Most useless appliance addition?
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launderess
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Charcoal Coffee Filters
Actually one wants fresh water for brewing coffee or tea, as the oxygen releases all that goodness. While fitered water is fine, water that has been sitting around in that carafe weather in the fridge or on the counter goes flat within a few hours. Pouring the water through a filter in that respect does make sense if one wished to use filtered water.
If one uses fresh ground beans, the type of water can produce a world of difference. Best indicator of "fresh" water and beans is a nice light tan "froth" (at least when I'm using my vaccum coffee makers), this means that there is lots of oxygen in there and one is going to have a great cup of java, all things being equal.
Coffee also goes "flat" if left sitting around after brewing for the same reasons. This why the best coffee shops dump coffee out after about an hour and make fresh.
L.
Actually one wants fresh water for brewing coffee or tea, as the oxygen releases all that goodness. While fitered water is fine, water that has been sitting around in that carafe weather in the fridge or on the counter goes flat within a few hours. Pouring the water through a filter in that respect does make sense if one wished to use filtered water.
If one uses fresh ground beans, the type of water can produce a world of difference. Best indicator of "fresh" water and beans is a nice light tan "froth" (at least when I'm using my vaccum coffee makers), this means that there is lots of oxygen in there and one is going to have a great cup of java, all things being equal.
Coffee also goes "flat" if left sitting around after brewing for the same reasons. This why the best coffee shops dump coffee out after about an hour and make fresh.
L.
perc-o-prince
Well-known member
you can enter in time X at power Y, then time A at power B,
My old microwave (bought about 1984 at JC Penny) had that feature. It was great!
Chuck
My old microwave (bought about 1984 at JC Penny) had that feature. It was great!
Chuck
selectomatic
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My New microwave has that feature.
It's a Goldstar that my parents bought for me for christmas, 1985.
You can choose a timed Defrost cycle, then you can put in one or two timed cycles with your desired power levels.
I seldom use more than one time/power-level cycle at a time, though.
My older microwave is a Tappan from 1977 or so. It has a power level knob and a mechanical timer. Plus, it can Brown the Food.
I use both of them regularly, and I have no real need for any additional features. Well, it would be nice if the Tappan had a carousel, but I can turn the plate a few times, if needed.
-kevin
It's a Goldstar that my parents bought for me for christmas, 1985.
You can choose a timed Defrost cycle, then you can put in one or two timed cycles with your desired power levels.
I seldom use more than one time/power-level cycle at a time, though.
My older microwave is a Tappan from 1977 or so. It has a power level knob and a mechanical timer. Plus, it can Brown the Food.
I use both of them regularly, and I have no real need for any additional features. Well, it would be nice if the Tappan had a carousel, but I can turn the plate a few times, if needed.
-kevin
rocketwarrior
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Paint Sprayer
Emilio, my mother speckle painted an old piano with her Electrolux paint sprayer! It actually turned out well, all things considered. But she never used it again.
Emilio, my mother speckle painted an old piano with her Electrolux paint sprayer! It actually turned out well, all things considered. But she never used it again.
selectomatic
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The piano or the paint sprayer?
Panasonic's talking microwave / Kirby massager
In the 1980s I think - Panasonic had a talking microwave. Oh.. one could argue that blind people might have use for such a thing..
I think Kirby had a massager attachment. I heard some joke about Kirby vacuums where if you heard the vacuum running in the bedroom - they're probably not cleaning the carpet.
SHARP had a magnetic card reader in some 1980's microwaves. I think it was called "A LA CARD". You could preprogram your favorite recipes on magnetic-striped cards.
These "innovations" sound like the output of bored engineers.
In the 1980s I think - Panasonic had a talking microwave. Oh.. one could argue that blind people might have use for such a thing..
I think Kirby had a massager attachment. I heard some joke about Kirby vacuums where if you heard the vacuum running in the bedroom - they're probably not cleaning the carpet.
SHARP had a magnetic card reader in some 1980's microwaves. I think it was called "A LA CARD". You could preprogram your favorite recipes on magnetic-striped cards.
These "innovations" sound like the output of bored engineers.
toggleswitch
Well-known member
Are you realted to Hoover3060?
Actually we are all family.
It is generally safe, around here, to expect a sisterhood bond unless you know otherwise.
Actually we are all family.
It is generally safe, around here, to expect a sisterhood bond unless you know otherwise.
Filter Queen also had a messager attachment for their vacuums.I had seen blenders that recipes on their displays-Oster and Lectrix.Crazy-they have the same recipes in the instruction book.
red_october
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Vacuum massagers... and I suppose "messagers" too
I've never heard of a vacuum that could take messages? Did it answer the door, or just the phone?
Anyway, seriously; the massager that's with my Kirby, at least, is a large pad that fits the sander attachment and would be rotten for any sort of lewd purpose. I have heard tell of a specifiaclly /Swedish/ massage attachment, though, that fit the bill...
I've never heard of a vacuum that could take messages? Did it answer the door, or just the phone?
Anyway, seriously; the massager that's with my Kirby, at least, is a large pad that fits the sander attachment and would be rotten for any sort of lewd purpose. I have heard tell of a specifiaclly /Swedish/ massage attachment, though, that fit the bill...
toggleswitch
Well-known member
Most useless *appliance* addition
If a radio counts, then it would have to be a VEHICLE sound-system with a remote control.
