This morning's blog post is going to make a few people quite happy I think 
Designing a Better Portable Dishwasher
Designing a Better Portable Dishwasher
The Story of How the Mobile Maid Came to Be
- Thread starter Unimatic1140
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Great article. Thanks.
I have to take issue with the following statement:
"We cut through the plastisol film with a sharp knife to expose bare steel in “X” marks on the bottom of the tub. These cuts have not rusted nor has the adhesion of the plastisol been impaired in this or other areas "
Our last impeller Mobile Maid with the blue tub interior and the white racks only had two after rinses and there was some effect on the washing performance of heavily soiled loads.
I have to take issue with the following statement:
"We cut through the plastisol film with a sharp knife to expose bare steel in “X” marks on the bottom of the tub. These cuts have not rusted nor has the adhesion of the plastisol been impaired in this or other areas "
Our last impeller Mobile Maid with the blue tub interior and the white racks only had two after rinses and there was some effect on the washing performance of heavily soiled loads.
I'm happy...
Thanks for posting this Robert!!
I'd love to get a look at the 1953 version of the 'Maid...
Thanks for posting this Robert!!
I'd love to get a look at the 1953 version of the 'Maid...
check out control panal on oven. Never saw one like that.
Well, I feel like that redhead...
Sure perked up my day! Thanks Robert!
Sure perked up my day! Thanks Robert!
The 1953 version of the portable dishwasher is the one pictured next to the clock with the big round dial on the front. The trim colors on these mchines were, at various periods, turquoise or red.
The oven's control panel shows the meat thermometer available on the TOL model. Otherwise, it is just GE's first style of builtin oven.
The oven's control panel shows the meat thermometer available on the TOL model. Otherwise, it is just GE's first style of builtin oven.
ovrphil
Well-known member
productstat.com
Robert. That link has enough distraction for days of reading - many good articles, as this one. One article about the GM Tech Center caught my attention. As it's fairly close to my hometown, I remember when it was new and the parking lots that covered so many acres, were full(unlike today).
Thanks for mentioning this ...have a good one!
Robert. That link has enough distraction for days of reading - many good articles, as this one. One article about the GM Tech Center caught my attention. As it's fairly close to my hometown, I remember when it was new and the parking lots that covered so many acres, were full(unlike today).
Thanks for mentioning this ...have a good one!
Tom, I guess the 1953 design was retained for several years - my 1956 'Maid does look like the one in the photo but has the red timer dial. IIRC, it was the early ones that had the green dial.
I just HAVE to get my butt in gear to complete the restoration of that 56 model...
I just HAVE to get my butt in gear to complete the restoration of that 56 model...
Well won't be wearing starched petticoats, a shirtwaist and high heels when loading our Mobile Maid but am thankful none the less for the information! *LOL*
The woman in the ad is casual elegance personified...from the shoulders down. The slightly deranged look on her face infers she wants to slam the lid on that girl's fingers, LOL.
By the way, did you know we have rats in the cellar?
*LOL*
Knew someone years ago who grew up on the same street as the house and yes it is still there!
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2011/10/25/the-what-ever-happened-to-baby-jane-house/
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/172-S-Mccadden-Pl-Los-Angeles-CA-90004/20778259_zpid/
*LOL*
Knew someone years ago who grew up on the same street as the house and yes it is still there!
http://www.iamnotastalker.com/2011/10/25/the-what-ever-happened-to-baby-jane-house/
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/172-S-Mccadden-Pl-Los-Angeles-CA-90004/20778259_zpid/
whirlcool
Well-known member
Why do I still keep seeing Joan Crawford's face on the woman standing by the dishwasher? That little girl resembles my nutty sister when she was about that age.
My parents had a Mobile Maid for a couple of years (61-63 or so) but got rid of it.
