Another Wanted Item Found!

[danemodsandy]

If summa youse will recall, I was looking for a wall-mounted can opener - either a Rival Can-O-Mat Model 45-S in chrome and black, or the Dazey Canaramic Model 105 in the same finish.

Well, a Can-O-Mat in the correct finish turned up cheaply yesterday on eBay, so I've ordered it. This is the wall-mount can opener I grew up with - ours was the yellow painted finish with a chrome handle and a yellow knob, to coordinate with Mom's self-designed "dream kitchen" installed in 1959, which was yellow and turquoise. The chrome and black of the new unit is intended to go with my collection of chrome and black small appliances.

Like the yellow one was, this chrome one will be mounted in accordance with midcentury practice - over the garbage can. This was so that lids clinging to the magnet after a can was opened could be disposed of by a slight tug and letting them drop into the garbage.

This new one is described as working well, but if there are problems, I was also able to find disassembly and lubrication instructions on the Net.

So - if any of you were keeping an eye out for one of these for me, I'm done. Thanks!

 

[danemodsandy]

Here's.....

A more personable picture of a Can-O-Mat from the Sandy Archives, so that you can see what one looks like assembled. Is this 1950s gorgeousness or what?

 

[a440]

Awe!  This reminds me of my childhood!  We had one in the garage of the home I grew up in as a child.  It was used to open Dog and Cat food cans for many years!  

Great find for you!  

Hey!  Something that can't be damaged during shipping!  Or could it?!

 

 

[danemodsandy]

Brent:

The Postal Service here is pretty darn good about not damaging stuff, and the item is not heavy enough to P.O. a UPS driver, so I will hopefully get it in its intended number of pieces!

 

[turquoisedude]

Yay Sandy!  That's a mighty fine-looking Can-O-Mat!  Congratulations!!

 

[firedome]

nice integrated design...

and much prettier than most can openers that I remember, I think ours was an Eklund?

 

[polkanut]

The primary can opener in my parents, in-laws, and our home was/is vintage hand held Swing-A-Way brand openers.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

The double-gear Swing-A-Way handheld is the very finest handheld opener made - you cannot go wrong with one. I have one in my kitchen now.

However, I do prefer wall-mounts. This Can-O-Mat, like the Dazey Canaramic and the TOL Swing-A-Way wall-mount (as well as the Sears Best, made by Swing-A-Way), were all what is called a double-action can opener.

What this means is that there is no separate lever to operate when you need to pierce the can before cranking to open. Double-action units operate by turning the handle towards you to pierce, then away from you to open. I do not know of anyone making a double-action wall-mount today. In fact, Swing-A-Way is the only company I know of still making a wall-mount of any kind, and it is a single-action unit, with a separate lever for piercing.

I hate, loathe, detest, despise and abominate electric can openers. They take up space on the counter. They use electricity needlessly. They have a fairly short lifespan - which seems to get way shorter with every passing decade. No one fixes them; you're supposed to ST*U and go get a new one when they break - or just become dulled with use. They are landfill fodder from the moment they're made.

So, the Can-O-Mat is a real prize. I'm hoping it will last out my lifetime.

 

[whirlcool]

Plus electric can openers make noise. Every time we use ours, the dogs come running!
I have heard cat owners say the same thing too.

 

[danemodsandy]

Came Today -

I won't be able to mount the unit until the weekend, but it's here and it looks pretty darn good. In fact, I think MIB would be the only way to get a nicer one, and an MIB Can-O-Mat in chrome often fetches close to $100. There is a Can-O-Mat Jr. that goes for less, but that was not my dream machine.

I'm looking forward to this!

 

[danemodsandy]

Got It Up!

The Can-O-Mat is mounted, and it was a slightly strange experience using one again after so long.

The one I grew up with passed out of service in the Summer of 1974, when my parents moved out of the house I grew up in. Which means it has been just over forty years since I used one.

Tonight, when I opened some baked beans to go with supper, it was like no time at all had passed. The Can-O-Mat was instantly familiar, with the same little creaks and whirs I remembered. No re-learning curve, just re-connection with a part of me that goes back a long way.

Nice.

 

[d-jones]

Sandy -

Those memories and the connection to a fondly remembered past are one of the things that makes owning and using vintage things such a pleasure to so many. I know exactly how you feel. Not long ago I was over at my folks house helping to clean out some old cupboards up high in the kitchen and I came across some old metal ice cube trays, the kind with the handle in the middle that you pull up on to break the ice cubes free. My mom just wanted to toss them in the recycle bin, but I brought them home instead and cleaned them up, then filled them with water and put them in the freezer. A few days passed before I had an excuse to get an ice cube, but when the time came I took the tray out of the freezer and placed it on the counter, noting with pleasure the familiar way my fingers tended to stick to the frozen tray. When I pulled up on the handle to break the cubes free from the metal divider, the sight of the tray itself, the feel of the handle in my fingers, and the creaking sound the ice made just before it broke apart, all combined to take me back in time to my parents kitchen as a ten year old boy, before the time when plastic trays came on the scene and ruined everything. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane.

 

How about a photo so we can see it installed in all its glory.

 

[danemodsandy]

David:

I'll try to do a photo in the next day or two. It's bedtime here in Flyover Land, plus my digital camera needs charging.

But you'll see the opener soon.