Got my paws on something I've been obsessed with for some time. And there it was in an obscure little suburb of Denver:

It's the mate to the almost TOL Rotary Fabric Dial 1961 Filter-Flo that Robert got a couple of years ago. I've always wondered if this machine had its own RFD but, actually, for an "almost TOL" they went to the other extreme with these 1961's. It's elegantly simple, like Maytag HOH dryers everything happens with one very beautifully conceived dial: timed cycles, automatic cycles, safety start switch. Disappointing (neither buttons nor toggles) and very effective at the same time. I think this is the last time they offered a model with the "full length fluorescent lighting" plus a dial light that also makes a very pretty little red jewel glow when it's operating.

I don't think this dryer got a lot of use; very clean. Its mate, of course and unfortunately, long gone, but the seller was very patient, helpful and included the original manual which I will send to the Ephemera Man. It had a familiar perfume of mouse turds so I opened the access panel and blew out some years of lint and droppings and I'm hoping that will eliminate the smell. Of all the appliances I've collected I had the hardest time ever getting it from there to here. I've been lucky in the past

Congratulations!!  Beautiful.  Never seen a dryer whereby you pulled the timer dial out to start it. 

Ken,

That is a BEAUTIFUL dryer - both when it was new and now.  Someone took very good care of that one.  So glad you were able to get it, even if it took a while to make happen.

The owners manual/installation instructions for these early "High Speed" dryers showed a flexible rubber boot that could be installed on the wall vent and would fit into that recess on the back of the dryer, so no flexible hose was necessary - just push the dryer back against the boot and voila, you're in business.  I've never found out exactly what that boot was but thought that was such an awesome idea.  Have you (or anyone else) ever encountered this type of installation?

lawrence

Bob-For some reason GE chose to try out the "Pull to Start" control knob in 1961 and, with one exception, ONLY in 1961. It was dropped by 1962 and I think I can understand why. When you're in a hurry and you go to start the dryer, it can slip out of your hand too quickly and cause enough of a short to blow the circuit breaker or fuse. The three TOLs had this feature (as well as the TOL from 1960)

Nemesis-I knew you'd approve. Did your heart miss a beat when you first saw Tomturbomatic's "SU-60P for Jon Charles" thread? Mine sure did.

Lawrence-I think our first GE dryer on 19th Street had been installed with that boot to a ceramic pipe in the back of the bathroom wall. By the time I was old enough to pull the dryer out to see what was what behind there, it had disintegrated and almost all of the venting had been diverted back into the room. I think what you're remembering is what's illustrated in figure B, below, but I can't tell what it's made out of. One thing that was remarkable about this dryer is that it is the first one I've collected with the metal diverter strap intact and still attached, in place, to the back of the machine.

and Brian, I'm not giving up hope yet. As Miss Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day"!

Thanks for the illustrations regarding venting.  I've not seen these before.

Here is what I have seen, they came from a Repair-Master publication (1976) so it might be accurate, but it might not be accurate.  The first is a general note under the "Venting" heading (Note 8); the second and third relate more specifically to Figure 95.  After reading the note closely, I'm not sure the written description is correct.  At any rate, I've always thought this would make a neat, close-to-the-wall installation.  I have also suspected that this was the installation method that the builder used in our 1959 USAF housing (but that galaxy was too long ago and too far away for me to be able to say for sure).

lawrence

What you have pictured there in fig. 95 is exactly what we had on 19th Street. The piece on the left, in our bathroom, was ceramic.

According to GE repair manuals of that time, the temperatures on the Automatic cycle are continuously adjustable from "Heavy" to "Delicate" with all increments in-between and at either extreme. The control affects the high-end cut-off temperature which is continuously lowered as the timer motor is energized and the cycle progresses to "OFF". There is only one temperature for the Timed portion of the dial until you hit "Air Fluff"; originally this was designed so the user would only use the Timed cycles for Damp-drying, Wash and Wear and Air Fluff. Starting in 1962, GE started to offer buttons that gave the user 3 choices for the Automatic cycles: "Hi-Speed", "Damp-Dry" and "Economy"(where the heater behaved as if the dryer were hooked up to 120V).

This makes this dryer very simple and easy to operate. You just turn the dial to your desired setting and then pull the knob, gently and slowly, to start it.

Congratulations Ken. I really like it!

Beautiful Dryer Ken, The PTS timer certainly made the timer less durable and it was less intuitive  to operate so it likley generated some user complaints. Many makers over the years used a Push To Start and they were troublesome as well and Maytag used a pull to start timer in the early 2000s that was a piece of junk.

The pull  to start feature however would never cause a 30 amp circuit to trip or fuse to blow, you could stand there all day playing with the timer dial and never trip a circuit.

GE to its credit was one the first dryer maker to have a safety start on all there dryers, this safety feature was not mandated till about 1970 on all dryers.

John L.