When Modern Home Appliances Were New
Sure, they were wonderful. Wonderfully tiring, that is.
Remember all the fun it was to drag the coaster wagon down to the ice house, load up, pull the ice home (losing half of it to the summer sun), and then the fun of manhandling the slippery chunk into the icebox?
Remember the pleasure of those dozen trips a day up and downstairs to tend the furnace, before the advent of automatic controls? Remember holes in the rug from acid when you dropped the storage battery for the radio, and the jolly times when the batteries went dead on the eve of an outstanding broadcast? Remember when “swelter” was the only solution to the problem of what to do in hot weather, before air conditioning came along?
Hey—Where are you going? Down to look at a new deep freeze? Wait a minute—I’ll come along. We’ll talk about the good old days
another time.
Unique Mixing Bowl
A pouring lip and handle are great conveniences on a mixing bowl. One type, the PlasTex mixing bowl is flexible and squeezable, which aids in emptying it and scraping the sides clean. It’s shaped to keep contents gravitating to the middle. Also, it’s ruggedly made of polyethylene that won’t scuff.
When your closets begin to smell musty, as happens in the best-kept homes, you can freshen them quickly and easily with the aid of an electric fan.
Set the fan in the doorway so that it faces into the closet. If the closet has no window, open a window in the adjoining room and turn on the fan. For closets which do have windows, reverse the fan’s position so that it faces outward and open the window. This method will pull in fresh air from outdoors and have the closet smelling “airy” in la jiffy.
Handy Storage Space for You
The housewife has spoken. When she buys a refrigerator, she gives her nod most often to the one with the greatest storage convenience. And the makers have heeded her wishes by altering their wares to give her what she wants. Frigidaire, for instance, makes no bones about the fact that the housewife’s desire for “food at her finger tips” has been the major influence in changing the firm’s old designs.
This year’s models have emphasized several new storage facilities as being among their majorselling points. For example: An egg-serving shelf, built into doors is mounted on an incline. Eggs slide down the shelf into position for removal from a special slot. Another handy rack in the freezing compartment dispenses frozen juice cans.
Also in the door are closed compartments for butter and cheese, several translucent plastic containers for other foods, and racks for storing tall bottles. Retained from earlier designs is a roll-out type aluminum shelf which makes food more accessible.
Automatics Guard Kitchen
The most significant development in electric household appliances in 1953 was the trend toward more automatic features on all appliances.
For exmple, pot watching was eliminated by the introduction of an electronically-controlled surface unit on the Westinghouse doubleoven “Commander” electric range.
Foods can be warmed, boiled or fried on this surface unit, called “Automatic Corox with Electronic- Eye,” without danger of burning or scorching them. This holds true even if all the water is boiled away, and no matter how over-long the food remains cooking on this surface unit. It makes cooking-without-looking a reality.
This surface unit is featured on two of the 1954 Westinghouse electric ranges—the double-oven and single-oven “Commanders.”
In the field of refrigeration, the Westinghouse Frost-Free system that automatically defrosts and disposes of frost water when needed appeared on additional models of refrigerators, including a two-door combination refrigerator-freezer.
How To Brighten Marred Appliances With Enamels
Jane Doe, looking at her husband, says tearfully: “Either you buy new kitchen equipment or I’m going home to Mother.” And John Doe, sighing, says: “It just needs fixing, my love. I’ll do it on Saturday.”
In many cases, he’s right. And in many cases he can be dead wrong. For a leaking gas line or a broken wire needs expert attention. And, like the wonderful one-hoss shay, the appliances may just be worn out and ready for replacement.
According to experts at Federal Electric, who make much of the equipment used to carry electrical power, many old ranges, ovens, griddles and other household helps can be a severe drain on the power lines and the pocketbook.
Gas industry spokesmen warn that expert care is necessary in repairing burners and gas lines. A phone call to your local utility office
will bring immediate help.
But for the reconditioning of, major kitchen appliances that have fallen heir to scorches, stains, heat-blackening and nicks, the man-of-the-house can make himself an expert.
It’s all done with special — and available—paint and a paint brush. For laboratory developments have put heat-and-cold-resistant enamels on the market, suitable for home use, which are available in hues from pastel to high-fashion tints.
One of the manufacturers. Sapolin, has a paint for each kitchen appliance, as well as for woodwork and walls. The heat-resistant enamel withstands temperatures as high as 400 degrees without peeling, cracking, blistering or discoloring. In most cases, the outside of the range or oven never reaches this temperature.
Usually, the appliance paints dry to a low luster if they are applied to a well-prepared surface, free of soap, grease and oil..