Tub Escape

[johnrk]

Going over an old August, 1958, issue of CR I notice that one of the categories back then was "Probability of small items escaping from tub". Some machines, like the Frigidaire, Maytag and Whirlpool/Sears, along with the Philco-Bendix, Ward's and Westinghouse front-loaders, were rated "Very slight or none". However, other top loaders, including the Hamilton, Norge, Blackstone, Hotpoint and GE, were listed "Some". The ABC-O-Matic, Kelvinator and bottom-rated Speed Queen were listed as "Considerable".

I know that the old Speed Queens with a solid tub worked on tossing water above the tub while washing, and that there was some sort of thing strung around the top of the tub to prevent this. However, wasn't the Hotpoint and some of the others also constructed with a solid tub?

Was there a difference in the washing action with some of these machines that caused this rating? Or was it just the path of the wash water while working?

 

[yogitunes]

not only back then, but even in todays machines you will see clothing finding it way into the outter tub.....

some say it could be from the spin drain or overflow that causes an item to run over top...I have run into machine that this has happened to...but also seen it on a neutral drain machine.....

sometimes I think it happens during loading, or especially during unloading, as clothes are pulled up and out of the machine, small items like socks can be rolled along the gathered load and under the splash shield....

I got in one machine that this happened to, and jammed the pump.....I ran load after load, worked perfect, gave it back to the customer, the next day, same thing...this happened 3 times, and you have to wonder, is it the machine, or the laundry practices of the user....

 

[parunner58]

In 1959-61 we lived on base in Fort Knox, Kentucky. The army had MOL GE FF in the house and I remember my mom saying a few times she had to call for service. Here tiny baby socks would make thier way to the outer tub due to the spin drain they did.

 

[johnrk]

pararunner

I use lingerie bags these days for washing and drying those elastic suspenders. Did those exist back then? Do you think that would've prevented those tiny socks from escaping? Thanks for your reply.

 

[brucelucenta]

items escaping over the tub

This happened in many of the solid tub machines and in some perforated machines as well. It depended partly upon how well the manufacturers guarded against that and in some cases if the machine was overloaded or had things that tended to float washing in it. I know that every single laundromat washer I worked on of the Frigidaire machines had several pair of baby plastic panties that were used before disposable diapers were popular which had spun over the top into the outer tub. Every Frigidaire commercial washer had a wire basket in the outer tub to catch such things and not plug up the drain. The Frigidaire home units did not have that and many had a clothes guard up under the rim of the inner tub to keep this from happening. When someone would remove that plastic piece, things would get spun over the top. I have seen a Kenmore DD machine that had a baby sock stuck between the inner and outer tub too, but that is fairly rare. [this post was last edited: 10/27/2017-09:18]

 

[tomturbomatic]

The cut-away diagram of the Easy automatic POD shows a strainer in the outer tub to catch some things that go overboard. There was an old SQ in the laundry room of a place I lived that had something go overboard and partially block the pump so that the wash water did not fully spin out of the tub. It was so damn disgusting getting anyone to understand the problem because it would empty the tub in the final spin.  Coins could do this in Maytags. During the drain they would get carried by the swirling water and sucked into the pump inlet in the outer tub, but get blasted loose when the pump reversed for agitation. Often, the inner tub often had to be removed to thoroughly empty the change purse in the outer tub.

 

[gyrafoam]

My 1955 Pulsamatic has a box-shaped strainer protecting the drain on the floor of the Outer tub. All machines should have one!

I have pulled a sock out of a machine I found before but don't even recall which machine it was.
All of my daily drivers, except for one, are old machines, mostly solid-tub. Frigidaires, Norge, SQ's, Dexter (Philco), etc. A Maytag and a Whirly. I have never had an item go overboard on any of them.