Kenmore Vari-Flex Agitator

Kenmore used the gold Vari-Flex for non Lady-K machines, and the white ones for the Ladies.

What you noticed is very interesting because these differences appear to have happened in evolution and Sears kept quiet about it. I do not recall Sears ever specifying a more potent version of Vari-Flex over previous ones, or even mentioning this change. Does anyone else?

I am fairly sure that the gold one you see here is one of the first of this agitator. This, to me anyway, would make the machine it is installed in even that much more cool! This agitator debuted close to the time that the Roto-Flex use was ending, and the Kenmore 900 variations on the '66 Lady K (of which there were at least five or six versions which were similar but not identical, starting in 1968 or so) came along right at this time. The second 900 sub model used the first of the Vari-Flexes. The Lady Kenmore washer, in which the white agitator is installed, is a 1970 model if I recall. My strong suspicion is that Sears realized quickly, once the agitator was out in service, that it needed some tweaking, and shortly thereafter the extended fin version came out.

In order to accomplish these modifications, molds must be removed from service, channels cut into the metal, then polished, re-engineered if slides or ejector pins were involved near the cutting, then tested and re-installed in molding machines. This usually takes weeks for mold mods such as what you see here. This may explain why one of the Kenmore 900 derivatives of the 1966 Lady K was offered with the Super Roto-Swirl agitator.

Sears did the same thing with the Penta-Swirl agitator a few years later. They added five small, supplemental 'mini-vanes' in between the main ones, but never called any attention to this, not that I've seen anyway, and they certainly did not change the name of the agitator or create a new version.

VERY VERY interesting, and an excellent catch SRSwirl!!!

Gordon

This post was last edited 11/16/2012 at 14:42


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Post# 639422 11/16/2012 at 13:53 (4,171 days old) by SRSwirl ()
Checkrate/Likes I noticed something from threads 43466 and 43463 about the Vari-Flex that I had not known before. Kenmore appears to have had two very different versions of this agitator. Yes...one was white and one was gold...but they are quite different as evidenced by this side-by-side comparison. The white version has the addition of a thin vane on top of the thicker bottom vanes containing the interior adjustable vane tips. It also has flaired ends (kinda like a fish tail) on the end of the thick vanes. I would assume the white one provides MUCH more vigorous agitation since the vanes are, in effect, twice as high. Yet these two agitators have the same name. I wonder if Kenmore made any advertising differentiation...

Post# 639425 , Reply# 1 11/16/2012 at 14:22 (4,171 days old) by KenmoreGuy64 (Charlotte, NC)
Checkrate/Likes Kenmore used the gold Vari-Flex for non Lady-K machines, and the white ones for the Ladies. What you noticed is very interesting because these differences appear to have happened in evolution and Sears kept quiet about it. I do not recall Sears ever specifying a more potent version of Vari-Flex over previous ones, or even mentioning this change. Does anyone else? I am fairly sure that the gold one you see here is one of the first of this agitator. This, to me anyway, would make the machine it is installed in even that much more cool! This agitator debuted close to the time that the Roto-Flex use was ending, and the Kenmore 900 variations on the '66 Lady K (of which there were at least five or six versions which were similar but not identical, starting in 1968 or so) came along right at this time. The second 900 sub model used the first of the Vari-Flexes. The Lady Kenmore washer, in which the white agitator is installed, is a 1970 model if I recall. My strong suspicion is that Sears realized quickly, once the agitator was out in service, that it needed some tweaking, and shortly thereafter the extended fin version came out. In order to accomplish these modifications, molds must be removed from service, channels cut into the metal, then polished, re-engineered if slides or ejector pins were involved near the cutting, then tested and re-installed in molding machines. This usually takes weeks for mold mods such as what you see here. This may explain why one of the Kenmore 900 derivatives of the 1966 Lady K was offered with the Super Roto-Swirl agitator. Sears did the same thing with the Penta-Swirl agitator a few years later. They added five small, supplemental 'mini-vanes' in between the main ones, but never called any attention to this, not that I've seen anyway, and they certainly did not change the name of the agitator or create a new version. VERY VERY interesting, and an excellent catch SRSwirl!!! Gordon This post was last edited 11/16/2012 at 14:42

Post# 639440 , Reply# 2 11/16/2012 at 15:52 (4,171 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Good eye!* I didn't notice that either and I was looking at these very carefully because I've been drawing them. I think I had more pictures of the white ones with the thin "piggy-back" vanes on the stationary cover vanes. As with GE agitators it makes me think that these parts were being produced in more than one factory location and each factory put its "signature" on what was supposed to be an identical part. The little shallow rib between the vanes is also slightly different on the gold one, it's a little wider, than on the white one. As usual, I'd like one of each.

Post# 639547 , Reply# 3 11/16/2012 at 22:59 (4,170 days old) by 70series ( Connecticut.)
Checkrate/Likes You are a very talented artist. I love the detail in these drawings.

Post# 639581 , Reply# 4 11/17/2012 at 00:12 (4,170 days old) by mrsalvo (New Braunfels Texas)
Checkrate/Likes Yeah, could you do some Norges??

Post# 639618 , Reply# 5 11/17/2012 at 06:34 (4,170 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes Send me some photos and I'll do my best. I think I have some of my Wards/Norges somewhere. Lemme look. There's a new graphic of the differences you pointed out between the two colors of the Vari-Flex in the thread, "The First Lady". Check em out.

Post# 640423 , Reply# 6 11/20/2012 at 09:14 (4,167 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)
Checkrate/Likes *Evolution is a process of small steps* This might have been a gold model that was retouched for the ad, but it looks like the first iteration of the Vari-Flex on this 1970 Lady was white and was made without the extra fins and the "fishtail" housings. Sorry for fixating on this topic, but after taking mine apart, cleaning and reassembling it. I find I'm totally impressed with this agitator. I would bet that the crew at Westinghouse took a Vari-Flex apart and came up with the idea and blueprint for their "Hand-Wash Agitator" that GE later hijacked.