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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
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14th Nov 2020, 6:48 pm | #21 | ||
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
Quote:
Quote:
Steve |
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16th Nov 2020, 6:52 pm | #22 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Wales, UK.
Posts: 6,916
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
I have to ask what the anti-boiling over feature is. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember my parents' Haute Cuisine (those French again!) cooker having such a feature which was a sort of clicky thing in the centre of the ring.
Would have taken far more than that feature to stop my Mum burning things though.... |
17th Nov 2020, 12:47 am | #23 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Warminster, Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 682
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
My boss used to tell me that thing in the Centre of the ring was called a Pan A Stat . Andy
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17th Nov 2020, 3:05 am | #24 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
I can remember one called a pan guard on the cooker we had in the 1960s thru to the 1980s.
It never lasted long before it stopped working. The ring used to be used as a parking space for the very fatty chip pan with a well matured carbon bottom. |
17th Nov 2020, 4:34 pm | #25 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, USA.
Posts: 823
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
Quote:
Dave, USradcoll1 |
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17th Nov 2020, 9:41 pm | #26 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Stafford, Staffs. UK.
Posts: 2,532
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
When I was very young, we had a Moffat cooker. One of the rings (gas) had a simmerstat. The issue was that after conversion to natural gas the whole stove became a bit of a liability with the pilot lights often going out as I remember (I was 5 or 6 at the time). When we moved to a new house when I was 7 going on 8, we had a Creda Cavalier. Modern styling for the day but a very basic cooker, so I doubt any survive today. I do remember my Dad playing with the adjustments on the power controls to improve the low temperature regulation, but it did result in the rings being active sometimes even when switched off.
I also remember from the eighties at a friends Mum and Dads house, they had a gas hob with a simmerstat. There was a party there and I could smell the gas from the hob. I mentioned this, and my friend's older brother said 'oh yes it does that', and mucked about with the controls a bit. I assume it got fixed as the house never blew up, and my friend and his brother are still alive and well. |
17th Nov 2020, 10:39 pm | #27 |
Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 902
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
my mums Parkinson Cowan gas cooker has some sort of simmer stat fitted to one of the burners if i remember rightly it was called a Magitroll
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18th Nov 2020, 3:34 am | #28 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
I guess cooking didn't really change all that much since the advent of metal pots that could be heated directly, whether by means of a chemical reaction or electrical resistance. And while we're used to safety warnings on appliances today, the first electric space heaters, as replacements for wood or oil-fired stoves, were often designed to permit some sort of cooking. Only in the last century did it become possible to couple electromagnetic waves at high frequency into either the food or the container where they were converted to heat right where it was needed, and not heat the whole kitchen. (At least, if you discount infra-red radiation from smouldering charcoal .....)
I've seen evidence of truly ancient microwave ovens, as used by the catering industry long before they became common in the home. Did anyone ever make something like what would nowadays be called an induction hob using huge transmitter valves or similar?
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18th Nov 2020, 12:13 pm | #29 |
Octode
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Ilkeston, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 1,397
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
Here are a couple of pictures of the ring in question- at the centre is a 'button', spring loaded to maintain contact with the base of the pan. My guess is that it's some sort of thermostat that cuts the power when the pan reaches a set temperature below boiling point and cuts back in when the temperature drops again. Having never tested it's abilities I'll give it a go later.
Steve |
18th Nov 2020, 2:20 pm | #30 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,553
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Re: 1960s English Electric Rapide Cooker
That thermostat button looks a bit better made than the one I remember from past times.
I am pretty sure it is a fluid filled tube with a bellows switch on the control. The button used to get full of grease and stick. |