Update........
The owner of this machine had found one of my posts and send me an e-mail (an hour before posting here) asking for my help too. I responded with the same info Robert did (w/o the photo). I did not here anything more until when I checked my e-mail a few moments ago and had this message from her:
<span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;">Thanks Kevin. Mission accomplished! We used a large washer to unscrew the top and it was easy. Turns out, we didn't even need to. Once the shirt was dryed out a little, we just yanked on it and it came unbound. Thank you so much for your time! If it's OK with you, I'd like to keep your name on file for future reference with this washer? Not many people out there know this machine! Thanks again! ~ Wendy in Santa Cruz</span>
Kevin