The versatile, indestructible Mixmaster

Sunbeam's Mixmaster was almost indestructible. How many of us have the same sturdy old mixer used by our parents and grandparents? With proper maintenance this wonderful little machine will last for decades.

My parents used a Model 9 Mixmaster, produced in 1948. I couldn't pronounce the name correctly and instead called it a Mah-coo. Yes, I heard that story for years and years. The Mah-coo sits on my kitchen counter and still works.

In the early '50's my dad bought two optional attachments and I remember watching in the kitchen as he experimented with his new toys. When Dad tried the meat grinder- food chopper for the first time he used boiled potatoes instead of meat. I was more interested in trying to grab and eat the resulting potato-spaghetti. He also bought the drink mixer and made milkshakes with chocolate ice cream.

Other attachments shown in the instruction book provide insight into the evolution of the modern kitchen. For example, we take an electric can opener for granted but 60 years ago it was a marvelous innovation and was described with over-the-top enthusiasm. The description is also amusingly sexist, stating that women hate to open cans and have to rely on someone else to do this difficult task. Click on a picture to enlarge it.

Especially for my friend Thea... Because the instruction book generally disappears before the mixer wears out I've scanned a couple of pages related to care and maintenance.
The machine has to be oiled and greased from time to time. I've used products from the Singer Sewing Machine company to do both.

Additional information: Mixmaster collector, repairman and seller DecoDan has photos of his exceptional collection at http://www.decodan.com/Attachments .

Attic treasures #1- USS Yosemite 1956

This afternoon I ventured up to the attic for the first time in at least ten years. Spiderwebs were everywhere and I managed to remove most of them with my body. Blech!

While looking inside forgotten boxes I had a Eureka! moment. I'd been looking for these pictures for a very long time. I thought there were more than three but my old memory isn't what it used to be. :)

When my dad was the commander of the destroyer tender USS Yosemite he arranged to have a car show on her home dock in Newport, RI. It was 1956. And the cars were antiques.

Dad sitting in the car with Yosemite in the background.

Dad in front seat.

Card on window says 1917.

Aprons and appliances

My father kept a thick file of household manuals and instruction booklets for everything from flashlights to major appliances. I flipped through them looking at illustrations to see if there was anything worth writing about. Oh yeah. It became a game of Find the Apron.

During the 1950's and '60's women wore dresses with very full skirts and half-aprons to do housework. They had perfectly styled hair and freshly applied lipstick. And they always smiled.

Mother-daughter aprons.

Behold the sparkle!

Is that a foot pedal on the dryer?

Years ago refrigerators had tiny freezer compartments. My parents kept a well stocked upright freezer in the basement. The aprons here look like they were drawn as an afterthought.

My dad loved to cook. And he had a apron. It was the sort that butchers wear- plain, practical and indestructible. When I was a child Dad bought a new Mixmaster and I remember watching as he tried all the spiffy new attachments.
The instruction book seems to lack aprons, possibly because this wasn't strictly a woman's appliance.

  Aha! Found one above a ridiculously complicated recipe for mashed potatoes.

Added for my friend Thea. :) Basic parts for a Mixmaster.

No aprons but a nice example of a vintage kitchen with metal cabinets. The linoleum flooring pattern is unlike anything I've seen before- a giant eagle? phoenix? goose? surrounded by stars which also appear above the cabinets. How... um... novel.