Full Cycle- 1959 Philco Bendix Duomatic washing clothes

Washing a load of clothes in the 1959 Bendix Duomatic. Thank you to Bob for giving me this machine. It needed some work to keep it from leaking but has been fixed. My apologies for the shotty camera work, this is my first time filming a front loader. Thank you for watching!

[@albertcarello619]

These Duomatics did a great job of cleaning! It used much more water than today's HE Machines. These were good machines despite needing maintenance every so often.

[@tw95]

Always wanted to see an older machine like this with a fuller load in! Great video!

[@janehawes448]

Love Bendix washers since I was little ⭐🦄🌈💖🦁

[@spacrazie]

My mom had a Bendix washer/dryer combo in he late 1950s. She either had it before I was born or when I was a baby. The house they purchased new only had room in the kitchen for a washer, so they felt with this combo, it would work out well. She said it took forever for the clothes to wash and dry and most times, everything came out slightly damp. I had to assume it was a 110 volt system. They remodeled the kitchen in 1963 and made the kitchen bigger by placing the washer in the garage and gaining its footprint in the kitchen for more cabinets. Thanks for the video as I have never seen one of these units and it was cool to actually see it in action.

[@petermaz701]

Oh wow that’s some vintage find! Amazing machine, this is really something nice. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@Gsohoover]

Thank You!

[@Washerlad2014]

amazing machine thank you for filming this beauty!!

[@claudioavia]

Beauuutiful wash!

[@jimtomassetti4817]

I like a washer that really put's the water out deep clean! That machine really Give's a great wash with plenty of water!!!

[@Philco83]

Fabulous washer drier😍😍😍 I have a Philco Bendix washer from 1968.... Great washer, I love it❤️I hope to see more video about this fantastic washer 😍 thank you

[@SaturnMist09]

Fantastic find! Can't wait to see more!

[@Gsohoover]

Thank you, hoping to get some better video next time.

[@navyspook79]

These older washers are the best. I grant you that you won't see any off today's washers still working in 50+ years.

[@Gsohoover]

No we won't!

[@mlaygo]

Why would you want them to last 50 years? Their modern aesthetic is not timeless so all the better to replace it to update the look. These vintage machines were made to last because they look good.

[@FIRESTAR56566]

Wow. Just wow. What a find. Luck was definitely on your side when you found this model. Good story, btw. This is the best machine I've watched since the kelvinator.

[@nomebear]

My mother raised five children with one these. It was great with diapers and got the clothes very clean. I remember it being a beast to handle when it needed repairs, requiring at least three strong men to move it. It had concrete in it to hold it in place. Perfect clothes required pulling the clothes out before they fully dried, otherwise they would bake into the sides of the drum like papier-mâché. It was an ad for the Bendix that stated that "would remove atomic dust" ;-P

[@Gsohoover]

Thank you for thr great story. Amazing she used this one machine for all of you.

[@1953childstar]

We had a 1953 Bendix Duomatic and it had a "Sanitation Cycle" for items such as diapers. There was a heating element attached to the drum and it boosted the temperature of the water so steam was literally coming out of the detergent dispenser.

[@peters4219]

Tyler thanks for the great video this is a awesome washer! I wish they made them today!

[@Gsohoover]

Thank you Peter! I wish they did too.

[@joebaker6476]

I would love to see see you do more loads in the vintage front load washer

[@LlyleHunter]

You’re going to like living with a front loader. Great washing and doesn’t beat the fabric up.

[@Gsohoover]

The Frigidaires are pretty gentle IMHO

[@wmalden]

I used to spend hours watching my Mum's 1959 Duomatic wash and spin. I was 4 or 5 at the time. I think my parents should have taken me to the psychologist then! I still find machines of all kinds fascinating. I used to open the bottom access door on the Duomatic and watch the workings shake about. The lint filter was fun, too!

[@claudioavia]

I was exactly the same kind of kid, I used to ask my grandma to put a chair beside her old 1960 top load so I could watch it washing 😆

[@rainbowrailroadcrossing7798]

18:56 sounds like the start of the arcade game drill o matic!

[@lynx93tk]

Fantastic machine. Philco was ahead of the time with the balance correction at the time of the spin. The machines of today take forever to balance themselves. When I was in the first grade (1960-1961), my friend's parents bought one of these. It would have been a 1960 model, because the controls were different. Their machine also had a dispenser marked "Bleach-Rinse" on the far left underneath the wash timer. That is the first time I saw a front loader, and I was awed by it. I do remember that distinct sound when it kicked into high speed spin! At the time they got it, the part of their kitchen where it was installed was on an outside wall, next to the sink. A year or so later, they expanded the kitchen and removed the wall. They installed the sink and washer / dryer on an inside wall. Does your machine vent like a regular dryer, or is it a condensing dryer? I know they made them then because my aunt had one (a Hotpoint). Can't wait to see more videos of your Duomatic!

[@Gsohoover]

Great story! Thank you for sharing

[@1953childstar]

Actually "Bendix" was ahead of it's time… Philco simply "absorbed" Bendix and had virtually nothing to add in the design. We had a 1953 Bendix Duomatic.

