Thread Number: 46932
POD 6/9/13 Bendix "Rubber Tub" washer 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 683200   6/9/2013 at 11:02 (3,963 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

When the ad talks about the tub changing shape during the cycle, they are not telling the half of it. It you ever have the chance to watch one operate with the back panel removed, you are in for a treat. Since the water presses against the sides of the tub, the water currents created by the agitation pull the tub walls in interesting ways. What water does to the tub walls is so dramatic that the pressure of the tub against its side support is how the water level in the tub is measured in the automatic; pressure against the side support is what shuts off the fill and starts the agitation.




Post# 683201 , Reply# 1   6/9/2013 at 11:32 (3,963 days old) by e2l-arry (LAKEWOOD COLORADO)        
The Economat

 Our neighbors had one when I was a kid. Being a "Washer Guy" even back then, I was intrigued by the rubber tubbed washer. Of course i could never watch it in the extraction cycle, but I remember it filling through the top of the agitator. I also remember then not being able to open the lid when it finished. The inner lid fit into the top of the washer. Mrs Graf always gave the top a good coating of wash water before closing it. As if to lubricate the lid to make opening easier. But apparently that didn't always work. And once it was opened, peeling all the clothes off the agitator instead of off the sides of the basket, like my Mom's. The downside of these way they did a poor job of removing water. After the neighbor hung the clothes to dry, they'd actually drip water.
A wringer extracts more water! But they were unique machines for sure! Since there was also no spin rinse, this was the 1st washer I ever saw that had the option of 1 OR 2 rinses.


Post# 683216 , Reply# 2   6/9/2013 at 13:03 (3,963 days old) by hydralique (Los Angeles)        

How long were these produced? I wonder if they were discontinued because of poor sales, warranty claims, or Bendix's corporate indecision as to whether or not they wanted to continue as a washer manufacturer.
Post# 683220 , Reply# 3   6/9/2013 at 13:52 (3,963 days old) by HiLoVane (Columbus OH)        

When I was a kid, an aunt of my mother had one at her summer home. I think they were discontinued either by the time, or not long after the Philco takeover. I do remember (finding out long after the fact) that Bendix was either being threatened with lawsuits, or having been sued over problems regarding tearing of the rubber "innards" of the tub (never stipulated if that was the consequence of some user faiiing to check pockets for sharp objects)...


Post# 683222 , Reply# 4   6/9/2013 at 14:10 (3,963 days old) by e2l-arry (LAKEWOOD COLORADO)        
A nail in left in a pocket

 or anything else would tear the rubber lining. I think I read once that Bendix warned about NOT checking pockets for objects. Thus putting responsibility back on the user? Anyway, the last time I left a nail in one of my pockets was . . . let me think . . NEVER. The occasional Kleenex is about it. But these tubs could be ruined rather easily compared to other top loading automatics.

Post# 683242 , Reply# 5   6/9/2013 at 15:45 (3,963 days old) by danemodsandy (The Bramford, Apt. 7-E)        
My God, That's IT.

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We had this machine when I was was really a little kid, like up until I was about 6 or 7. I think it was manual-fill, because I remember several instances of flooding the floor; Mom was always absent-minded about anything to do with housekeeping.

The tub tearing was what led to its retirement in about 1959 or 1960. Dad scrounged up a '51 or '52 Kenmore pair, and that was the end of the floods.



This post was last edited 06/09/2013 at 16:39
Post# 683251 , Reply# 6   6/9/2013 at 16:35 (3,963 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

Larry, everyone I knew who used one of these did the "pluck the cloth out of the suds and wipe it around the tub collar before closing the lid routine." Our neighbors across the street earned jewels in their heavenly crowns for inviting me over one Saturday morning to help do a load in their Economat. It was the first one with the deep dome with a belly button like plunger in the middle that was activated by a red button in the gray plastic lid handle. The timer was on the front. To open the lid after the extraction, the red button was pushed and air inside the dome equalized the pressure in the evacuated tub so that the lid could be raised more easily. Later machines had an automatic air valve that broke the vacuum at the end of the cycle. These people in 1955 had a whole house of electric appliances and in recent years I shuddered to remember them throwing the wash from the Economat into the electric dryer and thinking how much that drying the load must have cost them. He was an electrical engineer and they even had Carrier window units.

The neighbor to the right of our house had a Bendix Automatic Home Laundry and the one time I got a good switching from my mother was when I was being called and could not leave their house because of the spectacle when the machine went into spin. It shook the floor and cabinets so badly that the crock with the laundry soap fell off the counter and smashed onto the floor. They were all sitting down to lunch as this happened and I was supposed to be home for lunch, too.

I was not yet five and already a slave to washer-watching.

