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Post by mach12 on Oct 26, 2015 23:38:30 GMT -5
I posted a Chambers Ad a couple of hours ago that I came across in the Harvard digital library, posted in the Blackwell Family Papers. Another Ad that was posted was one with different countertop and stovetop appliances made by Universal. I have several different Universal percolators and know others here have them too so thought this might also be of interest.
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Post by mach12 on Oct 26, 2015 23:59:07 GMT -5
This Ad was posted with it too - Love the picture of the guy doing the laundry. Such a happy soul...
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Post by vaporvac on Oct 26, 2015 23:59:34 GMT -5
Just beautiful. I guess I need to go visit that site, but I'm almost afraid of the rabbit hole! I have that first urn and another similar, but smaller. It's my "go to" daily pot when I have time. They make great coffee. What I'd REALLY like is the samovar as I'm a bit behind on my tea drinking paraphernalia. I'm also noticing an egg boiler. Which ones do you have mach12?
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Post by mach12 on Oct 27, 2015 0:38:27 GMT -5
I only have one of the electric percolators, plus I have the waffle iron. My other two Universal percolators are the regular type that you put on the burner, one with the clear glass top and the other with green glass. That Samovar really is cool. My wife is the tea paraphernalia collector here and would probably love it too. I wonder how common they are. The percolators were really popular around here so aren't too hard to find and I have my eyes on one of the Urn sets but you can tell by the price that they're pretty proud of it. If it's there for awhile they'll come down and if it sells then it wasn't meant to be.
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Post by chipperhiker on Oct 27, 2015 11:04:54 GMT -5
Those are great, mach12! Love the washing machine advert, especially.
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Post by karitx on Oct 28, 2015 9:47:38 GMT -5
I love old ads - so much more interesting than what we are blasted with today.
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Post by pooka on Oct 28, 2015 10:15:10 GMT -5
That Universal brochure shows the earlier No. 930 version of my tiny waffle iron. It has sheet metal legs affixed to a tray. There was another version with turned post legs with the tray, then ones like mine with little curvy legs & no tray. According to my research this brochure would date to just prior to 1920 or so. I ran that $15.00 price though an inflation calculator. It comes up with a price of $178.46 if I assume that's a 1920 price. That's a bit pricey for a waffle iron.
You can date electric appliances with heating elements from this time period, because there was a lawsuit between Hoskins Manufacturing Co., the the holder of the patent for Nichrome & GE who came out with something they called Calorite for their heating elements, which is a slightly different alloy. The court rule it wasn't different enough. From about January 1918 until the Feb. 6, 1906 patent expired in 1923 all these appliances had to have a diamond shaped stamped logo that showed it was licensed from the March patent holder (L.M.P.). My waffle iron doesn't have the L.M.P. stamp.
I've got a copper washing drum from a machine from around the time of that "Eden" ad. It would have been on a stand where it was rocked back & forth to agitate the clothes inside. It's in the attic of my garage. My uncle must have picked it up somewhere. My cousin doesn't know it's there, or he would have sold it for scrap because he's hard up for cash. I need to pull it down & hide it better or find a good use for it. It would make a novel looking laundry hamper.
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Post by vaporvac on Oct 28, 2015 10:44:55 GMT -5
You MUST do that! (and post a pic!) You never know when he may get nosy.
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Post by mach12 on Oct 28, 2015 11:45:21 GMT -5
I didn't know about the heating element lawsuit. I need to dig out my waffle iron and see what all is stamped on it. When we started redoing the floors and preparing to do the kitchen we packed away a bunch of stuff and I have no idea which box it's in though.
A laundry hamper from the old drum sounds really cool - and a perfect use of it!
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Post by pooka on Oct 28, 2015 18:22:16 GMT -5
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Post by chipperhiker on Oct 28, 2015 20:25:41 GMT -5
That's really interesting, Pooka. History gets lost so easily, so it's really cool to have some clues that help set a hard date range for an object.
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Post by mach12 on Oct 28, 2015 22:52:36 GMT -5
That toaster site with the LMP article is fascinating Pooka! There's a good article there called "The Saga of Landers, Frary and Clark" who owned the Universal line.
The link for that article is: The Saga of Landers, Frary and Clark.
I did a quick search through the couple of boxes I thought my old Universal electric percolator was in but no luck. I have one that I think is newer but need to research it and see whether I can date it somehow.
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Post by mach12 on Oct 29, 2015 15:24:11 GMT -5
I've struck out on finding info on the Universal electric percolator that I suspect is newer (maybe late 40s or early 50s?) than the one I have that's similar to in the above ad. There are some big differences from the others I can find info on, like the height of the top of the back part of the spout where it attaches to the pot. Does anyone know where I can find more info on it or possibly have info on it?
This is not a good picture but it shows what it looks like. I should use a flash diffuser with the chrome and I didn't, plus haven't cleaned off the dust and stuff from it sitting in a garage cabinet.
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Post by vaporvac on Oct 29, 2015 15:56:16 GMT -5
earlier than the fifties judging by that handle. Check out the jitterbuzz site. He has a whole section on this line. I've found a lot of info on them in the past, just don't know if I bookmarked it.
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Post by mach12 on Oct 29, 2015 19:23:21 GMT -5
I wondered whether it might be earlier. I don't think it was ever used since it's so clean. Maybe a time or two and then really well cleaned I suppose. The closest ones I've found are late 1930s but they have the same spout that most of their others have. The Jitterbuzz site had some good info one the company but not much else. I'm sure something will come up eventually and the digging for info is part of the fun. I'd have probably found something by now if I didn't get distracted by stuff on the other appliances and gadgets so darned easily.
