wireman
Well-known member
Does anyone have one of these? Are the various dispensers still working after all these years? Seems so complex and thus fraught with mechanical issues. Curious...
POD 11-9-13 NORGE
- Thread starter wireman
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laundromat
Well-known member
Such a shame that most of our favorite brands of washing machines and other appliances have gone south or been consumed,chewed up and spit out.
twintubdexter
Well-known member
The few I remember from my "appliance clean-up career" days had dispensers clogged up with hardened powdered detergents and gummy liquids. I guess they weren't taken care of properly. Norges were fine for the resale floor but not these. There was too much to go wrong.
toploader55
Well-known member
Dispensall turbomatic.
I always was hoping to see one of these in action.
Does sound a bit like a Repairman's nightmare. Can you imagine the caked up residues in that console ?
I always was hoping to see one of these in action.
Does sound a bit like a Repairman's nightmare. Can you imagine the caked up residues in that console ?
wireman
Well-known member
Thanks folks! Sort of suspected they were NOT the most reliable machines out there... Cool concept, but sounds like the technology couldn't support the idea.
wireman
Well-known member
Thanks folks! Sort of suspected they were NOT the most reliable machines out there... Cool concept, but sounds like the technology couldn't support the idea.
Gone South or been consumed, chewed up & spit out!
--...All of the Above!
A worthwhile machine & for the most part, what set Real American-made from the junk we have today...!
-- Dave
--...All of the Above!
A worthwhile machine & for the most part, what set Real American-made from the junk we have today...!
-- Dave
norgeway
Well-known member
One thing is for SURE!
They would really wash!no denying that.The worst thing with a Norge is ,people love to hear that brake go BANG when they lifted the lid while spinning...pretty soon the brake...broke!! if you will let a Norge come to a complete stop before lifting the lid, they are just as sturdy as anything else.
They would really wash!no denying that.The worst thing with a Norge is ,people love to hear that brake go BANG when they lifted the lid while spinning...pretty soon the brake...broke!! if you will let a Norge come to a complete stop before lifting the lid, they are just as sturdy as anything else.
300c
Well-known member
My Aunt's 1961 Norge Lasted a Long Time!
My Aunt had a 1961 Norge that lasted 27 years. It had the burpalator agitator and the beige lint filter. My Uncle was always talking about what a great washer it was. He was a "Railroad Man" and a good mechanic. You couldn't fool him. If he said it was good, it was damned good! My aunt took very good care of the machine.
My Aunt had a 1961 Norge that lasted 27 years. It had the burpalator agitator and the beige lint filter. My Uncle was always talking about what a great washer it was. He was a "Railroad Man" and a good mechanic. You couldn't fool him. If he said it was good, it was damned good! My aunt took very good care of the machine.
brucelucenta
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2013
- Messages
- 1,924
My folks had the TOL Norge set for '57. The timeline models. I remember well my mom using them when growing up. It had just one speed and a regular cycle and short cycle with hot or warm wash and warm and cold rinse. It was fairly chromed up around the backsplash and timer. The cabinet was just painted with the exception of the top of the washer. The dryer had a huge burner in back and would dry a load in about 20 minutes. Gas of course. It was a good set, but I think that Norge had a problem of the pumps on the washers wearing out fairly quickly and of course when the upper agitation seal failed it pumped grease and oil up which would get all over the clothes. That is when people would get rid of them quick. They did a good job at washing and spinning though until something happened. The old ones didn't hold much, so they had limited capacity. When they came out with the bigger ones they kept the same dryers for several years. If I had my choice of what Norge set to have I would pick the '58 TOL models. They were by far the coolest and most beautiful machines they ever made.
Norge Automatic Washers
The solid-tub machines were good performers but one of the least reliable AWs that were widely made in the 1950s-early 1960s.
As Bruce pointed out the water pumps were TERRIBLE and there were lots of problems with just about every other mechanical part of the transmission and drive line. The brake was much smaller on the ST models and they did not coast to a stop [ the brake was always used when the washer stopped spinning ] and there were few brake problems on the ST models.
The TOL Dispenser models were just a simple flush-through design that gave almost NO PROBLEMS, it was the least of your worries with these washers, LOL.
