Only you folks could appreciate this...

[tomturbomatic]

That is takeh some picture of our beautiful girl

although the super sharp focus causes her to look a bit harsh. While she does not need it you understand, she is very appreciative of softer lighting and a bissel softer focus. Do you see any difference, other than cosmetic, between the 750 and the 830? Maybe they are different years of the same model, but GE sort of stuck with the same numbers year after year.

This control panel went through all sorts of appearances. There were all chrome ones with red lettering in the middle.
There were chrome ones with a black background in the middle with chrome lettering and black keys and even ones with like a deep navy blue band in the middle with chrome letters. And there was one, I don't know if it was original, but the majority of the panel was black, with white letters in the middle band and chrome accents around the area of the keys. Then there are the ones that adopted the two tone with chrome above and gray or black below like are pictured above.

There were some drop in dryer models, too. Neighbors in our old neighborhood had a dryer with the control panel mounted like the washers mentioned above, but instead of keys, it had buttons for high, medium and low heat and start in a row to match the keys on the washer. It was timed dry only.

Thanks again for all of the GE information and pictures.

 

[Designgeek]

When I was a little kid we had one of those with the raised control panel, a few key-shaped pushbuttons on the left, the dial on the right with white lettering on a black background, the words V-12 in the middle, black agitator, and white plastic filter-flo thingie. That one I do remember; the ones we had later, I don't remember clearly. The reason this one stuck in my memory is because I recall being about 6 years old and trying to figure out the lettering on the dial, and thinking that the "12" setting was for 12 lbs, so the other markings were for various sizes of loads rather than for initial wash time.

As for people losing their clothes through the gap under the control panel: what really happened during the Consumer Reports tests was that a bunch of pesky squirrels kept sneaking in from outside, hiding behind the washer, and popping up behind the raised control panels to snarf a sock now and then to use for making their nests. Such crafty squirrels, only popping up to make their mischief when the CR testing guy turned his back for a moment!

 

[agiflow]

Funny how when CU stated in the early 90's that the GE design was dated...soon after GE redesigns their washers for the worse.

 

[spinout]

I noticed those comments in CU too....

However, I don't think GE was reacting to Consumers' Reports. I think the redesign was primarily intended to reduce [manufacturing] costs as was the trend. Claiming a new design was a secondary benefit, but the external resemblence to the DD WP/KM was probably no accident.

 

[cehalstead]

control panel

We had a BOL GE dryer in the mid 60's...high, low heat, air, and timer only...the control "panel" was mounted on the right side of the top. It was raised, and looked amazingly like a GE clock radio. Sure do wish I knew what year it was, and the orignal selling price. Mother bought it used to replace a dead '52 Filtrator...the GE needed to be vented, but not wanting to put a hole in the wall, it was left unvented for years...after all, the Filtrator didn't need venting, so what difference should it make? I just remember a very damp basement afterwards. So damp, we had to buy our first dehumidifier.

 

[bajaespuma]

I'm betting it was this one, a WA-450R, this one from 1958 but they may have kept making it into the early sixties. It hardly ever showed up on their brochures, probably because it was so BOL they just used it as a "builders' model" and you would see it in discount stores:

 

[frontaloadotmy]

The Dryer

I have a friend that is still using that model dryer, when I first saw it, I thought hmm, so GE made a control tower too!

 

[cehalstead]

control tower

That's the one.....for some reason, thought the controls were on the right, but after seeing the pic, remembered it exactly that way...don't know how old this one was when we bought it, so it may have been a '58.....THANKS!!!!!!

 

[bajaespuma]

cad alert!

and here's my obligatory rendering:

 

[thirtyater]

FixerMan, do you still have that dryer? If so E-mail me the deails.

Thanks

 

[tomturbomatic]

Ken, our neighbor had that dryer. Her GE washer had a full width white control panel with levers for hot or warm wash and Water Saver. The dial might have been sort of turquoise. Inside was GE's first design of the high speed dryer. The back of the drum was stationary and had a rectangular opening where the heat came in. The heating element was in a rectangular duct behind the drum. If you ran the dryer with the door open, there was no movement of air past the heater and a bright orange glow became visible in the opening in the back of the drum. There was a felt seal between the back of the drum and the drum itself and the drum ran on a bed of rollers underneath. I liked the timer knobs that year with the T shape and the chrome finish. While they might not have been the most ergonomically designed for comfort, you did not have to worry about wet fingers slipping off when you went to turn them like some of the smaller, more rounded chrome knobs they used later. The slightly more deluxe model of the dryer had a High/Low key next to the push to start.

There was an article about Gloria Swanson in Life, maybe, before she wrote her book on auto-lesbian relations titled Swanson on Swanson. (Not really.) Anyway, she became a strong advocate for health food and a vegetarian diet. There was a picture of her in her kitchen cutting up vegetables (hard to imagine a great star doing that) and visible in the photo is this washer, maybe with the Water Saver key. The picture might also be in the book; I will have to check. In the 60s, friends had a GE washer that was so BOL that it did not even have the Filter Flo feature. It was a perforated tub machine.


What a punim on that dryer(kvelling). It should be in pictures.

Nu, chachma, what was posting 134962 if it wasn't a picture with a little enhancement, just like big time? Such a talented one that mensch; helping everyone.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[bajaespuma]

Oh, Tom,

Did the washer look like this:

View attachment 6-13-2006-08-26-50--bajaespuma.jpg

 

[bajaespuma]

sorry, let's try that again:

 

[bajaespuma]

or this:

 

[bajaespuma]

or did it look like this?

 

[spinout]

Early GE dryers:

Does anyone know what the Model No. differentiation is for the Early model (GE second design, c 1957) GAS dryers?

e.g., DA-820x = electric, GAS = ???

 

[tomturbomatic]

Ken, DA 550 T because it had the new white plastic Filter Flo pan that was a cap over the top of the Activator! You found it!! The washer also had the Normal and Short cycles and the smaller dial. The neighbor's sister had the 450 series washer with the copper filter pan that rode on the rubber collar and with use, the rubber ridges on it wore down so that when the recirculation started the pan tipped to the back. The models with the metal pan and the screw on cap for the agitator probably let a lot of moisture in to the agitator shaft. Unfortunately, many of the solid tub GE washers we have found have had the tops of the transmissions corroded away.

Sad news: The book does not have the picture of Gloria and her GE washer.

Thank you again for finding my GE washer with the turquoise timer dial. Such a maven!

 

[bajaespuma]

GE didn't produce Gas dryers until the late 60's. I'm trying to find out what year although I remember brochures from 1969 that had them. When this happened the dryer designation stopped being DA and became either DDE or DDG.

 

[spinout]

GE Gas Dryers

Thanks for your reply. You may be surprised to know that they--GE did indeed produce a gas Dryer, at least during 1957. My grandmother had one, and it was similar to the DA820P. It was the mate to her WA855P washer. It had a top mounted burner w/standing pilot and was otherwise the same as the electric model. I'm going over to her house tommorrow, perhaps I can find a pic.

Incidently, I have an unabridged set of GE parts microfiche including the exploded drawings from about 1950-->1989, depending on the product. One of the things that I learned while browsing is that GE produced a Military version of the DA820P dryer which apparently was sold under contract in considerable quantity. There is a good possibility that there are a few of these things still around, so I'm going to contact some people I know on the inside and see if I can find out where to look, or better yet, locate one.

If you want any copies of anything from the microfiche, please let me know.

 

[bajaespuma]

oH PLEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!!

YES, YES,YES, YES, YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!PLEEEEEEEEEEZE!@!!