It took up too much room in the small kitchen the house originally had. If I remember correctly the interior of the MM was turquoise. And I still remember the Plastisol odor to this day. I thought all dishwashers were supposed to smell like that when they just finished the dishes! I never knew that plastisol was used on the racks too.
My parents had a Mobile Maid for a couple of years (61-63 or so) but got rid of it.
It took up too much room in the small kitchen the house originally had. If I remember correctly the interior of the MM was turquoise. And I still remember the Plastisol odor to this day. I thought all dishwashers were supposed to smell like that when they just finished the dishes! I never knew that plastisol was used on the racks too.
The "Mother's" expression belies the fact that
she knows Russia has launched and in minutes her kitchen is gonna go Bluewy to pieces !!
she knows Russia has launched and in minutes her kitchen is gonna go Bluewy to pieces !!
Early Mobile Maid DWs
Great article Robert, Thanks
One of the most important recurring things mentioned in the development of this product was keeping the cost of building these DWs down. During a recent discussion about GE GSD1200 and GSD2800 DWs from the 1980s one member decried that taking the reversible front panels out of DWs as a cost cut like that was a bad thing. Without cost cuts and production improvements few of us would be able to have modern appliances at all, can you imagine how much a Kitchen-aid KDS16 would cost today if improvements and cost cutting had not occurred, maybe $3000 or more, very few people would have DWs at all.
In the US around 80% of homes and apartments have a DW, this is almost double the rate of homes that have DWs in much of Europe where the cost of DWs is much higher on average partly because they are overly complicated and expensive to build.
Great article Robert, Thanks
One of the most important recurring things mentioned in the development of this product was keeping the cost of building these DWs down. During a recent discussion about GE GSD1200 and GSD2800 DWs from the 1980s one member decried that taking the reversible front panels out of DWs as a cost cut like that was a bad thing. Without cost cuts and production improvements few of us would be able to have modern appliances at all, can you imagine how much a Kitchen-aid KDS16 would cost today if improvements and cost cutting had not occurred, maybe $3000 or more, very few people would have DWs at all.
In the US around 80% of homes and apartments have a DW, this is almost double the rate of homes that have DWs in much of Europe where the cost of DWs is much higher on average partly because they are overly complicated and expensive to build.
Interesting observation about the cost of building a dishwasher, John. I would liken that to the 'replacement cost' of rebuilding a house after a major fire or other damage - to rebuild it to the same standards using current materials and at current prices can be very expensive!
Also interesting was the article mentions that GE was very aware of the cost to the consumer, not just of the dishwasher but also for installation. I know I've droned on about this before, but in the neighbourhood where I grew up, most folks had portable dishwashers because of the oddball plumbing arrangements in the kitchens. The homes were more or less all built by the same builder and they all had a long drain pipe running from the main drain stack through the base cabinets to the sink. You may have had the 24 inch space for a dishwasher, but not the depth... One of the few built-in units was in the house of a friend of mine and whoever installed it did a really nice bojack job of it; they hardly used the dishwasher as a result. Fortunately I saved it when the house was sold a few years ago!
Also interesting was the article mentions that GE was very aware of the cost to the consumer, not just of the dishwasher but also for installation. I know I've droned on about this before, but in the neighbourhood where I grew up, most folks had portable dishwashers because of the oddball plumbing arrangements in the kitchens. The homes were more or less all built by the same builder and they all had a long drain pipe running from the main drain stack through the base cabinets to the sink. You may have had the 24 inch space for a dishwasher, but not the depth... One of the few built-in units was in the house of a friend of mine and whoever installed it did a really nice bojack job of it; they hardly used the dishwasher as a result. Fortunately I saved it when the house was sold a few years ago!
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Reading Between the Lines....
All those protests about the supposed durability of the Plastisol liner feel to me like ad-speak - an attempt to gloss over a situation that GE must have already known was brewing.
I personally cannot imagine that deliberately cut Plastisol did not generate rust. Oh, maybe not in the first two nanoseconds, but it would not have taken long after that. I speak from long and bitter experience.
