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That's interesting Tom, 

 

Do you know why the Hotpoint was recalled? Were they just refunded or replaced by GE combos?

 

 
 
That tub

is amazing, it looks like CCW rotation? ! I love her big holes in the walls and I think I can see the blades of that fan! its huge!

John was telling me about the finned aluminum heater, I couldn't quite picture it till you explained it Tom.

 

That must be some windstorm in there on dry !! It looks like a solid built machine I wonder why we don't see more of them ?

The solenoid on the motor, does that shift a clutch between the wash and spin pulleys?

 

Here it is in a 1960 Kentucky Newspaper ad:

 

 

 

 

 
The Norge technical report said that the machine used a combination of deep, spray and spin rinsing. We will have to look at the timer chart to know more.

It is interesting that only the electric Norge combo offered auto dry, the gas model was strictly timed drying, and offered it years before Norge offered it in their regular dryers. The Maytag combo was strictly timed dry, both gas and electric.

Tim noted, before he started taking these nice pictures, that the Maytag combo had the control panel contour of the 06 series years before they were introduced.
 
Here is the evaluation of the Norge combo by CU in the May, 1960 report:

Norge WD-600-1 $479.95. Condenser type. Average washing ability. Relatively fast drying; complete washing-and-drying program was shorter than with most other models tested. Ease of loading and unloading judged relatively inconvenient. Arrangement of controls judged somewhat conducive to setting errors. Drying temperature (normal or low) cannot be set independently; it is determined by the wash cycle selected. No bleach or rinse-conditioner dispensers. Features include panel light and signal light.
_________________

Anyone who has read CU washer reports knows that they did NOT like front loaders. They were judged inconvenient to load and unload. Some of the combos, because of the bigger door opening were judged convenient to load and unload.

I don't know what they mean about the controls. There are three: a two cycle wash timer for normal and delicate fabrics. There is a three position knob for water temperature and a dry timer with timed cycles and two automatic cycles. If you use the automatic cycles, you don't have to set the dry timer from one load to the next except if you wash and dry a delicate load. The wash timer clearly spells out that if you wash a load on the delicate cycle, you will get low temperature drying. Likewise, if you wash a load on the normal cycle, you will get regular heat drying.
 
Dreams can come true!

Wow John and Tom, I'm so happy you have added a true dream machine gem into your collections!

I have a feeling this is a real splashy fun machine, looking forward to seeing it sometime.

Unfortunately, I have no service doctrine on this machine what so ever, only parts information. I have some Norge combo sales literature up in Ephemera, but these brochures are not from the same model year as this one.
 
CU liked the Maytag combo better than the Norge, but then CU liked anything Maytag put out with the exception of the HOH dryer and the electronic dry system which was the first of its kind.

Maytag 340W $549.95. Condenser type. A relatively quiet machine with average washing ability. Speed of drying was equal to that of most other models tested. At regular-fabric setting, retained less water in clothes at the end of wash period than did most models tested. Ease of loading and unloading judged about average. Built-in automatic water heater. Separate automatic bleach and rinse-conditioner dispensers judged slightly inconvenient to use. Controls allow longer soapy wash period (14 minutes) than do other models tested. Timed drying only.On wash-and-wear setting, a chime signals end of cycle, informing user to remove clothes immediately and avoid creases with may form if clothes are left in machine too long after machine stops. Features include panel light, and signal light; latter judged of relatively little use--does not indicate whether machine is in wash or dry portion of program.

__________

CU was against the water heaters in combos saying that they were too expensive to operate, but the models with the best washing performance (the LK and the WP) had heaters that held the timer until the proper water temperature was reached. What CU did not realize was that front loaders in general and combos in particular use so little water in proportion to the amount of steel that has to be heated that an on-board water heater does yield better washing results. I always washed white as the second load after the first had heated up the whole machine during the dry cycle. The hot fill stayed hot.
 
Combo Pictures

I forgot to thank Tim Schell [ macboy ] for taking the pictures, he has been here visiting from Kentucky all week, and an even bigger thanks for getting all our computers running better, YAY.

We had lots of fun, I always enjoy his visits.

The Norge Combo.

