Excellent work Robert! Those Control Towers look stunning next to each other! And now you can compare the action of a Unimatic with a Pulsamatic, side by side! Nothing like washday drama!
Hi Jeff, not a dumb question at all! I'll fill you in on the details I know, though Robert can provide a lot more than myself about these machines! The Pulsamatic was Frigidaire's first belt-drive transmission for the less expensive machines (debuted in 1955 I believe with the WV-35), and it had a 3/4" agitator stroke of 630 pulses per minute. MUCH faster agitation than the rest, hence the smaller rings on the agitator, but the spin was only 660 RPM, IIRC. I saw that very machine run at the Convention for the first time and that rapid "vibrapulsation" was VERY entertaining and the rollover was great! The Unimatic, Frigidaire's first automatic that debuted in 1947, has a longer 1 7/8" stroke at 330 pulses per minute and spins at 1140 RPM. The transmission is connected directly to the motor with no spin clutch, so when the solenoid energizes and pulls the spin trip shaft down, the torque of the motor is what throws the water out and spins the tub up to speed. The Unimatic is definitely one of the best cleaning and spinning washers in existence, if not THE best, and the entertainment factor is second to none! And from what I've used, the Unimatic, Pulsamatic, and Multimatic are very quiet machines. Now the Rollermatic and 1-18 are another story! ;-)
In the 1957 model lineup, the WI-57 Imperial was the TOL model, followed by the WDU-57 Deluxe Unimatic. There was also a WD-57 Deluxe Pulsamatic, I believe with the same features as the WDU-57. Last but not least was the WS-57 Super Pulsamatic. Hope this helps!
--Austin