[@rogercamp6071]

A week or so ago I saw a Maytag machine that had the dryer on the top,reminded me of a refrigerator in design, have never seen one like before.

[@Gsohoover]

Stackable set, good for spaces that don't have much space.

[@1953childstar]

We had a 1953 Bendix Duomatic and at the end of the wash cycles ( and it is "sitting idle" ), the heating element is warming up to "super hot" and the washer tumbles the clothes through the super heated air and then spins again ( if it is working correctly )..

[@ralphwalter558]

Hi Tyler. That Bendix has excellent washing action. I love the sound it makes when it goes into a high speed spin. Happy washing!

[@Gsohoover]

It's a wonderful machine, thank you Ralph!

[@ridhwaanarries1771]

What rpm is high spin speed?

[@Gsohoover]

@@ridhwaanarries1771 550 RPM

[@SpidersInMyHouseRentFree]

HOW??? but still i love it :)

[@allyn788]

I had an Indesit Washer/Dryer machine when I lived in an apartment in the UK. It had a maximum 5 kg wash load and 2.5 kg drying. It could be set up to automatically dry after the wash cycle but it worked best if you separated the clothes and dried some on the indoor clothes line I had. e.g. I would typically line dry the jeans and dry the bedsheets (too big for the clothes line) in dryer mode. It was a condenser dryer and to dry bedsheets it might take 45 minutes? It was long ago....basically, if you didn't overload the dryer it worked pretty well... but it was slow compared to a conventional dryer.

[@T1201]

Wow a front loader back then.never knew they made any.

[@Gsohoover]

Bendix had the first automatic, it was a front loader that you bolted to the floor.

[@LlyleHunter]

I grew up with one. The model S. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZ69YaVseJVkrZo

[@stevemichaelsmichaels4646]

The major companies had front loaders(combos) late 40s, 50s and 60s: Philco, Westinghouse, Maytag, etc. Most were the "condenser" type dryers (no outside venting of the hot, moist air). That was the reason your clothes felt slightly damp at the completion of the dry cycle. In the 60s, I had a vented washer-dryer combo sold by Sears -- Lady Kenmore Combo.

[@1953childstar]

@@Gsohoover Yes, they were introduced in 1937. My Grandmother purchased her first one in 1947. We purchased a Bendix Duomatic in 1953. They also made a gas model that dried super fast...

[@joebaker6476]

Maybe even a load of your work clothes

[@lukiejames]

It's so intriguing how 550rpm was considered fast. By today's standards my front loader spins up to 1600rpm.

[@ferdinandopalagi9989]

Yes you are right but they needed years of experiments to reach the 1600 speed without vibrating or moving from their place.

[@lukiejames]

@@ferdinandopalagi9989 yes, asko used to produce a washer with 2000rpm.

[@antoniocarter7111]

Omg. A real front loader that uses water..

[@Gsohoover]

It's amazing how well they wash compared to the modern junk.

[@albertcarello619]

I think TIDE HE TURBO DETERGENT would work great in this machine being low sudsing which PHILCO recommended for this machine. I think any HE DETERGENT should work well in this machine.

[@Kubulek17]

It's actually pretty efficient with water. We had a soviet made front loader from the late 80s which would fill halfway up the glass for the wash and all 5 rinses. It would use about 33 gallons of water for an 11 pound load.

[@Gsohoover]

The older front loaders are fun machines.

[@Kubulek17]

Gsohoover it was pretty fun, I get the chance to use it occasionally as it’s stored away in my parents basement next to their modern Miele machines. It was built in the 80s however the USSR had purchased an old licence from Zanussi designed in the late 60s. The spin was average at 500rpm and the machine would jump a lot due to the black rubber tub seal stiffening with time. It did however manage to get a 95°c wash wash with a pre wash and 5 rinses in 90 minutes compared to the nearly 3 hours on the Miele

[@jackyclaiborne2142]

For the dry cycle to work well, the drum needs to be 25 inches in diameter, so that the laundry has room to tumble. If the drum is much smaller than that, the dry cycle isn't going to work well, due to the lack of enough tumbling room. For years, we've needed a government agency called the FQCD, Federal Quality Control division to regulate manufacturing like the Health Department regulates the food service industry. When a new product is introduced, the FQCD would require a prototype, which they'd put through testing, just line an airplane. It would have to be approved by the FQCD before it could be marketed in the U.S. They would put tight restrictions on the use of plastics and other cheep materials. They would make certain features mandatory. On this machine for example, they would require that the drum to be at least 25 inches in diameter and no less. When I was a small child, my parents had a 1961 Bendix Duamatic washer dryer. The biggest discrepancy between it and the one in this video was that the control panel was right on the front, and you didn't have to reach over the top to reach it. We had that machine in use for 7 years. The timer kept going bad on it, and when that happened, it would jump from the rinse cycle, straight to the dry cycle and not drain the water. I remember the technician that used to come and service it. His name was Mr Cash. It was fascinating to watch him work on it because he'd always pull it out and take the back off. I loved seeing the belt drive assembly and the pully that rotated the drum. Because we kept having so many service calls, we took it out of commission in 1967. Not only had the machine been breaking down a lot, but my sister and I had been born, and we had a family, a four person household. A washer/dryer combo is good for someone like myself, who lives alone, and maybe a two person household. But if you have a family, and have a lot of laundry to do, it's more efficient to have a regular separate washer and dryer, which allows you to dry one load while washing another. We replaced the Bendix Dramatic with a conventional top load washer and regular dryer.

