WD-59 and its PANK!

Sorry for the delay - I was on the road again, so to speak.
Parts of me are still somewhere over the Atlantic, but I hope, eventually, all of me will be in one place.
There were various programs and cycles at that time, this beautiful machine uses the following pattern.
From 'OFF' to the beginning of the 'heavy' wash cycle, the knob is lifted about 3/8 inch. I believe this is to reset the water fill function as it is timed. Regardless of which cycle you chose, the water fill function must be satisfied. After a certain point in the shortest wash cycle, it can no longer be activated. Kinda neat, really.
Anyway, you chose among three cycles - heavy, normal and light. A few minutes before the end of the wash cycle, the overflow begins. This is followed by a surprisingly long and quite thorough spin. Anyone who has ever watch a thumper spin a full basket out in a few seconds will understand my disdain for the 'neutral' drain inferior machines use.
The balance in this beauty is fantastic - quality had nothing to do with BOL, MOL, TOL in those days.
After this spin, the machine refills for a very very thorough rinse, followed by overflow. A final, very long spin leaves the clothes drier than a dependable care Maytag, certainly one of the few decent 'modern' US washers of the late 80's.
I am sensitive to detergent residue, thumpers are the only TL machines I have ever used which I do not need to reset for another series of deep rinses.
One of my projects for the summer is to convince my partner to let me install a time-out on the hot water solenoid. She doesn't need to rinse with warm water and the water heater is drained pretty quickly by her. Whether I will get my wish is doubtful, he is even more of a purist than I am.
But I have my fingers crossed, he can be pretty generous when the mode moves him.
(Kudos to Rocky Horror).
The timer mechanism is quite different to the later ones, for which I am grateful. Either there are no thin rubber 'dogs' to fail or we have been enormously lucky. One of my questions for you good folks will be how best to lube the timer.

To answer your earlier question, I am still working on getting back to the US as quickly as possible. There are three steps to the Green Card. The first, application and acceptance of valid grounds (my parents are American Citizens, so that was easy.) normally takes several months to years. Their Senator, after examining their medical records, expedited that one.
The second step, a thorough check by Federal agencies was expedited by that agency, my parents' great need was determined and I was cleared very quickly.
So now the 'Green Card' is sitting in a file cabinet and there it will sit until my number comes up. The third and final step can only be expedited by a civil servant who is politically appointed, unfortunately, the party in charge, while admitting the need, only chooses to serve people who are of value to their political party. Since my parents were active in the civil rights movement and have both taught in programs for the poor and disenfranchised, that individual does not feel them to be the sort of people one should help.
So we are making the best of it. I am permitted to visit the US for 90 days at a time, this I do. When I am back in Germany, my partner and my parents' limited financial resources do the best they can to take care of them.
It is really frustrating and sad that there are over 12 million people living illegally in the US, but the needy parents of someone who has a valid reason to be there and follows the laws strictly are forced to wait because of party politics.
I won't go further into details, but if any of us are well acquainted with important people, I'd sure appreciate the help.


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Post# 266421 2/24/2008 at 12:02 (5,905 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes My partner has been looking for a pink thumper for decades. Not so easy to find in this neck of the woods - most are either still in service and the folks who have them know what they've got...or they have gone to the great washer-heaven beyond the sky. But he found one! And he got her! And she...works! We've been cleaning her up, she's been out of service for over 20 years. But she had a lot of work done on her (including the belts, yay!) sometime in the 1980's, so with a bit of luck, we're lucking at years and years of fun. Here's a picture of her before her bath. ps:There are one or two minor problems waiting to be solved, and I hope nobody will mind my questions...but for now YAY! Double PANK Yay!

Post# 266422 , Reply# 1 2/24/2008 at 12:03 (5,905 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *And her maiden wash -* Still haven't polished her up in this shot, but she thumps! And she spins!

Post# 266424 , Reply# 2 2/24/2008 at 12:07 (5,905 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *After her bath* Gosh, that porcelain is just great. Yes, that is not the original fill flume, that's of one of the questions I am going to have. But for now, this is her fifth load - and everything came out clean and damp-dry and tangled in the knots of my childhood memories-one knot per quadrant.

Post# 266426 , Reply# 3 2/24/2008 at 12:19 (5,905 days old) by maytagbear (N.E. Ohio)
Checkrate/Likes *Congratulations!* I'm Mayfair Pink with happiness for you both. (all three?) Keven, check yer email. Lawrence/Maytagbear

Post# 266433 , Reply# 4 2/24/2008 at 13:06 (5,905 days old) by golittlesport (California)
Checkrate/Likes wow! congrats...that is a rare pank birdie indeed! is it a unimatic?

