Pink Kenmore '57 HIGH SPEED Dryer

Well work on the pink 1957 Lady Kenmore dryer is completed. I had to take the entire thing apart and give it a good cleaning as like most vintage dryers it was clogged with lint from use over the years. It also had the remains of a birds nest in the blower; they must have come down through the vent tube. I oiled the blower bearing, change both the blower and drum pulley cogged drive belts, checked both heating elements, cleaned out the "Lint-Lite" tube and put in a new 40watt Appliance bulb as well as a new Ozone bulb. Then I redid the 220 volt electrical plug where the dryer is going and rewired the line with 6 gage wire (6 gage wire is not fun to work with) and installed a 50amp 220 volt breaker.

The Lint-Lite system works with a simple washing machine pressure switch and clear tubing. When the lint screen gets full of lint less air is forced from the blower through the exhaust, the air has to go somewhere so it�s forced through the clear tube to the pressure switch and the red Lint-Lite lights! I adjusted the pressure switch so the system lights when the lint filter is slightly more than half full as I like a nice clean filter screen.

This dryer is unbelievable fast! It's 8400 watt elements does an super fast job at drying clothes, I'm just amazed at its performance on 10lb to 12lb normal sized loads, its much faster than the modern Harmony dryer, the Harmony is suppose to be the fastest dryer available today.

First I dried 8 cotton long sleeve button down shirts that were washed and spun out in the 550rpm Kelvinator. I set the dial for 20 minutes at Med heat (thinking I would have to reset it for more time) and I came back after 12 minutes to see how things were going and to my shock they were bone dry! Next I dried a set of sheets that were washing in a Unimatic, spun at 1140rpm, they dried in less than 5 minutes! Four Pair of jeans out of the Belt-drive whirlpool dried in 30 minutes and a large towel load out of the little Bendix, spun at 250rpm dried in 40! With the exception of the towel load in the very slow spinning Bendix, I have not needed more than 1/2 hour to dry any load in this dryer.

Now I�m on to working on the washer.


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Post# 61064 3/23/2005 at 14:46 (6,965 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis)
Checkrate/Likes Well work on the pink 1957 Lady Kenmore dryer is completed. I had to take the entire thing apart and give it a good cleaning as like most vintage dryers it was clogged with lint from use over the years. It also had the remains of a birds nest in the blower; they must have come down through the vent tube. I oiled the blower bearing, change both the blower and drum pulley cogged drive belts, checked both heating elements, cleaned out the "Lint-Lite" tube and put in a new 40watt Appliance bulb as well as a new Ozone bulb. Then I redid the 220 volt electrical plug where the dryer is going and rewired the line with 6 gage wire (6 gage wire is not fun to work with) and installed a 50amp 220 volt breaker. The Lint-Lite system works with a simple washing machine pressure switch and clear tubing. When the lint screen gets full of lint less air is forced from the blower through the exhaust, the air has to go somewhere so it�s forced through the clear tube to the pressure switch and the red Lint-Lite lights! I adjusted the pressure switch so the system lights when the lint filter is slightly more than half full as I like a nice clean filter screen. This dryer is unbelievable fast! It's 8400 watt elements does an super fast job at drying clothes, I'm just amazed at its performance on 10lb to 12lb normal sized loads, its much faster than the modern Harmony dryer, the Harmony is suppose to be the fastest dryer available today. First I dried 8 cotton long sleeve button down shirts that were washed and spun out in the 550rpm Kelvinator. I set the dial for 20 minutes at Med heat (thinking I would have to reset it for more time) and I came back after 12 minutes to see how things were going and to my shock they were bone dry! Next I dried a set of sheets that were washing in a Unimatic, spun at 1140rpm, they dried in less than 5 minutes! Four Pair of jeans out of the Belt-drive whirlpool dried in 30 minutes and a large towel load out of the little Bendix, spun at 250rpm dried in 40! With the exception of the towel load in the very slow spinning Bendix, I have not needed more than 1/2 hour to dry any load in this dryer. Now I�m on to working on the washer.