[@Gsohoover]

Thank you for the information. This machine is a bit small to be useful as a dryer.

[@jackyclaiborne2142]

@@Gsohoover The drum is probably smaller than 25 inches in diameter, because of the smaller cabinet. The laundry doesn't have enough room to tumble is my hunch on why it's not useful as a dryer.

[@1953childstar]

@@jackyclaiborne2142 When Bendix was merged with Philco, the manufacture was cheapened. We had a 1953 Bendix Duomatic and the cabinet was about 36 inches wide and had a larger drum than this one.

[@ADCY1987]

Those use to be Dexter's front load in the 80s early 90s, but it was Bendix first though.

[@gcfifthgear]

Philco bought the Crosley and Bendix appliance lines from AVCO Corporation in the mid 1950s (which is why the later Duomatics almost always showed "Philco-Bendix" on the nameplates). Philco dropped "Bendix" from the name after Ford purchased Philco in 1961--and sold the laundry business to the Dexter company around 1969

[@joebaker6476]

Also do you have any other vintage front load washers you can show off

[@mlaygo]

There's something so calm about the way it sounds. 😑

[@patcola7335]

Consumer reports from what I understand were a major factor in why these didn't sell well when this was made. Though people who owned them never complained of their laundry not getting clean . That and the fact that we came from wringer washers when the first automatics went into full production after the war. So top loaders ruled. Why can't we have front load washers like this one today ?

[@Gsohoover]

They are great machines but the small capacity with this one as a functional dryer makes it difficult to see it practical as an only machine.

[@1953childstar]

Bendix produced the first "Automatic Home Laundry Machine" for sale in 1937. My grandmother purchased her first Bendix machine in early 1947 and we purchased a Bendix Duomatic in 1953. The issue with sales was the fact that they were very expensive.

[@rileysteve]

Odd about the drying. The full size 36 in. Bendix machines did pretty well. I do not recall the condenser types taking an unusual amount of time to dry, and the electric with a blower could easily dry a full load in about 30 min. 'Just sayin. They were very good washers. The problem was the high sudz detergents back in the day. Oh, and soap powder could be worse! You really had to adjust for water hardness for best results. Hi and low rhythm spin made a famous noise. Hi Rhythm was used as a sound effect on the original Outer Limits television series!

[@Gsohoover]

Hey Steve! This machine's drum is a bit smaller and inhibits the drying. Otherwise it's a great machine. I bet these were prone to the high sudsing detergents of the day like Westinghouses too. Very cool information about the TV show. I will have to look into that!

[@1953childstar]

This machine has a smaller drum than the early Bendix Duomatic, which enabled the the drying to be more efficient.

[@albertcarello619]

@rileysteve: Today's HE DETERGENTS would be ideal for this machine. They should have been invented back when these Machines were first produced. It took so many decades later to come up with these ideal detergents! I remember the soap powders like DUZ that would really suds up and would cause suds-lock in Whirlpool and Sears top loading washers.

[@neoxar5065]

Why i believe that the wash results of your Bendix are better than newer washing machines?

[@Gsohoover]

Seeing says it all.

[@albertcarello619]

@neoxar5065. The washing action is definitely better than today's HE Machines.

[@jeromedavis8575]

What settings are on this washer? How many dispensers are available?

[@Gsohoover]

One setting, it also has a soak cycle as well. The door on top is your dispenser. Thank you for watching.

[@jeromedavis8575]

@@Gsohoover What if I want to use bleach and fabric softener in addition to laundry detergent?

[@ADCY1987]

Those were Dexter washers in the 80's and early 90's

[@Gsohoover]

Yes they essentially were.

[@ADCY1987]

They still got those Bendix-Dexter in Charlotte, North Carolina at a laundromat and they working and going. Some are out of order though.

[@charlespurviskellyjr.7210]

And you forgot one...... Maytag.... There was a Maytag Washer/Dryer Combination as well. And yes..... there were also combination washer/dryer machines made by Norge, General Electric, Easy, Speed Queen (had a combination), Westinghouse had several I believe, Whirlpool had a few, and Sears Kenmore had a few (right along with some Lady Kenmores..... which includes a 29” model from 1959). And you’re correct, Frigidaire did not make one nor bring one to market at that time. But I wonder did the combos back then take as long to complete a complete wash and dry cycle, as today’s combos do (LG’s, Kenmore Elite, and the few off brand machines that are out there now)? -Charles-

[@Gsohoover]

These machines were a bit longer than the larger Bendix machines because of the smaller tub size. About an hour or so. Just depends on what you are washing.

[@bubbaherrera5079]

CAN YOU PLEASE STOP TALKING AND GET IT GOING 😡

[@Gsohoover]

You can skip forward in the video....