Toast-O-Lator Electric Toaster by Crocker Wheeler Co., 1939
Add to SetSummary
This Toast-O-Lator toaster brought the assembly line to the breakfast table. Homemakers inserted bread into the vertical entry slot. Saw-toothed mechanical strips pushed the bread past heating elements and out the other end. This 1938 model is a key example of wild experimentation in toaster design, and was developed in age where new technologies were romanticized within the home.
This Toast-O-Lator toaster brought the assembly line to the breakfast table. Homemakers inserted bread into the vertical entry slot. Saw-toothed mechanical strips pushed the bread past heating elements and out the other end. This 1938 model is a key example of wild experimentation in toaster design, and was developed in age where new technologies were romanticized within the home.
Artifact
Electric toaster
Date Made
1939
Creators
Crocker-Wheeler Electric Manufacturing Company
Place of Creation
United States, New Jersey, East Orange, Ampere
Creator Notes
Designed by Alfredo de Matteis, Alvin C. Goddard and William A. Pentecost for the Crocker-Wheeler Co. located in Ampere, East Orange, New Jersey
On Exhibit
at Henry Ford Museum in Driving America
Object ID
85.68.5
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of John Wright.
Material
Metal
Plastic
Chromium
Technique
Plating (Metal coating)
Color
Black (Color)
Dimensions
Height: 10 in
Width: 12 in
Length: 4.625 in
Inscriptions
Bottom: TESTED AND APPROVED / SERIAL NO. 3379 / BY GOOD HOUSEKEEPING / INSTITUTE / [...] / TOAST-O-LATOR / MODEL G / PATENT NOS / 1473213 / 1560220 / 2112075 / 2112076 / SERIAL NO 8-39 / CROCKER-WHEELER ELECTRIC MFG. CO. / AMPERE N.J. Sides: TOAST-O-LATOR
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