In the past I had a GE washer with a single speed motor that was labelled "delicate". The washer was far from delicate in general. There were no soaks or pauses on delicate and the delicate rinse was longer in agitation time than the Cottons Heavy Cycle. Which got me thinking. Is there a standard as to what a delicate cycle or any particular cycle must conform to? Would it be theoretically possible for someone to successfully litigate GE for false advertising or can a company legally label anything hand-wash/delicate/ Permanent Press/ect entirely on discretion?

when I got my first appliance brochures.

GE counted all of these points on their normal cycle dial as individual cycles. I remember wasting a couple of hours one day trying to get the "SOAK" cycle on the dial (a total lie; later they defined it as an "ACTIVATED SOAK". Most of the other brands did the same thing. Maytag didn't back then; one of many reasons I had respect for the company and the product.

I asked a relative who was an attorney and the answer was (and is), "Caveat Emptor".

Now that we have a president who is a pathological liar, I doubt anybody worries about a lot of marketing lies anymore. Ralph Nader, we should have elected you.

From what someone told me on this site (DaDoEs or Appnut or both)  soak was meant to fill then agitate for a short period of time and then the user pushed in the dial for however long they wanted to soak the clothes. Dumb, because you couldn't even get warm water on latter machines. And it wasn't explained on the lid or in the user manual. 

To me a soak cycle in marketing terms is one that either stops automatically after agitation; or fills, agitates, soaks for a period say 20 minutes, then advances to prewash.

Ideally for me a soak cycle fills, agitates, soaks, agitates, soaks then advances to the main wash.

It is not an argument, it is a question backed by an inference.

Is a cycle held by a standard (ie must meet certain criteria in a lab) , or do no such standards exist?

Pierre, love those knobs! Especially the auto soak prior to the cycle. I wish all washers had a soak option before the main wash for tough stains and heavy soils. 

Randy, thank you for the excerpt.

Whirlpool and GE had the best cycle conventions IMO.  I also like the alphabet cycles Whirlpool had where the temperature was built into the letter selected.

Anyways, it seems like Whirlpool was the most hesitant at calling a single speed cycle "delicate" Roper washers for example, despite even having a soak period in there least intensive cycle, would call that cycle "fabricare" instead of "delicate"

I guess the question I'm asking is, can a manufacturer legally take what would normally be a heavy duty cycle with 20 minutes of 180+ OPM agitation and call it "delicate" ? 

Some washers seemed to have delicate cycles that were way rougher than the next and others that were more gentle than the next.

Especially the auto soak prior to the cycle.

That reminds me of the A407 presoak. Which is:

Fill (timer stalled until pressure switch satisfied)

Agitate 2 minutes

Soak 7 minutes

Agitate 1 minute

Soak 6 minutes

Agitate 1 minute

Soak 7 minutes

Agitate 2 minutes

Soak 1 minute

Spin 2 minutes

Off

Beautiful- applause to Maytag! 

27 minutes of soaking and agitation I like. It would be easy to implement on a 66 minute continuous advance timer, where the press care cycle would be on a BOL GE or Hotpoint machine.

Only difference is I prefer a direct lead into the main wash such that the additives continue working. Though this would work more for stains like tomato sauce rather then very heavy caked on soils like mud dried clothes which require a water change out and refill i my experience. 

I'd use the dryer if it were an extra large capacity machine like my current badge Maytag, but I'd be torn on the washer. I don't like how short the rinses are on belt drives, the neutral drain or the slow spin speed- though the slow spin speed I can live with if it means longevity on the basis of it being a vintage machine. Now, if I had to choose between a model T, any modern VMW and your set I'd hands down take your set.

Got it, thank you!

Jerome, I remember your model WWSE3160aoww. 30 minute auto soak is a nice feature! I've never asked, how did the washer proceed? Did it drain and spin before going into heavy or did it just go into heavy wash agitation after the soak period?

I am positive these models, at least the ones I've seen with the Fabricare label on the dial, are single speed. Pics of the same washer from a used appliance store advertising online give a model number of RAX5133A. The publicly available tech sheet for RAX5133 shows a single speed motor depicted. The cycle on the timer sequence chart is called "short"

Normal is labelled at 6 minutes in, I think Whirlpool knows the agitation is rough on high agitation. 

Here are the pics for the archive.

Dan, you are not incorrect. According to the RAX5133A manual, fabricare is classed as being for delicate and knit items.

Dan, was this your machine? Higher end models were two speed.

Thanks. Your model is definitely a two speeder. Here is the use and care manual.

Those models were offered around the mid to late 90s. A serial number would give an exact date.

If I got it right year 1999, on the 43 week.

An appliance tech can confirm if I got it right.