POD 10/18/2016

[brucelucenta]

I guess this was at the introduction of Whirlpool's lint filter. It looks to be like the ones on Kenmore of the same vintage, so before they went to the "brush" filter. Notice how they take a STAB at GE and the filter flow pan "gadget getting in the way". LOL

 

[appnut]

I think the only reason why Whirlpool went to the "brush" filter was to give them a differentiator between Kenmore & Whirlpool--essentially the Magi Mix filter.  I also think the MM filter was an attempt at an alternative to GE's Filter-Flo as a detergent dispenser. 

 

[gyrafoam]

IMO This early filter was easier to clean

than the "Tragic-Mix" Filter was by a long-shot. I remember having to keep an old fork handy to pick the lint off. What a (sometimes gross) hassle. Better to just cut the bristles off and use it as a dispenser only!

The only problem with the early-type was keeping it in place if it became full of lint! If you washed a load of brand-new towels (or something heavy with lint), chances are it would get full, pop-out and drop into the tub. Then you really had a mess!

Hooray for the self-cleaning filter!

 

[yogitunes]

interesting life of the lint filter.....

as consumers complained with the wringer, a few added some sort of lint filter....

jump into an automatic, people insisted on it, yet complained they had to clean it....

then introducing the self-clean version......leading up to a filter that doesn't exist.....

it was the agitation that was causing the excessive lint in the first place.....

front loaders found a blank reputation for ejecting lint better, only because it didn't create lint by it unique agitation process....

I always found viewing the flowing water from a manual filter major drama to watch.....as machines changed to the self clean type, seemed something was missing from the process....it was working, you just couldn't see it...

one model of Kenmore had a self clean, yet still showed a water flow returning to the tub....as an indication it was working!

that Magic Mix was a unique perspective to Whirlpool.....and a part of creative design, to allow the brush to be removed, and witness a continuous swirling pool of water.....a trademark to their name.....

Norge had a filter pan as well.......and I recall my neighbor had a GE similar filter pan and flowing water, it was a large pan, with the softener dispenser built into the center....it wouldn't cross over to fit the GE.....I want to say it was a Hamilton, but not sure....she bought a new machine almost every two years, don't know how, but she could tear up some appliances....have found spare filter pans like this, but not the machine it belonged to....

 

[alr2903]

Newspaper advertisements from the 1970's for television and appliance stores most always showed the water flowing in WP and GE ads.  I have to agree with reply #3 the visual of the water added something extra to the drama.  A

 

[tomturbomatic]

A neighbor had a KM with that three winged agitator cap, but an agitator with three straight wings or ears on the agitator skirt. This WP, I guess, has a Surgilator. Did lower model WPs have a straight vane agitator back then like the KM?

 

Speaking of filter pans, a friend's mother had an Easy that had the filter in the lid. There was a slot like GE used for the FilterFlo at the 12 o'clock position and a matching opening at the rear of the filter which was almost as large as the tub opening into which it went when the lid was down. Her machine was a swap out after she sent her Easy Combomatic back. I never heard about the why, but after the combo fiasco, she had a 1955 Bendix dryer on the carport just outside the back door. It had the doorknob in the middle of the door like the first Duomatics.

 

[yogitunes]

seems filters phased out, manual or self cleaning, only as a matter of production cost....

look at Whirlpools undertub filter ring, or Maytags attempt at a self clean filter screen.....at some point they work, or rather gather and clog with lint.....self clean?, well that remains to be puzzling, after taking a few apart from years of use, it turns into a major scrub and cleanout....

you have to mainly look at the time period, and of fabrics available, cottons that would release lint like crazy, and fabrics like PermPress that would hold on to one spec of lint like its life depended on it....not to mention soaps and detergents....I always thought the over-flo rinse was best for this time, as soap, scum, and lint floated to the top of the load.....skimming off the top was the best removal of such....

a lot of interesting designs for capturing lint was created by many manufacturers, some more effective than others......

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Whirlpool (and the incredible Kenmore, it added its unbelievable features to) went from the messiest lint filter design, to jumping right ahead to self-cleaning--Amazing!

 

 

-- Dave

 

[gyrafoam]

Lint filter gimmicks

worked best on those consumers who used solar dryers. As soon as mechanical clothes dryers became available to the masses the public quickly got used to the dryers catching the lint.

The filtration I liked the best was the Kenmore of the early sixties. I have a '62 model Seventy and those glass balls rattling around are all the filter I ever need.
The Maytag filter in the barrel of the agitator wasn't bad. It still needed cleaning but wasn't hard to clean

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you had seen the state of the lint filters, hell, the whole machine interior in the 80s and 90s when phosphates were removed from detergents, you would know why lint filters were phased out. Maytag's little screens under the agitator were solid chunks of minerals. The little finger things under WP tubs did not fare much better. Older Maytags came in and you almost could not remove the filter from the agitator. Granted, it might not have become stuck if it had ever been removed for cleaning. GE filter pans would not allow water to pass through the holes. The powder detergents without phosphates were not as powerful at handling minerals in harder water as the previous phosphated versions but people still used the same amounts and washers became encrusted with minerals. I think John saw one where the tub holes were almost closed with mineral deposits. How can you not notice stuff like this?

 

[washerlover]

I agree with the WP MM brush filter -- such a hassle to clean. And Frigidaire 1-18 bed 'o nails filters not so easy, either. But regardless, there's nothing like the drama of washer lint filters! I'm still amazed at how much a GE FF and Norge/Wards get in those filter pans.

 

[DADoES]

 
Dad came up with the idea way back in the day of using a hair comb to clean the brush filter.

 

[akronman]

Favorite filter

My 1960 Whirlpool with the MAgic-Mix, and the see through filter. Cleans up in a second with a painter's wire brush! And it mixes and dispenses detergent, and you can watch the water, it's great!

 

[hilovane]

My mom's first washer was a 1960 Hotpoint. It had a pan that was a detergent dispenser only, as the fill flume shot the water directly into it, causing overflow of the detergent and water mixture into the tub. It also had a lint filter that more or less emulated Maytag's; in was a two-piece cylinder that fit over the agitator, and "rested" on top of the vanes. It was submerged during wash and rinse cycles, and functioned similarly to the Maytag. Te filter is=tself was inside the outer cylinder; the two pieces separated for cleaning.