Post# 266436 , Reply# 5 2/24/2008 at 13:21 (5,905 days old) by frontaloadotmy (the cool gay realm)
Checkrate/Likes *That is a Lovely* Beauty!!!! Congratulations

Post# 266441 , Reply# 6 2/24/2008 at 14:50 (5,905 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes rich, it's a multimatic.

Post# 266442 , Reply# 7 2/24/2008 at 15:16 (5,905 days old) by rickr (.)
Checkrate/Likes Congrats! Glad you guys found your dream machine. Great job on the clean up. She looks like a real beauty!

Post# 266453 , Reply# 8 2/24/2008 at 18:48 (5,905 days old) by gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA)
Checkrate/Likes Great to see a first-year Multimatic "diaper washer" in such good shape! And a pank one no less! Even the detergent column looks good! Whats the energy ring like? I'll dig around and see if I can come up with a fill flume for you. Did you change the water bellows?

Post# 266454 , Reply# 9 2/24/2008 at 18:59 (5,905 days old) by northwesty (Renton, WA)
Checkrate/Likes *Congratulations* Looks to be in great shape.

Post# 266460 , Reply# 10 2/24/2008 at 20:36 (5,905 days old) by stainfighter (Columbia, SC)
Checkrate/Likes *PANK...* congratulations, gorgeous!!!

Post# 266477 , Reply# 12 2/24/2008 at 22:26 (5,905 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA)
Checkrate/Likes Wow - this is a pretty sweet Frigidaire! Looks to be in amazing shape - good to hear all the mechanicals seem to be sound. Here is the 1959 Frigidaire line-up. All the machines in 1959 were the Multi-Matic mechanism - being the debut year - with 1958 being the last year for the Unimatic and Pulsamatic mechanisms. Ben

Post# 266509 , Reply# 14 2/25/2008 at 07:47 (5,904 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *Steve,* Thanks so much - we have the flume, just having a problem with her spitting up, so temporarily replaced the screen with a hose extension. She's sitting on century old oak floor beams and I don't want to take chances. I will have some questions for you, if I may. The energy ring is ok. No tears, cracks or brittleness. Same for the other rings. Their colors have dimmed, but, well, after 49 years so have mine... One of our problems is that at some point the whole pulsator was taken out and when replaced, the screw holding the top part with the lint away and second ring either not tightened correctly. I am afraid that if I try to loosen the screw, it will snap. So we have a twist of rope packed in around it to keep things from bouncing out of step. Works fine, just is not the perfection we need. Again, a time problem. This summer, I very much want to go over every detail of lube and seals. Like I wrote above, she was extensively renewed shortly before being taken out of service in the 1980's. It is very possible that the current seals are in as good of condition as we will ever have her. My questions will start coming in as soon as I get off the plane and have recovered from my brain-lag. Gosh, how often is something just as great as you remember it from your childhood? This washer sure is!

Post# 266474 , Reply# 11 2/24/2008 at 21:52 (5,905 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *Yes,* She's a tragi-matic. Which is why I am very glad indeed that the belts are 'relatively' new. The spring is new and I strongly suspect both the transmission as well as the timer were redone in the '80s. No, we haven't done any repair work on her at all. Everything tested out tight and fine except for some minor details, but questions about them will have to wait. Even cleaning her up was more a case of taking the dust off than any real work. The only real work was adding a grounded line cord - the new hoses are not self-grounding and I am paranoid about water, old machinery and electricity. I don't remember, what was the line-up in 1959? Wasn't there also a Delux Unimatic? This Delux seems pretty basic to me - only hot or warm water wash, all rinses are warm. No man-made cycle. She's just finishing her seventh load. Pure joy. I've got some movies to post on her, but they will have to wait - I'm headed back to Deutschland to teach and won't be back until the summer. Bummer.

Post# 266488 , Reply# 13 2/25/2008 at 01:51 (5,905 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California)
Checkrate/Likes *Where is Toggles when he's really needed?* "My partner has been looking for a pink thumper for decades." OMIGOD!

Post# 266513 , Reply# 15 2/25/2008 at 08:49 (5,904 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Aferim!* Whenever a member gets a dream machine from their childhood a little "cycle finished" bell goes off and an angel gets its wings.

