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Thread Number: 16480
BOL Wards! |
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Post# 273390 4/1/2008 at 22:13 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz  (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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So, instead of finding Lady K's in basements of old ladies homes during estate sales for 15 dollars - bottom barrel bargains can be found behind Menards for 9 dollars! This machine was in such good shape I just couldn't let it go to the crusher. No congrats is needed for this Wards as it is meant to have fun with for awhile but will hopefully find a new home soon. From what I've been told the lower end models and commercial Wards washers had back opening lids with the black non-burping agitators. Still has a HUGE tub though and washes clothes really well! Of course comes with the wonderful shot-gun sounding brake when the safety lid is lifted during spin. A big surprise came when I took the rear panel off. Investigating to see how the water level was metered - it was a pleasant surprise to see that an infinite water level pressure switch had been hiding behind the BOL panel for decades! So to save some water a little flick of the dial can turn the level down as needed. A video clip and a few pics follow for those who enjoy these machines. Even though they aren't as desirable as other models, they are still a ton of fun. Utilitarian at its finest! CLICK HERE TO GO TO swestoyz's LINK 
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Post# 273391 , Reply# 1 4/1/2008 at 22:14 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273392 , Reply# 2 4/1/2008 at 22:16 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Five Cycle Washer | ||
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Post# 273394 , Reply# 3 4/1/2008 at 22:17 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273395 , Reply# 4 4/1/2008 at 22:17 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273396 , Reply# 5 4/1/2008 at 22:18 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273397 , Reply# 6 4/1/2008 at 22:19 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273398 , Reply# 7 4/1/2008 at 22:20 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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| Post# 273400 , Reply# 8 4/1/2008 at 22:25 (5,861 days old) by brent-aucoin () | ||
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Ben, Very cool find! Looks mint! Very fun washer! Brent | ||
| Post# 273404 , Reply# 9 4/1/2008 at 22:36 (5,861 days old) by scott55405 () | ||
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Ben, that's a cool machine to have fun with! I have not seen one of that vintage though with the lid that goes that way. Usually they go to the side and lay flat. I wonder why this one is different? | ||
| Post# 273405 , Reply# 10 4/1/2008 at 22:40 (5,861 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY) | ||
#4 regular wash WARM; #5 perma press COLD ;'D
My God, can those things wash !!!!! Little wonder Norge scored #1 in washing ability so many times. Dirt doesn't stand a chance in agitation that powerful, so fast the camera had trouble keeping up with it, Love how you showed that the Spray rinse IS effective since it hits the fins and flies all over. Is your water pressure a little low there, Ben?? I had the white version, a Norge, a burping one, and I loved it. It was the first REAL washer I ever owned, early 80's. Thanks for bringing back so many grand memories. Wonderful video, Ben, and ah! the sounds of those urgent rhythmic strokes--nothing like the Norge badge in all its incarnations.
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| Post# 273408 , Reply# 11 4/1/2008 at 22:46 (5,861 days old) by scott55405 () | ||
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That video was awesome! I was wondering why there was no spin brake, apparently has something to do with the lid switch that you had disabled. | ||
| Post# 273412 , Reply# 12 4/1/2008 at 23:03 (5,861 days old) by tuthill () | ||
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Awesome Vid! Awesome video of a cool machine. You sure know how to make videos, as the unimatic vid is great too. | ||
| Post# 273417 , Reply# 13 4/1/2008 at 23:30 (5,861 days old) by 70series ( Connecticut.) | ||
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Thank you for the video. BOL or not, that is a great washer. Never saw the black angel wing agitator at work, but she does a good job. I may have missed it in the above posts, but what year was that washer. It must have been early since it had the back opening lid. Have a good one, James | ||
| Post# 273418 , Reply# 14 4/1/2008 at 23:34 (5,861 days old) by laundryshark (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) | ||
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Thanks, Ben! What a unique video to add to my personal collection! Many thanks!--Laundry Shark | ||
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Post# 273420 , Reply# 15 4/1/2008 at 23:40 (5,861 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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James - I'm really not sure of the year to be honest. I was guessing late 70's through the early 80's but I could be wrong. I do not know a whole heck of a lot about Norge/Signature/Wards washers - but they sure are fun. _____ The 'brake'. I defeated the lid switch on this machine to make the film and for continuous fun. I filmed this on Saturday evening - on Sunday afternoon I washed a 3/4 full load of t-shirts and button up shirts. The wash action was more relaxed and felt very fluid. With the larger load the machine spun longer during the coasting portion of the cycle after spin. Because of this, the 'brake' engaged earlier in the coast to cause the tub to quit spinning abruptly - very similar to the end of the film. This would have been normal during regular washing. One of these days I'll figure out how to take the front panel off to show pictures of the solenoid and the brake. In theory it works very similar to the solenoid on an AMP Maytag. Something I left out - since this machine was set to fill to the highest level from the factory - this strange white ring was installed to let the operator know exactly how full they could fill the machine 'dry' and expect clean clothes. Ben 
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Post# 273432 , Reply# 16 4/2/2008 at 01:24 (5,861 days old) by washerlover (The Big Island, Hawai’i) |