When Norge introduced their NEW larger models around 1963-4 they to their credit COMPLETELY redesigned EVERY part of the washer and really beefed up the design to handle the larger loads. But durability was still among the worst in the industry and we were seeing three YO Norges on the scrap pile. I remember a local WP dealer took one of these great looking 3 YO Norges and put it out in front of his store around the Xmas holidays with a big red ribbon around it as a display, the machine was stolen within a week or so and he replaced it with another fairly new Norge. I remember him saying he wished he could get rid of all the old appliances that easily, LOL as in those days appliances were generally not recycled and were just buried in land fills .
Anyway these new large Norges did get a little better as time went on into the late 60s and through the 70s and Norge lunched a major advertising campaign in the late 1960s when they put the letters VHQ on the washers which stood for Very High Quality as they were attempting to shake their terrible reputation for poor reliability.
The solid-tub machines were good performers but one of the least reliable AWs that were widely made in the 1950s-early 1960s.
As Bruce pointed out the water pumps were TERRIBLE and there were lots of problems with just about every other mechanical part of the transmission and drive line. The brake was much smaller on the ST models and they did not coast to a stop [ the brake was always used when the washer stopped spinning ] and there were few brake problems on the ST models.
The TOL Dispenser models were just a simple flush-through design that gave almost NO PROBLEMS, it was the least of your worries with these washers, LOL.
When Norge introduced their NEW larger models around 1963-4 they to their credit COMPLETELY redesigned EVERY part of the washer and really beefed up the design to handle the larger loads. But durability was still among the worst in the industry and we were seeing three YO Norges on the scrap pile. I remember a local WP dealer took one of these great looking 3 YO Norges and put it out in front of his store around the Xmas holidays with a big red ribbon around it as a display, the machine was stolen within a week or so and he replaced it with another fairly new Norge. I remember him saying he wished he could get rid of all the old appliances that easily, LOL as in those days appliances were generally not recycled and were just buried in land fills .
Anyway these new large Norges did get a little better as time went on into the late 60s and through the 70s and Norge lunched a major advertising campaign in the late 1960s when they put the letters VHQ on the washers which stood for Very High Quality as they were attempting to shake their terrible reputation for poor reliability.
rustyspaatz
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2013
- Messages
- 253
They sure look fun
This along with the GE dispensall and the Lady Kenmore triple dispenser and the small lot of GEs that had the bleach dispenser on the front of the machine.
This along with the GE dispensall and the Lady Kenmore triple dispenser and the small lot of GEs that had the bleach dispenser on the front of the machine.
twintubdexter
Well-known member
My mom had an old Timeline machine for awhile. I forgot all about the brake sound but sure remember the pump noise when the outer tub was empty. Mom loved the water-wasting overflow rinse which she pronounced "rinch." A frequent problem with the old Norges was when the seal at the top of the agitator post failed and allowed water into the transmission. A ring of grease around the top of the tub was a tell-tale sign. I never learned how to work on one of those Norge Timelines, Whirlpool/Kenmores and Unimatics were my speciality. When I finished a Unimatic and was bench testing it the only thing you could hear was the oil being pumped to the top bearing. A Rolex watch made more noise.
P.O.D. 11/27/2013:
Looks like ANOTHER NORGE WASHER w/ Console Mounted Dispensers (this one to me, even MORE complex!) RIDES AGAIN!!!!
-- Dave
Looks like ANOTHER NORGE WASHER w/ Console Mounted Dispensers (this one to me, even MORE complex!) RIDES AGAIN!!!!
-- Dave
From the looks of the picture, it was easier to pour Sta-Puf in the rinse dispenser of the Norge than into the Hotpoint's softener dispenser reservoir. The two liquid bins were flip over type, sort of a cylinder with an opening in a quarter of it. Any dispenser on a washer needs to be flushed between uses. If you or the machine keep the dispenser clean, it will keep working. If you don't, you will have problems with its use. The system was a bit of overkill in that detergent, whether liquid or powder, did not need a dispenser especially when you have a filter pan into which the powder detergent and powder bleach could be preloaded and, indeed, the next iteration of the Dispensomat was a two chambered affair for liquid bleach and fabric softener. As for the need for a dispenser for liquid detergent, part of the sales campaign was that it could be poured onto areas of fabrics that needed pretreating. Norge's overflow rinse did provide a way to use both Calgon and fabric softener in the same rinse with the Calgon added at the start and the softener added at the end, but the use of Calgon declined as detergent technology improved and the price of Calgon increased.
