When did GE start using electronics?

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gelaundry4ever

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Hello everybody. I noticed that brands like Whirlpool and Maytag started using electronics in their machines in the '70's or '80's IIRC. When did GE start using electronics in their washing machines? Which models had them? How were they programmed? I'd like to know. Thank you.
 
I simply Don't Know...

Hello,

I was waiting for others to chime in, but I have never seen any of the filter flow iternations (GE Hotpoint) that had anything electronic...but this was not exactly high-end GE country.

After they ditched the filter flow, sure, the usual junk that makes it way to electronics.

Hope this Helps,
LaVidaBoem
 
Don't really know

Can't help you I am afraid, G.E. were not really a big player here in Australia, in fact the only models I can remember were the Mobile 12,(I think it was called.),which was a copy of a Hitachi top loader and there was a large capacity fully automatic, the model with the mini-basket, and there was a twin tub called the Turbo-Twin, however none of them had electronic controls.
Regards,
Steve.
 
GE's foray into electronic controls was in the early 1980s.

Such products such as the GE Potscrubber 2100, 2500 and 2800 (the former may have been 2200, I cannot recall), plus their line of TV's, Microwaves and Refrigerators all received electronic controls in this period.

Images below - which I've saved from prior threads attached.
(Credit to 'funktionalart' for the first, 'CycleMonitor' for the second. Cannot recall who the third's came from).

washer111-2015120518412401820_1.jpg

washer111-2015120518412401820_2.jpg

washer111-2015120518412401820_3.jpg
 
...commercials

wow....nobody really does commercials like that for appliances anymore.
Except maybe the occasional Maytag Man commercials.
It's like appliances are no longer "revolutionary"....why bother advertising them.
IDK....Maxima laundry set I just got seems pretty worthy of a cool, flashy commercial or two....
And so does the GE Profile dishwasher I just got. Side jets.....bottle jets, reversing arm.....but no ads. :/
 
GE 2800 Commercial

Musical scoring was done by Suzanne Ciani - an early advocate of synthesizers for musical productions.

This resulted in me purchasing her "Seven Waves" album. Really amazing what can be done with the technology of the day!
 
Few could match General Electric's Television Commercial

In the 1980's.

So effective and lasting one still can clearly hear "GE, we bring good things to life".



That of course was when the company did do just that. GE still was then on top of its game in so many areas with innovation and research bringing advanced products to market.
 
To answer OP's query

By the 1980's almost every major domestic appliance manufacturer was introducing "solid state"/electronically controlled appliances.

For some the electronics were mixed with a mechanical timer. Others like the GE Pot-Scrubber shown above were pure computer controlled.

Microwaves, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, etc... everyone was getting in on the act. These new appliances in theory allowed Madame to take the guess work out of doing things. Just like Jane Jetson she could merely push a button, then let the machine and its "brain" do the thinking for her. More importantly they freed her from having to stand near or remain by an appliance.

You could now program your oven to pre-heat, then bake or roast at a certain temperature for a given period of time and switch to different heat at a certain time. When all was done the thing would even turn off and or move the temperature down to "keep warm".
 
Well how about that...

And I been telling people for years, the only things GE made that I knew were flawless...

Jet engines, and Ovens/Stoves/Cooktops.

There never has been a better design for ovens, both Wall and Stoves than the original; moveover, the Double coil design of their burner, whether push button or analog dial controlled, is a cooks best friend.

LaVidaBoem
 
GE Jet Engines

Well - the CF6 used on the A300, A310, 747, 767, DC10 and later the A330 wasn't all that great in the beginning.

Due to its size (length) - the main shafts warped and damaged bearings. Early models couldn't be started in a tailwind or they'd over-heat.

These days the CF6 (747, 767 and A330 primarily) is more powerful and more reliable.

Its successor, the GE90 has upset people here and there - Like British Airways. Who were so disgusted with reliability they switched to Rolls Royce for some of their 777's. (And now there is the failure from their plane in Vegas...).

Overall though, the GE engines are typically some of the most powerful. The GE90 *IS* the largest engine in the world. I think it set the world record at over 115,000lbs of thrust.
The GE90 also happens to make a 777 vibrate like a tin can at start - which is pure 'symphony' for the enthusiast, like myself. Or freakishly scary!
 
The early '80's was the electronics boom--in automobiles & at home w/ appliances, digital dashboard displays and the home computer...

 

I have a 1982 General Electric catalog & had a 1982 Sears catalog where electronic/digital/programmable programmable products were just getting newly-introduced...

 

So to me, '82 might have been most-likely the year...

 

 

-- Dave
 
GE locos and jet engines-fan of both of these.Yes,rode a 777 a few times from Wash DC Dulles to Denver Stapleton.Remember the vibration and feeling of power.Wished I could have "driven" the plane!Also besides 115,000 lbs thrust-that engine can move a ton of air per second!!!!40-50 thousand HP to turn that fan!!!Glad the GE locos are still made in Erie Pa.A REAL US product.Offhand I forgot where the jet engines were made.Thought they were built thru a French company as well.GE is doing well in their propulsion Dept-they sell more locos than EMD and more jet engines than PW.
 
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