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Post by pooka on Aug 5, 2019 14:12:13 GMT -5
The toaster being the ever present servant, dishing up an endless supply of crisped goodies, it's hard to imagine a time before the automatic toaster. Toast goes back at least a few millennia, but the method changed little for most of that time. Stick a piece of bread on a long fork, hold it near a flame & wait. Of course you'd have to flip it over to get it evenly browned on both sides. The thing is, you've got to watch it to get it right. If you get distracted, you get charcoal in short order. Even after 1893 when the first electric toaster came out in Britain, you still had to watch & flip the bread. Toasters improve a bit in the next couple of decades, but they still needed watching. It took a frustrated factory mechanic, tired of the burned toast in the cafeteria to build a better mousetrap so to speak. His name was Charles P. Strite. He patented the first automatic toaster in 1921. Below is a quote from Charles P. Strite | Lemelson-MIT Program. "Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Strite went to work in a manufacturing plant in Stillwater, Minn., during the war effort surrounding World War I. In 1919, after observing that much of the toast served in the cafeteria was burned, he began working on a machine that would toast bread automatically and stop heating after the toast was ready, requiring no human intervention."
In 1924, the first commercial versions of three, four & eight slice models were monsters, & were hugely expensive, but made perfect toast every time all day long.
The first home model came out in 1926.
In this video, the ToasterPhreak give a good demonstration of the Toastmaster 1A1, the first home consumer automatic pop up toaster.
If you're wonder where I'm going, I'll get there shortly.
Now this was all before pre sliced bread. That first appeared in a bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri in 1928, & nation wide by Wonder Bread in 1930. In 1932 an improved patented Toastmaster model appeared in one, then two slice flavors. If I was starting from scratch to get an antique toaster, this is what I'd look for.
These just screams Art Deco at it's glitziest. That said, I've found my Sunbeam T-9 first. It being an iconic model on display at a number of noted museums, I didn't crave to start collecting more toasters. I've got an old four slice flapper toaster in the attic somewhere. I've had it since I was a teen. It got used for a while, but fell by the wayside as life lead me elsewhere. Fast forward to more recent times. I have weakened on another occasion since when I got more ordinary Vintage General Electric Toaster. It was a good buy at $10, & it was in all but new condition. I used it for a while, & it makes great toast, but it's not a favorite. This is not a pic of mine, but it's like mine. It's a great old toaster, but it doesn't stir my interest greatly.
Well a while back I made a detour to an little antique market down the road in an old carpet place. It's one of those with booth rentals. I go there rarely, because the inventory doesn't change much, & a lot of it is stuff that doesn't interest me. Well anyway, in my walkthrough, I spotted this old toaster on the shelf. Took a quick look. It was a mid 30s Toastmaster, though not the swanky one, but the next model that came out in 1936. This was a 1937 model. They changed the engraved design on the side from lines & circles to lines & daisys. I pick it up & looked for an outlet to test it, & it worked fine. So $10 brought it home. It's now the designated toaster for now till my next change of fancy.
I think it could use being oiled, & there are clear instructions on the bottom to tell me where & how.
It's a different experience putting the bread in it, then it take a bit of force to push the lever down, because you're winding the timer. Then it ticks, like all those old cartoon toasters, because they were mimicking an old Toastmaster. Turn the knob toward lighter, it ticks faster. Toward darker, it ticks slower. I guess the novelty wears off after a while. It's just one of those microcosms in life that fads into the background till we don't give it a second thought. How we make toast. I don't know how long they used timers on later models till they went to a heat sensor, which became the standard way to regulate brownness on most all toasters.
So I'm going to officially swear off old toasters. I've got more than my fill. On the other hand, should I find a first or second version of the clockworks Toastmater, I might bite. I'd just have to re-home all the others, but the T-9.
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Post by nana on Aug 6, 2019 7:42:00 GMT -5
That's right, Pooka, you can quit toasters anytime you want! Said the lady who now owns five vintage coffee pots and doesn't even really drink coffee (although her husband does).
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Post by pooka on Aug 6, 2019 17:25:22 GMT -5
I can always go for toast for a quick snack, but coffee is another thing. I have to be in the right mood to enjoy a cup of coffee or two. I've got a number of coffee makers, older & really old. I haven't been drinking much lately. My biggest weakness there is coffee cups & mugs. I'll bet I've got seventy or more of those, & like you, I don't use them much. The thing there is I love nice hand made pottery. I've pretty much had to swear off cups & mugs. I've got so many, I can't even display them properly to get the enjoyment of looking at them.
