blue.

Are you sure this is a '59 model? As Tom pointed out, that bottom rack is the first one they made and the grille and the control dial look like they belong to 1957.

Most significantly, and I'd love it if you could post some detailed pictures of it, is the silverware basket which was plastisol coated wire on top, and a plastic base connected by a couple of metal clips. I've only seen it in maintenance manuals. Some pictures of the rating plate would give us an answer.

Thank you for posting this and welcome to the happy coven of Princesses.
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of GE Impeller-wash, Cory!!   It's a great machine, but I also think this may be a '57 model.  Either way, great save!!
 
Congrats!  I'm glad the new valve parts brought the old Dole valve to life!

 

Looking at the model and serial number, I do believe this is a 1957 model (I can see why though it was thought to be '59):

 

Model: 1SU60P

Serial: OP5-03206

 

According to the GE secret decoder ring, this translates to being made in February of 1957!  Pink for Valentines Day!  Now it makes sense why the water valve had a date code of 57.  :)

 

Ben
 
Thanks Guys! I think you're spot on about the year. When I pulled apart the valve I mentioned to Ben a date code of '57 and thought perhaps it was snagged from another machine.

The plastic is interesting...closer to a sherwood green than turquoise, and almost garish against the pink (and a real dirt catcher..lots of q-tips needed for this one).

One thing this machine is crying out for is a lighted dial. Paul, did I see that yours is entirely white? Or am I imagining things? -C
 
No, the dial on my '59 is white, Cory.   I think it should be lighted, too and if I was to ever get my Princess into production, I swear I'll add a teeny neon pilot light!
 
All the Princesses I ever saw growing up had all white dials.  And obviously, all the 1961 and 1962 GE Kitchens in my subdivision had a Princess. 
 
No joke, this baby is loud! Not that that's a bad thing : )

Ken, here's a couple pics of the basket. I'm surprised GE made the bottom of it entirely out of plastic.

And why the heck did they abandon the color dial??

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Oh, wow!  Proof positive that it's an early one!  The '59 has the all-metal (but coated) cutlery basket. 
 
It is very easy to glue sound deadening insulation to the tub and tub cover of this machine. I did it to my WH rollout and it not only muffled the noise, but also served as thermal insulation. I also insulated the inside of the cabinet to muffle the motor noise.
 
That's a fun addition to your stable of beautiful appliances!

 

I had a bowtie impeller Mobile Maid and for general daily dishes, it did a fine job.  Anything more challenging, baked on food, etc., needed some cycle alteration and dial-pushing but it could still get a load squeaky clean.  

There's nothing like that hot Plastisol smell when you open it after a cycle.  Enjoy!

 
 
Is it just me or is it true that the openings in that singular turquoise plastic grille follow no pattern whatsoever?

As usual, I'm fascinated by whatever GE oddities spring up and I've never seen this grille except in illustrations in brochures and manuals. A couple of close-ups shots would be appreciated. Also, it seems that this grille is held in place by a chrome-steel frame that is one solid piece. Later iterations had side pieces that detached from the main frame and made removal from the cabinet fairly easy. I assume this frame is held in place by a couple of screws?

Also, is there a diagram anywhere on the grille, frame or handle for the operation of the knob, as in "OPEN---------------CLOSED----------------ON"?

The colors on this illustration, for some reason, are completely off.

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Ken, I think there is a pattern to the grill.  Each row is offset from the rows top or bottom to it and kind of avant guard. 
 
Ken, here's a closeup of the grille. It's secured by two allen-type screws, one on each end. You can just make out a portion of the LH one in the pic.

And no, there's no markings for the lock lever. In fact, I had no idea there was a center position until I read that manual (you must apply downward pressure while sliding to lock in the center which I hadn't tried).

PS, I just ran a load through it with lots of 2 day old, "you better soak 'em" type dishes and the results were remarkable. Not a single dirty dish or pan. -C

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Cory congratulations.  Wish you'd taken pics of the 2-day accumulated dish load.  It's too bad GE's TOL impeller dishwasher didn't have a thermostatic hold on its red-buttoned cycle.  It probably would have been rated the best dishwasher for cleaning ability with a time-delayed power soak.   
 
I'm familar with your beautiful DW, my aunt had one. They only came to FL in the winter and I "took care" of their house in the summer. I would camp out for days there and use all the GE toys; push buttom built in hob with the buttom built into the hood/intercom. The beautiful combo fridge which had a freezer light and of course the built in oven all in that lovely choclate brown color; woodtone(?).
BUT the reason for this post is, I suddenly remembered my Coral Gables aunt had the DW with the control wheel in the middle of the door (horizontal) any guesses as to it's birthday? (it was sunny yellow)
 
Thank you Cory.

I guess one has to have exactly they right tool to remove the grille from the unit or you end up with bunches of turquoise broken pieces (which I've seen lots of).By 1959 the grilles had "winds" on the side and special vent holes that were larger to facilitate easier removal. There were also control knob diagrams embossed into both the plastic and the chrome steel handle. Somebody must have complained.

The grille seems to be random in vent placement and size which means it was constructed the same way I constructed the illustration by placing those little hourglass-shaped struts at intervals; probably done with a clay model that was then set on a mold. Randomness in industry is unusual and kind of cool.

I always thought the Pull-Outs with the Power Shower were superior cleaners. CU, of course, did not. Neither must have my Mother who hand washed every dish before loading it. It only occurred to me recently that we wouldn't have had a dishwashing machine (or rolls of paper towels and a Scott Towel holder, for that matter) if it hadn't been for my Father. I think DW manufacturers did a good job of selling the sanitizing feature of these machines to Doctors in the late Fifties. And my Mother, bless her heart, did a good job of thwarting every effort Dad made to keep the kitchen germ-free. But, boy, those dishes came out of that SU-70 steaming hot and now I know why.

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I have one ...

in turquoise, the lite blue interior, and white racks...its been in the garage forever tho, i been so busy....our kitchen in Potomac was sunshine yellow with one of these, but it was installed improperly, and the tub would not roll back completely on the left side, so it leaked onto the motor, and it died in 66.. :(
 
I have one ...

in turquoise, the lite blue interior, and white racks...its been in the garage forever tho, i been so busy....our kitchen in Potomac was sunshine yellow with one of these, but it was installed improperly, and the tub would not roll back completely on the left side, so it leaked onto the motor, and it died in 66.. :(
 

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