Not your typical vintage mixer!

[turquoisedude]

Like many of you out there, I am a fan of vintage mixers. That is how this whole appliance collecting thing started for me, I swear!
I know that when most people think vintage mixers, the Big Names are the first you think of (KitchenAid, Sunbeam, Hamilton Beach, and to a lesser extent, Dormeyer). Thought I'd share one of my 'oddball' mixers with you and challenge the collectors to help me find out more about it!
Yes, I definitely have too much time on my hands... LOL

 

[tlee618]

Paul, I can't make out the name on the machine. The way the beaters are in the machine one would almost think it was a GE much like the old GE triple whips!!

 

[mixfinder]

Knapp Monarch Speed Mixer

I like the cool way the fan vents through the square holes around the dial. The dial is a bit slick with wet hands but letting some food goo dry on gives you purchase. The plastic beater retainer which also acts as the ejecter can grow lazy in it's old age and let the beaters drop. This move is famous for widening out the beater sprockets making one of the beaters stop turning. Oh my, did I say loud? I am anxious for you to mix something real and give me your assessment.

 

[turquoisedude]

Well spotted, mixfinder!!

It is indeed a KM Speed Mix! I was curious to know when these were in production (I do have an old ad with Jane Russell using one dated 1951) and I have an old home decoration book from the late 40's where this mixer appears on a few countertops.
As for use, oh my, this mixer is loud indeed! The beater ejector on this one is bit loose, but I managed to get the Chirstmas cake batter made with it!

 

[turquoisedude]

Speed regulator

Was this a governor-controlled motor? I really like the script on the speed selector dial! I think there was a later model with just numbers from 1-10.

 

[petek]

Great mixer, I've not seen that one before. The bowl does look like a GE triplewhip bowl

 

[jetcone]

Ohhh SWEET

I love the speedlines, it must whip faster than a Sunbeam!

 

[mixfinder]

No Governor

It places speed by rotating the brushes against different locatations on the commutator, much like a Dormeyer. It isn't wildly powerful and you need to increase the speed setting as load on the motor increases.

 

[circlew]

Nice rocket shaped mixer!

When I was little my mom had a Knapp-Monarch mixer she had bought sometime in the late 1940's, but it wasn't a cool shape like yours. I remember the bowl being the same as pictured, but hers didn't have the speed control on the back, similar to Sunbeam. One day she was making Toll-House cookies and it overheated, with smoke coming out of it. I remember she had me take it out to the garbage can, and she got a Sunbeam model 7 that my dad's aunt Hazel was no longer using.

 

[aldspinboy]

Nice mixer Paul !

Darren k.

 

[turquoisedude]

Check this one out!

Here's a brand you don't immediately associate with food mixers - Westinghouse! This is a mid-50's version, with turquoise accents, natch... Trivia on the Westy Mixer - an earlier model (with the speed dial on the side) was prominently positioned on the Ricardo's New York apartment, right on the counter next to their Westinghouse refrigerator.

 

[petek]

Nice Westy mixer

Here it is again hiding as a Kenmore with the wrong bowl.

 

[turquoisedude]

Nice Kenmore!!

OOOH! Those are neat mixers, especially one in yellow!! The bowls are definitely unique - not quite an HB and not quite a Dormeyer, but similar to both... I will take a look in my beater box when I get down to Ogden on the weekend in case I have a spare beater for this model!

 

[appliguy]

Actually Turqouisedude......

The mixer you speak of on the Ricardos kitchen counter was the model you put in the picutre....the FM 511 Food Crafter which went into roduction in 1951. In an early episode you actually see Lucy Ricardo using it to juice oranges for Ricky's breakfast while she is talking with her neighbor Mrs. Lewis. The model you speak of is the FM 81 (of which I have one) and that was made form 1946 to 1950...PAT COFFEY

 

[mixfinder]

Food Crafter

The Food Crafter is a very good, powerful and dependable mixer. The bowl is tich too wide and it requires a bit of scaping. The Kenmore was made in Chicago by the Birtman company. It share the location of the speed dial, but little else mechanically. I just bought a pink Kenmre from ebay and am hoping it gets here by the weekedn for the "Beat and Eat" in Seattle

 

[petek]

Tks.. I was thinking my Kenmore was a Westy. I have the other beater but it needs soldering.

 

[turquoisedude]

FM 511 Food Crafter

Wow, Pat, I just assumed the older model was the one used in the I Love Lucy episodes! I have a couple of FM81 and FM80's too and I never thought they were that old. Thank you for the info!!
PS - If anyone ever needs Westy Mixer bowls, I have several sets in white and clear... Beaters for them too!