Antique Toasters
 

I just bought an antique 1920's toaster at an Antique store when driving home with my girlfriend, and the elements are still showing good at 22 ohms (550 watts which it says it is). I'm working on trying to find a power cord for it as it has those thick rods that stick out.

Question though, how exactly do I clean that clear material the element is wrapped around? Or should I not even attempt to clean it? I'm not sure what material it is, being this old, or even if it's really safe to try and eat from, but it does appear to still be functional.

You mean the mica sheet? I would try to not disturb it as it can be quite fragile. It's not harmful like asbestos though. Toasters still use it as a support material for heating elements because it can handle the extreme heat.
You are pretty brave to use one of those old manual one-sided toasters (if that's what you got). It's about as close to just tasting over an open fire as you can get.

Can you post some pictures? I've never seen a toaster from the 1920's.

Wow, I sure wasn't picturing that. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah those things scare the hell out of me. I mean, they aren't likely to short out and go live but it's basically a heating element with no thermal protections that is on the instant you plug it in.

Yeah that thing is sketchy. I would just keep it as a showpiece.

I was going to ground the chassis, also it's going in the kitchen which here every plug is on a GFCI. I can also add a thermal fuse if required.

My late grandmother had one of these toasters years ago. However, it did not occur to me at the time how dangerous they could be, given the exposed heating elements.

BTW, I was glad to read in your post that you will be grounding the toaster's chassis, as this will add a measure of safety to it which the toaster didn't have when it was new, in the 1920s. I don't know if the National Electrical Code existed then; it may not have, since most appliances were not grounded as well (or at all) at that time as they are now.

One stupid thing some homeowners did in the 1920s and later (until the '60s-'70s, when the National Electrical Code mandated the use of circuit breakers) was to replace a blown fuse with a copper penny when the fuse opened. This may have gotten things working again, but it also meant the second an overload or short occurred on that circuit, the wiring would begin to smolder, starting a very costly fire.

I was also glad to read that your toaster will be used in a grounded environment, on a circuit protected by a GFCI. As well grounded as today's electric service is (compared to when this toaster was new), this will mean the circuit breaker will trip immediately in the event of a short circuit or an overload. GFCIs are absolutely incorruptible, so when it trips, there is no other alternative but to reset it; there is no way to jump or otherwise bypass these devices, since they are bolted solidly into the breaker box.

I've seen a bunch of those 20's toasters but I've never bought/tried one. They probably work okay, but with no automatic shutoff/eject they're not super practical/safe. It would be pretty easy to burn your toast if you don't baby sit it , then you'd have to manually flip it if you want both sides toasted. If you let your self get too distracted too long or forget and leave the room with it running you could comeback to your toast (and possibly other flammable items nearby) on fire.
Personally if I had that it would be for display and VERY rare use/demonstration.

The best vintage toaster for daily use IMO is the Sunbeam Radiant Control... literally set your bread in it and it sucks it in, toasts it to exact set level (regardless of changes in bread type), then ejects it when done.

Back when I was a kid I had (I think I still have it somewhere) a 60s GE toaster/toaster oven. Instead of the conventional II toast slot it used a - - toast slot. The oven was a drawer on the bottom and the front looked sort of like a face. It worked good for a few months then started humming one day and at the end of the cycle the plug burst into an electrical fire (it was a very memorable experience).
About 6 years later I grafted a new cord on, but it was humming still and the cord was getting hot so back in the closet it went. Someday I should try and find and fix it.

The NEC was around since the early 1900's, when homes were first wired for electricity. It originally was a few pages and now it's several hundred!
Most homes equipped with GFCI's have the GFI type receptacles located in the rooms they were used, bathrooms, kitchens, outdoors, etc. The GFIC breakers were more expensive.

We had a Sunbeam Radiant Control when they first come out, around the early 50's. We used it a lot in the first 10 years and then it wouldn't toast the bread consistently. The first slices would come out too light. Reset the control and it came out too dark.
It really was the best toaster available!

I have one I've used a number of times much like it. I doen't get used too often.

The one I use all the time is a General Electric from around 1947. I've had it about 20 years now.
Looks the same as this one.

https://i.postimg.cc/W4zxh0mV/s-l400.jpg

The lever flips down to drop the toast and switch it on. No automatic features to it.

There's nothing inherently dangerous about the toaster. Just make a firm habit of never leaving it unattended. Which, technically is the case for any toaster, even space heaters, hair driers, etc, etc. That, and take the usual precautions. ie, don't make toast while in the bathtub, don't operate it under your curtains, don't touch hot things with your hands, etc. I don't see a reason to add a thermal fuse, as it's very likely it would just pop after a couple slices of toast. Remember the thing is metal, and it will all get quite warm. Grounding it... I wouldn't. That's just me though, I don't mind the shock risk (it's minimal anyway). What I would do is a good inspection of the internal wiring, as old wires like to crumble. If you ask me, throwing a ground on it is not a substitute for actually making sure it's safe to operate. And once it's safe, then a ground is not really needed.

