Technology Connections is an excellent YouTube channel that usually examines the technology behind consumer electronics like TV’s and CD’s. He’ll occasionally take a break from hi-tech, like in this video, where he examines the inner workings of a fully automatic toaster from the 1940’s. By “fully automatic”, I mean you don’t even have to push down a switch or lever to operate the machine. The toaster lowers the bread for you, turns itself on, senses when the toast is done, shuts itself off, then raises the toast out of the machine, all using completely analog technology. Not a vacuum tube or transistor in sight.
You think that’s something, I knew a guy who has an automobile with a fully automatic push-button transmission that changed gearing depending on speed and power demands from the driver, a fuel delivery that automatically that adjusted itself depending on power demands on the engine, a precise ignition system that timed the engine ignition timing and power to compensate for engine speed , and an engine cooling system that automatically compensated for both the engine heat and external conditions. No transistors involved. There were vacuum tubes involved, but they were not electronic, but more accurately termed vacuum lines, as they used manifold vacuum help the various systems operate properly.
While computers are considered high-tech, designing products with computer technology is easy. What was difficult and required real ingenuity was to design products without them.
We had an old Sunbeam toaster my parents got as a wedding gift in 1960. It remained in continual daily use and they passed it down to me when I got married. The toaster finally died…in 2005. That’s 45 years of almost daily use! I’ve told other people about that beloved toaster and when I do I’ll quite frequently hear stories about other toasters that were purchased in the mid 20th century that lasted for multiple decades. We’ve gone through two other toasters since 2005. Is this just a case of survivor bias or possibly confirmation bias, or did appliances manufactured a half century ago typically last significantly longer than their modern counterparts?
I have a Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster from the 50s that is my daily workhorse. I bought it at a yard sale about twenty years ago. It needed a new cord which I installed and has worked well ever since. My mom and dad had one they got in the late 40s and it lasted until about 1970.
AFAIK, my folks still have the refrigerator they bought in 1964. It’s downstairs in the club-basement and only gets used for holidays (storing extra food/beverages), but you would think just the starting/running/stopping/laying idle cycle would cause something to wear out.
On the other hand, Dad has probably cleaned it inside out constantly since it went downstairs–bitching all the way (Ho, ho, ho)!
Re: the OP-- I find it interesting that when you take out the raise/lower lever, the toast goes in perpendicular.
I think survivor bias does play a role, but things were also overengineered by today’s standards. Today you can a) simulate a lot of the stress various parts will be under, and pare the material down to a minimum, and b) buying an appliance is a smaller bite out of a household budget and expectations are lower for them to last forever or be repaired.
My parents had a Sunbeam toaster that they got as a wedding present when they got married in '59. I think it was still going strong well into the '80s. I think I’m on my third toaster in the last five years. And I don’t even make toast that often!
I think this is the biggest difference. Appliances lasted a lot longer back then, but they also cost a lot more back then. A commenter on YouTube pointed out that adjusted for inflation this toaster cost the equivalent of $240. If you’re willing to spend that much for a toaster you can probably get a really good one that will last a long time. But most of us don’t, and because of that our appliances don’t last as long.
When I was in college I bought the cheapest toaster-oven Wal-Mart had, because I was a poor college student. I think it cost $19.99 in 2002. Coincidentally that one was also a Sunbeam. It lasted until I moved to California three years later. It seemed like the thermostat got damaged in the move, and after that it just tried to set fire to everything I put in it.
there’s an element of survivorship bias in play here, I’d wager. they made a lot of toasters in the 1950s, and a lot of them broke and were thrown away.
it’s like with cars. old guys will fawn over a pampered, all-original (or restored) 1957 Chevy Bel Air and proudly state “They don’t build 'em like this no more!” conveniently ignoring the fact that for every one '57 Bel Air which survived to today, there were thousands more Bel Airs, 150s, Two-Tens which wore out, rusted away, and were sent to the junkyard.
That reminds me of a post I saw on a car blog I saw a while back, which featured a photo of a junkyard taken in the late 1960s. Most of the junked cars were late 1950s models, in other words approximately 10 years old. Today the average car on the road is 12 years old.
I have also heard that survivor bias had a part in why the 1957 Chevy became the sort of quintessential 1950s car in people’s minds, as opposed to 1957 Fords or Plymouths, even though Ford actually outsold Chevy that year. Supposedly the Chevys were simply better built, so enough of them survived long enough to reach the point where people started to view them as classics rather than as just an old car, after the Fords, et. al. had been junked.
Another small thing that I’ve thought about regarding this. Design styles have gotten more utilitarian in general in the past 40 or so years, as compared to the past.
Or is it that higher end appliances were more likely to have non-utilitarian design elements? Hmmm.
I have a toaster oven I got in 1990, and it still works well, so, 29 years. But it doesn’t look significantly different from this one. It seems like a toaster that was 30 years old when I bought mine would be stylistically different from the one I bought, so would have more of a “this has been around for a long time” vibe to it.
Thanks to the OP for introducing me to a new timesuck. I had no idea I would end up caring to know so much about toasters, portable AC units or disposable DVDs.
Thanks! I’ll watch it when I have some time. 06:20, and I’ve just logged onto work. Incidentally, my toaster is like the one in the middle; with the slider on the front.
Did you see the one where he explains about mechanical televisions?