The Bendix Economat manual dated 1949 in the Ephemera offering

[tomturbomatic]

is the machine our neighbors across the street had. One morning, they invited me over to watch it do a load of laundry. I was not quite 5 and the family stood in the kitchen with me and let me watch it go through the wash and both rinses. They even opened the lid (after they let me push the red vacuum release button) to see the load plastered to the agitator as it was filling for the rinses. This machine had a bigger dome in the lid than later models. It had a belly button with a flapper-type valve in it that opened inward when the red button was pushed. The dome was an air tank and that was how the pressure was equalized after the final extraction. Since it was deeper it came down almost to the agitator so there was less air that the pump had to evacuate to collapse the tub. Later models had a valve combined with the fill valve that automatically opened to admit air at the end of the cycle.

These machines, because of the construction, fill from under the agitator and there is quite a valve underneath the tub that allows that.[this post was last edited: 8/12/2012-09:52]

 

[Unimatic1140]

Hmmmm, I didn't realize there was another later design Tom, I've never seen it. The three machines I've seen, including my 1953 model have the system you described with the part called the "Aspirator" and the dome in the lid.

For those who haven't seen it, last year I made a special see-thru lid dome so you can watch the rubber-tub collapse and squeeze the water from the clothes. You can see the video in this thread...

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?33490

 

[tomturbomatic]

Robert, yours is the later design. This is the first from 1949 according to the book. It is model H. The aspirator works to bring in air during the fills. I think the later models had some sort of valve that let air in after the final extract. This one did not so it had the deeper dome in the lid.

Anyway, thank you for offering the manual. It brought back details of that machine because I don't remember seeing another Economat with the red release button in the gray plastic lid handle.

 

[wayupnorth]

Two of my aunts had identical Economats but the top of the agitator was more like the screen on a bathtub drain and I distinctly remember when filling the water came out of the top of the agitator and flowed down into the tub. Both complained of the poor water extraction. One aunt kept her square Maytag wringer next to it and run all the clothes through the wringer after the Bendix finished the load.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Oh yes, the recessed screen in the barrel of the agitator was important as a pump protector because water drained down through the agitator and during agitation water used to slosh over the top of it. Water extraction was not that good, but it was cheap to make and cheap to sell because it only needed a wringer washer transmission and by being vibrationless, people in multifamily swellings where spinning automatics were not allowed could have an automatic washer, even a portable one that did not need permanent connections. YAY! Even having to wring the load at the end was less overall work than washing and rinsing a whole load of laundry in a wringer set up and the wringer could never provide the neat huffing, puffing and sucking sounds. While the newer Bendix tumbler machines were spinning better by the time of the Economats, the earlier Automatic Home Laundries did not extract too well either.

Several families that moved into our 1955 subdivision brought their Economats with them from their apartments. None of them lasted long. Mostly it was the tranny seals letting water into the tranny and some cases of lid spring failure.

 

[frigidaireguy]

When I was just a small child we went to visit my great aunt & uncle and they had one of these machines just sitting in a backroom of their house. It had belonged to their son and had stopped squeezing the clothes. I ask for it and they gave it to me so I had my own play washer. It would wash but you had to wring out the clothes.
My Grand daddy had one of his workers adjust the spring (piano lid type) and it finally started squeezing out the clothes again. We moved it to a camp house and used it when we would go up on vacations. The timer finally quit and we got rid of it. The agitator had the same comfiguration holes in the center as the soap dispensers had in the bolt down front loaders. The washing action was was very good. It had the 2 rinses and the final drain/squeeze said Extraction on the dial. Wish I had kept it. The later models offered a dial which allowed for one rinse or two rinses.

 

[e2l-arry]

squeeze tub

I guess in the 50's these were somewhat common. I've only seen 1 in my life. Our neighbors when I was a kid. I remember she used to hang clothes because they didn't have a dryer and the clothes all had enough water still in them that they actually dripped water on the ground. Must have taken all day to dry! I was intrigued by the rubber tub. They had to let the machine fill with water then add the clothes for some reason. The water came out the top of the agitator. But alas, eventually the top had to close so I never knew what was going on inside or how it got rid of the water. I also remember later on that they could not get the lid open when it was finished. You just had to wait until it was good and ready. I think there must have been some pressure relief valve that went bad. I remember this in the neighbors basement when I was in kindergarten and they still had it when they moved away in the 10th grade so it lasted that family of 4 a good many years. Most automatics in those days did not have the 2 rinse option but these did and they used it. Probably because there was no spin rinse and they didn't remove all the detergent water very well. These's a cool YouTube video where someone put a plexi-glass over the top and you can see the squeeze action. Little puddle of water were left on top of the clothes only to be absorbed back into he clothes when it was done.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The water level switch in these machines was as unusual as most other parts. The water level was measured by the pressure of the flexible tub pressing against a rigid band of metal at the side of the tub that formed the "tub surround" which was like a corral around it. As it filled with water, the increasing weight caused the tub to spread sideways which exerted pressure against the metal. When the pressure was great enough, it tripped the water level switch and stopped the fill. The reason that dry clothes could not be added was that their weight would contribute to the spreading of the tub walls and shut off the water before an adequate amount had entered for the washing, according to Bendix.

 

[easyspindry]

I remember the model you're talking about.

It had one dial on the front, gray in color. The dome on the lid was large.

And I remember, on the back left side a short plastic faucet stuck out from the side. When the lid was closed, there was a hole on that side of the dome into which the faucet fit. When the machine filled, the water went in through the dome and apparently out through the pressure release valve in the bottom center of the dome. It wasn't until the next model like the one Robert has that the water filled from under the agitator.

I never saw an Economat of the model we're talking about that would extract the water. The model that Robert has did a fair job.

Brings back a lot of memories.

Jerry Gay