The machines were very popular for a while because they did not require permanent installation and caused no vibration since they did not spin so landlords would permit them in multi-family buildings, even those of wooden construction. A Bendix serviceman told me that the machine almost drove the company into bankruptcy with replacing the tubs under the guarantee. Not only nails would do in the tub, but pencils, too. Bendix was able to offer this very inexpensive automatic because it only used a wringer washer transmission since it did not spin. The agitator was very powerful although it looked like a perforated Maytag Gyrator. In the instruction manual it stated that you had to let the machine fill with an empty tub. Once the agitation started, the water conditioner was added then the soap or detergent. To determine if enough was added when the user was getting accustomed to the machine, you were supposed to check for two to three inches of suds on top of the water, but the agitation was so powerful that it pulled the suds under water so the user was told to pull the cord from the outlet to stop the machine to let the suds rise then restart it and add the clothes. Cheapness could be seen in that the base of the agitator had a plastic spline for connecting it to the drive shaft and it wore down which affected the agitation, but usually by the time this got noticeable, the seal for the tranny was allowing water to leak into the transmission which resulted in oil leaking onto the floor. I remember the way the water sloshed over the plastic grid in the top of the agitator during agitation so from time to time I like to remove the lint filter from the agitator in my Maytags and fill them a little higher than the highest water level and see the sudsy water do that again.

Some of these were made with the Philco name on them. A neighbor in our new neighborhood bought the washer, the famous Philco V-handle door refrigerator and a Philco electric range from the Economy Auto Store in our shopping center when they moved into their new house in 55.

Post# 683278 , Reply# 7   6/9/2013 at 19:13 (3,963 days old) by westie2 ()        

My grandmother had the semi automatic one of these from 1952 to about 1962, Had it in her kitchen and filled it from the kitchen sink She would do a wash load the hand wring the clothes out and do another load and another. Then she would let the last wash load d it's squeeze and empty then rinse everything and let it squeeze out each load. What got this washer was a pencil that my granddad has left in his clothes. He was adding on to their house at that time. They replaced it with a TOL Whirlpool.

Post# 683283 , Reply# 8   6/9/2013 at 19:36 (3,963 days old) by lotsosudz (Sacramento, CA)        
Economat

 lotsosudz's profile picture
My folks bought this as a first owned washer. It lasted from 52-57, when it no longer squeezed the clothes dry enough, we replaced it with a 57 70 series 2 speed washer, with the preggie super roto swirl agi, and the waterfall filter, and two cycles, with normal and delicate cycles. This one went through 2 babies, five kids total, with two adults. Finally bailed in 67. Was sad to see it go, and was replaced with a 67 Kenmore 600, witch tuned out to be a lemon from the start. Who knew.
Hugs,
David

Post# 683342 , Reply# 9   6/10/2013 at 08:22 (3,962 days old) by alr2903 (TN)        

Goofy question.  Was the squeezing generated by suction more like what we all remember from high school science lab or more like a shop vac? alr
Post# 683365 , Reply# 10   6/10/2013 at 11:51 (3,962 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)        

dadoes's profile picture
 
An air pump sucked the water and air out of the tub, pulling a vacuum on it, causing it to collapse and squeezing the clothes against the agitator, which is what made the lid difficult/impossible to open until the vacuum was released at end of the cycle.

Post# 683376 , Reply# 11   6/10/2013 at 13:11 (3,962 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        

unimatic1140's profile picture
Here is the demo lid I made and related video that shows off the Economat's "extraction" method.






Post# 683540 , Reply# 12   6/11/2013 at 13:24 (3,961 days old) by e2l-arry (LAKEWOOD COLORADO)        
COOL VIDEO

 I've seen that before and figured it was yours. Thanks Robert! Do you actually still own one of these Economats? How was the water extraction when you removed the clothes from the video? I do remember times when the clots came out and felt "damp dry" Other times I remember them dripping water when hung on the line to dry.

Post# 683573 , Reply# 13   6/11/2013 at 20:10 (3,961 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        

unimatic1140's profile picture
Hi Larry, they were reasonably damp-dry, like being spun at 300rpm I would estimate. Not great, but not bad for no vibration what so ever. The lid needs to seal properly and I suspect on those times they came out dripping wet the lid didn't seal as well as it should keeping the vacuum pressure down.

Post# 683632 , Reply# 14   6/12/2013 at 06:19 (3,960 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA)        

Uni,
do have any video of the workings of the machine? Cool video!

Post# 683657 , Reply# 15   6/12/2013 at 09:57 (3,960 days old) by hydralique (Los Angeles)        

This is such a cool video . . . it's amazing to think that the rubber tub on this Economat is still working well over 50 years since it was built, the first owner must have been careful to not leave pencils in his pockets!

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