Remember, it wasn't too long after this that GE was making a service part for the pull-out undercounter models - a stainless replacement floor to stop the Plastirot affecting so many of those units.
All those protests about the supposed durability of the Plastisol liner feel to me like ad-speak - an attempt to gloss over a situation that GE must have already known was brewing.
I personally cannot imagine that deliberately cut Plastisol did not generate rust. Oh, maybe not in the first two nanoseconds, but it would not have taken long after that. I speak from long and bitter experience.
Remember, it wasn't too long after this that GE was making a service part for the pull-out undercounter models - a stainless replacement floor to stop the Plastirot affecting so many of those units.
Plastisol
Am here to tell you it is like playing a game of "Whack a Mole" with the inner tub of GE Mobile Maid dishwashers.
Having patched the Plastisol interior of damage the unit arrived with one is constantly inspecting for other spots trouble and taking proactive action.
Think one of the major problems of at least top loading MM dishwashers is the damage to tub liner from dropped utensils such as knives or forks. Since one loads things downwards it probably was only a matter of time before someone drops something that resulted in nicking that plastic liner.
Mind you enameled porcelain on steel tubs on both dishwasher and washing machine tubs can suffer the same fate. However much depended IMHO upon the quality of the porcelain interior and of course the user. The fact so many vintage dishwashers and washing machines with such tubs are still out there with interiors in pretty decent shape I think proves my point.
In linked article GE goes into much detail about bacteria counts and so forth on porcelain versus Plastisol. Well that very well might have been true but just because germs were on/in the tub interior it does not follow they would transfer onto dishes. Between several water changes at temps >140F, highly alkaline detergent and then a heated drying don't think we need worry about how sanitary dishes were coming out of either machine. That plus detergents at the time contained healthy dosages of chlorine bleach. Need I say more?
All marketing is putting a spin on things to push goods or services. GE had to know fully well the drawbacks of using Plastisol for dishwasher tub linings, but chose to cheap out instead of going with porcelain. The fact ever GE/Hotpoint dishwasher repair manual from the "Plastisol" era gives instructions on how to repair tub linings tells you something was up. IIRC GE also sold replacement parts for the metal under tub.
Am here to tell you it is like playing a game of "Whack a Mole" with the inner tub of GE Mobile Maid dishwashers.
Having patched the Plastisol interior of damage the unit arrived with one is constantly inspecting for other spots trouble and taking proactive action.
Think one of the major problems of at least top loading MM dishwashers is the damage to tub liner from dropped utensils such as knives or forks. Since one loads things downwards it probably was only a matter of time before someone drops something that resulted in nicking that plastic liner.
Mind you enameled porcelain on steel tubs on both dishwasher and washing machine tubs can suffer the same fate. However much depended IMHO upon the quality of the porcelain interior and of course the user. The fact so many vintage dishwashers and washing machines with such tubs are still out there with interiors in pretty decent shape I think proves my point.
In linked article GE goes into much detail about bacteria counts and so forth on porcelain versus Plastisol. Well that very well might have been true but just because germs were on/in the tub interior it does not follow they would transfer onto dishes. Between several water changes at temps >140F, highly alkaline detergent and then a heated drying don't think we need worry about how sanitary dishes were coming out of either machine. That plus detergents at the time contained healthy dosages of chlorine bleach. Need I say more?
All marketing is putting a spin on things to push goods or services. GE had to know fully well the drawbacks of using Plastisol for dishwasher tub linings, but chose to cheap out instead of going with porcelain. The fact ever GE/Hotpoint dishwasher repair manual from the "Plastisol" era gives instructions on how to repair tub linings tells you something was up. IIRC GE also sold replacement parts for the metal under tub.
