Thread Number: 1205
Lady Kenmore 80 Series Pod
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Post# 56202   2/7/2005 at 05:42 (6,988 days old) by brisnat81 (Brisbane Australia)        

Hi Guys,

I was wondering how this POD determines and adjusts the waterlevel if you add a garment?

Nathan





Post# 56208 , Reply# 1   2/7/2005 at 07:24 (6,988 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)        

frigilux's profile picture
Wow! I've never seen this model before. We had the 1960 version, which had different cycle-select buttons. It didn't automtically select water level, either. Anyone know how that particular feature worked? I'm guessing the lever on the console is for suds return.

Post# 56210 , Reply# 2   2/7/2005 at 07:42 (6,988 days old) by appnut (TX)        

appnut's profile picture
Ditto to comments made thus far. I would even love to see the matching dryer in this ad. It's a very start looking washer. What a shame this one wasn't produced very long.

Post# 56218 , Reply# 3   2/7/2005 at 08:39 (6,988 days old) by agiflow ()        
just when ya think

that auto water levels on washers were fairly new,here is KM with auto water level 44 years ago and in a TOP LOADER no less.

Post# 56230 , Reply# 4   2/7/2005 at 09:23 (6,988 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)        
Very strange

unimatic1140's profile picture
Good question guys, no one that I know of has ever seen this machine, so I have no idea how it was suppose to work. Obviously it didn't work very well because by '63 feature was gone. I don't have the '62 catalogs to see if the '62 Lady Kenmore had this feature, maybe someone out in Applianceville does.

Post# 56249 , Reply# 5   2/7/2005 at 11:38 (6,988 days old) by PeterH770 (Marietta, GA)        

peterh770's profile picture
But isn't that a little water level lever on the bottom middle of the control panel?

Post# 56254 , Reply# 6   2/7/2005 at 12:14 (6,988 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)        

frigilux's profile picture
PeterH--- it could be a water level control, but I'm thinking it might be the suds save/return control. The catalog blurb doesn't mention a manual override for the automatic water control.

I'm really, really curious as to how the auto water level worked, how it would know to add more water if you add more clothes once the machine has started, and why it was apparantly not worth the bother since they abandoned it so quickly. The Kenmore 'black sheep' feature!!



Post# 56281 , Reply# 7   2/7/2005 at 15:05 (6,988 days old) by frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie)        

frigilux's profile picture
If anyone's curious, these were the cycles on our 1960 KM Model 80---I'm guessing they're probably the same on today's POD.

Left to right; top button first, then bottom button:

Cottons/Linens White: Light Soil (8 min. wash); Heavy Soil (12 min. wash)

Cotton/Linens Colored: Light Soil (6 min. wash); Heavy Soil (10 min. wash)

Wash 'N' Wear: Delicate (4 min. slow wash); Sturdy (8 min. wash, 4 min. fast, 4 min. slow);

Delicates: Light Soil (2 min. wash); Normal Soil (4 min. wash)

Specials: Cold Water Wash (4 min. slow wash); Rinse & Spin (I think this is called pre-wash on the 1961)

Specials: Washable Woolens (2 min. slow wash); Spin Only (4 min. fast spin, no sprays)

I believe the toggle switch to the left of the cycle buttons is the Cycle Hold button. This is the equivalent of pushing the timer knob in. You'd use it to stop the washer or to reset the hell-with-the-lid-off unbalanced load buzzer.


Isn't it amazing how we remember these things? I have trouble remembering my freaking cell phone number, but I can recall cycles on a washer from 40 years ago.


Post# 56291 , Reply# 8   2/7/2005 at 15:33 (6,988 days old) by scott55405 ()        

What a wonderful machine this looks to be. I'm a bit surprised they have it only listed in white, but maybe if you went directly to the store you could get it in other colors. I notice it has an end of cycle signal as well. It would be fun to know the story about that automatic water level. I can't fathom how that worked (or was meant to work, as the case may be).

Post# 56299 , Reply# 9   2/7/2005 at 15:53 (6,988 days old) by SactoTeddyBear ()        
Re: Lady Kenmore 80 Series Pod, Water Level Control:

The Lever at the bottom of the Console, just past the Washer Lid is the Infinate Water Level Control. I've seen and had several of the same year Washer, although I've never seen this particular Lady-K Model. Some Friends of our Family had a Lady-K Washer that had Plestic Molded "Rocker" Type Controls, that would be pressed on the Upper part for some of the Cycle Selections, according to Garment Type and you would press the Lower part of the Rocker for the rest of the Cycle Selections, again according to the Garment Type being Washer. When you pressed the Rocker, the Timer would "Rapid-Advance" until it came to the hole in an internal Plate with a Part holding Rods with a series of Pins at the ends in front or behind the Plate, the Timer would lock into the Cycle Selected by this action. It was similar to the Manually turned Timer on my Parent's 1968 Lady-K Washer for setting the Cycles and Options.

