What suggestions do you have to get this old girl going again?

[mickeyd]

I'm kind of fascinated and curious to see one of these E

Kelly, you definitely need a spanking ;->

 

Ralph those are great scans, and here's a vid of my first Easy, half way through the movie, showing the spray rinse up close and very personal since I put my arm down along the cone. I was younger then and crazy (er). Forgive the Maytag and Whirlpool interruptions.

 

[rp2813]

Interesting clip.  I do like that spinner clutch system.  It gets up to speed almost instantly.  I'd like to see the whole process documented sometime.

 

I'm guessing your machine is a later model than my mom's or Pete's, but it doesn't have the hinged spinner lid so I'm not so sure.  I didn't realize there were so many gaps in the history of Easy models.

 

[mickeyd]

Just parked the bycicle and here you are. Love it when that

Yes, it's a later model, mid to late 60's, I think. Revs right up to 900 rpms in seconds. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

So many gaps Ralph, and so many mysteries, so we have a nice goal ahead of us over the coming years.

 

[mickeyd]

Notice that your scan, Reply #20

shows the true shape of the spray rinse cone, much wider at the buttom, while my photo and video fail to capture its true width. Always wanted people to see it, so thank you, Ralph , because that it one of the secrets of the great rinsing this machine is capable of. This is an example of the "Precision Engineering" Easy claimed to achieve.
[this post was last edited: 10/28/2011-17:16]

 

[rp2813]

I'm glad my documents have provided some help.  It's interesting because I just discovered them within the past couple of weeks after thinking the whole stash of product literature my dad had saved was long gone.  As other topics appear on the various forums here, I'll provide applicable literature if I have it.

 

[arbilab]

That's grandma's except the pump output was a hose not a 'faucet'. Disc spinner cover w/hole. I don't recall hers having the timer. Might have been BOL or it had one but she didn't use it. I don't recall the spinner hub being hollow.

 

[peteinlongbeach]

Hinged spindrier lid

Here's the cover of the owner's manual, and I was clearly mistaken when I advised the washer pictured on the cover is identical to Pete's.  It's not, since Pete's has a hinged spin basket cover which I presume is an indicator of a later model.

 

rp,

The hinged spinner lid, without faucets, is indicated in my 1941 owner's manual.  So, this appears to be the earlier version.

 

[rp2813]

Pete, yeah, when I watched the clip of the 60's Easy without the hinged lid it occurred to me that yours is likely an earlier model than 1949.  Thanks for confirming. 

 

I guess the spigots were added for a more refined look in a kitchen environment.

 

I still don't get what part of the spin rinse is "automatic" as they claim, since these machines don't do anything without literal hands-on participation by the operator.  It seems like a stretch to use the term "automatic" but I suppose the gimmickry sold machines for them, and the system does appear to have advantages over a wringer.

 

[mickeyd]

Remember Gregm's green Easy with the 3 piece bell plunger agitator? That one had a really fancy looking hinged spinner, brassy, I think.

 

Once the faucets came out the hinges vanished. Thereafter, BOL models without faucets had a separate lid for the spinner as well.

 

[arbilab]

Mickey, within a given year-model, how many line levels were there? Like, if there's BOL there has to be at least one more. What bells and whistles did one acquire by moving up the line?

 

[mickeyd]

The basic order: four main models~

 

 

Model 1~BOL no faucets, no spray cone in spinner, wash drain valve only, spinner drain always on

 

Model 2~ a fill faucet and a drain hose (some models have a valve on the hose to allow holding water in the spinner, and some have a spray cone in the spinner). Much variety here and in Model 3.

 

Model 3~two faucets, fill, drain/suds, inlet filter, no drain control for the spinner but a valve on the drain faucet to hold water in the spinner (WE'VE JUST SEEN THIS) and when I figure out which thread, I'll link it. Spray cone in the spinner

 

Model 4~TOL two faucets, inlet filter, valves and controls for both washtub and spinner, Spiralator filter. Spray cone in the spinner.

