Vintage InSinkErator installed and operating

[tolivac]

I would love to see the vintage ISE doco.Esp on your Mom's house-I used to read the doco for hours when my Mom bought a Levitt house in 1968.They did give you good info on operating the homes equipment and maintaining it-after reading all that-Guess who got to do the maintenance when he came to visit in the summer??was me.Was fun though.I think the literature was better written in those days-you got more info on the products.Your questions were answered.

 

[kenmore1978]

moveable hammers

There must be some advantage to them, since everybody switched to them. What is it?

 

[hoover1060]

Vintage brochures and movable hammers

Tolivac,
My parents first house was built in 1963, a custom job that they did alot of the work on themselves. It was a 3 br 1.5 bath ranch with a full basement and 2 car garage, located in a small town called Monroe Center Illinois, about 15 miles SW of Rockford. My parents moved into the house in January 1964, 2 months before I was born. They sold the house at the end of 1965, when my dad was transferred from Rockford to Deerfield with his job. They bought the Elk Grove house then, and have lived there ever since.
My mother saved everything from the Monroe Center house, reciepts, brochures, plans, blueprints. Was I ever surprised when a couple years ago she handed me that 1963 ISE brochure. Growing up we would go back to visit that house(They had sold it to friends) and I remember the ISE in the kitchen sink. The last time I was at the house was 1995, for the funeral of the lady who'd bought the house from my parents. The 1963 ISE was still there and still working.

Movable Hammers:
To the best of my knowledge, both movable and fixed hammers have been used on Disposals since their debut in the late 1930's. ISE used fixed hammers on all of their models up til the early 1970's, when they went to the stamped SS components on their cheaper models.
Waste King has always used movable hammers in the majority of their machines, but did have the fixed hammers on cheaper models here and there.
The idea was that movable hammers were supposed to help avoid jamming the disposal.

I'll scan and post some brochure pics tonight.

 

[hoover1060]

1950's ISE

heres the oldest one I have

 

[hoover1060]

installed

here it is installed...

 

[hoover1060]

cover from parent's 1963 brochure

Cover, and a neat cutaway

 

[hoover1060]

1968 brochure

This is as campy as a row of tents!

 

[hoover1060]

1968 cutaway

The inside of the 1976 machine in my sink is identical to this one...

 

[hoover1060]

1976 line

no date on this, but my guess is about 1976 or 1977. Note the top row does not mention the swivel hammers.

 

[tolivac]

Hoover1060-The ISE "900" brochure you show is exactly what was shown in the 1948 magazine ad.The showed the "installed" picture.It also showed the arm supports going to the machine.Interesting way of holding it.Also showed the knob start and reversing switch.Was a manually reversed model then.Bet it would have blown the fuse or tripped a breaker if you tried to reverse it while it was going.And it would sure need those bottom braces to hold against the torque!!Otherwise it could get ripped loose.
The "campy"(1968) brocures show the ISE #17 thats under my sink now-but nonfunctional.Someone took the Start cap,and starter -reverse switches from it.also its long seized up.Was keeping my eyes open for a "new" vintage machine to replace it-batch feeder.The "Badger ones" were what I usually found in the apartments.Its a swing hammer machine-cheap but tough and effective.Sadly they corrode out after several years.The hammers are the only parts of SS.The machine corrodes around them!!They have stampted shredders.
in terms of jamminmg versus fixed hammers or swivel ones-doesn't matter if the jam occurs between the edge of the flywheel and shred ring.A bone or pit fragment will do it if the machine is stopped while still grinding.some folks make that mistake.I tell them to listen before stopping the machine.If you still hear grinding-shredding noises-keep it running until you no longer hear them.

 

[westytoploader]

Cool brochures--thanks for posting!

That was another thing I did--peeked under people's cabinets to see what type of disposer they had! All I saw were the "builders-grade" machines...

 

[hoover1060]

buying an ISE

Years ago, ISE was the super premium brand, well known but not widely or easily available. To get one, you either bought a new house with one installed(either a Badger I or Badger V) or you had a plumber come install one(for big $$$ I might add)
I don't know when I became aware of ISE, but I remember the surprise at the brand...I knew them as Sears Kenmore first! If my memory serves, it was the early 1990's before ISE was sold in mass market retail stores such as Home Depot.

I always peeked under sinks too, and in my childhood days the brands and types were many, from Waste King and Hotpoint to GE, Tappan, Kenmore, National... you name it!

 

[westytoploader]

I mainly saw ISE and Kenmore, however, my grandmother had a strange orange-colored machine! Thought it was a Sears as well but can't remember off the top of my head. Here, the 3/4 HP Kenmore replaced another builders-grade ISE that had fallen victim to corrosion and was 100% non-functional.

We had a 1988-89 Jenn-Air disposer in our old house (with matching dishwasher; replaced it and installed the disposer at the same time). This was definitely before Jenn-Air was considered a high-end brand, as the disposer looked the same as a builders-grade ISE, and the dishwasher had only 3 cycles with no heated-wash option. The disposer was relatively noisy (probably due to the swinging-hammer design), but otherwise jam-free. Same with the dishwasher--very reliable.

