My grandmother's Pulsamatic


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Thread Number: 23722
My grandmother's Pulsamatic

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Post# 369186 8/3/2009 at 03:42 (5,371 days old) by norfolksouthern ()
Checkrate/Likes While doing a search for a specific model of vintage Frigidaire, I came across one of Robert's videos. This one is of a Pulsamatic, an extremely rare machine. The video that Robert made very accurately reproduces the sound and action. Hers was not a control tower. Instead, it had a shiny steel timer dial with a black, ribbed plastic knob. It also had a push button, which, from what I can remember, started the cycle. I never quite realized how completely rare this machine was. To keep the memories alive, I would certainly like a complete video in all its glory one day. Among the features I especially liked about the Pulsamatic was the absence of any safety feature. You could open the lid, and watch the whole action from the beginning until the end. It had this unique sound while agitating that, for some reason, reminded me of the local school yard bully beating up on the cloths. Why? I really haven't a clue. On spin, it would throw out the water fairly quick and ramp up to speed, while you could hear the pump throwing out the water. The most interesting and fun part, however, was the end of the spin cycle: The agitator would start bobbing up and down while the tub came to a complete stop, squealing in delight like a my little sister when she got her first bicycle. Yes indeed. What a great machine it was. So there you have it. My dream machine, and I seriously doubt it will ever materialize. But keep an eye on the garage sales, just in case I win the lottery! NorfolkSouthern The photo and link are both from Unimatic1140. I hope you are OK with my borrowing them for a moment, Robert. And, thanks for keeping these machines alive so others can enjoy them. Link to the video, spelled out: www.automaticwasher.org/VID/PULSA... CLICK HERE TO GO TO norfolksouthern's LINK

Post# 369215 , Reply# 1 8/3/2009 at 08:29 (5,371 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c )
Checkrate/Likes *MY...Grandmothers Pulsamatic...* I too grew up with a Pulsamatic...we lived with my grandmother in the house where my mom grew up, in 1955 my Grandmother went to W.E. Shaw furniture co. and bought a T.V. and a Pulsamatic washer,I never saw the T V as it was replaced in 62 with a Silvertone, but the washer was around until I was 4 or so ,being replaced in 69 with a Custom Deluxe,model W C D A N ,I can remember my Grandmother leaning on that 55 model while it was spinning to keep it from walking away!..funny what we remember from childhood.

Post# 369216 , Reply# 2 8/3/2009 at 08:33 (5,371 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Hey Norfolksouthern, you are describing a 1958 Frigidaire Pulsamatic washer and it looks like we've got something in common! My grandmother also had a 1958 Pulsamatic! She had the WD-58, there were 3 Pulsamatics in '58. WS-58, bottom of the line with out any way to regulate the water temp except for turning the hoses on and off, the WD-58 same as WS-58, but with a Hot/Warm water temp selector and the WDP-58, same as WD-58 but with an all porcelain cabinet and full width flourscent light. Its also a dream of mine to someday find this machine.

Post# 369217 , Reply# 3 8/3/2009 at 08:34 (5,371 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes

Post# 369219 , Reply# 4 8/3/2009 at 08:36 (5,371 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Oh and be sure to check out our Grandmother's machine in this Wisk Commercial from 58 or 59...

Post# 369245 , Reply# 5 8/3/2009 at 10:59 (5,371 days old) by mrcleanjeans (milwaukee wi)
Checkrate/Likes How well did it wash?

Post# 369273 , Reply# 6 8/3/2009 at 12:50 (5,371 days old) by norfolksouthern ()
Checkrate/Likes *That darn timer knob!* I often confuse the timer knobs of my machines. You see, I sometimes have this weird habit of pushing the knob --IN-- to start the cycle instead of OUT. Now I know why! I would spend a few days at my grandparents, where I would run loads through the Frigidaire. And then when I went home, it was back to my mother's Whirlpool (I hated that machine), where I would have to pull the knob OUT to start the cycle. Also: My grandmother acquired her Pulsamatic some time around the mid 1960s, used. I think I was around 3 or 4; just old enough to remember the wringer she had before. To her, a washer didn't have an agitator. But rather, she called the agitator "the dasher". From around 1964 or 1965, on up until at least 1978, that WD-58 stayed in the house. It outlasted both my mother's Whirlpool Supreme, and the BOL Kenmore she got in 1975! mrcleanjeans: You asked "how well did it clean?: The Pulsamatic did a much better job of cleaning than my mother's Whirlpool. But, the 1-18 has a slight edge over the Pulsamatic in my opinion. NorfolkSouthern

Post# 369291 , Reply# 7 8/3/2009 at 13:44 (5,371 days old) by lebron (Minnesota)
Checkrate/Likes *How well did it wash?* They do an excellent job! Pulsamatics are some of the coolest (and rarest) washers ever! I just love Robert's control tower, and it is usually the first machine I use when I'm in his basement.

