What kind of dryer is this?

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by DaveLevenson

I have Huebsch Loadstar II dryers (model 30EG) from the early 1950's. My machines look similar to the photo, except that they have a much larger glass window in a door that is about the same size as the one in the photo.

Dave,

I believe the large windows became popular on dryers built in the 1970s and beyond. It was such a nice improvement (to be able to see the clothes tumbling inside the dryer) that many of us actually cut out the doors on our older dryers and installed the large windows. It's possible that someone converted your dryers to the large windows in the 1970s.

[CanCanCase]

Mine looked identical - except for the pink and white paint over the yellow enamel, and they were labeled "Huebsch Originator". I got to learn all about the Greenwald twist-style coin drops and the key that turns 10-20 complete rotations to unthread the threaded rod holding the coin box in place! Ours were original equipment installed new in 1952.

When we removed 14 of them, the total at the scrap metal yard was 19,347 lbs. for a total scrap buy of nearly $7K. Plenty of good-heavy copper wire and steel.

-Case

Originally Posted by mjwalsh

Case & others,

Our 1959 Huebsch 50# Dryers were right around 700#s a piece. We are glad we hired a forklift -driver combination to take them out & bring in the new! We did it as an all nighter - next day so we had less than a half a day of "all our dryers down". Still pretty vivid in my mind.

What blew our mind is that the local scrap metal yard at that time classified them as tin & did not give us anything for them. There were 12 of them. They seems to think they were doing us a favor by letting us drop them off at their facility. About 8400 pounds total for the 12.

I am thinking that the one in the picture was early 60s. I could be wrong. Dave Levenson is more current on some of those old dryers than some of the rest of us ... it seems.

mike

[DaveLevenson]

Originally Posted by Adamski

Dave,

I believe the large windows became popular on dryers built in the 1970s and beyond. It was such a nice improvement (to be able to see the clothes tumbling inside the dryer) that many of us actually cut out the doors on our older dryers and installed the large windows. It's possible that someone converted your dryers to the large windows in the 1970s.

Thanks, Larry, for this history. From what you say, I gather that a previous owner of my store either cut out the doors, or replaced them with newer doors in the 1970's. My dryer windows are about 2ft in diameter, I think.

The name Loadstar II appears on the front of each dryer in chrome-plated letters on the upper part of the cabinet. The ID tag on the rear of each dryer says Huebsch Originator. The service manual describes a standing pilot, though all of mine have been converted to spark ignition. When I bought the store, the dryers had Greenwald square-face twist-knob timers; I have replaced these with Set-O-Matic electronic timers.

So it appears that the ignitions, doors, and timers have all been updated.

[Adamski]

Dave,

Yes, back then, Huebsch would put a nice, chrome nameplate on their dryers. The dryers they built for others often had cheaper, rectanagular nameplates. There was no such thing as electronic ignition. Time was accumulated on the dryer by inserting a dime and turning the knob and then inserting another dime and turning the knob and so forth until the customer was satisfied that enough time was set. The coin device was called an accumulator.

[DaveLevenson]

Originally Posted by Adamski

Time was accumulated on the dryer by inserting a dime and turning the knob and then inserting another dime and turning the knob and so forth until the customer was satisfied that enough time was set. The coin device was called an accumulator.

That's exactly what I inherited (except that my accumulators accepted quarters, not dimes). After a few years, I got tired of disassembling these devices and replacing cams, springs, microswitches, clock-motors, and other things that wore out or wore down or otherwise got out of calibration. The electronic replacements have LED displays showing the remaining time, and can be set for full-cycle or other pricing by changing DIP switches, rather than by replacing cams.

[mjwalsh]

Originally Posted by DaveLevenson

That's exactly what I inherited (except that my accumulators accepted quarters, not dimes). After a few years, I got tired of disassembling these devices and replacing cams, springs, microswitches, clock-motors, and other things that wore out or wore down or otherwise got out of calibration. The electronic replacements have LED displays showing the remaining time, and can be set for full-cycle or other pricing by changing DIP switches, rather than by replacing cams.

Out of curiosity. Did the Set o Matics fit perfectly without any modifications?

[DaveLevenson]

Originally Posted by mjwalsh

Out of curiosity. Did the Set o Matics fit perfectly without any modifications?

Yes. They fit into the same opening, use the existing mounting hardware, and drop the accepted coins into the same slot that leads into the coin box. The square metal part that fits into the front panel opening is connected by a supplied wiring harness to two other assemblies that fit into the space behind the panel, to the right of the gas valve. One of these is a metal bracket which holds two relays: they replace the two microswitches on the back of the original Greenwald accumulators. The other is a plastic box containing a single printed circuit board. On that board, there are a few chips and some "glue" logic, and a row of DIP switches that allow the owner to set the number of coins to start, and the number of minutes per additional coin. The existing wiring in the dryer is unplugged from the Greenwald units (these wires all have push-on terminals already) and plugged into terminals on the relay assembly. It takes about five minutes per dryer, including the time needed to remove and reinstall the front panel.

My only beef with the product is that the coin acceptors still accept non-ferrous slugs and foreign coin, as long as the diameter is the same as a quarter and it fits through the slot. I wish Keltner made the coin-drop part of this device!