Did Maytag make their own disposers or were they outsourced? I had a bunch of Maytag brochures I picked up at a home-builders show in early 1996 (somehow lost it) and their disposer line looked like the 1976-77 ISE line pictured, however, their lowest-end model resembled the Model 333.

 

[tolivac]

thats usually what I would find if I looked in someones cabinets-Mostly "Badgers"

 

[hoover1060]

who made/makes what...

Years ago, everybody made their own stuff. Today, ISE makes 80% of the disposals sold, under various names, including Maytag, Whirlpool, and Kitchenaid.
Maytag made their own until the late 80's(tougher than nails)
Kitchenaid/National were made by Hobart.
Whirlpool did their own
Waste King did their own, Frigidaire, and Montgomery Ward(Waste King was bought up by Anaheim in the middle 90's)
ISE used to be just them, and Kenmore, and Westinghouse for a time.
GE made their own, Hotpoint, and AO Smith
Anaheim/Tappan made them under at least 20 different brands, including Sinkmaster, Whirlaway, Caloric, Magic Chef.. ect.

Today the only companies left that manufacture disposers are:
ISE(too many brands to name)
Whiterock(Sinkguard and Monarch)
Viking(the old Hobart made Kitchenaid)
Anaheim(Waste King, Whirlaway, Sinkmaster, GE and a few others. Anaheim disposers have permanant magnet motors, and sound somewhat like a blender)

 

[tolivac]

Disposer builders

Its now boiled down to ISE and Anehiem Engineering. Note how ISE still stays with the induction motor.Both have their faults though.Caps,start switches in the induction models burn out. In the PM ones,brushes wear out(will take MANY years for a disposer)and the rectifier blocks can burn out from a heavy load.The PM ones have a Bridge rectifier block to rectify the incoming 120VAC to about 100Vdc to run the PM motor.I ran into a Anehiem Engineering model(GE named) that has a burned out (shorted) rect block.Pops out its OL button when plugged in.Just haven't gotten around to replacing it-probably could get a new rectifier from Radio Shack.The ISE folks and Anehiem folks make the bulk of the disposers sold today.I doubt the Viking machines(former KA) are big sellers due to their VERY high price.

 

[westytoploader]

I prefer an induction motor on a disposal because it is quieter and has more torque, IMHO. I think hearing the sound of a vacuum under your sink would take some getting used to...

The Viking disposer was well-liked by CR if I can remember correctly. I might have to pull the issue out and check. Very sleek design as well; the best-looking machine in that report.

 

[programcomputer]

Well I went to Lowes today......

So, the final chapter on my disposall challenge was.....the purchase of an ISE Badger 5 model 5-81. The reasoning was, I got a great deal on it from the actual retail price, and it come with everything to install, and they threw in a brand new new powercord as well. Normally $69.99, I was given it for 54.00 becasue the box had a ding in it, and the free powercord a $5.99 value saving me $20.99. The one at MeeNards was not quite as good a deal after all of that...I love Lowes..

I have yet to install it becasue I am home WAAAAY to late to start this tonight. So I will be gettin to it tommorow. I have unpacked it...and it looks body wise similiar to what I already have down there...and well it's an Emerson Corp. product explained elsewhere.

It is also of swing hammer design.

I look at it this way, ISE is still a good brand as many people seem to feel on this topic, the salesman was cool w/ me and diddn't act like I was wasting his time, and like I said threw in a cord for free. Also our old disposer was installed on 2/13/83 according to the info that I found written on it in black marker...so going off that the little guy's simplisitc info , again smaller in shape than the "new" one and less powerful 1/3 horsepower and the new one is 1/2 horsepower...it lasted 22 years.

It looks in many ways VERY similiar to the Badger V in the above brochure "Builders Model" last row, second from last.

We'll see how happy I am with it when i have it installed tommorow afternoon.

Thanks Again Jeff for the input, and all. As usual your the man...

Thanks

Chad

 

[mrcleanjeans]

the Disposor Dah-ling

Doesn't the 1968 "chick" with that outfit that looks like it's from "Lost in Space" look just like Suzanne Pleshette?

 

[hoover1060]

DAH-LING! Its number one

I can just hear someone such as Tallulah Bankhead saying that in her gravel-y voice. That 1968 brochure is full of pictures of that girl in various reynolds wrap style outfits, specially designed for ISE by some designer who's name escapes me.

Chad: decent choice and price on the Badger V. Should serve you well.

Motors: I prefer the induction motor too, just for quietness. One of my neighbors here installed a new GE last fall with the PM motor. I watched it work at a dinner party, and it took everything and was reasonably quiet about it. The sound of the PM motor reminds me of a tree chipper.
Does anyone remember the disposals GE made(just up til a few years ago) with the universal motors and 8000 RPM? They were LOUD, but would chew almost anything!