Tragic day in Appliance History! December 26, 1980

[rinso]

From Retromom: "It really is a shame. I hope someone picks up the patent for the jet action agitator. They say that everything old is new again...perhaps there is a chance..."

Do the clothes in 1-18 machines really need to be covered with water to circulate? I think it would be interesting to see if those of you with 1-18's could do a little experiment. Try seeing how little water you can use, and still get rollover, even though there may be some tangling. I'm guessing that with a little engineering, Jet Action agitators could roll clothes through a very small amount of water, similar to the Oasis, TL Neptune, and GE Harmony machines. Worth a try, eh? Of course I could be wrong. It's happened before.

 

[neptunebob]

The problem here, and someone correct me, it that General Motors is Generally Mean and probably has the patents to the jet action in such a way that no other company can make it. That is why no one else can make the electric cars they made and everyone wanted to buy.

WCI also bought off Westinghouse home appliances but did not change them much. I understand that Westinghouse did not spend enough money to advertise and did not want to put money into the plants in Ohio that made the appliances. I think maybe WCI closed those factories. In fact, most Frigidaire today are actually Westinghouse appliances.

Kelly, I didn't know Frigidaire ranges were that good, if they were they could have been another Viking. Maybe if there were more chef shows back then they may have sold more ranges. Or are Frigidaire ranges like Westinghouse?

 

[peteski50]

Wishfull Thinking

Do the clothes in 1-18 machines really need to be covered with water to circulate? I think it would be interesting to see if those of you with 1-18's could do a little experiment. Try seeing how little water you can use, and still get rollover, even though there may be some tangling. I'm guessing that with a little engineering, Jet Action agitators could roll clothes through a very small amount of water, similar to the Oasis, TL Neptune, and GE Harmony machines. Worth a try, eh? Of course I could be wrong. It's happened before.

As per Rinso comments I feel it could be done but unfourtinatly no one will put in the money or the time.

As for the patents I had thought for the longest time that GM held all the patents but after it was sold to WCI they got the patents. WCI had said they didn't have the patents but they really did. That was the biggest problem everything was on paper. WCI was not capable of making anything good. For awhile GM continued to make the appliances and WCI paid them to do so. It wasen't a good situation GM and WCI had a terrible relationship. Than WCI pulled out and GM suutdown everything.
Peter

 

[westytoploader]

I have A LOT of laundry to do this weekend. Will give it a try with some "soft" items on the Gentle setting and let everyone know.

--Austin

 

[goatfarmer]

Gibson/Philco

Gibson was in Greenville,MI,just north of Grand Rapids.MOF,Electrolux just closed the factory in the last year or sr are planning to close it very soon.

Wikipedia says Philco was aquired by Ford 12/11/61 (another December connection!),and Philips aquired them in 1981.They just wanted the similar sounding name.

Lots of good info in the article on Wikipedia. Philco is one of my favorite "off" brands to look for,another one ahead of their time.

kennyGF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philco

 

[bongobro]

Frigidaire, Philco, Kelvinator...whatever happened?

Frigidaire was absorbed into WCI sometime around 1978 (because some of the last GM Frigidaire appliances I saw included those weird and rare "poppy red" appliances GM launched about 1975 for Frigidaire's 50th anniversary...in fact I remember the radio commercial...

"Poppy birthday to you, Poppy birthday to you,
Poppy birthday from Frigidaire...Poppy birthday to you."
Frigidaire also made some refrigerators with off-beat accessories (the juice-mixer in the automatic dispenser and the tape recorder in the door...)

Philco was purchased by Ford in '61, as goatfarmer points out...and Philco and Bendix had merged their washer production about 1957-58 (about 1957 they began calling the Bendix Duomatic washer-dryer the "Philco-Bendix" duomatic. Ford bought Philco not so much for washers and dryers as an effort to expand their better ideas to military electronics. You may remember seeing "Philco Ford" on your car radio if you drove a late-'60's or early-'70's Ford, Lincoln or Mercury. Philco got out of the laundry business in 1969 when they sold their production line to, of all things, Dexter! Philco was a money-loser and was dumped in 1981 stateside, although Kmart sold some inexpensive electronics under the Philco brand in the 1990's.

Kelvinator was the first brand to be spun off to the WCI clan. When American Motors (nee Nash-Kelvinator) lost mucho money on their 1967 cars and needed a quick infusion of cash,
they sold their financing division (Refrigerator Discount Company, or REDISCO); then in 1968, since the Kelvinator appliance line needed major updating, the appliance division was sold off.