Post# 61066 , Reply# 1 3/23/2005 at 15:40 (6,965 days old) by Customline (pennsylvania)
Checkrate/Likes *vintage Kenmore advertisements* Dear Robert, I just got a hold of some old Sears catalogs from the 50's and saw your pink Lady Kenmore W and D set. I'll send you the pics soon. You'll get a laugh.

Post# 61072 , Reply# 2 3/23/2005 at 16:33 (6,965 days old) by mrcleanjeans (milwaukee wi)
Checkrate/Likes *this is one fast Lady !* Congrats,Robert on this JET-SPEED dryer,she's beautiful.You deserve it.All your diligence and hard work has paid off!Bet you are tickled pink!

Post# 61074 , Reply# 3 3/23/2005 at 16:38 (6,965 days old) by DADoES (TX,�U.S. of A.)
Checkrate/Likes Wow! Does it have a higher-than-usual airflow rate? Seems like it should, what with that high-wattage element situation.

Post# 61076 , Reply# 4 3/23/2005 at 17:07 (6,965 days old) by westytoploader ()
Checkrate/Likes Too cool!!! Talk about FAST laundry--congratulations!!

Post# 61082 , Reply# 5 3/23/2005 at 17:35 (6,965 days old) by kenmore1978 ()
Checkrate/Likes *re-wiring* Because it's 50 amp, did you have to use an electric range cord and outlet?

Post# 61086 , Reply# 6 3/23/2005 at 17:50 (6,965 days old) by agiflow ()
Checkrate/Likes Wow talk about quick!! Robert, was there any other classic dryers of this vintage that were as fast as this Kenmore is ?

Post# 61091 , Reply# 7 3/23/2005 at 18:20 (6,965 days old) by rickr (.)
Checkrate/Likes *Old Pinky* Way cool Robert! Glad things are going so well with your latest additions.That dryer is FAST!! We will be glad to see the detailed photos when you are ready. (: Who is your source for the ozone lamps,and how much $$ are they now? My source in Fort Wayne went belly up after Xmas,and I need to get two or three more of the bulbs. Thanks, Rick

Post# 61094 , Reply# 8 3/23/2005 at 18:50 (6,965 days old) by maytagbear (N.E. Ohio)
Checkrate/Likes *I wish!* modern dryers worked that fast! Lawrence/Maytagbear

Post# 61096 , Reply# 9 3/23/2005 at 19:05 (6,965 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA)
Checkrate/Likes *Totally!* That is really cool - can't wait to see more pics of the adventure. You should be proud. Not too often TWO pink dryers are getting worked on at the same time on the board! Ben

Post# 61102 , Reply# 10 3/23/2005 at 19:44 (6,965 days old) by appnut (TX)
Checkrate/Likes More tha impressive as usual. BTW, how was the "softness" of the loads?

Post# 61125 , Reply# 11 3/24/2005 at 00:13 (6,965 days old) by chaskelljr2 (Washington, D. C.)
Checkrate/Likes *Where is the post......* Where you stated you have landed the beautiful 1957 Pink Lady K set??? I want to see you live and up close with these machines. I already know what they look like though, as I have a 1957 Sears Catalog. The washer looks just like the "White" 1957 Lady you have restored about four years ago, only the washer you describing happens to be "Pink" this time around. In my opinion, the first Ladys ever made are the Holy Grail of a lifetime of Ladys as far as I am concerned. And just to think that about a month (or two) ago, I saw a "White" 1957 Lady Kenmore Dryer on e-bay. NOW..................... Being that you have this Pink 1957 Lady Kenmore set, what are you going to do with the White 1957 Lady Kenmore Washer that you so lovingly restored a few years back???? That's a beautiful looking machine. --Charles--

Post# 61135 , Reply# 12 3/24/2005 at 02:52 (6,965 days old) by rchris ()
Checkrate/Likes Did that model come with a sprinkler to keep clothes soft in the face of all that ferocious heat? Son! I'm having fantasies now of what would result from mating that high-speed drying with an automatic drying system (wouldnt even need to be electronic), and Kenmore's later bit of handiness - Soft Heat. There would sit the penultimate dryer...maybe even the ultimate.