Picture Of The Day -- 06-22-2013

[chaskelljr2]

There it is....

My early childhood Washer is the VERY LAST one that is on the bottom to the right.

One thing I can say about that machine, as small as it may be, it gave our clothes THE BUSINESS.

That Baklite Black Straight Vane Agitator did NOT play at all.

Clothes ALWAYS came out nicely washed, and freshly rinsed. And it even had four spray rinses when it was spinning. The only thing was, that it was a "stripped down, basic, BOL 1-Speed/1-Cycle" machine. That's all.

We had it for only 11 years (it got stuck a couple of times when it was trying to agitate, and it needed a Lid Switch after a move back to Washington, D. C. from Columbia, South Carolina), only to be replaced by a 1976-78 Model 70 back in 1978.

But during its time, that was a hell of a machine, bar none!!!!

I cannot believe that it was only $120.00 back when we got it back in 1967.

Thanks for taking me back down memory lane.

--Charles--

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Charles -

I have always enjoyed this piece of literature when it shows up. The model numbers aren't properly lined up with the pictures, which almost makes this like an educator's "put the puzzle pieces back where they belong" type of analytical challenge for children. For a BOL machine, yours was pretty capable and it obviously did a lot of work in its 11 years. Not long after these were offered, Sears' BOL machines all began lacking a lint filter, and that never changed back. I think it was Sears' way of directing people away from the BOL.

Question - how did you adjust the water temperatures? At the faucet? Sears seems to have offered a lot of single solenoid valve models for a while in the late 1960s and very early 1970s.

I have the machine second down on the right column. You are very correct - it means business, though mine was made in January 1969 and has a gold straight vane plastic agitator which took over from the bakelite 6-vane in 1968.

The king BOL machine on this page is the non-console model on the left, third down. That machine is greatly different from yours believe it or not. It does have a two solenoid mixing valve, but it fills with hot water from 15 minutes wash time (yes 15 not 14) to 5 minutes!! To get a warm wash you have to set the machine at 5 minutes wash. DUMB! I would be filling it on warm, then re-setting the time for every load. Then, it has a standard warm rinse, which I can see, but the rinse is of only one minute duration, not two. Its almost as if they made this machine hard to use on purpose. One minute rinse? wow. It doesn't have a filter either.

The little 24" machine at the top right with the 1963 Lady Kenmore-like push buttons would be a fun find.

Cool machines, all of them!

Gordon

 

[tomturbomatic]

The errors in the chart are disconcerting.

 

[chaskelljr2]

@ Gordon

You are correct.....

Our machine was a Single Valve model. You had to adjust the Water Temperatures directly at the faucet.

And here's another trick I learned from my Mom early on after she got the machine. This machine was supposed to have a Single Water Level???

NOT TRUE!!!!

All my Mom did was advance the timer to the 6 Minute Point, and then the machine would start agitating with a partial tub of water. So in its indirect sort of way, it actually had Variable Water Level Control as well.

But now, ours did have a Gold Colored Lint Filter just like the one on your machine.

And don't let a load get out of balance inside that machine. That machine would bang VERY loudly and then start walkng across the floor. Scared the hee bee jee bees out of me when I was younger.

It was VERY noisey machine during its later years.

VERY COOL, and just like you said, a very capable machine when we had it.

Built like a tank, and ran like one too.

--Charles--

 

[chaskelljr2]

Other Machines.....

@ Gordon (Again):

The other machine that you are talking about that is the "King" of the 24" machines. That was a Dual Valve machine indeed. But now, being that THAT one also had just a timer, how were the Water Temperatures adjusted on THAT machine??? That machine was primarily a 1-Speed (and I guess, a 3-Cycle) machine. This machine was available in a 2-Speed version as well (but it still had that LONE timer on the front).

I too would love to have that top model on the right also. The one that looks like a 1963 Lady Kenmore. That would be something if that machine somehow turns up somewhere on this site. That's a pretty rare machine indeed.

That's DEFINITELY a nice machine indeed. A Baby-Sized 1963 Lady Kenmore if you will.

--Charles--

 

[kenmoreguy64]

King of the BOLs

Charles -

The BOLiest of the machines on this page, the model lacking the console, had the timer on top right corner of the cabinet, and just as you said, just one knob. A number of models were designed this way, mostly portables. They ended around the early 70s but for some reason, Sears made one more model like this in 1976. I'm digressing (again).

This machine is a single cycle model, and the cycle uses nearly all of the 360-degrees of timer sweep. The temperature is set automatically, such that when the user selected say 12 minutes wash, you got a certain water temp to go with, and you got a different temperature at 8-minutes, etc. Sears did this in lots of BOLs, and of course in TOL alphabet washers as well. They just didn't usually make most all the fill HOT as they did in this model. There certainly was enough timer sweep to allow for a two minute rinse.

About your machine being able to wash at less than full....funny how that works. Sears mentions this in some of the owner's manuals, that if you desire a less than full wash, set the timer at x-period of wash or less after it has filled to the level you want.... Makes perfect sense doesn't it? Except you get a full fill in rinse. The machines that should have had this feature and didn't were Sears' 1970s BOL one-knob-wonder large capacity models, most filled at all points up until the 2-minute mark on wash. I can see a 24-inch model or even a 29-inch standard capacity machine lacking a water level adjustment (they aren't that big) but a 25-gallon large capacity? There were at least four large tub machines with non-adjustable water levels. Oh well...

Gordon

 

[tomturbomatic]

Mom's waterfall front '52 Kenmore had an area marked on the timer FILL. It bracketed the start up to the 10 minute period of wash time so it was easy to get a partial wash fill. You are right, the rinse was full up and it was warm water, but it saved detergent and hot water in the wash. When it still had the sudssaver, I don't recall it ever being filled with anything other hot wash water. Her '58 Lady would agitate with a very small amount of water if set at the 2 minute mark in the NORMAL wash period. It's funny the secrets you can find in timers if you do a little exploring.

 

[70series]

I am running out the door right now, so no time to go into length. I believe the model numbers are listed in the exact reverse order of the photos. The model number under the washer at top left is under the one at bottom right and vice versa. The same follows suit for the rest.

Later...