You occasionally hear about those rare "barn finds" right? Well... guess what?

[Unimatic1140]

Kevin yes that service manual does have the wiring diagram and it should be applicable to your machine as well. It is a simply wiring system. If I get time today I will try and get that loaded for tomorrow's doctrine.

The motor runs continuously during the whole cycle and that electric pump should be in circuit with the motor so it too should run during the whole cycle. The components that get energized are:

Motor
Pump
Hot water solenoid
Cold water solenoid
2nd cold water solenoid to activate spin by filling the clutch with water and expanding the rubber bladder to push up the mechanism.
Timer motor.

One thing unusual about your machine is the built in electric pump. I have never seen any indication in any documentation I have that Apex used an electric pump. The first machine I had was equipment with the belt driven pump that is seen in the parts list that was posted on Automatic Ephemera today and the machine I have now is a gravity drain machine.

 

[mikeklondon]

Wash Action

This has to be one of the best wash actions ever, it looks like it must be very gentle on fabrics

 

[mikeklondon]

Like to know More

I would love to know more about this machine. Is the tub osculating or only the central cone? How exactly does it work? The action looks like it would looks like it work well in a new HE machine. If this machine was made to-day I would think very hard about how to fit in a top loader.

 

[appliguy]

Mike

Actually the whole wash tub is one piece molded out of fiberglass. For the wash action the entire tub wobbles and bounces, that is how these Apex made machines got to be known as the Bouncing Basket Apex models. In the video link below you can see very clearly what I am talking about when the machine goes from a spin into the rinse cycle.....PAT COFFEY

http:////www.youtube.com/watch?v=40JfgWS6iPM

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

Robert, THANK YOU for the information above and putting the Apex docs up on the Doctrine.   I've downloaded everything and I know it will be a HUGE help!

 

To answer Malcoms questions:

1) What is the length of the cycle in minutes?  27 1/2 minutes and a total of 24 1/2 gallons water.
2) How fast is that spin speed?  I believe it's 610 rpm.
3) How is the cleaning performance?   Robert can answer that one, but I believe it's gental, but pretty good.

 

Pat: Thank you for answering Mikelondon's questions and posting the video link!

 

Jackson:  Hearing Coconuts???

[this post was last edited: 11/15/2012-16:07]

 

[Unimatic1140]

I absolutely love this machine. Not only is the entire cycle filled with splashy drama, it just has a such of feeling of antiquity in everything it does. It is extremely solid and stable and has never ever walked one iota unlike some of my other machines. With a proper restoration it is also one of the quietest machines in my collection.

In order to rate the cleaning performance of this washer you have to look at it from a 1953 perspective as well as a 2012 perspective. In 1953 its cleaning ability was fair to poor. Fast forward 60 years to today and with the marked improvement of modern HE detergents the cleaning ability of this machine in 2012 is much better. The machine is a perfect candidate to use HE detergents as the water level is barely 1/2 up the wash basket. After the wash fill, the water level continues to drop as 2/3rd of it gets bounced out of the wash basket by the energetic action.

This machine clearly is the very first HE top loader ever produced. It is like a front loader in the fact that there doesn't need to be any water in the tub to safely agitate the clothes. As a matter of fact when you start the washer it immediately goes into a fill & agitate, no part of fill cycle has the tub stationary, just like a front loader! Another positive feature of this machine is the fiberglass wash basket. Because the basket is not metal it does not absorb much of the heat of the hot water so the water temperature stays much hotter during the 12 minute wash. It stays so hot in fact that the cabinet gets very hot during the wash cycle. The wash basket has six large pockets molded onto the outside of the basket. During spin the water is thrown over the top of the tub and enters these pockets and is held inside these pockets via centrifugal force. The pockets are designed to catch more water on the opposite side of the unbalanced side of the tub so this tends to balance out the wash tub during spin even with quite out of balance loads. Since quite a bit of water is bounced out of the tub during wash there is a 30 second fill before the first spin to replenish some water for balancing. When the spin stops you can hear the water rush out of the pockets and into the outer cabinet where it is then drained.

As for the capacity, it holds just as much as any 8lb 1950's automatic washer such as a Unimatic or Speed Queen. Because of the bouncing action it has excellent turnover but at the same and does not seem to tangle clothes and no special loading technique is needed.

I wish everyone here could experience an Apex for a while in their laundry room. I suspect many would be impressed with its performance.

Here are the threads from when I first found my Apex....

 

#1 CALLING A CLUB MEETING AT 10PM CENTRAL TIME

 

#2 AFTER 13 LONG YEARS THE SEARCH IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!

 

#3 My Basket is Bouncing once again

 

 

 

[redcarpetdrew]

I wish everyone here could experience an Apex for a while in

Why? Are you offering? LOL!

RCD

 

[mikeklondon]

Thanks

Many thank for all the info, I think current washing machine designers could learn a lot from relooking at this machine it was way ahead of its time

 

[jetcone]

that pump motor

is the exact same motor used for the Duomatic blower system! And I notice how the timer is a chain drive just like many Duo's were. hmmmm so Bendix like after all these years.