Pic of the day - 3/4/08

[kenmoreguy64]

Wow - I did not realize that dishwashers that long ago had rinse agent dispensers.

I always was curious about Kenmore's round upper racks (the roto-rack). Did anyone use them or still have one today? All I remember about Kenmore dishwashers of that era was the demo model endlessly running at Sears with the transparent plexiglass front. Since they were nearby the washers on the sales floor, I was always preoccupied by the time I saw the DW.

 

[tuthill]

what year?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hotpoint Dishwashers were probably the first home dishwashers with a rinse agent dispenser for "Spots-Away-Rinsing". I have one with the dispenser cap in the sump area of the tank. It's the model with the illuminated red and blue timer dial below the door. It is probably 1955 or 56.

 

[tuthill]

The list of features on that thing is pretty darn impressive for a 55 or 56 IMO.

 

[charbee]

RotoRack Kenmores

My mom's first two dishwashers (late 60s) were Kenmore's with the roto-rack. The rack was always fun to watch when you'd open the door in the middle of a cycle. It was kinda a pain to get light plastic things to stay in place, and I remember being told to always put a heavy thing on top of a light plastic thing, so that the plastic item didn't flip over and fill up with dirty water and stay that way through the drying. But boy, did it spin good!

As far as rinse-agent dispenser, yes the "JetDry" liquid dispenser was built into the door near the detergent dispenser cup. You could also use the solid in its little basket.

 

[roto204]

Still had one up until recently...

I think we figured my Roto-Rack was a '68 or '69. Yes, the top rack booked when it spun (you could hear it squeak as it spun down for a minute or two after the water stopped, and before the unit drained), and plastics were a problem. You did have to weight them down, or risk finding your lids in the bottom rack (or your bowls full of water, as charbee noted).

Better still was when something plastic popped-up enough to stop the rack rotation altogether when it jammed against the rack rail on the ceiling of the unit

It did have a liquid Jet-Dry dispenser (with an unusual cantilevered ratcheting dispenser mechanism that worked in concert with the detergent dispenser, and only used one solenoid to fire/arm both the rinse-aid and detergent units), and Tom's spot-on (pun not intended) as always; I think it was the '56 Hotpoint with the rinse-aid built in.

 

[roto204]

The Wunderkind...

...in all its glory...

 

[roto204]

With Jet-Dry!

Here's the dispenser.

 

[roto204]

Look, Ma! Plastics!

And if you thought charbee was kidding about the plastics...

 

[roto204]

Whee!

Not a bad dishwasher, highly entertaining, and with good detergent and a LOT of hot water, a great value.

 

[roto204]

Upper Roto-Rack revolves...

...so not a dish is missed:

 

[roto204]

...revolving spray arm "scours" items...

...in the lower rack.

(Note the fan-forced air drying at the back-right--top-notch!)

 

[tuthill]

does it really spin that fast during the cycle? or did you just spin it to take a picture?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Tuthill, my Hotpoint is mid 50s, not the Kenmore.

 

[roto204]

Spun to take the picture

I'd say it spun at about 100 RPM on mine when it achieved top speed--it really booked. I had spun it to take the picture in the above instance (had I opened the door during the cycle, water droplets would have been flung everywhere...incidentally, food particles tended to get flung against the door, where there was no water coverage due to the top-rack spray being in the back of the machine--so you had the pleasure of wiping parsley bits and niblets of rice off the porcelain once a load was complete).

Happily, coffee mugs never had pools of water in their bases...

 

[charbee]

Thanks for the memories, roto204! ;-)

 

[bpetersxx]

Seeing that vintage RR Dw I can smell the vintage Cascade that went into it

 

[rpm]

My mom had one of these dishwashers also except it was a top loader.
The top rack split in two and you had to lift one side off and on to the counter or floor to access the bottom rack.
It was a pain in the butt.
I don't remember how it cleaned. I do recall the funky little light dance it did if you chose a short cycle.
It also had a floresent light across the whole top of the controls.
We didn't have it long. It was a prtable,used at the time and the back wheel fell off.
It was coppertone and was replaced by a built in Admiral in harvest gold to match the rest.