Jon, the solenoid above the motor causes the fan to run for the drying cycle, the other drive pulley is always engaged whenever the motor is running. It does appear that the tub turns CCW, so unfortunately Chuck D [ laundromat ] will not likely approve.

As Tom mentioned we now have at least one of each of the most produced combos.
Between Tom, my brother Jeff, Jason and myself there are more than 27 combos nearby.

This includes 11 or 12, 29" KMs both gas and electric, 3 36" Duomatics one gas, 3 GE combos two under-counter and one freestanding, 1 33" LKM electric machine 50 Amp
, and two WP Gas 33" combos 37,000 BTUs. There are also 2 27" duomatics and the new to us MT combo.

The rarest ones are the two Westinghouse combos, an Easy, a Speed Queen and of coerce the Norge, this last group are the only ones known to exist.

My goal is to get at least one of each design in running condition for demonstration purposes, I would like to a video of them running their cycles for all to enjoy.
 
very cool!!!

CONGRATULATIONS on getting those combos!!!
wow, maytag and norge??
although i am a maytag fan, i really like the look of the norge combo. it would be hard for me to pick my favorite out of these 2!!!
hm hm hm....

thank you for sharing and the great pictures.
i would love to see pictures of the buttons and timer control knobs for both combos, if possible?

very happy for you!!!

:o)
 
Most of the combos were noisy because everything was mounted to the baseplate which sat on leveling legs on the floor so all of the motor noise and vibration as well as the noise of all of the moving components whether belts, pumps, blowers (if present), transmissions or variable sheave pulleys up to and including the occasional ball of wet clothes landing in the bottom of the drum went into the steel baseplate, which made a grand sounding board, and from there into the floor. The Bendix-design was the only one to have all of the moving mechanism suspended with the motor, pump , blower and transmission mounted to the outer tub so there was less direct transmission of vibration to the floor. The tumble periods were relatively quiet, but the spin periods were noisy.
 
John . . .

. . . your collection is unbelievable. I have known of only one Easy combo and I never got to see it. I sure would like to spend some time in your warehouse. It sounds like paradise to me. Of course, the Norge combo is as rare as hen's teeth.

Congratulations on your finds.

I do have a Bendix 1959 Combo and it works beautifully. The sounds it makes are almost erotic. But whoa be unto the observer if the load winds up in a ball and the spin cycle starts.

Jerry Gay
 
MAYTAG TIMER CLOSE-UP

I think this is the only close-up Tim and I took, I should remember to do more close-ups, there is also one of the drum hatch in the MTC for sump clean out.

The MT control panel close-up shows the Vee shape that Tom and Tim mentioned, this panel design came out on the combos and was later used on all the MT 06 series washers and dryers, It is interesting that they did not center the timer although I have always preferred an offset design and think that this panel design is very good.

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Congrats John!  You have two beauties there, BOTH of them are extremely rare.  The Maytag was pretty much unused by the original owner, and was brought in as trade to the central Kansas Maytag dealer who sold it new, sometime in the mid-80's.  Greg and I went and picked it up in the fall of 2009.  Condition-wise, it is probably in just as good of condition as the one in the Jasper County museum, or possibly even better.  If any of you are ever at John's, I urge you to spin through the timer on the Maytag a few times.  Probably the most satisfying timer to spin through in existence. 

 

The Norge is also really cool too.  I was pretty surprised to see the floating plastic idler pulley in place.  I wonder how long those survived in tact.  The insides of the Norge are in amazing condition considering the house and environment that it was taken from, and it shouldn't take much for John to get both of these up and running for demonstrations.

 

John - thanks again for your help when you were at the house, and I wish we had had more time to chat and tinker with stuff in the basement. 

 

Ben
 
I really like the woodgrain trim on the Maytag and the shape of control panel that seems to have inspired the 1966 line. 
 
Congratulations on getting two great looking machines! They both look fantastic!

I do have one question though. On the Maytag the cycle dial looks like it's set for the timer to run clockwise for the wash but counter clockwise for drying. Is that the case or am I missing something here?

I'm sure it's something that simple and I'm just not seeing it.
 
Does the green tab that's at the left of the dial can be moved from "0" to "90" to set the drying time? That would explain the way the dryer timer is graduated from 0 to 90 instead of being graduated from with decreasing time as it usually is?
 

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