BTW, Frigidaire, Philco and Kelvinator share one thing in common...during their heydays, none of those three makes, at least the automatics, used conventional back-and-forth agitators. Frigidaire: "Live-Water/Three-Ring Pump Agitator/Jet Action/JetCone"; Philco "Blades of Water"; Kelvinator: "Deep Turbulent Washing Action."

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire

The poppy red was a very cool color and it started in 1972. My Aunt had a 1974 poppy red set and painted the basement wall to match. What a beautiful set. I do not remember the radio commercial but it must have been cool. I do also remember when Frigidaire was going to be sold, Whirlpool was looking into buying it but they were smart enough not to buy it because they wanted to get the factories included and GM wouldn't go for that. So it went to WCI and we all know what happened from their.
Peter

 

[westytoploader]

HE Jet-Action? Not really...

Washed approx. 3 loads this weekend, among them one in the 1-18. Filled the machine to the "Mini" water level, set it to slow speed agitation, and proceeded to add clothes (mainly soft dark items with no jeans; washed a jeans load in the GE). No such luck. The turnover ceased as soon as there were clothes above the water line, so I filled slightly below the "Normal" setting on the infinite dial and loaded the rest in.

I could see how if the agitator was re-engineered, HE Jet-Action would be possible, but it didn't work with the existing Jet Cone. Although considering Frigidaires DO naturally wash with a smaller water-to-clothing ratio than oscillating-agitator machines, it's really doesn't matter...

 

[rinso]

Hey, thanks for satisfying my curiosity, Austin.

 

[Cybrvanr]

Ford was using Motorola audio systems in the seventies too weren't they? My sister had a T.O.L. 1976 Ford Granada that had the optional Motorola Quadra sonic system in it. It was an 8-track player that would play 4 discreet channels. The speakers in the door and the back were 2 way speakers with tweeters. The system sounded quite nice, and sounded better than even some of the aftermarket systems of the time.

What I also thought was interesting about this car was that it had a G.M. A6 compressor on it with the "frigidaire" name and logo on the top of it!

Although GM sold the frigidare division to WCI, they held on to many patents like Pete mentioned. One of the most interesting is the rotary compressor designs that were used since the 40's in most of their fridges. They sort of work like a wankel engine. They have a unique sound to them that is unmistakable. Only recently, in 1996 I believe, have these compressors been re-introduced to the HVAC industry since the patent ran out. They are touted nowadays as being high efficiency compressors and a "new technology". Ironically, the American manufacturers didn't pick it up, but is yet another case of an American design going overseas, as Panasonic and Samsung are the two leading companies using that design.

 

[peteski50]

GM Patents

Actually to my knowledge GM held no patents as far as Frigidaire was concerned. For a few years after the demise of the real Frigidaire WCI stated they couldn't make the appliances like the GM stuff because they didn't have the patents. But that was a lie, the patents went with the sale. As I stated earlier everything was on paper and WCI just didn't have the money or know how to restart rebuliding the GM appliances. I remember in 1983 one appliance dealer was on the phone with a WCI consultant and was told he should tell people that the WCI is just as good as the 1/18, and the guy said he will do no such thing. The dealer also told WCI that they will not push any other products because they in no way compare to the GM quality. At about the same time that same dealer said WCI stated they were going to start to build the Jetaction washers again. But as we all know that never took off. What happened for so many years was the Frigidaire name was dragged through the mud. To me it took a long time to really sink in that it became a completly different company. Just another Westinghouse and a waste. When people ask me today if they should buy Frididaire I just say the quality is of lower standards compared to others. I just don't go into detail their is no point.
Peter

 

[exploder3211]

I have 2 (soon to be 3 when we get our new microwave up) frigidaires (electrolux) and I loved them.. The convection oven cooks evenly, heats quite evenly and is very simple to operate and has quite a large cavity.. Plus it has the side swing door which i love! My affinty is a great washer...It'ss very quite, has good washing results when using the right temp/wash.spin combo's and is a joy to use..

If i had to replace everything here would i consider straight frigidaire? No... From what every one has said there dishwashers are crappy and i really want to try a GE TT... There dryers are wayyyyyyyyyyyy too small... My 7.1 (or is it (7.0) CU FT Mayatg is perfect.. Otherwise i would definitly get a Frigidaire Fridge and Smoothtop Cooktop/Range.. Also want a warming drawer

 

[exploder3211]

BTW,

I have the books and manuals for a 1975 Honda Civic CVCC from Portland OR that had an aftermarket frigidaire a/c system in it...