Submit to the 906

[qsd-dan]

So...they dispensed with the "cancel" button on the back panel in the 1969 timer revision?

I guess so.

DAN--treat us poor 906-starved beggars to a few hot shots.

I won't be home until Saturday, but I'll try to do you one more and shoot a quick video. It's pretty much untouched since I got it, with the exception of a timer motor replacement, and it needs lots of attention.

 

[mickeyd]

Thanks Dan, the unparalleled spray rinse would make mint vid

Until then, if picture pilfering is allowed, I just went into the photo collections where Greg's is first one I saw. A spectacular Black and White of the control panel.
With your permission then, Gregory, here is Gansky's Black Onyx Ruby: (Just look at the majesty of that mechanical being.) And the symmetry of the controls is even better than I reported: 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 1 1 ~ Perfection

 

[gansky1]

The beautiful 906!

This is the set I found at my local Launderall dealer, Coffman Appliance, now long gone. They were in the shop window for couple of months and I finally stopped in and looked at them. Once I saw how nice they were, they had to come home. Fred now has them in Chicago. (this was also my laundry room in '00, things look quite different today!)

Since this set, I've never been without a Maytag pushbutton washer. I prefer the older models, but I have enough parts to make another set of '06 series if I ever get the urge.

Maytag actually changed these machines quite often during their production from the first A900, the A902 and then into the 906's. They did various different things with the off-balance load handling, including one disaster with cork dampers on the underside of the baseplate that the brake package would rub against to slow down the spin. That didn't last long, in use or in production.

The A900 through the first series of 906 washers had fairly complicated control system, a series of switches and motor attached to a rotisserie gearing advanced the timer when you made a selection. The two water levels are controlled with a solenoid lever to switch between them. Post 1969 906 washers used a more compact rapid-advance timer with the advance motor built in, much like a KDS-xx dishwasher and used two pressure switches for water level.

You can easily adjust the cycles - if you want a partial load fill of cold water, press the Bright Colors button, wait for the tub to fill to proper level and then push the partial load colors button. If you want to be a "dial pusher" you can cut short any washtime by pushing Spin to empty the tub and spin the load (no spray rinse) then the Rinse-Spin button, Want an extra warm rinse? Push the full or partial colors button, when the tub fills just push rinse-spin and you're back to automatic washday ease. LOL

These washers were a great example of engineers and designers dreaming up solutions for a problem that never existed. Most homemakers didn't find operating a washing machine terribly stressful or complicated.

 

[gansky1]

This my yellow A900 & DE700 set in use today. They came from Boulder, Colorado out of a woman's duplex. There were no washer & dryer hookups when she moved there to be closer to her daughter after her husband passed away in 1961'ish. They were put in the storage room and over the years, mom began to fill the house with newspapers and magazines, to the point that the machines were so buried in the house, they were surprised to find them while moving out the piles of paper. Paper makes a wonderful preservative - absorbs odor and moisture so the machines still looked almost new.

 

[gansky1]

These is the same 906 set in my first picture above, now at Fred's in Chicago. This is a repair guy from a local Maytag dealer that replaced the water valve. Fred and Terry just swooned when he came in the door - LOL

 

[chris74]

I like that pink front-loader best

What is it? A Westy?

 

[combo52]

Pushbutton MT automatics

Great pictures Greg, but you forgot about the PB MT that started them all, the A160 and the A160S with suds-saver introduced in the late 1950s I think 1959.

 

[cadman]

Did someone say A160? : )

 

[d-jones]

That looks like an aircraft wheel reflected in the control p

What's sitting in front of this machine?

 

[mickeyd]

The operation is fabulous. It's a SEMI-AUTOMATIC !!!

Select White Full, let it wash for 4,6,8 minutes as you wish, Okay, what do I want to do now? Select Spin and get a nice long 5 minute spin out of wash water. Hmmmm, now do I want a warm rinse today or a cold one. I would just absolutely love this.

 

.....Wait a minute, I think I want it to wash this load for another ten minutes; the socks were a little dirtier than usual. Pressssssss

 

How did I know you'd be an inveterate button pusher? Thinking through the possibilities, this is just crazy. Thank you for the enlightenment.

 

 

 

[mickeyd]

OH MY GOD, CORY

<span style="font-size: xx-large;">A Blue One--Spectacular !!! Thank you.</span>

 

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`

 

[mickeyd]

Dave, I can't tell. Isn't it just the door?

 

Chris, Westy is shorthand for Westinghouse.

 

Edit: I see it now, Dave.... a huge wheel reflected in the control panel. Hey!....Maybe Cory's got a jet, too! LOL

 

[westingman123]

Chuckling

I hope I'm not the only one that chuckles each time he reads the thread title. Submit, indeed!

Chris, that's a Bendix in Greg's picture--quite the looker! Gotta love those doors that look like steering wheels.

I'm verklempt! That turquoise Maytag is breathtaking. It's even prettier against the snowy backdrop. Is that a new acquisition?

 

[mickeyd]

How hice to see you Keith, and thanks

In my excitement, I misread Chris's question.

 

Yes, the chuckle, but the 906 we now know will submit in kind! What a relationship. But there are boundaries:

 

Doing the brunch chores, have been pre-occupied with getting the 906 to submit to a partial fill Delicate. Once you get a partial fill through button 5 or 7, and you press Delicate, won't the 906 then continue to fill, or will the level switch be satisfied and let you roll, the little brain in the machine not noticing the trick you've slipped in? For you, Keith LOL.

 

Can anyone see the solution here. I can't

 

[DADoES]

 
Being that the partial-fill and full-fill pressure switches are physically separate, I'm assuming it would fill rest of the way if switched from a partial-fill cycle to Delicate.

 

[gansky1]

Yes, I meant to write 160, which both of mine are - one white and one yellow.

Had 900's on the mind...

 

[westingman123]

Mike, I DO love a puzzle

Now, sir, I shall ponder that while I'm at work tonight. For all the elegance of those controls, methinks I'd have to stick to the dial. Terribly practical, I know.

 

[mickeyd]

Hi Keith,

Everybody here has talent that I envy in a healthy way. I don't have the skill or enough years left to master the genius work we have seen achieved here by the most gifted. I stand in awe of it.

 

But what I can do is trick machines into doing things other people say can't be done. If for no other reason, I would love a King Tag for the sheer challenge, just to see what I could make it do, then let everyone know, and hear them say, "Holy Cow, Mike." It would be more fun than going on the "Ellen Show!"

 

[cadman]

For the button pushers.....

Sounds like I need to get working on my Super-Tag!

David, what you see in the reflection of my pic is the spare tire of a trailer we were pulling...the little dots on the Maytag glass make it look riveted : )

 

[d-jones]

DOH!

It was the pattern of round holes in the rim that had me fooled. Gulfstream business jet main wheels have a similar look, and at the end of the work day, the mechanics are often found working on personal projects in and around the hangars, after all that's where all their tools are. ;-)