Todays Picture Of The Day 1968-9 LKMs

[combo52]

This is one of my all time favorite set of LKMs, this washer is the 2nd generation piano keyboard control.

 

The dryer was especially advanced, this was the only time that the Soft-Heat temperature control on the electric dryers had THREE heating elements, you could select either regular heat which would start with all three elements operating 5600 watts and then would switch down to 1400 watts. If you selected delicate to start it used 4100 watts and then switched down to 1400 watts.

 

On the gas dryer this was the only LKM dryer to ever have a full 30,000 BTU burner that tapered down to around 5000 BTUs and if you used the delicate heat setting it stated at 20,000 BTUs and again tapered down to around 5,000 BTUs.

 

These were truly the best washer and dryer you could buy at any price during this time period, notice even the shaded avocado finish is nicely shaded and contrasted without looking like a child had painted it unlike most other manufactures of the time.

 

John

 

[repairguy]

And you just happen to have a set of those beautiful machines.

 

[maytag85]

I like how dryers back in the 50’s 60’s and into the early 70’s offered a true low heat setting, and with the variable gas burner in the TOL Kenmore Gas dryers, they could turn out more loads than a modern day counterpart KM 29” gas dryer.

 

[strongenough78]

Would these have the Vari-Flex agitator?

 

[swestoyz]

A dream set, for certain. I had the dryer in white several years ago. Rough enough that it was parted out - saved the burner and blower assembly for the modulating bulb. The electronic controls were out of this world and over engineered.

Ben

 

[combo52]

1968-9 LKMs

Hi Vern, Yes this was the first use of the Vari-Flex agitator, The VFA was a neat idea, but I have often said it was overkill on a washer that already has 3 agitation speeds, with a 3 speed motor and four different levels of agitation you have 12 different levels of agitation possible.

 

The VFA would have been great on a 1 speed   washer.

 

John

 

[mickeyd]

HELLO JOHN

Funny you should mention the color. Perhaps the first and sharpest visual memory of the Avocado LKM I took care of was..........the avocado ;'D. It was so rich and dark like a real avocado--well, almost--somewhere between true olive and emerald gem! The pair was located along a half-wall with columns and arches between a long, wide country kitchen and a bordering hallway with the lower bedrooms and bath running off of it--a real eye grabber, everything.

But what I most loved about the machine was that it treated me to the first experience of an agitated cooldown, acting like a Frigidaire and her solid-tub cousins with rinse water entering and agitation going on simultaneously and in slo mo. And then doing it all over again, bliss! I thought that was awesome.

Alas, I have no pix, since this--the early 90's-- was long before we carried cameras on our butts and before I knew how to decode a KM model number, so I don't know what year it was. Unlike your model which I presume was earlier than mine, there was no water level dial, but a slider, so the console looked cleaner, just the keys and the big wheel. For all the non-stop praises I can sing about this machine, there was one thing I did not like: the high pitched whine of the of the tiny valve that flushed the powdered detergent dispenser; it sounded cheap to me, although I did like watching it work. I thought that moving all that water through the long trough for a full minute
(or more? )was lowering the water temperature. OH NO! "It wants the hot water steaming hot."

And lastly, having finally gotten and loved a Roto-Flex which I thought would be the apex of agitators, I now christen the Vari-flex as the best agitator ever with its almost infinite gradations between HI and LO, not to mention the 3 speeds. This may change if I ever get a Spiral Dasher, my Holy Grail for Holy Week. Hardy har har.