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Thread Number: 6111
Hotpoint Combos |
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Post# 125433 4/29/2006 at 17:59 (6,570 days old) by paulg  (My sweet home... Chicago) |
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Hello all! This is my first entry ever to this forum. Glad to be amongst you all. Have been visiting the website for a long time. The POD is the second thing I do every day at work to get a fun jump to the day. Was looking at Tomturbomatic's profile. He mentions that he is looking for Hotpoint combos. Sorry cannot provide anything but a story. Dad worked for Hotpoint home laundry engineering in Chicago from 1948 forward. He told a story of their Hotpoint combination that didn't fare well. Supposedly it had a propensity to catch fire (?) He said everyone who had this unit (don't know the model) was offered a washer and a dryer delivered in exchange for the combos. All combos were returned and crushed. He remembers people fighting to keep their Hotpoint combos as they loved them. Dad gone so cannot revisit the story. However, is that why tomburbomatic wants this combo? Are these rare rare? At any rate - if any of y'all find one, use care. However I can see you guys and gals are the best of the best and probably can make the unit clean, dry and probably sing a tune (how dry I am...). Best wishes to all. Hope you meet ya soon ala convention or equiv. | ||
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| Post# 125436 , Reply# 1 4/29/2006 at 18:10 (6,570 days old) by oldwasherguy (Ladson SC) | ||
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Post# 125444 , Reply# 2 4/29/2006 at 18:35 (6,570 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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Post# 125449 , Reply# 3 4/29/2006 at 18:55 (6,570 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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| Post# 125457 , Reply# 4 4/29/2006 at 19:17 (6,570 days old) by filterflo (Chicago Area) | ||
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Hi Paul, welcome and nice to meet you. I, too am a Philco lover and am lucky enough to have a couple of them in working condition. | ||
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Post# 125558 , Reply# 6 4/30/2006 at 09:31 (6,569 days old) by paulg (My sweet home... Chicago) |
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Thanks for the information. The combo story always intrigued me. I'm sure you know more of the relationship between GE and Hotpoint then I. However, during the early years (60s,70s,)the paychecks certainly came from GE, but the factory and signage on the buildings were very Hotpoint. Although the companies were certainly related - it seems that Hotpoint still retained its independence, successes and failures for a time. That's just my impression and certainly not gospel (remember, I was a kid at the time). Perhaps that is why the GE combo fared better. Perhaps GE told Hotpoint to sink or swim on their own combo... and they sank. It was weird to me that GE was on the paychecks, Edison Electric was carved in stone over the door - but once you went into the building it was Hotpoint everywhere. Regarding relationships with other companies - I didn't hear the SQ story. However, all I do know is that the same factory was OEM for some EASY, JCPenney brands and probably some GE (when I wasn't looking). I'm sure they squeaked out tons of private-label. I think EASY was based in Chicago. At first I didn't understand what he meant by "they make some EASY", but I get it now. | ||
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Post# 125588 , Reply# 8 4/30/2006 at 14:20 (6,569 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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| Post# 125658 , Reply# 9 4/30/2006 at 18:55 (6,569 days old) by mayken4now (Panama City, Florida) | ||
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Post# 125801 , Reply# 10 5/1/2006 at 08:52 (6,568 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Hotpoint's washers were made by Easy. Hi Tom, I have no documentation to know for sure but I thought it was the other way around that Easy's washers were made by Hotpoint? While I don't know for sure, but Hotpoint came out with their Co-Axial design in '58, and Easy was producing their own Velva-Power design until about '66 when they started using the Co-Axial design for Easy as well. Could it be that Easy bought the Hotpoint design and then started producing it for both Easy and Hotpoint? It would be interesting to find out more the history between the two. | ||
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Post# 125807 , Reply# 11 5/1/2006 at 09:23 (6,568 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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From the service manual | ||
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Post# 125808 , Reply# 12 5/1/2006 at 09:32 (6,568 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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panel shot
Small pic, but there was a water heating option for the wash cycle. This machine used a two belt & pulley system plus a chain-drive (think bicycle chain) system for the drum, wash/tumble speed of 54 RPM and top spin speed was 365 RPM. There were two "airplane style" shock absorbers and springs that provided suspension for the drum assembly.