If that does not count then how about Braille lettering on the DRIVE-THROUGH ATM (Automatic Teller Machine). The kind on the driver's side that is not useful to a passenger.
"Sanitize" options on dishwashers are pretty lame as well. One touch in putting the dishes away, and they are no longer sanitary. If one is that germ-phobic perhaps a UV light in cupboard/cabinets (with glass shelves) is in order. And vast amounts of counseling/therapy may be a nice addtion as well.
If a radio counts, then it would have to be a VEHICLE sound-system with a remote control.
If that does not count then how about Braille lettering on the DRIVE-THROUGH ATM (Automatic Teller Machine). The kind on the driver's side that is not useful to a passenger.
"Sanitize" options on dishwashers are pretty lame as well. One touch in putting the dishes away, and they are no longer sanitary. If one is that germ-phobic perhaps a UV light in cupboard/cabinets (with glass shelves) is in order. And vast amounts of counseling/therapy may be a nice addtion as well.
UV light in the cabinet
I can remember when barbers and hairdressers all had those glass-front cabinets with the UV lights in them and the big red cross emblem on the front. They were supposed to put their scissors and combs in them. I see them turn up now and then in antique stores. Now that I think about it, I wonder if the UV bulbs they used actually did any good.
I can remember when barbers and hairdressers all had those glass-front cabinets with the UV lights in them and the big red cross emblem on the front. They were supposed to put their scissors and combs in them. I see them turn up now and then in antique stores. Now that I think about it, I wonder if the UV bulbs they used actually did any good.
selectomatic
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UV Bulbs
I have a late-1960s Jet-Spray beverage dispenser (the kind that lemonade, etc. is marketed in and dispensed from in restaurants) in my bar. Below the nozzle is a drip-tray which is not connected to a drain, so any beverage which drips into it just sort of stays there.
Behind the front panel is an odd little lamp which has most of its light directed down into the drip-tray, but which also shines through a clear plastic window on the front of the machine. The window is marked, "Ultra Violet."
In normal use, there's usually some lemonade or orange juice in the drip tray, and in the corners where the light doesn't shine it turns brown and ugly, but where the light reaches it stays relatively unspoiled-looking.
I'm sure that this bulb hasn't been replaced in over 30 years, but it's clearly still doing what it was designed to do.
-kevin
I have a late-1960s Jet-Spray beverage dispenser (the kind that lemonade, etc. is marketed in and dispensed from in restaurants) in my bar. Below the nozzle is a drip-tray which is not connected to a drain, so any beverage which drips into it just sort of stays there.
Behind the front panel is an odd little lamp which has most of its light directed down into the drip-tray, but which also shines through a clear plastic window on the front of the machine. The window is marked, "Ultra Violet."
In normal use, there's usually some lemonade or orange juice in the drip tray, and in the corners where the light doesn't shine it turns brown and ugly, but where the light reaches it stays relatively unspoiled-looking.
I'm sure that this bulb hasn't been replaced in over 30 years, but it's clearly still doing what it was designed to do.
-kevin
toggleswitch
Well-known member
Mold is the fear-inducing buzzword of the decade......
UV lamps are also sold to kill germs in the air-stream of forced-air heating and cooling systems.
If the contractor had not politely refused to install one (takes too much time... I had a central cooling system put in FROM NOTHING existing [not even ducts or an air-handler] in one day), I would have had it installed in the air-stream just AFTER the cooling coils. My logic is that if anything grows on the coils, it will be dead before it hits my nose.
http://www.precisionairocala.com/honeywell/honeywell-airtreatment.htm
UV lamps are also sold to kill germs in the air-stream of forced-air heating and cooling systems.
If the contractor had not politely refused to install one (takes too much time... I had a central cooling system put in FROM NOTHING existing [not even ducts or an air-handler] in one day), I would have had it installed in the air-stream just AFTER the cooling coils. My logic is that if anything grows on the coils, it will be dead before it hits my nose.
http://www.precisionairocala.com/honeywell/honeywell-airtreatment.htm
There was a chain of cafeterias in the midwest that fancied themselves "buffets". They had big foofy funeral parlor drapes and huge chandeliers, and a waitress carried your tray to your table. As befitted a place so grand, they also had toilet seats with UV lights in them. If I recall correctly, they were on the underside of the seat, so that when you put the seat down, the surface of the bowl would be sanitized.
toggleswitch
Well-known member
How electrifying!
Shocking I tell you shocking!
That will fix any tan lines...........
Oh my! Electricity and water and bare butts don't always mix!
Shocking I tell you shocking!
That will fix any tan lines...........
Oh my! Electricity and water and bare butts don't always mix!
selectomatic
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UV Toilet Seat thingamajigs
The UV toilet seat lamps I recall were mounted in a metal box on the wall, above the toilet. The toilet seats were of the "U" shaped, spring-loaded variety which would flip up automatically when you stood up.
There was a switch somewhere that would automatically turn on the UV light when the seat would rise up into the "U" shaped opening on the front of the box.
-kevin
The UV toilet seat lamps I recall were mounted in a metal box on the wall, above the toilet. The toilet seats were of the "U" shaped, spring-loaded variety which would flip up automatically when you stood up.
There was a switch somewhere that would automatically turn on the UV light when the seat would rise up into the "U" shaped opening on the front of the box.
-kevin
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