I just enjoy interesting things of all types. I need to not bring them all home, but admire most of them from afar. The world is too full of fascinating things. If I was more affluent, I'd need a whole other house or building to display & appreciate all the things I'd be drawn to. We humans are such a varied creatures, there seems no end to the thing we apply out endless ingenuity to. That includes arts too. I'm the eternal butterfly flicking from one thing to the next, not being able to picking one thing that enthralls me above all others.
Maybe it's just that I'm obsessed by the variability of the human condition, & the infinite inventiveness it drives us too. The human machine has been basically unchanged for the last hundred thousand years. Yet we've gone from a somewhat more clever slice of the animal kingdom, to a virtual super-organism who now reaches for the stars. Our bodies are little changed, but our minds have outreached the possible. Our scope of influence is boundless. Nothing is too small, too large or too abstract for us to toy with & study. Our weakness though is our mood is still driven by that primitive emotions of an animal, barely out of the trees. It can drive us to great feats, & monstrous calamities. As they say, the nature of the beast.
In the old Sci-Fi movie, Forbidden Planet, the ultimate demon was monsters from the Id made manifest by the great machine which allowed creation by thought. On completion of their great machine, the Krell destroyed themselves in one day. It's that devil in the dark that looms within us all.
Well I've manged to stray far from household appliances. Just my fractious mind at work.
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Post by vaporvac on Aug 7, 2019 11:11:15 GMT -5
I confess to also having a coffee/tea cup collection, but only the T-9 toaster. I wonder if its mechanism should be oiled once in a while. Let's not mention the coffee and waffle maker collection, though. ( I have been really good for a long time now; I just don't go in stores. : ))
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Post by mach12 on Aug 8, 2019 13:43:15 GMT -5
I only have a couple of vintage toasters but have been watching for a Sunbeam T-20 series for a couple of years and hope to come across a working, or at least repairable, one that I can afford at some point. The T-20 is the model that you drop the bread in and it lowers and raises itself. We had one when I was a kid and I was always fascinated by it. When it quit working and my parents got a new, modern plastic toaster (I think the brand was Hunk-o-Junk) I tore into the T-20 and fixed it. We had a mom and pop shop near us called Liffick's Electric Shop and I bugged poor old Mr. Liffick to death with all of my projects but he was always happy as a clam to take the time to show me stuff. I got that thing going and gave it to my parents, who gave it to my sister, whose kids could break any world record on how fast something like that could be destroyed. To the toasters credit it did last quite awhile though.
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Post by pooka on Aug 8, 2019 15:08:30 GMT -5
I've seen T-20s in the past, but not for a long time. I was just not keen on their styling. They are fascinating as far as how they work though. There's at least one good YouTube video on them & how they work. I'm getting ready to go to work now, but I'll look them up when I get home.
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Post by pooka on Aug 9, 2019 4:33:32 GMT -5
Here's one of the best videos in explaining how the Sunbeam T-20 works. In the advertisements it was called Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster. There's a website devoted entirely to these toaster. I believe they say it was made in several version from about 1947 up till around 1997 as the T-20 and its decedents the T-35, VT-40, 20-30, and AT-W. Now here's another video by the ToasterPhreak of what Toastmaster came out with in 1953 to compete with Sunbeam's totally automatic toaster. It's motorized though.
These are the kinds of things that peak my interest. The first of their kind, or the early development of something before it become too pedestrian. In the beginning, they're the shiny new toys. A novelty compared to anything before, but then there's the many imitators. Some more appealing than others, till they all becoming close clones of one another. Soon they become just another cheap consumable. It's the early things that are frequently better built & often work better, even with their quirks.
Unfortunately, we live in a corporate world where there must be continuous improvement. The good stuff that does appear get ground under by the wheels of next year model ad infinitum. You just got to grab hold of the pick of the litter as it goes by. Or seek out the old stuff that's been mostly forgotten.
The more I live in the here & now, often I'd rather live largely in the past. I guess that's not really true. I'm just a kind of a modern scavenger, living off of the bones of the past. I get to benefit from the best of today, yet can reach back into the past & live better by gleaning the best of what was. So much of what I have is largely from before I was born. So much of what attracts me is from the 30s or before, although I the unusual of all kinds I find interesting. I suppose we all harbor an odd like or trait. Some more so than others. I enjoy the uncommon. There's less traffic on that path, & a more leisurely pace. I live richly on the leavings of others though I am not rich. For some there's never enough. For me, I glean what the world offers me & am content with that.