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| Post# 125850 , Reply# 14 5/1/2006 at 12:37 (6,568 days old) by brent-aucoin () | ||
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Fun Stuff! Wow! What a great looking machine! Thanks for posting the pictures Greg. Was the dryer on this combo a condensing type? Or were they gas or electric? Brent | ||
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Post# 125854 , Reply# 15 5/1/2006 at 12:50 (6,568 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 125859 , Reply# 16 5/1/2006 at 12:55 (6,568 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 125860 , Reply# 17 5/1/2006 at 12:55 (6,568 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 125861 , Reply# 18 5/1/2006 at 12:56 (6,568 days old) by unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 125891 , Reply# 19 5/1/2006 at 17:01 (6,568 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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I Want One! | ||
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Post# 125892 , Reply# 20 5/1/2006 at 17:08 (6,568 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Wondering
Could Hotpoint, or any other appliance maker "force" people to part with an appliance if they did not wish? Can understand the heavy pressure about no longer offering repair service and or spare parts/warranty service, but other than that what sort of pull does any appliance maker have? After all one purchased the appliance and therefore owns it outright, it is the buyer's sole and exclusive property. If I had owned a Hotpoint or Maytag combination and either company came a knocking, I would have listened very politely then asked them to leave my house, not to come back or bother contacting me again. After all this is the United States of America where posession is 9/10's of the law. L. | ||
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Post# 125928 , Reply# 22 5/1/2006 at 19:47 (6,568 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Short History of Hotpoint
Brand began around the 1900's by a California power company employee who also in his spare time was inventing small electrical appliances. While doing his monthly meter readings, the man would try to get housewives to try electric irons instead of the coal/gas heated sad irons they currently used. The housewives flatly refused to have anything to do with the heavy and cumbersome electric irons of the time, and that sent the man back to tinkering. Earl Richardson, had been tinkering with an electric iron for many years, but his purpose was not only to ease housewive's burdens. If housewives in numbers could be convinenced to switch to electric irons, demand for electric power would also increase, leading to more earnings for the power company. Finally Mr. Richardson had enough prototypes of a new lighter electrical iron to test with local housewives. As an added incentive, Mr. Richardson got the power company to produce electrical power the entire day for one Tuesday (traditional day women did their ironing), the iron was an initial sucess. However after a few weeks housewives began to complain that the iron was too hot in the center and the element burnt out. Going back to his drawing board, Mr. Richardson sought advice from his wife, who suggested he make an iron that heated all the way up to the points so women could irons around buttons and do ruffles. After more experiments, Mr.Richardson soon invented the first long sealed element (Calrod), and the irons were a hit. Women began asking for the irons that were "hot around the point". Thus was the start of the Hotpoint brand. Mr. Richardson left the power company to form "Pacific Electric Heating Company", with four employees. General Edison around this time had also made small appliances like toasters, but they didn't really sell well and "GE" stopped production. Meanwhile the Pacific Electrical Heating Company was producing toasters as well, first sold under the company name, then under the "HotPoint" brand name to capitalise on name value from their irons. By the late teens in 1900 "GE" purchased the Pacific Electric Heating Company , and Hotpoint ceased to be a separte company, but became a GE brand name. About this time GE also re-entered the small appliance market with things like toasters. This pattern is common and when one thinks about it makes perfect sense. Electric power was a new thing, and after the trendy market was saturated, power companies needed more demand to increase profits, and what better way to increase said demand by making all and sundry types of appliances/object that run on electric power. L. | ||
| Post# 125947 , Reply# 23 5/1/2006 at 21:18 (6,567 days old) by brent-aucoin () | ||
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Wow! What a machine! So beautiful! Robert or Greg N, you will find one soon. Everytime that we talk about these rare machines, one pops up! Thanks Robert for the wonderful ads on these! What a machine! Brent | ||
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Post# 125955 , Reply# 24 5/1/2006 at 21:45 (6,567 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Post# 125963 , Reply# 25 5/1/2006 at 22:57 (6,567 days old) by peteski50 (New York) |
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Hotpoint Combo
This looks like a real awsome combo. I had thought for the longest time that these combos were simular to the GE combos from that time. This actually seems like a nicer machine. Another good design that went out to pasture (sad). I assume this is a condensor drying system. I think they could have made the window bigger. It looks very much like the Maytag combo. Would be a nice find but my favorate is still the Bendix next to Sears. I would also like to learn more about the Easy combos. I remember them in the stores in the 60's when I was comming up. Peter | ||
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Post# 125966 , Reply# 26 5/1/2006 at 23:14 (6,567 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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I thought the same thing about Bendix patents only being four years old when I saw those shock absorbers, Tom. A story of combos spontaneously bursting into flames would be awfully good incentive for the owners to wave goodbye and gratefully accept a TOL washer and dryer pair. Get that deathtrap out of my house and hurry! I haven't found out any more about the demise of the Maytag or Westinghouse combos although it would make for good wash-in story telling. I wish we could find some of the factory/marketing communication somewhere. Keep combing ebay Laundress! | ||
| Post# 125968 , Reply# 27 5/1/2006 at 23:21 (6,567 days old) by jerseymike () | ||
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That looks like a real awesome machine. Talk about an interesting design. I agree, that it was probably fear of a patent infringement lawsuit and not a fire that led to the demise of these machines. Thanks for sharing. Mike | ||
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Post# 125975 , Reply# 29 5/2/2006 at 00:26 (6,567 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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You are probably not going to find "smoking guns" like that in someone's trash or estate, hence on fleabay,IMHO. More likely than not orders to "trash and offer replacement" were internal memo's and not circulated widely. Sad for our purposes people/companies were not as legal happy as they are today and took each other to court. A patent infringement suit or threat of one would be the best source for interesting tidbits. Have a hunch not all Hotpoint combos were taken back and trashed. Somewhere, somehow GE must have missed one or two, question is where are they? When we least expect it, someone is going to either find one at an estate sale from some elderly person's home, or one will turn up in a basement of an old appliance store. Who knows, maybe even a GE employee who knew the real story, hung on to his/her unit. The information regarding fate of all the Hotpoint combo's must have been buried in GE's corporation files, though by now they either are microfiched or possibly trashed/shreded. I'm thinking a record was kept of units produced versus units thrashed. In case of a threatened lawsuit,such information would have shown GE did indeed recall and destroy all the units. L. | ||
| Post# 126013 , Reply# 32 5/2/2006 at 10:55 (6,567 days old) by peterh770 (Marietta, GA) | ||
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