Peace and Happiness, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...


Post# 56302 , Reply# 10   2/7/2005 at 16:11 (6,988 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN)        
Jukebox washer

Didn't Seeburg build or invent some of the timer mechanisms for some of these machines? I thought I read that somewhere.

I'm picturing a strange malfunction where somewhere, a lady pushes a cycle button on her new 59 Kenmore and music comes out. And in a bar somewhere, someone selects G-9 on a Seeburg 222 and it starts shooting water and begins washing the records. Sounds like the repairman goofed again.


Post# 56303 , Reply# 11   2/7/2005 at 16:12 (6,988 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)        

dadoes's profile picture
My first instinct was to say that the lever is a water level control, and the text description is simply a reference to the user being able to preset a water level for wash and rinse, without having to set the timer to a Fill position and then manually advance to Wash for a less-than-full-load . . . thus automatic water level instead of manual.

But the description *does* reference a fully automatic water level system -- All it takes is one light touch .. positively nothing else to do. Automatic water level never wastes a drop .. never needs setting either. Even adds more water if you add more clothes.

So there must have been some kind of automatic sensing system. Fascinating!


Post# 56355 , Reply# 12   2/7/2005 at 20:37 (6,988 days old) by chaskelljr2 (Washington, D. C.)        
Unimatic.....

Uni:

Actually......... I've seen this model before as I also have a 1961 Sears Catalog. But I will agree with some that THAT was a cool machine back then. Today..... virtually all of today's front loaders have an automatic water level adjustment system featured inside of them. But that kind of water level adjustment system appeared to be cutting edge technology back in 1961, and the fact that it was featured in a top loader kind of made it a feature worth noting in my opinion.

1961 was probably the only year that feature was featured. Because I also have a 1960 Sears Catalog also, and if I could remember correctly, it also had a Lady Kenmore Washer that featured a modified push button system (that model featured large toggle switches instead of the rocker style push buttons from the year before) and I don't believe that the 1960 Lady Kenmore had an automatic water level adjustment system. I don't have a 1962 Sears Catalog, so I don't even know what the 1962 Lady Kenmore even looks like. After the 1961 Catalog, the next catalog I have is a 1963 Sears Catalog (F/W), and by 1963, Sears has done away with the automatic water level system, and has returned to the "tried and true" lever control system (which by the way......was on a Model 800 Lady Kenmore).

--Charles--


Post# 56359 , Reply# 13   2/7/2005 at 21:10 (6,988 days old) by jasonl (Cookeville, TN)        

My guess is that it somehow senses the resistance on the agitator and if it's having a hard time turning the clothes it adds more water.

Post# 56370 , Reply# 14   2/7/2005 at 23:46 (6,988 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)        
1960 Ladies

gansky1's profile picture
This is from a fold-out brochure I have for the 1960 Kenmore line of washers and dryers. The washer features automatic resevoir dispensers for softener, bleach and liquid detergent, self cleaning filter, infinite water level (slide), 14 washing programs - all with the flick of a lever! Gorgeous machine, maybe the holy grail of Lady's.

Post# 56375 , Reply# 15   2/8/2005 at 00:08 (6,988 days old) by scott55405 ()        

They must have been expermienting with different things during this period. Interesting how the 1960 machine has the detergent dispenser door like many of the later machines, while the 1961 does not. Just like the 1961 has the automatic water level, while others do not.

Post# 56413 , Reply# 16   2/8/2005 at 09:08 (6,987 days old) by pulsator-power (connecticut)        
80 Series

Anyone know how Sears named their models- where the 80 Series came from?
Jerry


Post# 56429 , Reply# 17   2/8/2005 at 11:25 (6,987 days old) by coldspot66 (Plymouth, Mass)        

I think Sears used that to designate model line up. The model # had the designator towards the end of the model # ie 110.6295801. 60, 70 80, and 90 series. In the late 60's they went to 3 numbers on the control panel; 500 bol,600,700,800. 900 designator ,I beleive, was tol Lady Kenmore.

Post# 56444 , Reply# 18   2/8/2005 at 13:34 (6,987 days old) by davy1063 (Pennsylvania)        

I know it would be a chore, but would it be possible for you guys to scan those old catalogs and put them on the website? It would be great to see those old Kenmores. My parents first washer was a '59 Kenmore, from what my dad tells me it is like the one below


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