Post# 266514 , Reply# 16 2/25/2008 at 08:52 (5,904 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *Thanks!* To everyone for their comments, charts and help - things are enormously busy right now with me fixin' to leave tomorrow morning, but we really appreciate it. As for the 'pink thumper', well we'll just leave that spilled milk under the bridge where me cat flang it... By the by, the condenser (a big whopping monster) is also from 1959...works great, but should I replace it? I am curious, my mom's Frigidaire at that time was a Unimatic - bought expressly because of my diapers - bought in 1958 and her second thumper was a control tower Imperial, dealer trade, used against reconditioned in 1962 - because the Unimatic broke every other week or so. So I am not sure just exactly how the '59s lined up. This beautiful lady has only one program with three settings (heavy, medium, light), hot or warm wash, timed fills. I notice the timer block has several unused connectors. Is that because it is a replacement (not complaining, a 25 year old timer beats a 49 year old hands down) or are there extra features which were not enabled on the WD-59? Guess I'm asking someone to go to the trouble of listing what each level could do that year. Gosh, she is pretty.

Post# 266515 , Reply# 17 2/25/2008 at 09:28 (5,904 days old) by dick_s. ()
Checkrate/Likes *Congratulations panthera* She's a real looker! ((--:: Dick

Post# 266525 , Reply# 18 2/25/2008 at 11:11 (5,904 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *She's pretty, alright* but she's not mine, she belongs to my 'silent partner'. He's one of the club's most faithful members, but stays way out of the discussions and pictures. Given some of the more delightful things which go on here at times, I don't blame him. Anyway, we also picked up a Westy slant-front dryer who needs some serious attention and, as I wrote, a Mobile-Maid (unfortunately not pink) in great condition. The Westy is our next big project, this summer. I never cease to be amazed by the quality of construction and the disinterest in electrical safety in thumpers. I kinda wish they'd kept the quality and, back then, upped the clearances between live contacts and metal parts. Why did Frigidaire decide to switch from the Unimatic design to the multi-matics, anyway? I know the roller-matic was partially an experiment in spin-off technology (as custodian responsible for over 70 of the darlings in the 1970's, I can say it was a failed experiment) but, gosh - the multi-matic is so well built it is hard to imagine any great cost savings. Anyway, now that we have found her, I am hoping for the second prinzip of magik - like attracts like. Movies may have to wait until this summer, my YouTube account isn't letting me upload this morning and this is my last chance.

Post# 266537 , Reply# 19 2/25/2008 at 12:39 (5,904 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill Home of the RailwayTrials Merseyside,UK)
Checkrate/Likes *Wow, Well Done!!!* She looks a beauty, congrats on a wonderful find...and PANK in the process.....cheers, Mike

Post# 266564 , Reply# 20 2/25/2008 at 16:02 (5,904 days old) by retro-man (- boston,ma)
Checkrate/Likes Wow another model I have never seen that someone has. Very impressive looking thumper. Why were these called diaper machines? I know my mother had a mid 50's frigidare and a mid 60 frig also. They both did alot of diapers back then along with a lot of other clothes towels and sheets.

Post# 266565 , Reply# 21 2/25/2008 at 16:11 (5,904 days old) by saltysam ()
Checkrate/Likes *Awesome!* Hey Panthera, congrats on finding a great machine! I have a WD-60 that is pretty much the same as yours except in white. They are great machine and the turn over is great! Mine is so quiet that i can't believe it is actually running sometimes....have fun with her! Now if i can only find the deluxe name plate to go on the front like yours mine will be complete. Mark

Post# 266582 , Reply# 22 2/25/2008 at 18:21 (5,904 days old) by qsd-dan (West)
Checkrate/Likes "By the by, the condenser (a big whopping monster) is also from 1959...works great, but should I replace it?" If it isn't leaking and the motor is getting up to speed correctly like it should, then it's fine for now. I had to replace the capacitor on my 63 WCI multi-matic (it was leaking and motor wasn�t quite getting up to speed correctly) and had a heck of a time finding one made in the USA (almost all of them are now made in China). The new ones are much smaller than the original, so I gutted out the old capacitor and custom fit the new one inside. This prevented me from having to modify the holder and it looks factory original to boot.

Post# 266583 , Reply# 23 2/25/2008 at 18:24 (5,904 days old) by cehalstead (Charleston, WV)
Checkrate/Likes *why were they called diaper washers...* IIRC from other posts about this fine machine, these were basic washers, very affordable by new young couples who soon had lots of diapers to wash and were on a budget.

Post# 266669 , Reply# 24 2/25/2008 at 22:07 (5,904 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)
Checkrate/Likes Very nice find - and pank too! I've always had a weakness for the lower-end models, they're so utilitarian but still beautiful! Congrats and enjoy!