Yes, this posting made me very happy indeed
I, personally, don't attribute the calculated greed to companies like GE in the 1950's that I've come to expect from GE in the last 30 years. IMHO, GE decided to experiment with a relatively new Firestone plastic compound that they thought might create a better liner(less chipping, noise muffling) for dishwasher tubs than the porcelain of the period which, I'm told, had serious limitations on application at that time. I would guess that at the time it wasn't much cheaper to use than porcelain. It didn't work as well as they had hoped, but it wasn't so disastrous that they had to make an immediate change. I think the accessory stainless bottom liners were needed more for the early machines that had 750-watt heaters that I've seen that broiled not only the tub bottoms but whole sections of the bottom racks.
My family owned a couple of these machines, one for 13 years(the one I yap about incessantly in these forums) and it didn't have a blemish anywhere and lots of different people, some careful, some not, used that machine. By 1960, GE put a fine chicken-wire cage over the bottom of the tub so most fallen silverware and stuff wouldn't go all the way through. I collect these machines and 4 out of 5 of them have pristine tubs; one has a "mole" to use Laundress' term. I think we all agree that there is no better material for dishwasher tanks than high-quality stainless steel, but, as a collector, I find the different styles and colors of liner Plastisol to be low-voltage delightful. Unlike some, I like the smell; it reminds me of the wonderful Plastic Goop that we used with our Mattel "Creepy Crawlers" and "Vac-U-Form"toys. Would I buy a dishwasher today with an applied plastic lining? No. Would I buy our SU-70 v.2 again if it were available today? In a heartbeat.
I, personally, don't attribute the calculated greed to companies like GE in the 1950's that I've come to expect from GE in the last 30 years. IMHO, GE decided to experiment with a relatively new Firestone plastic compound that they thought might create a better liner(less chipping, noise muffling) for dishwasher tubs than the porcelain of the period which, I'm told, had serious limitations on application at that time. I would guess that at the time it wasn't much cheaper to use than porcelain. It didn't work as well as they had hoped, but it wasn't so disastrous that they had to make an immediate change. I think the accessory stainless bottom liners were needed more for the early machines that had 750-watt heaters that I've seen that broiled not only the tub bottoms but whole sections of the bottom racks.
My family owned a couple of these machines, one for 13 years(the one I yap about incessantly in these forums) and it didn't have a blemish anywhere and lots of different people, some careful, some not, used that machine. By 1960, GE put a fine chicken-wire cage over the bottom of the tub so most fallen silverware and stuff wouldn't go all the way through. I collect these machines and 4 out of 5 of them have pristine tubs; one has a "mole" to use Laundress' term. I think we all agree that there is no better material for dishwasher tanks than high-quality stainless steel, but, as a collector, I find the different styles and colors of liner Plastisol to be low-voltage delightful. Unlike some, I like the smell; it reminds me of the wonderful Plastic Goop that we used with our Mattel "Creepy Crawlers" and "Vac-U-Form"toys. Would I buy a dishwasher today with an applied plastic lining? No. Would I buy our SU-70 v.2 again if it were available today? In a heartbeat.
Here
here, Launderess
here, Launderess
screen below bottom rack
My 66 Mobile Maid is running well, I seem to have currently fixed the Plastisol rust spots well, but yes I get one or two pieces of silverware sticking thru the rack, etc, either stopping the spray arm or scraping the bottom liner. Would a stainless wire screen at maybe 1/4inch square holes, tied under the entire bottom rack, help me? Or hurt me by impeding the water spray? No one loads that machine but me, but I ain't perfect. Or maybe I should just screen the silverware basket?
My 66 Mobile Maid is running well, I seem to have currently fixed the Plastisol rust spots well, but yes I get one or two pieces of silverware sticking thru the rack, etc, either stopping the spray arm or scraping the bottom liner. Would a stainless wire screen at maybe 1/4inch square holes, tied under the entire bottom rack, help me? Or hurt me by impeding the water spray? No one loads that machine but me, but I ain't perfect. Or maybe I should just screen the silverware basket?
