Thread Number: 8119
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Post# 155271   9/18/2006 at 04:46 (6,429 days old) by sheerlookhomes (U.K.)        

Philco-Bendix Duomatic combination washer-dryer

Hi, can anyone tell me the production dates for the above mentioned machine, it has the most incredibly styled controls - there's a couple of close-up pics somewhere on this site. Did it perform well and did it last?

Thanks, Denis.




Post# 155298 , Reply# 1   9/18/2006 at 07:50 (6,429 days old) by sheerlookhomes (U.K.)        

...and..is there a 'see it wash' here?

Thanks

Post# 155299 , Reply# 2   9/18/2006 at 07:58 (6,429 days old) by tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

There were two similar models, 1957, which was sold under the Philco-Bendix name and 1958 which was under the name Philco. The later one had a slightly more modern control panel. After 1958, the Duomatic was downsized by Philco and they were all 27 inches wide. A lot of the early Bendix washers and washer-dryers had bearing problems. The couple that ran Annapolis Bendix in Annapolis, MD told me how much time they spent in the early to mid 50s taking the machines back to the shop and pounding the old bearings out and pounding new ones in. Of course to do that the machine had to be taken apart so that the drum could be removed from the outer tub. For the most part, by the mid 50s, the machines had most of the bugs worked out of them, but the new 27 inch combos had a whole new set of problems to be worked through. The Bendix combination washer dryers were the only ones that spun the clothes damp dry before the dry cycle. They tied up all of the patent rights for a combo with a suspended mechanism which was needed to control the vibration and dynamic forces of a drum full of clothes spinning. So no other domestic combos could spin properly and on top of that, because Bendix under the auspices of its parent AVCO (Aviation Corporation) invented the washer-dryer, everyone who built a machine that washed and dried had to pay AVCO a royalty per machine. AVCO spun off the Bendix home appliances because the only things they were interested in were Bendix Radio and Bendix Brakes. They wound up poisoning the well for all combos because none of the other brands were completely satisfactory and usually quite trouble prone, giving the whole combo concept a bad name. Then by selling the Duomatic to Philco, the well engineered, good capacity machine was changed and had more troubles. Still, when you take the back off of a Duomatic, large or small, from the beginning to the end of production, no other combo matches it for an uncluttered look and simple components all bouncing on shocks below and suspended by springs from above. They washed well, rinsed well, extracted well and dried well. Interesting tidbit about how far the Bendix patents reached. Bendix washers had a spray rinse, a spin, a deep rinse followed by a spin and a 2nd deep rinse followed by the final spin. Westinghouse tumbler washers had a spray rinse after the wash water drained then a spin, but they did not have a spin between the deep rinses because that was the way Bendix configured their cycle.

Post# 155309 , Reply# 3   9/18/2006 at 08:42 (6,429 days old) by sheerlookhomes (U.K.)        

Thanks Tomturbomatic,

thanks, that was really most imformative, I appreciate your knowledge. My earliest memory of an automatic was of bendix around '60-'62 with a detergent dispenser on the top but it didn't have the amazing controls of the Duomatic, I love those

Post# 155447 , Reply# 4   9/18/2006 at 23:04 (6,428 days old) by cybrvanr ()        
appliance wax

 Did any of you all see the wax down at the bottom? I guess that's like automobile wax. That's something that people just don't do anymore...except maybe us appliance nuts! I put some Nu-finish car wax on my appliances and when I did I was thinking to myself "they oughta sell this stuff in appliance shops to keep things looking good" Well, someone already thought about that neat little trick!


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