Post# 266862 , Reply# 25 2/27/2008 at 08:27 (5,902 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Keven, that is a totally cool find!!!! Very rare to begin with and in pink no less. I didn't realize that the deluxe model was available in colors in '59. Can't wait to hear about the few "tweaks" that are necessary.

Post# 266869 , Reply# 26 2/27/2008 at 09:26 (5,902 days old) by jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers)
Checkrate/Likes *Keven nice find* Pink on a low end model, what were they saving? But thats the 50's, standard shift cars with rubber floor mats but A/C installed with dark tint windows! A complete jumble! Are you moving back from Munich now? jet

Post# 266901 , Reply# 27 2/27/2008 at 14:29 (5,902 days old) by tlee618 ()
Checkrate/Likes Beautiful Machine!! I am so happy for you that you found her!! What fun you will have with this beauty and in "pank" no less!!!

Post# 267062 , Reply# 28 2/28/2008 at 15:39 (5,901 days old) by retro-man (- boston,ma)
Checkrate/Likes I just came to realize last week that not all of Frigidare cycles were the same back then. I guess this pank thumper has 2 rinses without the overflow rinse after the wash? I have seen one in Roberts collection of the timer with 2 rinses. I thought they all had overflow rinse then a deep rinse, with maybe if I remember my mothers, a continuous overflow rinse after the tube filled for the rinse cycle. Jon

Post# 267067 , Reply# 29 2/28/2008 at 16:14 (5,901 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)
Checkrate/Likes *Hi Jon* Sorry for the delay - I was on the road again, so to speak. Parts of me are still somewhere over the Atlantic, but I hope, eventually, all of me will be in one place. There were various programs and cycles at that time, this beautiful machine uses the following pattern. From 'OFF' to the beginning of the 'heavy' wash cycle, the knob is lifted about 3/8 inch. I believe this is to reset the water fill function as it is timed. Regardless of which cycle you chose, the water fill function must be satisfied. After a certain point in the shortest wash cycle, it can no longer be activated. Kinda neat, really. Anyway, you chose among three cycles - heavy, normal and light. A few minutes before the end of the wash cycle, the overflow begins. This is followed by a surprisingly long and quite thorough spin. Anyone who has ever watch a thumper spin a full basket out in a few seconds will understand my disdain for the 'neutral' drain inferior machines use. The balance in this beauty is fantastic - quality had nothing to do with BOL, MOL, TOL in those days. After this spin, the machine refills for a very very thorough rinse, followed by overflow. A final, very long spin leaves the clothes drier than a dependable care Maytag, certainly one of the few decent 'modern' US washers of the late 80's. I am sensitive to detergent residue, thumpers are the only TL machines I have ever used which I do not need to reset for another series of deep rinses. One of my projects for the summer is to convince my partner to let me install a time-out on the hot water solenoid. She doesn't need to rinse with warm water and the water heater is drained pretty quickly by her. Whether I will get my wish is doubtful, he is even more of a purist than I am. But I have my fingers crossed, he can be pretty generous when the mode moves him. (Kudos to Rocky Horror). The timer mechanism is quite different to the later ones, for which I am grateful. Either there are no thin rubber 'dogs' to fail or we have been enormously lucky. One of my questions for you good folks will be how best to lube the timer. To answer your earlier question, I am still working on getting back to the US as quickly as possible. There are three steps to the Green Card. The first, application and acceptance of valid grounds (my parents are American Citizens, so that was easy.) normally takes several months to years. Their Senator, after examining their medical records, expedited that one. The second step, a thorough check by Federal agencies was expedited by that agency, my parents' great need was determined and I was cleared very quickly. So now the 'Green Card' is sitting in a file cabinet and there it will sit until my number comes up. The third and final step can only be expedited by a civil servant who is politically appointed, unfortunately, the party in charge, while admitting the need, only chooses to serve people who are of value to their political party. Since my parents were active in the civil rights movement and have both taught in programs for the poor and disenfranchised, that individual does not feel them to be the sort of people one should help. So we are making the best of it. I am permitted to visit the US for 90 days at a time, this I do. When I am back in Germany, my partner and my parents' limited financial resources do the best they can to take care of them. It is really frustrating and sad that there are over 12 million people living illegally in the US, but the needy parents of someone who has a valid reason to be there and follows the laws strictly are forced to wait because of party politics. I won't go further into details, but if any of us are well acquainted with important people, I'd sure appreciate the help.