Thread Number: 13841
GE's first gas dryer-when? 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 237920   9/22/2007 at 22:46 (6,059 days old) by mavei511 ()        

When did GE make its first gas dryers? It appears that Frigidaire made its first one about 1960.What was the reasoning behind it?




Post# 237974 , Reply# 1   9/23/2007 at 08:26 (6,059 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)        

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I think Filter-Flo did this post about a year and a half ago. I believe it's the gas version of same model I just got, 1966 maybe. It's labeled "PREMIERE" and it has the characteristic vent and extended front feet of GE gas models.It took GE a while, I suspect because the idea of General ELECTRIC and gas must have posed a philosophical debate within the company. But as many customers from urban and rural areas demanded the gas option as electricity prices increased, GE must have had no choice. I am dying/trying to get my hands on a vintage GE gas dryer.

Post# 238095 , Reply# 2   9/23/2007 at 18:32 (6,058 days old) by sactoteddybear ()        
Re: Hi! Ken:

 Where's the rest of the Westinghouse Washer or Dryer, of the Front Panel and Window Door hanging on the Wall above your GE's?

Did you ever have the whole Westinghouse Machine{s}at all, or just find that Panel and Window Door?

Peace and Great Laundrying Times with the GE's, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

Post# 238099 , Reply# 3   9/23/2007 at 18:47 (6,058 days old) by thor (Buenos Aires)        

Ken, your litterbox is full!

Post# 238176 , Reply# 4   9/24/2007 at 08:04 (6,058 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

1964 seems the year for the introduction of the Premier gas dryer. The first models had a perforated burner access plate on the front. They first appeared with the back-slanted control panels. GE used the Premier name from the Premier Vacuum Cleaner Company they owned.

Post# 238236 , Reply# 5   9/24/2007 at 14:41 (6,058 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY)        

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*WOW* talk about a short gas-pipe run?
Three gas-burning appliances all in a row.

~I suspect because the idea of General ELECTRIC and gas must have posed a philosophical debate within the company.
I had this thought but never dared say it out loud! Took them ages to get into gas cooking, as well.

Post# 238237 , Reply# 6   9/24/2007 at 14:47 (6,058 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)        

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Westinghouse and Frigidaire weren't gassy either until the 60's - GM Frigidaire never offered a gas range. Not sure about Westinghouse, but I don't think so...

Post# 238273 , Reply# 7   9/24/2007 at 18:57 (6,057 days old) by sactoteddybear ()        
Re: Westinghouse Gas Stove:

 Yes, they do/did have a Gas Stove, because my Mother-In-Law lives up North from me in Redding, CA and she has a fairly old Westinghouse Gas Stove in her Apartment. It is an 18 or 24-inch Model because of the smaller Kitchen. When I get a chance to go up there again {possibly not until Nov or Dec} I will try to remember to take a Pix of it and get a Model Number.

Peace and Good Eats, on a Gas Stove, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

Post# 238275 , Reply# 8   9/24/2007 at 19:03 (6,057 days old) by neptunebob (Pittsburgh, PA)        

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George Westinghouse must have been a conflicted man. I never saw a Westinghouse gas stove, yet one of the companies he started was Equitable Gas. He also started Duquesne Light, which in past had a Home Economics Department which offered advice. The woman who ran the department once said that they would try to get homemakers to switch to electric ranges (nearly all Pittsburgh ranges were gas). Today, GE builds a GAS Jet Turbine Combined Cycle ELECTRIC power station. Can't these companies make up their minds?

Post# 238402 , Reply# 9   9/25/2007 at 12:11 (6,057 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

I think that a Westinghouse gas stove must have come after the buy out (or sell out, depending on how you view it) by WCI which would have brought gas range manufacturers into the fold, but I kind of doubt that since there was no service literature for them. More likely, since this is in an apartment, it could be that the other appliances were originally Westinghouse and Westinghouse offered a builders' package that substituted a gas stove from another manufacturer which was then labeled Westinghouse. When the company was Westinghouse, they did not offer gas dryers until the flat front dryers introduced with the EASY-made top load washer.

Appliances are very much a side line for GE now. Power generation is a large part of their business. It seems that power generation would not be that poor a match for a company with "Electric" in its name and gas turbines are one of the cleanest ways to generate electricity.

As for General Electric gas ranges, those are made by Tappan in Mexico where lots of appliances were made before being made in Asia. Whirlpool has a factory that makes the Duet Sport in Mexico and is moving Duet production to Mexico as well, according to John, to bring down production and shipping costs.

Early Frigidaire gas dryers had the burner at the top of the cabinet on the right hand side, I think. One of John's customers had the Custom Imperial pair from 61 or 62 in pink. One time the gas valve stuck open after the dryer shut off. When she smelled something very hot, the owner ran downstairs and had one of her sons help turn off the gas. The whole top of the dryer had turned absolutely black, but as it cooled, it turned pink again. You gotta love porcelain.

Post# 241992 , Reply# 10   10/12/2007 at 10:38 (6,040 days old) by spinout (Phoenix)        

Granny had a "P" series GE in gas circa 1957... Yea, I know some of you are going to say it didn't exist--but the reality is that it did. Maybe it was limited production or a test market.

Anyway, It was purchased as matching set with the 820P washer (at Gimbles in Pittsburgh) and it had all of the usual GE dryer characteristics of the time including the tredle to open the door. The burner was on the top right of the console (below the start button) and used a manually lit, standing pilot. It was a very quite machine.

Post# 242062 , Reply# 11   10/12/2007 at 16:20 (6,040 days old) by bongobro ()        
It's a gas, gas, gas?

 gansky1--GM/Frigidaire never offered a gas range. I recall in a book about General Motors (may have been the biography of Albert Sloan) that Frigidaire wanted to go beyond stoves and refrigerators after WWII; they passed around of list of appliance ideas--corporate officials in fact put gas ranges and (oddly enough) wringer washers at the bottom of their list.

I recall seeing GM/Frigidaire gas dryers about 1965 (the intro of the "Jet Action" series), but after the WCI buyout, a Frigidaire is a Westinghouse is a Gibson is an Easy is a Kelvinator...


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