Not Your Typical Kenmore!

[cadman]

I'm not much of a Kenmore fan, but when a friend turned me on to this oddball, I had to put in a bid. Being only two hours away, I picked it up this morning and have confirmed that A) it's definitely workable, and B) it's Japanese, all the way.

Has anyone seen anything like it? The closest I've found is a similar pic on the net claiming 1971, made by Matsushita (National/Panasonic). The Sears number is 562.9917000 and so far, no manufacturer's marks inside.

 

[cadman]

This is very much an old-school approach, light years behind the first domestic Radaranges. Note the face-seal on the door and all the visible screws...very similar to the US 50's built-ins.

The magnetron is the old style Toshiba, with a constant-lit heater whenever the Power switch is on. Also note the massive voltage doubler array in the top left.

 

[cadman]

Interior shot- the stirrer uses a right angle gearbox that'll need some work, otherwise this "Electronic Microwave" appears to work well with no appreciable leakage. And while a little taller than an RR, it's about 2/3 as wide. A real oddball!

 

[combo52]

Neat Microwave oven Cory

It appears to be a Toshiba built MWO, I love these early Japanese MWs. The Japanese were so proud of building anything that they built the entire appliance themselves even though it would have been cheaper and better if they had bought a few parts from the US.

 

I have a 1970 Toshiba counter top MWO and instead of buying a heavy duty high voltage rectifier from the US they assembled about 30 tiny rectifiers on a circuit board to handle the load, LOL.

 

John L.

 

[cfz2882]

too cool!

and old skool Nip all the way! 9-70 seen on transformer-presuming date,1971 would be right on...

 

[tolivac]

Well made oven!Like looking into a small broadcast transmitter.Nice it has a separate filament transformer.If you work on this--beware of that large oil filled capacitor-these can store a charge unless you keep a bleeder resistor across them.Keep it shorted while working on the unit so the cap doesn't rebuild up a charge-oil caps like that can do that.Remove the short when you are going to put the oven back together and run it.That one is a quality machine and made to last!!!We can only hope replacement magnetrons are still available just in case.

 

[frigilux]

What an interesting find! Timer control looks like it was borrowed from Kenmore's mid-60's washer line.

 

[centenialguy]

I wonder

if it was made by Amana? The way the door swings down certainly says Radarange.
I do know that by the mid 70's, Litton (Raytheon) was the supplier for Sears microwave ovens. I have never seen either magnetron design though, so I can't tell by that.

 

[combo52]

Toshiba Built Kenmore Microwave Oven

Did anyone else notice the cool way the magnetron tube protrudes directly into the oven cavity with no wave-guide whatsoever ? It would be interesting to see how evenly it cooks. Some modern MWOs do this today but they usually have turn-tables.

 

I love these old Mag Tubes with the glass dome as you can easily see the filament glowing, you really know that you are being microwaved, LOL.

 

These older MWOs usually have round Magnetrons and while you can substitute the newer square style Mag tubes you have to figure out a way to get cooling air pushed through them for proper operation. Cory I do have quite a few used round Mag tubes if anyone ever needs one.

 

[gansky1]

This is super cool, what a great addition to your collection.  Does anyone know if this was ever in the catalog?  I don't think I've noticed one before, but I'll do some hunting tonight. 

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

I agree, a very cool find Cory!   I love the timer knob, VERY 60's Kenmore!

 

Is this a built in or "counter top" model? 

 

I look forward to hearing how well it works and how well you like it or not.

 

Kevin

 

[cadman]

Thanks for IDing it John...I'd love to see your '70 sometime. Does it also have a vertical profile? On second glance, what I mistook for a doubler/tripler ckt is like you describe, a complete array of low-v rectifiers back to back to back. The thought crossed my mind when I first saw it but thought "naw...they wouldn't have done that!" ; )

In a lot of ways, this looks like a miniature version of my 1963 Mark V with a directly geared stirrer, face seal door, protruding magnetron, cheesy fiberglass splash shield, 'brute force' circuitry and clumsy packaging. This wouldn't go under a standard kitchen cabinet, that's for sure. Better order that cart!

Tolivac, good call on the oil cap. That was the first thing I looked for and there is a bleed resistor in circuit, but not physically on the cap (which is a poor design in my book).

Greg, I found a pic of the unit in the '71 Wish Book. This is about all I can find out there. I'm even coming up empty on the magnetron number to look up the specs. (that has gotta be one small bird in there!)

 

[petek]

Iirc Hitachi also made some of the Kenmore m/w's .  The 75 Toshiba we had had the controls on the side. 

 

[alr2903]

Very interesting, find and thanks for posting.  I did see a similar one in the early 80's family friends that were Sear's loyalists and employee's and it still worked.  We had nothing like that not even a dishwasher in 1972.  If you could afford $220.00 to compact trash or $340.00 to cook fast you were no doubt upper middle class.  There were few if any convenience foods designed for MW. cooking at this time.  First time owners joked," best $500. baked potato I ever had".   Corey does yours have a glass in the door or just perforated metal?  I can not read the total weight of the unit, You can bet the pictured roll around cart is specifically designed for these units.   A

 

 

[combo52]

1970 Toshiba MWO

Hi Cory, it is larger with a drop down door and the timer dial is too the right, it appears to be a copy of an Amana in some ways.

 

Question for you or other MWO experts, What allowed newer MWOs of the last 10 years or so to put out so much power and still use about the same amount of electricity? One of our beloved Amanas for example uses about 1400 watts of power and puts out just slightly over 700 watts which makes it only about 50% efficient.

 

I was working on a nearly new Kitchenaid counter top MWO today and it uses 1500 watts of power and puts out 1200 watts of cooking power making it about 80% efficient, how did they do it? I have my guess but I don't know for sure, I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[cadman]

Hi John,

You know, I have never been able to find anything definitive on that subject. I can understand the efficiency improvements with the reduction in iron and I assume, over saturating the HV transformers in these units the way the PoCo does to reduce losses (or for even more efficiency, using an inverter design). Moving to more efficient motors for the exhaust and turntable helps a little, but overall that's only a negligible gain over the old RR's. Could be a wash when you factor in phantom power draw on some of the new machines 24/7.

What I can't seem to put my finger on is the power gains. The magnetrons aren't that different from 10 or 20 years ago. Perhaps manufacturers figured out people aren't running their MWOs for an hour straight cooking a roast and so are willing to overdrive the mag in the name of reduced life with these shorter duty cycles. I also know the way power is measured has changed from the RR days, which adds an extra ~100w to the new machines in rating only.

If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them.... -C