Corning Electromatic Immersible platter

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paulg

paulg

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Have a few questions for the Corningware experts.
Yesterday (at an estate sale), I purchased a ton of Corningware which included the Electromatic Immersible heated platter. Aside from an insert in the box I cannot find any references to this on the internet. Does anyone know about this device? Was it popular? It has no identification stamping on the unit. It has the classic Corning flowers on it. The ephemera on the box indicates mid-1960s vintage.
The estate belonged to a person in sales. Numerous items at the sale were clearly samples from various vendors. I ended up with (new in box) P85 Electromatic Set and P25 New Homeowner Set PLUS the Electromatic warming platter. Two lids have chips and the percolator is MIA but I don't care - got the entire lot for $15. All new and unused.
It was funny. I saw this new, unused Electromatic heater with dutch oven sitting perfectly on the table all by itself. For $15 I brought it to the cashier to buy it. She asked me where "the rest" was. I said that I only saw the Electromatic heater/dutch oven. "OH NOOOOOOO! She said. For $15 you get ALL THIS! She then proceeded to find two original boxes of new Corningware sets (P85, P25 + Platter). I felt like I was on "The Price is Right"!
The platter is a weird item. Any data or comments? It works really well and gets really hot. It's much better than any other hottray that I've ever used. Thanks.
 
Yes Paul, Im a big fan of the Corning Electromatics too. I have several of the coffee makers (which make very good coffee btw) and I found this Electromatic Hotplate last summer at an estate sale I conducted in southern Ohio. It has the original packing with it and was never used.......These are great when I have a dinner party to keep food warm, both before serving and also used on a buffet...

2-17-2008-11-05-10--FilterFlo.jpg
 
I have two of their wonderful skillets,

Both the older and the newer design.
I don't find either of them slow, but I imagine that is a matter of opinion. Certainly, the extra mass involved holds heat longer and makes things a bit more stable - either a very good or very bad thing, depending.
What bothers me about both is the cavalier approach to electrical and fire safety. I never leave either unattended.
Cleaning isn't a big problem with today's glass ceramic cleaners, but 30 years ago, I remember baking soda, Bon Ami and razor blade sessions galore.
If Corning had put a bit more effort into design and safety, we probably would have had glass ceramic fields in common use much earlier.
Is that plate really immersible? That would be sooo coool!
I have to be very careful not to get water into the glass wool insulation in both skillets - once in, it takes forever to dry out.
 
Some of the people I work with at the utility used to work for the appliance repair division (which is now long gone), and they all have horror stories about a range that had a corningware cooktop. Apparently the burner controls were not very accurate, so you had basically "high" and "off"
 
Not a CorningWare fan but I did get one of those Electromatic skillets not too long ago and a few pieces to go along with it separately. Haven't used it though because the thought of cleaning Corningware puts me off. The most common piece of Corningware I see out there daily on my hunts are the stove top percolators, they are everywhere. Don't see the plug in models as often though.
 
I have one of these warming trays as well - also found unused - and it still hasn't been! I have a couple of the coffee pots but haven't found a skillet in good enough condition to bring home. I have heard they work very well though, Veg-O-Matic posted some pics of using his a while back.

Congrats on the find - "This Showcase can be yours if..." LOL!

A couple of years ago, we went to a good friend's house for x-mas eve and she served a "dinner" of hors d'oeuvre and snack-y foods but in the winter, everything cooled off very quickly and wasn't as tasty a short while later. I brought her a couple of warming trays from estate sales I'd found and she swears by them. A few of the people she works with were thrilled with them as well and I have standing orders to buy the warmers when I see them. One lady even asked for an electric bun warmer which I found in short time at a sale - NIB. Gotta love estate sales!
 
Thank you all!

Thank you all (especially FilterFlo) for the abundance of information on the subject!
Thanks also for the pix of the instruction manual for the tray. This resolves my reluctance to totally submerge it. I cleaned it liberally in the sink but hadn't the nerve to submerge. Of course, the skillet must not be submerged.
I'm surprised the skillet was considered slow. Tested mine and it really got hot fast. I suppose once you get the dutch oven and food load on it - it slows a bit.
The platter surprised me. It is really hot and I like that. Used it today at breakfast and it was nice! And it doesn't look goofy like some of the other hot plates I've seen. Once unplugged you'd never know it was electric. Seems like good design.
Today we're making a winning recipe from the Pillsbury Bake-Off from the 1959 book, California Casserole. By golly we now have the correct size Corning pot (4 qt) to pull off the recipe! Too fun.
Thanks again. Ahhh the joys of estate sales...
 
Hi Paul,

One of the things we were able to get in PA today was the Corning Ware and Visions Cookware book. According to said book, your 16" immersible platter was made between 1964 and 1970.