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| Post# 273439 , Reply# 17 4/2/2008 at 05:35 (5,861 days old) by stainfighter (Columbia, SC) | ||
neat BOL action! burp-a-lator still possible? | ||
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Post# 273446 , Reply# 19 4/2/2008 at 06:46 (5,861 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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Thanks Ben! My mother's house came with a Norge badged version of this when she bought the house in 1973. I nearly got an @$$ whoopin' when the tub brake kicked in and released with the first time she ran it! (I was watcing it, of course!) They did wash really well. In hers, the fill-flume shown (in the rear of the tub) was a recirculation-flume for the rectangular filter mounted below it. Like many others of that engineering, hers sprung an oil leak INSIDE the tub! Will you be customizing by moving the water-level switch to be operable? Will you be adding a switch to shut of the hot water solenoid to get cold water? Thanks for posting this. | ||
| Post# 273481 , Reply# 20 4/2/2008 at 13:07 (5,860 days old) by bobbyderegis (Boston) | ||
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Hi Ben! Fun, fun, fun. You have inspired me to get the Norge that Greg M. gave me into use. It has the burpalator agitator. It looks very similar to yours, minus the rear opening lid and black agitator. I'll share some pics of that one. Bobby in Boston | ||
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Post# 273482 , Reply# 21 4/2/2008 at 13:40 (5,860 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
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That is very cool, Ben. I always liked the BOL machines from Wards, Sears, Penneys - so utilitarian looking, "no nonsense and not as much to go wrong" as my grandmother & grandfather would say. I remember the later commercial machines with the load-level cap on the agitator - I can't imagine the scuz that probably lived under those caps! | ||
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Post# 273493 , Reply# 22 4/2/2008 at 14:55 (5,860 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions) |
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Nice save, Ben, Menards does come up with a keeper now and then. To remove the front panel, find the two clips underneath the top, between the top, and front. Push in on the clips, and the top will release, and lift up. Then you should see two screws, that you remove,and then pull up on the front panel, and it's free. kennyGF | ||
| Post# 273504 , Reply# 23 4/2/2008 at 16:30 (5,860 days old) by bobbyderegis (Boston) | ||
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Was that really the BOL with two speeds? Bobby in Boston | ||
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Post# 273507 , Reply# 24 4/2/2008 at 16:42 (5,860 days old) by peteski50 (New York) |
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Wards | ||
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Post# 273514 , Reply# 25 4/2/2008 at 18:35 (5,860 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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Becuse it's not visible or reachable from the front. | ||
| Post# 273537 , Reply# 26 4/2/2008 at 21:39 (5,860 days old) by hoover1060 () | ||
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very cool Looks like it agitates quite aggressively too!! Does the tub index as well? Thanks for sharing the video Ben! | ||
| Post# 273540 , Reply# 27 4/2/2008 at 21:49 (5,860 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY) | ||
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Actually, Pete, Ben explained it in the initial post.
"A big surprise came when I took the rear panel off. Investigating to see how the water level was metered - it was a pleasant surprise to see that an infinite water level pressure switch had been hiding behind the BOL panel for decades! So to save some water a little flick of the dial can turn the level down as needed. " It was installed on the assembly line but only available to use on higher end models. No match for savvy Ben's skills who tweaked that baby in seconds to get a low water level. And now I have two stories for my fellow Aworgers about that machine. Home for good after college in the late seventies, a friend lived in one of those huge dwellings where sets of four units share a common basement, meaning there were four washers per basement. All main entries were open then, so I could romp from basement to basement ogling all the awesome now-vintage machines. And the first time I saw that Norge/Wards, etc. OH MY GOD. Nervously, I opened the lid, terrified that the owner might catch me with my head inside of her machine--like Robert's gym video. The white version of the identical agitator in Ben's machine was in full operation, at the lowest water level I had ever seen. It was a small load of socks. And they were flying. Of course this was an adrenalized experience, but I had never seen a machine agitate with such force and speed, and was blown away by a washer with a genuine extra-low water level, very rare then. In that moment, I knew I had to have a Norge. A few months later; I had never been more automatic washer happy: lowest water levels available, insane agiatation, long spray rinse flying off the blades and column--my God, what a washer! It was the first automatic I bought. Up until then I had my blessed Easy--25 bucks in an antique store in 1978, and still spirilating away today. How many loads had that Easy washed? Second story later, | ||
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Post# 273543 , Reply# 28 4/2/2008 at 22:10 (5,860 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Hey Jeff - This machine does not have an indexing tub during agitation - but does something very crafty when agitation starts proceeding a spin. I noticed that after the first spin/rinse combo, when the tub goes into agitation it will spin and lock into place with a nice clunk. I'll hopefully take some shots of the mechanism tomorrow to help explain. Enjoying learning more about these crafty machines! Thanks Toggles and Mike for the update on the MIA pressure switch. I would drill a hole and install a knob, that would take the fun out of it! Ben | ||
| Post# 273551 , Reply# 29 4/2/2008 at 22:52 (5,860 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY) | ||
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Ben, how did they ever engineer that brake?
