Toaster keeps on going and going and going…..

2007/06/07

Sometimes you come across such an awesome, stunning, example of good design, you just can’t help raving about it — as engineer Alden Harsch does here in waxing enthusiastic about his Model 1B14 toaster. And here’s a bit of trivia – it held the title of the world’s most popular toaster for more than a decade in the 1950s. It’s not hard to figure out why. “My parents purchased this Toastmaster toaster around 60 years ago. It was passed on to me when I went to college, and I use it every day. I haven’t even had to so much as readjust the “brownness” control – it works so perfectly. My only complaint is that I have to flatten my bagels before toasting them!” Sigh…if only modern appliances were built like this oil tanker.

2 Comments

Simon Brown

June 27, 2007

I was expecting a comment about the toaster I have, which keeps on going and going, but in a completely different manner. If you put a slice of bread in that’s slightly too fat, it jams in the toaster. The “electronic control” waits for the suitable brownness time and releases the mechanism. However, the mechanism is jammed by the fat bread, and so the toast doesn’t pop up. Here comes the good bit: The heater element is turned on by the position of the mechanism, ie down, NOT the electronic control that holds and releases the mechanism. Result is that it will keep the heat on until your toast is sufficiently carbonated that it is now small enough to unjam the mechanism, or until you smell the disaster unfolding and do something about it.

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Karen Field

June 27, 2007

Yum….love those carcinogens! Sounds like you have a MBM candidate! Send pix and we’ll publish it!

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Karen Field says:
Yum....love those carcinogens! Sounds like you have a MBM candidate! Send pix and we'll publish it!
Simon Brown says:
I was expecting a comment about the toaster I have, which keeps on going and going, but in a completely different manner. If you put a slice of bread in that's slightly too fat, it jams in the toaster. The "electronic control" waits for the suitable brownness time and releases the mechanism. However, the mechanism is jammed by the fat bread, and so the toast doesn't pop up. Here comes the good bit: The heater element is turned on by the position of the mechanism, ie down, NOT the electronic control that holds and releases the mechanism. Result is that it will keep the heat on until your toast is sufficiently carbonated that it is now small enough to unjam the mechanism, or until you smell the disaster unfolding and do something about it.