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roto204

roto204

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I was following Rich's thread with interest, when a rare opportunity presented itself the last time Ralph, David and I were out thrifting.  

 

For all you Norge Timeline aficionados with your Westinghouse timeline dishwashers, wondering what possibly could complete your collection, I present...the Norelco Electronic Rapid Range!

 

(Sorry for the crappy pics--my camera is apparently misbehaving.)

roto204++6-28-2011-23-19-7.jpg
 
Electronic!

Seeing "electronic" on an oven is like seeing "automatic" on a washer or dishwasher.  You know it's got to be good :-)

 

Curiously, this oven--at 650W--cooks faster than our 1200W Magic Chef with turntable.  And this has no turntable, only glass à la Radarange.  It does have a hellacious stirrer mechanism on the ceiling of the oven, the only part that's not stainless steel (plastic cover).  I'm guessing that's responsible for the very fast, very even cooking.  

 

We do not miss the old (new) oven.

 

However, this one weighs about 70-75 lbs, and I can only barely lift it myself to move it.  Holy schnikies!

roto204++6-28-2011-23-21-21.jpg
 
Dial-a-Meal

You'd think this feature sucks and is limiting, but it actually rocks.  Not only is it a timeline control (hooray!), but each flip of the Dial-A-Meal dial rotates a new set of recommendations for time (and category) into the window. 

 

You'd think this was just a cooking guide, but it's NOT.  It modifies the power level and defrost/not defrost settings automatically with each flip of the dial.

 

It's like a Westinghouse L-1000, for your nukables!  :-D

 

Whenever you flip the timeline needle to anything but "Off," the fan comes on, which scared us at first.  But cooking (and commencement of the timer countdown) doesn't happen until you actually depress the "Cook" button.

 

Excuse the stand-in timer knob.  The original was missing, and I've got parts on order to fashion a suitable (and less obvious) long-term replacement.

roto204++6-28-2011-23-24-9.jpg
 
Think Light!

Oh, I was hoping this was going to be a post-worthy item!  And let's give credit where it's due:  David called you over to take a look at it.  I think you've got yourself a convert.  Nice work!  Shhhhhh!  Don't tell him I said so!

 

Perhaps Norelco was on a "Dial-a-" thon at some point in the 70's and this Rapid Range is of similar vintage to the "Dial-a-Brew" automatic drip coffee makers.   The "Dial-a-Meal" selector is dope!

 

It sure cleaned up nicely, not that it needed much, and is really a handsome machine.  I'm glad it's a good performer.  What a bargain!

 

What did you end up finding to use as a timer knob?

 

Got anything else up your sleeve that does have a turntable???  Heh, heh.

 
 
Very cool! Love the dial-a-meal power control, I remember these ovens. Does it say on the tag who made it? Where? There were tons of these used in quik-marts and convenience stores all through the 70's, most just had the dial and start button. I should do some comparisons with my 3 year old Panasonic 1300 watt Inverter in the kitchen and the RR-10x in the garage. I'll bet you're correct about the stirrer, I think it makes a difference in the Amana.
 
Nate it sure looks like the Sharp units,  even western auto peddled them in the 1970's.  Or maybe Sharp was relabeling Norelco's.  All the retailers were so eager to offer one.  The orange and yellow on the logo's  makes it look mid to late 1970-s.  I bet it does the job.  Nice Find.
 
 

My guess is it's sourced from Panasonic.  The dealer where I worked back in the day who sold Panasonic, they had a house in town next to the store, and had a Panasonic microwave with the same "dial-a-meal" timer rotator, although I don't think it was called that.
 
Huh.

Like the stainless interior.

And the Dial-a-Meal feature is a nice example of low tech information technology.

Too bad it doesn't have punch cards, too :-)

According to one of the sites I visited, a 1,000 watt microwave only delivers about 600 watts of cooking power (as measured by heating a measured quantity of water). Perhaps your microwave was rated at cooking power, rather than total power?
 
Greg, Sears did sell the oven you are thinking of it had an orange and yellow "time line" that ran vertically over the door  open button just as you posted.  IIRC the orange was the seconds and of course it ran faster in this section, the yellow was minutes.  Early mid 70's and of course this whole timer arrangement would light up when it was "on".   This particular oven was in a restaurant, an afterschool job and it probably came from a Sears outlet "damage dented, or refurbished".  I thought at the time how nice it was to be used so roughly in a commercial setting.  The timeline arrangement was striking in comparison to a commercial litton with 5 pushbutton choices. arthur
 
Interesting

It's 600W, not 650, btw.  And although distributed by Phillips North America, the sticker leaves us with a mysterious "Made in Japan."

 

Panasonic, then, maybe?

 

Interesting that the model is RR-4040.  Very Radarangish designation, but the RR's weren't made in Japan, right?
 
Well,  I was squinting without my glasses in a very dimly lit room when I read what I thought was 650 watts on the label.  Meh, what's a lousy 50 watts anyway?

 

I've always wondered about the variation in the increment gaps between minute markers on some timers.  On this Rapid Range, it's nearly the same distance between minute one and minute two as it is between minute ten and minute 20, yet the markers for five through ten minutes are closer together than any others.  What's the mechanical explanation for this?
 
My JC Penny-branded 600W GE is a Toshiba inside. It's also just short of 30 years old and boils water within 15 seconds of when it was new. TOL at the time, with temp probe and speedcode electronic control.

The 1985 GE Spacemaker that came with the apartment is 1.3kW, much smaller, not much faster, essentially same controls. Made in Korea, probably a Samsung, but it still works too.

This old stuff was bulletproof.
 

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