My grandparents had a Tappan DW but with just the one timer knob. This was the dishwasher with the long black tube that's supposed to spin and throw water on the dishes. When I was around, it NEVER worked. The timer wouldn't advance.

I remember playing with that thing for hours. Making the tube spin by hand. Taking out the racks and getting yelled at for it.

Looks like the same idea as the Frigidaire spin tube d/w. I always thought Frigidaire was the only one with a spin tube, though I do remember reading in Consumers Report about another brand of d/w that had a rotating cylinder that would pick up the water and spray the dishes. Don't recall the brand though. I've always found it facinating to see how different technology was used to accomplish the same thing. Seems it is happening again today with all these top load high efficiency washers. Everything old is new again!

Yep. It was Tappan. I remember seeing the tube. The spin tube on a Frigidaire is tiny, and it's mounted between the top and lower rack. I'm not exactly sure the dimensions but if you look at the rack on the tappan where the dishes are mounted, there's like a 4" hump in the middle. That's where the spinning tunnel is. It's a really funky design and I'm not sure if it ever worked well.

I have never seen this dishwasher before, how exactly did it work? If the spinning hump was 4" in diameter, it couldn't have worked like a Frigidaire or Youngstown Spray-Tube.

I'm not exactly sure the exact dimensions of the tube but it was bigger than the spray tube. Look at the pic of the bottom rack in the POD, that hump in the middle is where the rotating tunnel sits.

It was a weird design.

I know someone that had this same exact dishwasher years ago.
I thought but could be wrong that it had a revolving arm at the bottom. I don't understand why their is a hump in the middle to load the plates. I also thought their was a revolving arm under the upper rack. Again I could be wrong. I would love to see how the real design of this machine works to wash dishes. I had also thought this was origionally a D&M design - but that I guess came later. I realy remember the lady who used it putting soap in both cups built into the bottom rack. I also remember the dial lit up when running and it was quiet for a 1960's dishwasher. I had wished it had a window.
Peter

The way I've heard it explained is that there is a spinning drum in the bottom of the tub that simply splashes water upward (imagine the paddle-wheel on a river boat running at high speed) It ran in one direction, then reversed to wash the other half of the tub. Strange design that supposedly didn't work well.

I bet it would be fun to watch with plexiglass front but otherwise I don't think it worked well either. To give an approx. age on the thing, my grandparents house was built in 1965 with original Tappan appliances. Oven, DW, and cooktop. The cooktop and DW are long gone but the oven is still there.

When I was around, the timer wouldn't advance and I only got to run it once. My only childhood memories are of just playing with the racks and the spinning drum.

My neighbors had a Tappan dishwasher, original to their house built in '60. Theirs only had one knob....I do remember the hump in the rack, and the big black rotating drum in the bottom. They also had the Tappan range with top ovens and a disappearing burner area, just like in the POD, but they had a Sub-Zero 'fridge....all 3 in turquoise and chrome...

The thing worked on the same principal as a car tire spinning in water. They couldn't clean anything. Consumer Reports called it "Unacceptable". I think they were produced for about 2 years. Tappen replaced with them with the Tappen "Reversa Jet" wash arm system using a bottom and top arm. This was interesting set up. The wash arms stopped and reversed direction. I beleive that this was done with some form of spring. The configuration was much like a dual washarm system of today with random loading racks,etc Tappen used the same
outside cabinet and the "Reversa Jet" units looked almost identical to the "spinning drum" units.

IMHO it was a good idea at the time; it just didn't prove too effective. Notice how they used the cat on the top of the dishwasher (like the Norge washer POD...). I do see where a water turbine would be quieter than a spray arm or impeller.

Notice how they said "Dual-Drench" action. Drenching dishes won't necessarily get them clean...;-)

While I wouldn't use one daily, the water-wheel would definitely be neat to watch.