Shitty blogspam article that just copies the original video by Technology Connections
It absolutely is. On the other hand at least it shows the original video. Something I just watched in awe. Stunned about the ingenuity of the toaster design.
A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
41–50 of 238 posts
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#42If anyone is looking to buy one, I recently bought a restored Sunbeam T-20 from timstoasters.com and love it. He even replaced the plug with a polarized one.
Where exactly is the buy page? I see everything but that!
I just used the form at timstoasters.com/order and said I was looking to buy instead of restore. I agree it could be easier to find!
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#43There is definitely a market for the resurgence of some of high quality old-timey products, especially those with some novelty. Sunbeam should literally do a Kickstarter to get the marketing going.
I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.
I hope I don't curse myself saying this, but I bought an AEG washing machine over 9 years ago and so far have never had a problem with it.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
But maybe redesign it so the coils can’t be live even when it is off. Because you can’t stop humans from using forks. I grew up with one of these and was going to get an old one and refurbish it, but I live with too many hairless apes that would stick a fork or knife in to retrieve their undersized bread. Maybe if I put on a polarized plug, and check all the outlets in the kitchen to make sure they are wired correctl…
Of course. The original sunbeam probably could not have been even made or sold today due to safety standards.
Sure it could. It'd just need a polarized, grounded plug with the ground strap tied to the body.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#45Re-making these toasters is probably a great idea for a kickstarter.
Yeah, my question after reading this is why can't I buy a modern version of this toaster? Would it be too expensive? Just seems odd.
there's a lot of clever stuff in there that would make modern regulators nervous
suspect making it compliant with modern electrical standards would be cost prohibitive
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#46There is definitely a market for the resurgence of some of high quality old-timey products, especially those with some novelty. Sunbeam should literally do a Kickstarter to get the marketing going.
I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.
I have wondered too. I am on on, like, my fourth toaster. They work for a few years then fail in some non fixable way. So I toss and order another from Amazon. Think of all the material waste. Not very eco-friendly. But it’s another 30 bucks and comes next day …
Is there a market for ‘buy it for life’ toaster. The question is will people pay 2-4X as much as cheap china toaster? Would you pay $150 for a lifetime toaster with replaceable parts? Would you pay $200? Or just 20% more than the next model? Would the retro angle get people to do it? Would the eco angle? Or the ‘right to repair’ angle? Or is it just easier to toss the thing and get another from our friends in Seattle?
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#47This toaster was expensive when it launched, but could be considered worth the money since it would last for a long time and it seems to have a good resale price even today.
On the other hand, today it is hard to buy simple things of good quality on Amazon - example 100% cotton or 100% woolen clothes. And it would be harder in a physical superstore like Target or Walmart.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#48Shitty blogspam article that just copies the original video by Technology Connections
It absolutely is. On the other hand at least it shows the original video. Something I just watched in awe. Stunned about the ingenuity of the toaster design.
If you liked the video and didn't know about Technology Connections, I can only recommend (strongly) to go through the channel's archive: Alec mostly goes through old or somewhat intemporal stuff, so technical and editing chops aside the content really doesn't age, and I've yet to see a video from him that's not interesting nerdery.
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#49This actually applies to a lot of old tech and old software. The idea that old == bad is permanently seared into the brains of people. Thanks to marketing. There should be a good balance between trying out new things (new JS frameworks!) and then if it doesn't work, STOP. Modern society is moving towards criticism == bad, which leads to things like Youtube removing dislike visibility and inability to challenge ideas in a corporate setting (someone might just get offended by criticism).
My hope and expectation for society is to balance experimentation and criticism. We need both in equal amounts. A good analogy that I keep is gradient descend algorithm - if we get stuck in a local optima, unless we undo things, there is no way to improve (This is criticism). At the same time, if we don't allow picking new directions, improvement is hopeless (This is experimentation).
Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where exactly is the buy page? I see everything but that!
I just used the form at timstoasters.com/order and said I was looking to buy instead of restore. I agree it could be easier to find!
Thanks for the info. How was pricing? I assume it has be on the high side given the restoration.