Post# 369304 , Reply# 8 8/3/2009 at 14:22 (5,371 days old) by norfolksouthern ()
Checkrate/Likes My father used to sell Amway, and my grandmother would buy the large boxes of SA-8 from him. Her Pulsamatic would suds very little, if any. I may sound a little off the track, but she would often make a lemon meringue pie. The meringue looked a lot like that water surface when it came out of the oven. Without the "dasher", obviously! Washing: Of course it did an excellent job. It was a Frigidaire by General Motors! And for the life of me, I'll never understand why people bought Maytags and Whirlpools. What advantage does a standard agitator have over this? None that I can see! And it takes a front loader at least twice as long do half the amount. I think a little reverse engineering is in order here. NorfolkSouthern

Post# 369323 , Reply# 9 8/3/2009 at 15:49 (5,371 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes Robert---I tried to watch your Wisk commercial, but I get the "This video has been removed by the user" message. What up?

Post# 369375 , Reply# 10 8/3/2009 at 20:51 (5,371 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes I'm not the owner of that video, it was from an old post so it must have been removed. Sorry. :-(

Post# 369396 , Reply# 11 8/3/2009 at 22:12 (5,371 days old) by scott55405 ()
Checkrate/Likes I hope at least one more time in life I'll be able to be in the same room as Appnut when a Pulsamatic is operating. :-)

Post# 369398 , Reply# 12 8/3/2009 at 22:32 (5,371 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes I hope so too Scott. Reading this threaad since early this morning, I cannot tell you how many times I've relived that moment!!! And I hope it's far more than one more time in life!!! :-D

Post# 369422 , Reply# 13 8/3/2009 at 23:40 (5,371 days old) by laundryshark (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Checkrate/Likes *Corrected Washer Link* There was a space in the URL of Robert's washer link. So I am reposting it here.--Laundry Shark CLICK HERE TO GO TO laundryshark's LINK

Post# 369441 , Reply# 14 8/4/2009 at 03:45 (5,370 days old) by whirlcool (Just North Of Houston, Texas)
Checkrate/Likes Wow, that Pulsematic sure does sound different than a Rollermatic does. The oscillations seem much more intense.

Post# 369449 , Reply# 15 8/4/2009 at 06:10 (5,370 days old) by joelippard (Hickory)
Checkrate/Likes *Now that's just cool!* those peaks it forms in the water look similar to the oscillations I notice in the Philco.

Post# 369455 , Reply# 16 8/4/2009 at 07:31 (5,370 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes *The oscillations seem much more intense.* 630 on Pulsamatic vs. 330 on "regular" Frigidaires.

Post# 369619 , Reply# 17 8/4/2009 at 18:19 (5,370 days old) by norfolksouthern ()
Checkrate/Likes *Come to think of it...* I think the washer my grandmother had was a WS-58 rather than the WD-58, as I can't say I remember an extra knob next to the timer dial. I could be wrong. And I also don't remember selecting a wash temperature. She would always complain that my grandfather chose "the oldest, cheapest clunker he could find" and "was that way with everything he bought". And I also think I recall her complaining about having to select the wash temperatures with the hoses. Little did she know! My grandfather may have been a bit smarter than she thought. Had I known what was going on, my mother would have never had the Magic Chef! NorfolkSouthern

Post# 369634 , Reply# 18 8/4/2009 at 20:15 (5,370 days old) by easyspindry (Winston-Salem, NC)
Checkrate/Likes *Very fast washing action* . . . but as I remember, the spin was not all that fast. I could certainly be wrong, but I remember a disappointment that the spin was not very fast. Jerry Gay

Post# 369674 , Reply# 19 8/4/2009 at 23:40 (5,370 days old) by norfolksouthern ()
Checkrate/Likes Well, Jerry, she would hang her cloths out on the line all the time, so it must have been at least as good as her old wringer. Compared to my mother's Whirlpool, I would say the extraction was about even. NorfolkSouthern

Post# 369677 , Reply# 20 8/5/2009 at 00:04 (5,369 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes Pulsamatics spun at 630 rpms.

Post# 369697 , Reply# 21 8/5/2009 at 07:21 (5,369 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Yes the Pulsamatic pulsated at 630ppm and spun at 630rpm, one pulley and one motor drive unlike it's later more flexible sibling the Multimatic. But the machine still spins better than most other machines in the basement. See look how dry those clothes look :-)...

Post# 369708 , Reply# 22 8/5/2009 at 09:03 (5,369 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)
Checkrate/Likes Robert---do the Unimatic/Multi-Matic/Roller-Matic machines clean better than the Pulsamatic? I love the little hypersonic water waves the Pulsamatic makes during agitation.

Post# 369715 , Reply# 23 8/5/2009 at 10:15 (5,369 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes The rollover is intense in the Pulsamatic, but its not consistent like in a Unimatic or Multimatic. The Pulsamatic has trouble turning over jeans or other really heavy fabrics, unlike the Unimatic which can handle large jean loads.

Post# 369766 , Reply# 24 8/5/2009 at 13:59 (5,369 days old) by norfolksouthern ()
Checkrate/Likes I don't remember the Pulsamatic having problems with rollover, and the main reason, I guess, is that it was never overloaded. My grandmother would do a series of smaller loads, rather than attempt one big load like people commonly do. From what I remember, the Pulsamatic's capacity was smaller than that of other Frigidaires. About the "hypersonic" waves: A 1-18 can do the same thing, as this is what I observed with mine. Just get the water up to just below one of the top large cones, and let 'er rip. You'll see spikes that'll make Robert's Control Tower proud. I think this has more to do with how the top ring of the agitator disturbs the water surface than actual sound waves. NorfolkSouthern

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