Hope that helps, and CONGRATS on your great finds!

Rich
 
Thanks again

Thanks for narrowing down the dates Perc-O-Prince! I could only determine that the sets were before 1973 due to the flower design. 1964 - 1970 seems much more accurate as it matches the hairstyle of the young lady on the skillet manual!
As of this evening, I've assimilated the stuff into my cupboards for everyday use. The glassware went through the dishwasher and afterward it looked like it just left the factory.
 
I don't see the orange dot on the end of the cord that plugs into the tray in any of the pictures. Whether the dot is up or down determines whether the tray operates at a higher temperature for holding food in dishes or at a lower temp for food served directly on the platter.

That was quite a haul for the money. Did your Electromatic set have the chrome fence for when you use the Dutch Oven on the heater base? I love the Dutch Oven for matzoh ball soup; it simmers perfectly and the ground flat base heats about as quickly as the 5 quart Dutch Oven in the "A" series with the flatter base does over an 8" surface unit. I think that the original "P" style Dutch Oven with the very unflat base and the outward flange for handles around all four sides sides is best used in the oven or microwave unless you can use it over a gas burner. I also liked the heat ranges given on the side under the handle on the original Electromatic heater base where they give the equivalent thermostat settings for high, medium, low and simmer. The ribbon heating elements with the thermostat in the middle give very even heat. I don't know if anyone remembers the line of round "gourmet" skillets made by Corning with the permanently attached black plastic handles, but even though they do not have the beautifully ground smooth bases, they work very well with the uniformly heated surface of either the old Electromatic heater base or newer style Electromatic base they called a Table Range or something like that. The "gourmet" skillets were made in 8 & 10 inch sizes, but I never saw the 8" until I bought one on eBay last year.

It's a testament to good construction that the whole first floor of my house has not fallen into the basement under the weight of all of the Corning Ware. If it did collapse, it would land on more Corning in the basement.
 
Answers... and questions

Yes, the Electromatic skillet came with the (amusing but functional) "Fence" that keeps the skillet from sliding away. When I first saw the fence I thought "What the he!! is that?" But I read what little paperwork was left in the box and figured it out.
I hope to gosh that the heating tray doesn't use a special cord! The cord was missing and so I used my Corning percolator cord which fit perfectly.
I was very impressed with the listings of BOTH the temperatures and the high-med-low-simmer settings on the unit. How super-convenient! Those darn Americans think of everything!
Another question:
I have a WOLF Smoothtop range. Anyone ever use vintage Corning on a smoothtop? I suppose it should work well. As I am mating similar materials (Ceramic to Ceramic) I don't expect a bad result. The literature says to use a lower temperature due to its heat transmission efficiency.
Anyone have comments on how they use a smooth top... with CORNING? I looked at the merchandise and these mid-1960s models have very smooth bottoms.
 
The fence kept the smaller diameter Dutch Oven from slipping between the openings on the sides between the ends of the handles.

Maybe only the later warming trays had the brown cord with the orange dot on the female plug to permit two heats.
 
Agreed

The fence does seem to serve a distinct purpose. Electrically I've analyzed the concept of the cord permitting two heats when reversed and couldn't imagine how they'd accomplish the feat. Must be another heat-tray model. With just two prongs on the tray, it must be 120vac or 120vac.
Thanks for the added info!
 
Smooth top cooking...

We had a Corning range in the '70s and '80s and matching Corningware cookware. It order to cook properly you had to have special cookware with the bottoms ground flat, still have a few pieces. Cooking with anything else was hit or miss. This turned me off smooth top stoves for good, switched to gas with nice cast iron grates and couldn't be happier. I still use a few pieces and it's funny if I place them on the countertop wet they stick to it! I have to slide them off, sometimes the suction is so great! I'll bet regular Corningware doesn't do that.

If I recall correctly the bottoms of most Corningware cookware were anything but smooth, but with modern cooktops it should not be as critical.
 
Dual temp cord thoughts...

I've been puzzling over that one for a while, only thought I've come up with is there were 2 sets of connections and one set used a diode to cut the current in half. Sort of like this:

X --- X
X --- D

Upper set full power, flip it and half power.

Any other thoughts on how it might be done?
 
Two headed cord?

Your idea has merit. If the original cord had two heads, and one had a diode in series with the AC you would accomplish high and low temps. If the cord just had one plug and one socket, a diode in line would always cut the current in half regardless of the orientation of the plug in the socket. The picture I saw above didn't appear to use a two-headed cord. However, had you worked for Corning in 1965 or thereabouts, you would have had a swell idea! Maybe I'll just make my own high-low cord. Since I am a tube junkee, I'll put a 5U4 in line! :)
 

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