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Post by pooka on Oct 30, 2015 10:22:13 GMT -5
This is my little waffle iron after I cleaned it up. This is the auction pic of the bottom of mine showing the tag. Here's some other serial number tags from other versions of it. You see the little diamond shaped "LMP" at the bottom of the first one. That would mean it was made between 1918 to 1923. The last one is a version sold under the name "THERMAX" These are all printed with just black paint, whereas the one for your coffee pot is black & red. Judging from that & the style, I guess it's from the later 20s or possibly the early 30's. I'm not sure if that would be considered Art Deco styling or not. These tags also have a shape like a stylized bronze ingot from ancient times. Yours is just a plain rectangle. Yous also uses a different type of rivet. That also may help date it. It's really cool though.
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Post by mach12 on Nov 4, 2015 1:30:22 GMT -5
I've been digging like crazy the past couple of days and not finding much. One difference I notice between my regular Universal percolators and this electric one is that the basket in the electric one doesn't have any writing on it. Not sure whether that translates to anything in the way of production date but it might. My regular ones are all engraved with "Universal" and a model number. The design of the basket and lid is pretty specific to Universal pots and that's the same, just no engraved/stamped info.
This picture shows the pots and baskets:
This is a bit of a closer shot of the baskets. The smallest on the left is from the electric pot. The middle one, stamped No. 5126, is a bit larger and the damaged one, stamped No. 476, on the right is a bit smaller. The capacity of the pots vary equivalent to the baskets so they obviously are sized to match the amount of water the pots will hold.
This is a closer shot of the 5162:
And this is the 476:
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Post by mach12 on Nov 4, 2015 1:36:27 GMT -5
Pooka - That waffle iron really cleaned up nice! Interesting about the Thermax. I noticed the model on the Universal is the same model number except the Thermax starts with an extra 3. Any idea whether the extra 3 indicates Thermax?
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Post by vaporvac on Nov 4, 2015 11:23:10 GMT -5
I think my two percolating urns both have the stamping on the baskets. However, I think the basket/stem is one piece on the smaller and two pieces on the larger (or vice-versa). I'll try to check when I get home. Are your two two stove top, mach12? Do you eve use them? I do all the time; they make wonderful coffee, buts it's important to match the amount of coffee to the proper sized pot for the best brew. Universal used a patented design that stops perking when the cold water is finished so it's not pouring hot coffee over grounds. I don't know how that differs from normal or if it's just a marketing ploy, but they did get a patent for it. Anyone know?
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Post by pooka on Nov 4, 2015 11:50:02 GMT -5
I have no clue. I'm sure it was a subcontract where they produced it for some chain of stores or another retailer who sold them much like Whirlpool making Kenmore products for Sears. Those stove-top model are cool with the tiny foot at the bottom. I've seen a few of them, but never been temped. That's all I need, another collection. I've got a few old coffee pots, but haven't devoted much time, energy & money in them. There's a book that Google Books has online that's called Antique Electric Waffle Irons 1900-1960: A History of the Appliance Industry that has some good info. I haven't read through the whole thing. I was only looking for info on my little waffle iron at the time I found it. There may be one of these books about coffee makers if I do some digging around. I found this book that gives some background on early coffee pots. Declining Demand, Divestiture, and Corporate Strategy
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Post by mach12 on Nov 24, 2015 1:19:28 GMT -5
I just posted a page in the Thermobaker discussion from the 1928 Universal Electric Range Cookbook and all through the cookbook they have different Universal appliances and cookware show to use in the recipes. At the centerfold of the book they have a whole bunch of their products that I thought was pretty cool.
And does this look familiar?
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Post by nana on Nov 24, 2015 8:11:33 GMT -5
It is pretty cool. They were surely diversified. I am, however, a little unsettled by the fact that the baby being weighed is surrounded by shears and cutlery. I assume these adds were produced long before focus groups were even a gleam in the eye of any ad man!
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Post by mach12 on Nov 24, 2015 10:14:43 GMT -5
It is pretty cool. They were surely diversified. I am, however, a little unsettled by the fact that the baby being weighed is surrounded by shears and cutlery. I assume these adds were produced long before focus groups were even a gleam in the eye of any ad man! I sure didn't know about some of these items. Like the E9600 electric cooker. Sure looks like the predecessor to the crock pot. I guess I'd never make a modern ad man since I'd have probably had the baby sitting with the pocket knife and a big smile. What would sell more pocket knives than the delightful endorsement of a smiling baby?
The problem for me is that I see this stuff and then have to look for it in the shops. Like the E988 Electric Table Stove. They could do a whole hour long infomercial on that one these days. And the lunch bucket that the end slides open instead of the top flipping open. A common practice in the shops is to put a screw into the table or shelf thru the bottom of somebody's lunchbox and then everyone would stand back and watch at quitting time. That would be tougher with this design, maybe enough that they'd pick on the next guy's lunchbox instead. At least in the days before epoxy.
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Post by pooka on Nov 24, 2015 12:03:25 GMT -5
These "Triplicate Pails" seem to have become a standard for all of the fireless cookers from the teens, through to the late 20s or later. The earliest info I've seen about them is this ad from 1912 for the "Ideal" fireless cook stove by The Toledo Cooker Co. It talks as if they invented them. I've got an image of a wholesalers catalog page that lists Wear-Ever fireless pots from 1919. By then I'd think the patent rights had expired & they were being made by a number of companies. I know I've seen two styles of clamps, one rounded, & the other, somewhat pointed. Some have the bracket on the side for the lifter/handle, some don't. They all seem to have steel handles except the later Chambers ones that have aluminum handles.
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