The mica sheet is probably not dirty at all, that's just how it looks. Or, if it is dirty, the dirt would be vaporized off of it after being heated for some time. Leave it alone.

There are plenty of replacement toaster cords (sometimes called 'heater cord' or 'appliance cord') available on ebay. Some old, some new-ish. Shouldn't be any problem with one of those. The pin spacing and size looks standard.

Incidentally, it being named the 'Flipflop' I think this is the type that flips the bread over when you open the door, so you don't have to touch the bread to flip it to toast the other side.

My aunt has one that age and has used it daily for decades. I have one and it works but I dont use it. Im sure many people are still using them. Its no crazier than watching old tv's, lol

These toasters were made to last, I'm sure, which is something we don't see anymore in mass-produced appliances, or anything else, for that matter. As I mentioned in a previous post, my grandmother had a toaster like the one being discussed here. It lasted years, if not decades, and may well have been working even after she died in 1985; this speaks volumes for the manner in which appliances were built in the 1920s to about the 1960s. We wll never see this kind of quality again, as I am about to explain.

I had a Sharp microwave for 20 years; it finally gave up last month, but I wasn't disappointed when it quit. It gave me excellent service in that time (I bought it new when I moved to my apartment in 1999), which again speaks volumes for how things were built until everything was being made in Japan and elsewhere in the Orient.

However, when my Sharp microwave finally quit (it began throwing sparks near the end, and I saw a bit of smoke in the cavity as well the last time I used it), I bought a Black and Decker microwave, which works very well--for now, anyway. I do not expect the new one to last anywhere nearly as long as the old one did, given the cheap and often slipshod way many if not most appliances are built nowadays; however, what can you do?

The B&D oven is probably a low power one, something like 600 or 700 watts.
They don't cook fast enough for many users.
The GE over-the-range microwave in my place is 1800 watts and you have to watch how it's used. It could easily overcook or make an item too hot. It's made in Korea and been trouble-free for 18 years.

Still running one of these. Think mine is a 1979
https://www.radarange.com/fullsize/9T.jpg

The cooking time is not an issue for me. If the item I'm cooking isn't hot enough by the end of the cooking cycle I originally set the microwave for, I just run the same item another minute or so. Nine times out of ten that does the trick.

BTW, I purchased this particular B&D microwave because of the price point (well under $100) and because it is much smaller and lighter (25 pounds) than the one I had. As it is, I needed some help to discard the old Sharp microwave due to its size and weight (due to a bad fall I had several years ago, I am somewhat unsteady on my feet, so I don't trust myself carrying anything that heavy anymore) and to install the new one (even at 25 pounds, it is still heavy enough to throw me off balance all too easily).

Your Korean-made GE microwave is doing well after 18 years. My Sharp microwave was in terrible shape when I finally got rid of it; the paint was flaking off the cavity, which may explain why the microwave was throwing sparks shortly before I ordered the new one. The old one would probably still be working today had it not been for that problem, although there were other small things going wrong with it by that time as well, such as the end-of-cycle signal having become so weak as to be inaudible; this signal also alerted the user when any button on the keypad was pressed, and of course I could barely hear that signal either.

The sparks I saw when the Sharp microwave was running were an unmistakable sign the machine was very close to the end of its useful life; had I continued to use it in this condition it could well have started a fire, if the microwave did not blow a fuse first. I live in an apartment, so I have to watch these things very carefully, for obvious reasons.



I have no idea, however, how or why the paint started falling off the inside of the cavity. I did not in any way, at any time, abuse the microwave ( e. g. slamming dishes, etc. into it), so this is truly a mystery to me. I am at a loss to explain why this even started in the first place.

It's amazing how inexpensive they can build an item today! I bought a Panasonic microwave oven in 1986. It was $269 back then. It's a 650 watt and it seemed to do every thing I needed. It was used daily until 2003 when I moved into my present home. I still have it in my warehouse.

I rarely buy anything modern anymore minus video. I use a 1959 Frigidaire fridge, a early 1980s maytag washer and a 1935 maytag washer. Unsure how old my microwave is but its old. Old wood stoves, chairs, cars, trucks, phones, fans. My house was built in 1878. I jjust cant see wasting money on new things that wont last so I buy old and most will outlast me. The fridge my parents bought new and it was used for years, then was outside under cover for a few years at a campsite, then in a barn until I dug it out to use it again. Try that with anything newer. We made good stuff in this country and a few others. Now its all junk. Sad

I wouldn't say it's all junk, although I will say the quality is not what it once was. I have an Aiwa bookshelf stereo system which still works every bit as well as when I bought it 21 years ago, except for the dual cassette decks which quit a few years ago. The CD player and AM-FM stereo tuner, however, are still working very well; since most of the music I like is available on CD these days (and I have a large collection of CDs), I am not concerned about the failure of the cassette decks, although I have an old (1979) Radio Shack cassette deck in storage as I write this. The deck works, and well, but I think there must be an intermittent connection on one of the preamplifier output jacks since one stereo channel cuts out once in a while. Since most of my music is on CDs I already have, however, as I said, the problem with the RS cassette deck doesn't bother me.