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Post by mach12 on Aug 9, 2019 9:04:08 GMT -5
That is a really good video Pooka!
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Post by karitx on Aug 10, 2019 12:21:49 GMT -5
We don't actually have a toaster and don't really need one or have the space for another gadget, but I find the mid-century ones to be very visually appealing. I'm going to blame all of you if I end up bringing one (or 5) home.
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Post by mach12 on Aug 10, 2019 13:20:52 GMT -5
Is being blamed for something like that a bad thing? Or maybe more along the line of "misery loves company"...
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Post by karitx on Aug 10, 2019 15:41:13 GMT -5
Is being blamed for something like that a bad thing? Or maybe more along the line of "misery loves company"... Ha! Yes, I enjoy being an "influencer" in that way, too!
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Post by pooka on Aug 11, 2019 5:12:03 GMT -5
As long as it doesn't turn into a true mania as with some. I've seen a few collection of two or three hundred toasters. It's an uncommon diversion, but not rare. There are enough of them that they have conventions. In one video, a guy admitted to spending thousands on one, but he said "show me another one". I suppose it was one of a kind. I've got the four old ones & one newer one. I can't recall where in the attic the oldest a 1920s one is. It's a four slice version that has a door on each side that flap open. Even if I dug it out, it would just be for display. The newer one is a Krups. It's a better quality modern one that was just quirky enough to please me at the time. I got it just in the nick of time. The next version of it, they added a little liquid crystal display, Another useless improvement to go bad. I was happy with it, till I found my Sunbeam T-9. It's iconic half moon shape that got it into art museums had me on sight. Again, I was happy with it, because it worked great. I've got two kitchen, so two toasters, an old & a new. Then one day I spotted the old General Electric. It a nice 40s or 50s model in great shape, & only $10. So I rationalized. Put away the newer one, so I have a vintage one in both kitchens. If I was so pressed, or want to part with it. I could probably make a profit selling it. At least that's the logic at work. The old Toastmaster sucked me in because of it's clockwork mechanism. I'd never had on in hand to play with. I remember reading a bit about them when looking up the T-9 & other vintage ones. And again, the price was just too good to pass up. I kinda figure it's money in the bank, & a new toy to play with. I'm quirky when it comes to collecting. I don't get on a bender on one thing like toasters, or coffee pots or the like, then am compelled to collect them unbridled. I may collect a few different type, just to try out how they work. Perhaps seek the best method, like for coffee. I've got more than my share of coffee makers, but almost all of them were acquired to use, at least to try. But that's a whole other discussion. I can see how some contain their collecting, because they just don't have the space, or never develop a passion for anything particular. We all find our own interests & comfort zones limiting rabid accumulating. Appraisers & collectors alike say, find what you like. Buy what you love. I look for high quality in almost everything I buy, but am a bargain hunter.
As long as your passion doesn't take over your life or bankrupt you or sum such extreme, I guess you're OK. Just have fun with it.
I try to buy useful things, but sometime beauty trumps that, unless it's both. I like interesting things. That would best describe what l look for on my forays. As I've said before, some of my best stuff came out of someones trash, or was free. Somethings speak of who made it, when & where. Other things ring of a certain era evoking the styles of the times. Still other things talk of our ingenuity through time. The clever gadget we dream up. The greatest is the hand made, rustic & refined. They evoke the hands of their makers. Like the pencil marks laying out the rungs of a crude ladder back chair, or the finger marks on a piece of pottery. It's kinda like holding hand with them though in time & space. It's a kind of time traveling you can imagine, at least for me sometimes. The stories some things could tell.
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Post by nana on Aug 11, 2019 6:57:07 GMT -5
Some things do just speak to you, or hit a nerve you didn't even know you had. I am not a big fan of the British Royal family, or really a fan at all, but I could not leave this cookie tin in the pile of leftover stuff going to the dumps after the Firemen's auction: I looked it up and it is not worth anything. They are a dime a dozen on eBay, but something about the extreme level of reverence and admiration that would lead a people to plaster their queen's image on every surface they possibly could in a way that surely grated on her elegant and refined sensibilities made it absolutely necessary that I rescue it. There seemed to be some confusion on eBay as to whether this commemorated her wedding or her coronation, but either way, the thought of her gritting her teeth and graciously accepting this honor...and there must have been a million other even more pedestrian objects that got the same treatment. I just had to have it.
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