'Swonderful! 'Smarvelous! 'SNORGE!!

[turquoisedude]

OK, mockery of the name aside, I am now the proud owner of a 1955 Norge AE620 electric clothes dryer.  Why this is a big deal to me is because I have a 1955 Norge washer that it will match.  Let's take bets on how long that takes me to get to... Hubby's money is on sometime in 2021...   In the meantime here's what the dryer looks like.  A little rough, but the turquoise with red accents on the control panel are what did it for me. 

 

[turquoisedude]

Now this is interesting.... I knew it was a 'Time-Line' model but I figured the timer would be electrically powered as is the case on the washers.  Nope.  It's a clockwork timer, much like a kitchen timer, that 'counts down' from the time selected to the shut-off.  

 

What I was hoping for was a lighted time line... and I have it!  Likewise the Air/Heat indicator has colour indicators that are (OK, will be) lit up.  

 

Bonus - the timer still ticks along.  

 

[turquoisedude]

The dryer top was loose, so I popped it off for the final leg of its journey into the wilds of Ogden.  And I was going to do this anyway to check out the wiring and clean the machine out.  Predictably there was lint residue clinging to the inside components.  

 

Interesting pulley set-up for the drum and fan drive.  That has to be one of the longest V-Belts I've seen on a dryer!

 

Odd that they put the 40-watt ballast bulb for the germicidal lamp in the cabinet and not lighting the drum...  However I've seen old dryer wiring setups like this (curiously on the Hamilton models but I guess that shouldn't be a huge surprise).   Bonus - the original germicidal lamp is still good!

 

[turquoisedude]

I did a little head-scratching about this... it didn't compute immediately what this solenoid-activated thingy did...

 

Fortunately there is a partial wiring diagram to this dryer still and after tracing circuits it hit me that this is what controls the heat/no heat option.  Pretty robust way of cutting power to the heater units if you ask me.  Hope that solenoid doesn't go 'pow' as most of mine do... 

 

[turquoisedude]

The motor looks huge!  It still seems to turn smoothly and the dryer was put up for sale as a working model.  

 

[turquoisedude]

Let me vent....

So this is the oddest-looking vent setup I've seen, but I guess it's typical for the era... 

 

Note the rectangular box at the bottom of the drum - that seems to be the main vent output.  Odd that the outlet from the vent area seems to be routed left or right, not directly to the rear.   I would have to guess there was a way to vent directly through the floor too.

 

It's unusual for me to see a 3-inch vent pipe output.  It's odder still what it was 'vented' to!   This has to be a home-made vent; it's well-made but looks a little rough to have been a Norge or aftermarket accessory.  I will see how I can convert the vent output to the rear of the dryer.  I'm a little concerned that I may weaken the cabinet structure by cutting the rear panel, however.  

 

[turquoisedude]

Speaking of lint

I discovered the lint trap tray at the bottom of the cabinet.  I also discovered a good quantity of lint....  More cleaning will be needed here!

 

I also discovered the fusible link.  Those old Buss Fusetrons sure were popular...  

 

On the left side, just to the right of the nameplate, I saw this bar and wondered if perhaps this was used to disengage the drum rollers for air-flow drying that I have read about in Norge dryer literature... Or was this made before such a notion came to be?  I need to search for more literature, but would appreciate if anyone who ever owned one of this chimes in. 

 

I still want to take the front of the dryer off for a more thorough cleaning, then try it with some electricity to see how far I get blown across the garage....LOL  But that will have to wait until the weekend now.  I bugged out of Ogden with the dog to hide out in the air-conditioned comfort of the house in St-Lib.  

 

[goatfarmer]

Fine looking Norge ya got there!

 As to when it will get looked at, I say as long as the appliance doesn't complain about it, it can sit and sleep for a long time.

 

[norgeway]

These things

dry great and don't wrinkle your clothes, but do blow lint because they blow the air into the drum instead of sucking the air out, of course I love them!!!

 

[nanook]

Popcorn

You can always use that 'homemade' dryer "vent" as an air popper-! (Just be certain to rinse the popped kernels before munching them down-!)

 

[rpms]

My grandmother had the exact same dryer up until early 80s.
She only used it in the winter. Grandma had broke both her hips and couldn't bend. I remember her sorta cleaning the tray at the bottom maybe once? She would open the door and lint spewed out.
Just before she got rid of it it started to stall. She would get me or my cousin to crawl half into the drum and turn it. It would finally go. I believe it was very quiet?
Love the push button to open the door.
Can still see baskets of wet clothes from the Beatty's Wash Well wringer waiting to be dried. They would be so wet the weight of the clothes in the basket would squish water up through the bottom row of holes in the laundry basket and onto the floor. The washer wasn't grounded. It was hooked to an extension cord also not grounded over the door and into the kitchen. Nothing like hydro,water on the floor and touching a metal tub.

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Seeing the back off that Norge brings back all sorts of great memories of when I was a teenager. I worked on a ton of those. I always liked the way it appeared that the blower and the drum were turning on the same shaft in opposite directions. Of course the drum turned on rollers. Replacing the gasket around the door opening was a nightmare. The thin wire that runs around the outer edge was next to impossible to get back in. </span>

 

[rp2813]

Nice, Reliable Find!

This brings back memories, except Mom's dryer was gas.  I even remember that exact same fuse!  The Time-Line had stopped working on it and stayed that way for years.  I'm surprised my dad didn't try to fix it if it was a mechanical timer.

 

I think if this dryer has the "Stop-N-Dry" mechanism, you should see something by one of the pulleys that would take the drum out of the loop.

 

Unlike its companion washer, this dryer purred along quietly as it did its job.

 

[sudsomatic]

S'awesome Dryer

Congrats on finding a match like that too. I agree, the colors on the panel are great and that 'radio dial' style selector is too cool.

 

[pulltostart]

Congratulations!

This must be the "pricey" dryer you talked about in another forum.  Nice find, especially since it matches the washer.

 

Question:  Has Chris trained Canyon to howl and roll his eyes each time a new vintage appliance appears?

 

lawrence

 

[tolivac]

Wasn't it Norge that says you could use their dryers as hair dryers----NOW you can use it as a popcorn popper!Wonder if it would be hot enough to pop by throwing the kernals into the drum?

 

[wft2800]

Drum 'money shot'?

 

[turquoisedude]

In this week's episode....

The Norge dryer was taken apart for a thorough cleaning.  And I found lots o'lint. Who knew?? LOL 

 

[turquoisedude]

The drum rollers were in remarkably good shape.  The dryer was still being used so they never had the chance to flatten I guess.