Has there been any talk about why GE changed this design so fast? It is obvious that it is very complex machine. I am just wondering if it was the cost to produce vs. how reliable the machine was.
Hi Brent, I suspect reliability probably wasn't the issue here, I'm sure GE took away features to save manufacturing costs.
Am I wrong, or does this mean that they produced a machine with a lint filter a fast extraction and a detergent dispenser in 1947, then abandoned those innovations only to reintroduce some of them in the mid-fifties?
Actually Ken, GE didn't bring back any of those features in the 50's. They did create a new lint filter system in '55, but it was not self-cleaning. The didn't introduce an automatic detergent dispenser (dumping it into the filter pan doesn't count as automatic) until the Dispensall of the 1970's. GE did bring back their self-cleaning filter ring but it was utilized only on their GE made Hotpoint washers starting in 1975, never on a GE washer itself. The 1140rpm spin was gone for ever.
