Norge Combo for sale on ebay

[coolairguy]

I know the workings of those machines and could take it apart and put it together with my eyes closed because my father was in the Norge Laundry and cleaning Village business for many years and the Coin Op drycleaning machine was based on that combo. My question is I know they made a gas version of it> Does anyone know where the gas burner was located?

 

[peteski50]

Norge Dry Cleaning Village!

We had one near us in Westchester County opened in 1962. It didnt catch on real big so in 1964 new owners took over and they they made it a regular dry cleaners and it was no longer self service.
The new owners also installed 6 frigidaire washers with the 18 minute wash cycle.
I used to like hanging out their. And my family became friendly with the owners.
So it played a big part in my life.
I remember the norge cleaning machines had a cleaning cycle that lasted 15 to 20 minutes and would go into a spin like a regular FL machine. Than it would do the dry phase for about 50 minutes. I could see the simularity to this combo!
Peter

 

[Jsneaker]

OMG

I would never expect the Norge Combo to wash & dry 18 BATH towels, especially not today's HUGE ones! My machine is 4.5 CuFt and cannot handle that! I don't wash more than 6 pair of jeans at once either!

All old Norge front-load machines did a spray-tumble wash/dryclean from a whistle-shaped tube on the inside of the door opening. The gas burner on the machine was at the top-our friend had a '56 Norge gas dryer.

"Launderess(Laundress), the word is "furor"! LOL

Speed Queen Combos were like Easy's, NOT Hotpoint, which was a re-badged GE. I never saw any of those, but had seen someone's literature.

The old Norge dryers did have a great big drum for "drop" efficiency, and dried very quickly because of the high-output fan. The later 50's ones also had "Stop-n-Dry" to use the rack you could fit into the drum without tumble! They also had hair-dryer attachments that covered the door-opening!

There was a "Norge self-service" drycleaner in Deer Park years ago, next-town-over from mine. There was a self-serve Whirlpool Poly Clean Drycleaner in Brightwaters. I also used one at a center in Long Beach MANY years ago!

 

[combo52]

SPEED QUEEN COMBS

Were not at all related to Easys, I have one of both. The SQC was a redesigned version of the very short lived HP combo. Later HP combos were exactly the same as GEs combos.

 

[gansky1]

John is correct, the Hotpoint designed combo was nothing like the GE combo. While reading the manuals a couple of years ago when John and Smitty were here for New Years, we marveled at how almost identical engineering was used from the early Hotpoint in the Speed Queen combo. All the literature I have for the Hotpoint machine puts it around 1957 but we've yet to see one or anyone who has. The service literature proves it must have been built - pictures - but still...

I have all this service and some sales lit, including Easy that was a breed all it's own... I need to do some scanning!

 

[peteski50]

Scanning!

Please Greg scan when you can.
Thanks,
Peter

 

[tomturbomatic]

Years ago, a member posted that his father was affiliated with Hotpoint and all of the combos sold in the first year of production were recalled because of a "fire hazard" by HP. He reported that owners hated to give up their machines. We figure that there was a patent infringement lawsuit from Bendix and it was cheaper for HP to destroy the machines than pay out. In looking at the cycle chart of the machine, it did not spin until the end of the cycle, as I remember and the SQ combo only gave one brief spin after the first rinse and then the final spin, IIRC. Like so many other combos, the HP was rich in buttons and dials on the control panel, but they were the proverbial sock in the shorts when it came to the machinery underneath. They just did not have what Bendix had because they could not.

 

[swestoyz]

I need to do some scanning!

Sounds like a fun New Years tradition!

 

[mickeyd]

"Easy that was a breed all its own."

No surprize--that !-- with their unique "precision engineering."

How great it would be to read about the Easy Combo.

 

[Jsneaker]

Thanks Guys!

I appreciate any illuminating feedback on my questions, you guys are the best! Yes, Mr. Gansky, please do scan some sales literature for those combos! They are so elusive, because I never saw many of them. Thanks Tom for the clarification about the Easy and SQ's! I have SO MANY sales brochures for US and foreign appliances, I am going to start having some new reading material again! I have commercial machines' sales brochures, and spec-books from some brands, I know they are collectors dreams! Sadly, I cannot scan any of them-no scanner(or other stuff most people have).

Jason

 

[coolairguy]

On the Norge combo,I cant visualize the gas burner up on the top like it was on the dryer because the combo had 2 concrete blocks on the top of the tank for balance.I even bought a 1951 to 1961 Norge parts and service manual but it didn't have the combo in the book. Also the electric was a condensing dryer so it must have been a completely different design.

 

[tomturbomatic]

More than probably so.