very classy
Yes, it was a very classy machine. As I've mentioned previously on ths site several times, we had the RCA Whirlpool Imperial Mark XII matched set when I was very young. I think it was a 1960, it might have been a '61 I would have to see a picture. 99% sure it was '60 model.
No the timer has not markings other than the cool color coding with the push buttons. If I recall the top right single button, which was for the suds return, on our maachine was a dummy button. It did not push in as we did not have the suds return feature. We did later when they traded the XII set for a 1969 Whirpool set.
You didn't need any markers on the timer dial because the buttons stopped the dial at the correct place when you turned it. If I recall correctly, #10 on the dial was "Spin Only" so you didn't even need to know where the spin locations were.
I think the most fun part was watching the timer knob advance. Unlike most machines, it did not continually advance at an imperceptible speed. But it would stay still then all of a sudden visibly advance several degrees to its new possition. To a kid this look mysterious and robotic-like. ha.
It was a wonderful machine (the dryer not so much so) and the only fault was the horrible rinsing, and a spin that got out of balance easily. It had a neutral drain, and even with the multiple momentary spray rinses in addition to the deep rinse,it almost always left suds in the bottom of the tub. AFter the tub stopped spiining you could also see suds ooze through the tub perforatons back into the inner tub. But in defense of the washer my mom, being very clean, certainly did not hold back on the use of detergents. The second Whirlpool was the same, bad rinsing. When my mom got the GE Filter-Flo after the second Whirlpool she loved it because it cleared the tub of suds and rinsed so well.
But for people who use normal amount of detergent I am sure the Whirlpool did fine in the rinsing department. The Super Surgilator agitator had good rollover.
My mom was hard on the machine and often would wash throw rugs and other large and/or bulky type items in it. I think we went through a couple of motors. And when it got out of balance, wow, you knew it. We could hear the banging from the basement all throughout the house, and the machine would actually move out on the floor. Once it was stopped only by the fill hoses, if it weren't for them it would probably have been in the middle of the floor.
But most of all the set was beautiful, especially as mentioned above with the panel lights on and shining through the color coded control panel, it was a real attention grabber.
As far as versatility, I don't know how a machine could be too much more versatile. It not only offered hot, and cold and warm but lukewarm as a temperature as well. Two speeds a host of different combinations of time/temp/speed preprogrammed for cotton, wash 'n wear, delicates, etc.
I am not familiar with other 1960 machines but was the Whirlpool ahead of its times with a timed release bleach dispenser, a fabric softener dispenser and a pre-mix detergent dispenser?
Now the dryer was another story....many features like a water dispenser for dampening clothes for ironing, and it even had a UV bulb for freshening the clothes. It also had an electronic timer with no timer knob, just a start button. After a few years it quite functioning and would not stop the drying cycle. My dad should have called Whirlpool for service, but he called some local repairplace and the electronic control box in the dryer was just beyond their ability to understand, let alone fix. They never could get it to work even with several trips to the house. So for years my mom just had to remember to turn it off manually. Sometimes she would not get to it in time and we had some very stiff clothes.
[this post was last edited: 10/8/2014-13:45]
