There's a Westinghouse in my garage.

[geoff]

Many years ago I was offered a mid-60's Westinghouse top loader by my dear friend. It was used RARELY at his grandparents summer cottage in the Berkshires. I declined at the time because I didn't have room for it. Well, as 2 of you may know, I recently moved into a new house with 2 of my closest friends. With one them came, you guessed it, the Westinghouse top-loader. It has been sitting in our garage for the the past 2 months and tonight I decided it was time to fire it up and put it to good use. My friend Carl and I are beyond enthusiastic about our cars so this has become the car towel washer. I took MANY pics and videos to share. I will post some of the pics here and I am trying my damndest to get the videos on Putfile. Many more to come over the next few days....Enjoy!!!

Geoff

 

[geoff]

westinghouse

#2

 

[geoff]

westinghouse

#3

 

[geoff]

You'll find the rest here.....

I just finished uploading pics of the Westinghouse and my new laundry room. You guys know the drill........

http://automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/...=01@[email protected]&dir=/COLLECTIONS/GEOFF/

 

[cleanteamofny]

Dog Gone, I want one!
That is so sexy!

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Nice WhTL geoff !

I know of at least one Texan that is gonna have a
fit over it!!!!

 

[cleanteamofny]

Hey, the lid instructions lacks the do not use flammable solvents, but in todays world it in fine print! So the sixties had a time bomb waiting to happen.....

Wait......., mom and dad used it to remove grease out of clothes then, why not we?

I forgot, the wringers was on the back porches back in the days........

 

[mayken4now]

Thanks for the pics and fun Geoff!

Steve

 

[imperial70]

Jordan marsh had that same machine under their Ambassador brand in the late 60's. The only difference was some cosmetic changes on the outside (Instead of heavy duty 16 it said Power Plus 16) AND the lint filter fit over the agitator. No, it was not a GE because it had the indexing tub and the lock'n'spin lid. Porcelain top was very strong.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Great washer and pictures Geoff, thanks for sharing. How fun is that and those 60's/70's Westinghouse Top-loaders sure are a relatively rare find!

I'm surprised it has a black agitator and white agitator cap, I wonder if one of those had been replaced at some point?

 

[rinso]

These were actually fairly good machines, indexing tub and all. My sister had one and it seemed to have good rollover and washing action. I think the only real deficiency was an anemic spin, something around 525 RPMS or so.

 

[peteski50]

Westinghouse!

Hi Geoff,
This is a real nice washer. Thats Great it is in such great shape after all these years. Best Of Luck in your new home.
Peter

 

[appnut]

Geoff, thanks for sharing. I can hear Roger's westy out in Tucson when I look at yours washing. A fun machine.

rinso, that's not as anemic as a kenmore/whirlpool at 515 rpms!!!

 

[geoff]

Thank you all for the replies

It truly is a fun machine and the Stroke is so much faster than I thought it would be. The spin isnt as anemic as one would think, most clothes com out of it fairly dry. Robert, I'm not sure wether the agitator or cap have been replaced. I'm sure I could find out though, Carl sees his grandparents every day. When you let go of the tub, the indexing stops the load from circling. I'll have to get Carl to hold the tub while I take a video to show what I'm talking about LOL more to come

 

[bobbyd32l]

Nice machine! The agitator looks just like the one in our RIP hotpoint from the early 90's(but ours was white)! The hotpoint had the one with the lift out to revel a smaller agitator for delicate loads!

Im curious to see how the tub revolves during the wash, Any change at some videos?

 

[geoff]

videos

Yes Bobby, Videos are in the works. I was having some problems with Putfile that should be resolved tonight. I took about 5 videos. Bear with me, I'll keep you all posted

 

[westytoploader]

Great catch Geoff, Westinghouse top-loaders are so much fun to watch! Don't you just love that Splasholation on small loads and wicked-fast agitation?

I had fun playing with Roger's and Ross's Westies in Arizona. One thing I noticed was that the turnover was better with the indexing tub! If you held the tub, there would be more "dip-roll" motion like the GE, with the clothes moving around in a circle.

 

[rinso]

I guess "anemic spin" was not a good choice of words, sorry. I still maintain that the Westy top-loaders were better than average machines in their time. Good rollover, good filtering, easy on clothes, intuitive controls and attractively designed.

 

[westytoploader]

Actually the spin is hardly anemic at all...if I remember correctly it was around 625 or so, or that might have been GE; can't remember. Definitely in the 600 range though. In all of the Westinghouses I used, at the Convention and in Tucson, the loads were barely damp-dry when I pulled them out!

 

[rinso]

Sorry, my mistake. I thought it was around only 525, but that was the front loader. But, isn't this the same mechanism that WCI used in the Frigidaire when they acquired them?

 

[westytoploader]

Currently the Electrolux-made Frigidaire TLs have a (very cheapened down) version of the Franklin mechanism which came into play sometime in the mid-80's (before that, WCI Frigidaires were simply Westinghouses with a 1-18 control panel). Slightly different than the older, fast-agitating Westinghouses and Franklins from the 60's, they have a longer and slower agitation stroke/index. Some still had a recirculating bed-of-nails filter and spin-drained, but the current Frigiluxes have a separate electric drain pump and neutral drain. I don't think the spin was as fast as it was, either.

Anytime you see an angel-wing agitator, bed-of-nails lint filter, and on later machines, a plastic tub, it's one of these. Their portable washer seemed to be VERY popular, as some of the brandnames it was produced under include the White-Westinghouse, Gibson, Kelvinator, GE, Hamilton, and Montgomery Ward names if not more. The 24" WCI Frigidaire Skinny-Minis also used this mechanism as well.

When we were in the Cayman Islands last summer, we had one in our condominium. Very fun to play with and watch, with the recirculating filter and angel-wing agitator, but the tub was way too small and the dryer was way too slow!!! I washed many loads during that week! Here's one of them...

--Austin

 

[geoff]

Very true Austin

I had typed that about the turnover but must have accidentally hit "Home" and it disappeared LOL. ( Laptop keyboards are evil LOL ) The circulation is actually HELPED by the indexing. If you hold the tub, the clothes just go in a circle from the massive agiator. If you let go and let it index, the ribs in the tub prevent it from circling and the turnover is MUCH better. I was quite surprised when I learned that. Thank you all so much for your comments. I have to agree that this machine is VERY fun. The only thing is if you forget to close the lid the splash factor will give the laundry room a bath LOL

Take care my friends,
Geoff

 

[golittlesport]

If you hold the indexing tub on the later Franklin-based innerds with the angel wing agitator it will actually improve the clothes circulation...the spiral agitator and ribbed tub in the Westinghouses must have made the difference.

 

[toggleswitch]

Geoff:

I'm surprised you chose to put your collectible into service as a daily-driver. Are you concened about wear-and-tear?

 

[geoff]

Stevie

It's not a daily driver. I ran it that once and I use it about once or twice a month. when I do it's for the fun factor.. No worries, it's being WELL taken care of.

Geoff