 

The looks of the timer evolved over the years, and most machines had them, even BOL's in some years, but the timer does NOT shut the machine off in any model of any year.

 

After you get used to these you can figure out the features by looking at the controls. Ralph's scanned model does not have a valve for the spinner drain. During those years when broomstick controls were used for agitation and spin, some machines controlled the spinner drain valve right from the stick, CLOSED OPEN SPIN. Other models had two handles below the broom sticks, one for each drain valve. If you see a machine with a vertical slider control under the timer that is the wash tub drain valve control.

 

Some time in the late 50's all controls morphed into levers on a clock face with 3 or 4 levers depending. The non TOL's had no lever for the spinner drain. Stayed on all the time, but then again some of these came with the same faucet valve seen on the old machines so you could hold water in the spinner.

 

Some day, we'll have this down to a science they way we do for the Frigidiares, Whirlpools, Kenmores, and Maytags. What continues to surprise is the astonishing variety of models that keep popping up, almost like Kenmores. We simply haven't seen them all. "There out there!" as Mulder would say to Sculley.

 

Hope this helps, Arbi.

 

[arbilab]

Thanks Mickey, it helps. This would be "Easy" if there were one model per year.

So Grandma's was a 2. Valve on drain hose. Fill faucet (only). No spray cone, but did have disc cover with center hole. U-handle opened washtub drain. Timer, unknown but I think not. Knew it didn't do anything but ring.

None of that 'explains' why we're so fascinated with 60yo machinery, but here we are.

 

[rp2813]

None of that 'explains' why we're so fascinated

I think we're here because we're "ologists" of a yet to be determined/designated title.  I'll bet the membership at large might have a suggestion or fifty . . .

 

I think the Easy pictured in the "Look Behind" thread (37161 here in Imperial) has the more multi-functional clock plate scheme that MickeyD described just above, or a precursor.

[this post was last edited: 10/30/2011-00:24]

 

[arbilab]

Fascinated by Easy, Westinghouse, then everything else. Easy twintub is one of the oldest washer designs that came forward into the modern era. I read somewhere they are still made in Mexico but haven't verified it.

Spiralator has never really been duplicated or surpassed.

 

[rp2813]

A Tale of Two Tubs

For the better part of the 60's, my mom worked at The Emporium, an old Bay Area department store chain that around 15 or 20 years ago got swallowed up by -- wait for it -- Macy*s.

 

I clearly remember one afternoon/evening she came home from work and shared with my dad that a representative had been in the store demonstrating a Hoover (I'm pretty sure) twin tub machine.  She had stopped by to take a look and quickly dismissed the machine, advising the rep, "Oh, that's like my old Easy," apparently not at all interested in taking a step backward from her  fully automatic machine.  I understood the  system she was describing but it sounded strange and primitive. 

 

By the time I was old enough to remember, the Easy had been replaced by a Norge automatic.  The literature I posted above has revealed to me after almost 45 years the "old Easy" that she spoke of.

 

[Jsneaker]

There is an Easy Spindrier around...

At an appliance store in the town where I work, there is an Easy Spindrier in the window of an appliance store! I went in one day years ago and asked if it was for sale, but it was not! I don't know about NOW, if they'd be willing to sell it, but every time I go past the store, I feel so nostalgic. Too bad, I don't have the money now anyway.

 

[launderess]

Automatic

Those machines were a heck of allot more "automatic" than cranking one's laundry through a mangle.

 

[rp2813]

@L:  Good point and I understand now that Easy's strategically placed "automatic" claim referred specifically to the spin-rinsing and drying of all pieces at once.  I agree it's "automatic" within the context of the spin-rinser-drier's function but would hazard a guess that it was systems such as this that spawned use of the term "fully automatic washer."

 

[launderess]

"Fully Automatic"

Am sure they did!

Remember twin tubs both the Easy and Hoover were probably some housewives first step from a wringer washer if not theirs then what they usually grew up with. Notice how in all Easy SpinDrier ads they harp on about how the spin dryer is better than using a wringer/mangle (extracts more water & soap, does not leave hard creases to be ironed out, etc...)