BTW, if your microwave oven is as old as the one I replaced over a month ago, and yours still works, that's great; I hope it continues to give you good service. I don't know what make your microwave is, but if it is a well-known brand such as GE, Tappan, etc. and was made two or three decades or more ago, it's not surprising it still works. In fact, if yours is one of the original Tappan Radarange microwaves, and it still works, I'd hold on to it as long as it does work. If I remember correctly, the Tappan Radarange was one of the first mass-produced microwaves in the U. S.

The problem with today's appliances is they are not built with the same quality, precision, etc. as they once were; moreover, most appliances, like almost everything else these days, are made offshore, even though they still bear American brand names. My new microwave, for example, is branded Black & Decker, although I have absolutely no idea who actually manufactured it. My best guess is it was made for B&D by some obscure offshore company no one in this country ever heard of. However, I still have a B&D toaster and a one-cup coffeemaker (same make). The toaster still works well after 21 years, but I replaced the coffeemaker several months ago when the thermostat welded shut. That B&D coffeemaker (my first one, the one in which the thermostat welded) lasted twenty years and was used daily, so I think it gave me excellent service.

Ooops! I goofed. The Radarange microwaves were not made by Tappan, but by Amana, IIRC. I don't know if Tappan ever made its own microwave ovens; they may well have gone out of business by about the 1980s or so, if not earlier, before these ovens became as popular as they are today.

Black & Decker bought the small appliance division from GE. :scratch2:

I took a look. Its a GE Model J EM3 001, manufacture date of 1985. Its not real big.

At home I use a Panasonic microwave, 1200 watts, that I got about 15 years ago.
At the office I use a no-name Asian piece of junk 650 watt one that must be 30 years old and still works well, though it doesn't get as much use as the home one. At the office my students used it a very lot before I retired.

But at home I also use a toaster/convection oven even more. Its modern and fairly safe. Its thermostat is also very accurate.

Is that the one with inverter technology with a stainless steel front?
I found one on the roadside like that. It had a blown up GE-MOV and a burned trace on the control board. After fixing that (and cleaning it up), I sold it on Craigslist for $20.
I think Panasonic builds a better microwave than TV's.
I sold it to a food truck operator who needed high power and stainless steel. (The state requires stainless steel for food service businesses.)
He showed me a binder of licenses and permits and other bull$#!+ documents necessary for the truck.

Sharp R930cs MW
 

Went by the free public recycling bin yesterday and there was a Sharp MW in there from '07. It was huge and heavy. Looked like a commercial MW. Stainless steel about 900 Watts. Seems to me these large MW's would probably be cost effective to repair. Couldn't lift it out.

You should always pick up a microwave, no matter how bad it looks, just to harvest the magnetron. They're very pricey if you have to buy one.
They're easy to test, even without power. Just check for a short with your DVM between the filament pins and the case.

Well here's a really weird turn of events!

I'm at the Value Village and on the shelf is a fancy looking green handled chrome toaster. It looks like it was barely used.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag.../CGS_12378.JPG
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag.../CGS_12379.JPG
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag.../CGS_12380.JPG

Looks to be the late 60's or even the early 70's and sold by Eatons under the Viking appliance line. Fully CSA certified.
(Edited: It's a rebrand of a Proctor-Silex from 1970/1971)
This is a toaster I'd use, except for one thing. The plastics are excellent. The cord is likewise in perfect condition. but it doesn't use Mica for the heating element insulation. It uses ASBESTOS!

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag.../CGS_12381.JPG

This is going to live in a bag for the meantime. In the future I have an idea to make a clear acrylic enclosure to store it in so it can be on display.

Asbestos EH? Time to break out the grinder and nose straw. :D

I got an old toastmaster toaster and think it was made in the 40s as it does have cloth cord. The toaster works great and was way better then the new toaster I was using but unfortunately do to the slots being to small I put a 80s GE toaster as my main toaster. Back to the toastmaster I got it $4 and it worked fine when I got but I did take it apart and inspected it. I also cleaned and oiled the toaster as it is pretty old and very deeply needed it. I will take a picture of it when I have good light as there is not any sun at 12am.

I would probably would need to keep a fire extinguisher near by if I was going to be using an manual toaster as I know I would end up forgetting I was making toast. All jokes aside if I was using an manual toaster pay much closer attention.

MIPS, just dont breath while you eat the toast and you wont inhale any, lol Beautiful toaster, its a shame it cant be used.