In 1989 as a second year Industrial Design student we had a toaster project. We went somewhere deep into central Pennsylvania and saw a very large and extensive toaster collection that sprawled multiple buildings. Just some guy that loved Toaster he bought and sold antiques that he came across while looking for toasters. He had been doing it all his life and I believe only incapacitation could stop him.
This is a very unusual single long slot toaster with a huge wide slot. There is no spring basket to hold the bread centered in the slot: rather you manually change the slot width itself by moving the toasting elements up against the bread. For the same reason, you must manually raise and lower the toast yourself (and can do so at any time to check on the toasting situation). This toaster can toast huge pieces of bread, sandwiches, croissants, you name it.
The primary downside of this toaster is that its toaster elements are inconsistent and uneven. But it is an exceptionally unique design.
I think the infamous Mitubishi toaster has the Sunbeam beat. A $300 machine that supposedly produces the best toast in the world, but only toasts one slice at a time.
We had a toaster oven when my kids were growing up (US). When we we visited London, they enjoyed the museums, etc., but what really excited them was the rental flat's pop-up toaster, "just like Wallace and Gromit!".
I have not actually bought a toaster from him, but I did buy a Sunbeam 1960s waffle maker/electric griddle. It works much better than my previous new waffle makers.
wow a website that gives me the desktop experience on my phone, feels like 2007 when the iPhone felt like a real web browser in my hand before everyone embraced the “mobile web” and reduced my handheld browser real estate by 1000%, and to think how small the screen was back then!
A lot of the toasters shown from 1910-1940s only toast one side of the bread at a time and have a flipping mechanism to then toast the other side. The flipping mechanisms seem like they would be nearly as expensive as just adding a second heating element. So is the reason for the one-sided toasting a constraint on how much electrical power was commonly available to homes 100 years ago?
33 comments
[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 71.8 ms ] threadI'm actually surprised Amazon isn't the largest "toaster exhibition"?
I will have to look through my Hi8 Videos...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Toaster
This is a very unusual single long slot toaster with a huge wide slot. There is no spring basket to hold the bread centered in the slot: rather you manually change the slot width itself by moving the toasting elements up against the bread. For the same reason, you must manually raise and lower the toast yourself (and can do so at any time to check on the toasting situation). This toaster can toast huge pieces of bread, sandwiches, croissants, you name it.
The primary downside of this toaster is that its toaster elements are inconsistent and uneven. But it is an exceptionally unique design.
I think I must run in different circles.
"The Antique Toaster that's Better than Yours"
https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/03/mitsubishi-makes-a-373-toaste...
Fluffy and moist interior with a perfectly crisp and browned exterior. It’s quite magical, and hard to understand until you experience it.
[0] https://youtu.be/1OfxlSG6q5Y
[1] https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections
I’ve had the same one for roughly 20 years and it still just works exactly as it did when new.
It’s truly a design classic.
https://www.dualit.com/
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/hauser-wirth-somerset-cald...
https://calder.org/works/household-object/toaster-c-1945/
I have not actually bought a toaster from him, but I did buy a Sunbeam 1960s waffle maker/electric griddle. It works much better than my previous new waffle makers.
If you are eating toast must be daylight for most people no need for the lightbulb.
Usually a home could afford a single outlet and they put it over the kitchen table for light and other utility tasks.
If one was going to splash out for some electricity that might consider and outlet for a refrigerator.
https://www.caseyliss.com/2015/9/10/siracusa-on-toasters