A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

Post by Tagbert » Fri, Nov 26, 2021, 6:12 PM UTC

denton-scratch wrote: post #25

Tagbert wrote: post #19

I wish I could still get a toaster that let me toast one slice at a time. If making toast, I usually just want one slice. It is wasteful to have to heat up both sides for one slice of toast. I remember one model from a few decades ago where you could just put one slice in and push down one button to toast that. If you put in 2 slices, the other button would push both sides down to toast. I haven’t seen that feature i…

Mine's a Dualit. It's repairable (it's held together with simple screws, and you can order all the parts), it has a mechanical timer, and a simple lever to raise/lower the toast. There's also a knob to switch between left slot/both slots. No electronics, no indicator lights. I think these things are targeted at commercial outlets (hotels, cafes and so on). I bought it because I imagined it would be ultra-reliable, an…

Post by sdoering » Fri, Nov 26, 2021, 6:50 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #48

sdoering wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Post by sgtnoodle » Fri, Nov 26, 2021, 7:06 PM UTC

hedora wrote: post #176

sgtnoodle wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that the 12KW isn't to a single burner, but rather the total across all burners. A typical home gas range is probably totalling 17kW or so with all burners going. doing some research in the internet, the large burners on induction cook tops do about 3.5kW, with less common 11" burners getting up to 4kW or so. The large burners on a gas stove do about 17500 BTU, which is about 5kW. I could believe that the p…

Induction ranges are ~ 2x more energy efficient than resistive, since there’s no loss of heat between the heater coil and pan. I just switched from gas to induction, and am consistently surprised at how cool the area around the pan stays vs. with natural gas. I’d guess the gas burner is wasting at least half the heat it puts off. A 5kW gas burner is definitely delivering less heat to the pan than a 4 kW induction bur…

Post by sgtnoodle » Fri, Nov 26, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

Gigachad wrote: post #170

sgtnoodle wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that the 12KW isn't to a single burner, but rather the total across all burners. A typical home gas range is probably totalling 17kW or so with all burners going. doing some research in the internet, the large burners on induction cook tops do about 3.5kW, with less common 11" burners getting up to 4kW or so. The large burners on a gas stove do about 17500 BTU, which is about 5kW. I could believe that the p…

> I would bet that you aren't boiling your water as fast as you think you are relative to a gas burner though. I moved recently to somewhere that has gas and noticed its is quite a lot slower than the induction stove I was using. The gas one seems worse in every way but initial cost.

Post by kelnos » Fri, Nov 26, 2021, 8:46 PM UTC

beervirus wrote: post #183

a012 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched a few videos from his channel and always amazed/wondered how can he has so many vintage items and deep knowledge of/around them. I really enjoy his presentation skill and sense of humour.

The jokes are painfully corny. But everything else about his channel is gold.