Another one of a kind. The clang was probably too loud for you camcorder, but no one who knows it ever forgets it. How many rpms--7 or 8 hundred and BANG in one second, the tub stops. Almost like the Iron-man reached out and grabbed it. Can't wait for your always humorous take on the infamous Norge Brake.
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Post# 273575 , Reply# 31 4/3/2008 at 07:00 (5,860 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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BANG- you're dead!
Another thing about the wiring of the water-level /pressure switch. The thee wires most likely tells us tha power comes in and is shot back out under both "full" and "empty" condtions. When "empty" the power allows for fill or spin, depending on the timer's postion. When "full" it allows for agitation! It was always fun to move the water level up to to the "reset" position and to hear the tub-brake clunk in "early" to get a premature spin-drain as opposed to a more neutral drain and spin! | ||
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Post# 273576 , Reply# 32 4/3/2008 at 07:06 (5,860 days old) by toggleswitch (New York City, NY) |
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oooh I had forgotten about that brief indexing until locked!
~This machine does not have an indexing tub during agitation - but does something very crafty when agitation starts (after)a spin. I noticed ............ it will spin and lock into place with a nice clunk. The brake is so effective that the tub actually bounces back (in the reverse direcion) from where it is instantly stopped by the brake. | ||
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Post# 273662 , Reply# 33 4/3/2008 at 21:20 (5,859 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273663 , Reply# 34 4/3/2008 at 21:21 (5,859 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273664 , Reply# 35 4/3/2008 at 21:23 (5,859 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273665 , Reply# 36 4/3/2008 at 21:26 (5,859 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 273666 , Reply# 37 4/3/2008 at 21:30 (5,859 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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To start agitation the power assembly would spin counter clockwise. This will cause the swing arm to ride along the outside of the brake ring until it hits the opposite side of the tang. This is where the visible spin of the drum comes from once the machine engages into agitation. Cool stuff! I know this may be old hat for some, but hopefully some new insight for others. Enjoy! Ben 
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Post# 273683 , Reply# 39 4/4/2008 at 01:35 (5,859 days old) by bobbins (Victoria, BC, Canada) |
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I notice the design concept is very similar to a Maytag. Does the whole tranny spin - like the Maytay? Bob | ||
| Post# 273714 , Reply# 40 4/4/2008 at 07:48 (5,859 days old) by cvillewasherbo () | ||
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video did I miss something, I only see still life pics. Where's the video. I'm sure I missed it somewhere. Courtney in waynesboro | ||
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Post# 273717 , Reply# 41 4/4/2008 at 08:02 (5,859 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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| Post# 273761 , Reply# 42 4/4/2008 at 12:23 (5,858 days old) by fltcoils (South Bend, Indiana) | ||
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Or alternate pic 
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| Post# 273809 , Reply# 43 4/4/2008 at 19:05 (5,858 days old) by bpetersxx (laf in on the banks of the Wabash River) | ||
noege washer  | ||
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Post# 1068916 , Reply# 45 4/23/2020 at 20:51 (1,456 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Basic Norge Built Wards Washer The reason that the water level control was inside the control panel was that this was a basic model that was not intended to be sold in any number, they built very few basic models like this.
They used an off the shelf adjustable WLC because it was cheaper than making a non-adjustable just for a cheap low volume machine.
If a salesman actually sold this machine they got zero commission [ sometimes they were even docked commission for selling these models ] It would not have cost the manufacturer one cent to have this washer built with the WLC extending through the panel so the user could adjust the WL.
Problem is if they make the $179 washer look too attractive to buyers they will insist on buying this model and Wards will not make any money, the $179 price was just intended to get you in the store so the salesperson could explain why you really needed a nicer model that cost $259.
Thats one of the things that makes these BOL models so fun as they are much more rare than any other model including expensive TOL models.
John L. | ||
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Post# 1069110 , Reply# 47 4/24/2020 at 20:40 (1,455 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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Reply #15 "load limit agitator guide" The Norge Cleaning Village we went to (use the Dry Cleaning machines) and when the 55 GE or the Norge15 had "issues", replaced their TimeLine coin-op washers with 1965-1967 Norge coin-ops that sounded just like our Norge15. These new coin-ops had the same load "skirt" barrier/max load line device on their agitators too. In fact those machines had th4e very same features as this one. But temps back then were H/W, W/C, and C/C wash/rinse temps. Fabric selector switch was regular (Normal/Normal) and Durable Press (N/S). They also had an OOB switch with buzzer. When it went OOB, there was a little red light that lit up that was on top of the backsplash (like a little cop car light). _ | ||
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