Gary!
Good eye, yes I was excited --4 in one place that probably hasn't happened since they left the factory in 1957!
I stumbled across these in ebay last month,never had ever heard of them before so I ponied up on one and of course got the manual as well. I tried one of the 1939 recipes in it, "pigs in blankets" = stuffed cabbage, it was DEELISHUS! And quick too so I was hooked!
These rolled out in 1939, and they were introduced by a company in West Bend, called Advance Aluminum Products. The pictured models are 1957 You all maybe familiar with the Miracle Maid line of heavy cast aluminum cookware- same company. Later and I'm not sure which but AAP changed to West Bend or West Bend bought them out as AAP had developed a proprietary smelting of aluminum, silica, magnesium for a very tough heat spreading alloy for cookware.
Anybody know the history of West Bend out there?
Since these are such early models in the pressure cooker field they were tuned to go up to 35 pounds! Twice what any pressure cooker can achieve today. The vessel itself was tested at 250 pounds as safe!!! And I just love the little steam whistle that tells you pressure has been reached so you turn the heat off - unlike today where you turn it down to low enough to maintain pressure these hold the pressure till you release it.
So the method with these is to place food to be cooked, seal, heat and let the air blow out for 2 minutes, then close the valve, set the pressure you want- the valve is marked in 5 pound increments from 5-35 and then once that selected pressure is reached the kettle whistles at you so you don't have to watch it. You take the heat off, turn off the whistle and usually time for 5-10 minutes depending in the recipe you are following. At the end you flip up the beam and release the pressure and eat.
Next meal I made was rack of lamb braised in red wine with potatoes and carrots - it was some of the best lamb I've ever tasted! Complete dinner in 20 minutes!
And what I love about these is the gasket is made from car gasket material so you can always cut yourself a new one.
And for those of you in the dark read the article below about using aluminum cookware, -its back!
[this post was last edited: 4/12/2014-09:50]