We know who wants this one.....

Wow, haven't seen one of these in a long time, we would love to give it a proper home in our wall of dishwashers at the museum.

This DW was an interesting exercise in engineering, but from our actual use testing it was easily the poorest performing DW ever built in the US during the 2nd 1/2 of the 20th century.

If someone wants to help save it I will pay reasonable shipping, recoverey costs.

John L.

The Elusive Dual-Drench dishwasher!!!  Last time I saw one was when I was 11 or 12.  

Alan, you simply poured what would be considered a normal amount of detergent (2 tablespoons?) and as the water cascaded around the tub, it would dissolve through the mesh.  There were a couple of times I put too much in and it still had soap in it after the final rinse.  

It had two detergent cups, the first wash would rinse the detergent out or either the right or left cup [ I can't remember which direction it washed first.

Then it would drain & refill and wash the other direction using the detergent in the other side of the dispenser cup.

After the wash drained the DW would do two rinses, one in each direction.

John L.

Hi, thanks for the heads up on this DW, the seller and I have talked and it will be making its way to the wall of DWs here at the museum in Beltsville.

This way everyone can at least see a video of it operating even if they cannot come and visit in person.

John L.

No, this was a purely Tappan Design.  It's originally from the early 1960s late 1950s.  The house we bought in fall of 1961, built up to a year earlier, had the same dishwasher, but it had the O'Keefe & Merrit brand label.  My dad opted to have the Waste King moved to the new house and the dishwasher in the new house went to our old house.  

Very cool, can't wait to see it.  Over the years I'd heard the revolving drum described,  I couldn't ever clearly see it in the brochures posted.  Glad to see a better view of it here.

Greg, when it was "washing" the sound was reminiscent to me of driving down a freeway in rainy weather and the noise the tires made with dealing with the water/mist on the pavement.  

At the back of the Bakelite drum, there were blades that fanned out from the center to the edge that helped cause the water to be turbulent enough to rise out and over the dishload.  The water wasn't just simply being thrown out and over from the drum edge as it spun at the 1725 rpm speed.  I was anywhere from 9-11 or 12 the times I was around my Godfather's house that had one of these.  I don't remember what the exact increment each timer advance was.  Probably every 30 or 45 seconds.  I don't think it was an entire 60 seconds.  Anyway, the motor would rotate the drum for like 1 or 2 timer increments.  Then pause for one increment and then rotate in the opposite direction for the same number of increments.  The timer dial had regular wash, short wash, rinse & dry, and plate warmer sections on it.  I don't remember if it had a separate Rinse & Hold cycle.  The drum also rotated at normal speed during dry to create some sort of moving air currents.  

Austin, just my personal opinion, but I considered this dishwasher, as well as Frigidaire's Spin Tube to be the worst dishwashers every produced, except for the Apex from late 1940s that had just a wash and a rinse (and my parents had the Apex).  The only thing the Frigidaire had going for it was more capacity.  Keep in mind, for most people buying new houses that did come equipped with a dishwasher, it was their first dishwasher and everyone welcomed have some sort of automation.  As I reflect back on every house on our street that I did get to go into when I was little, the houses that had gas kitchens either had KitchenAid, Waste King dishwashers or the D&M produced BOL Whirlpool impeller dishwasher.  Our kitchen was the exception being "bestowed" with this dishwasher.  Our builder built another house on our street and even that kitchen had the Whirlpool.  The house on one side of us that had a gas kitchen, complete with a smilar O'Keefe & Merritt cooktop & the same wall oven, also had the Whirlpool.  The rest of the houses on the street had all electric kitchens that were either GE, Frigidaire, or Westinghouse and had the matching dishwasher.