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vintage1963

vintage1963

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Hi everyone,
I have been looking at some really nice old-style percolators on eBay. These models do not stop perking and need to be switched off when the desired strength is achieved. Does anyone on here have experience with this type of percolator? For instance, how does one know when to switch the unit off? It makes sense that it would depend on how much coffee is being made, let's say 2 cups as opposed to 10 cups, or anywhere in between. One thing I have thought of doing is to brew a pot of coffee in one of the automatic units I have and see how long that takes and adjust the time as necessary.

Thoughts?
 
Use a candy therometer or something similar to check the temperature of the brew (of the non automatic) and stop the time to see how long it takes to get to about 180 °F for the desired amount of water.
I could imagine this test would also work without the innards to make things easier.

If uncertain about the perfect temperature to strength ratio, you could also measure at first how hot your favorite automatic perc becomes at your favorite strength setting.
Only stopping the time of an automatic won`t get you anywhere unless the Wattage of both percs is identical.
Or get one with an instruction booklet included ;-)[this post was last edited: 11/1/2018-06:15]
 
The older women

Just guessed at it, like all the cooking was done years ago, they just knew when it was ready,its like baking in a wood stove, you just get a feel for it.
 
I have a few (and the oldest will turn 100 next year!) and I do use them at least occaisionally. I always followed what the old cookbooks suggested for perked coffee - 6 to 8 minutes. I set a timer to remind me (if I remember to set the timer...LOL). OR, just pour off a small amount of coffee into a cup to check the colour and taste.
 
Those coffee makers without brew adjustments were nothing different than making perked coffee on a range, stove or any other heat source. Only thing different is you plugged the thing in and perhaps hit an on button.

Usually perked coffee is left brewing for about five to ten (six to eight most common) minutes after perking begins and heat is lowered to prevent "boiling" the brew. For stronger coffee one adds more coffee (or uses less water), but timing remains pretty much the same.

Housewives and others charged with brewing coffee soon learned what worked for them based upon the pot and coffee used.

These electric percolators would have come with instructions telling how long to let things go; so Madame or whoever wasn't left totally in dark.
 
As I recall, my parents judged the strength of the brew by looking at it as it was spurting through the little glass knob in the lid. Though experience was probably also a large part of it.

Every time someone came over for dinner, there had to be two pots of coffee made: one regular and one Sanka. Funny, Sanka doesn’t seem to have been made for years.
 
Just as one suspected

Another eBay seller without a clue as to what they've got.

That coffeepot is from the 1930's or maybe pre WWII. The garland trim along with other design features give that away. Further evidence is the directions regarding replacement of fuse on bottom base plate.

Just as with early electric laundry irons, mangles, waffle irons, and so many other appliances this coffee pot lacks internal thermostat. Again as stated, housewives merely substituted electricity for heating (instead of gas, coal, heating on a range, etc..), but still had to use their skill, experience and knowledge as to when something was at proper temperature or whatever for purpose.

https://percolatorcoffee.org/farberware-percolators/
 
Should also like to add one could purchase those detachable coffee, waffle iron or whatever heating appliance cord with a built in off and on switch.

Instead of having to constantly plug and unplug an iron without a thermostat, one used the switch to turn power off when thing reached wanted temp, and back on to heat up again.

For coffee pots and other such things rather than having to go to outlet and unplug, or having to struggle and pull the plug out from appliance (which often would have *very* hot metal surfaces), you just turned it off via switch.
 
Didn`t non automatic percs of that time frame come with clear instructions as to how long in minutes for a certain amount of cups until you had to pull the plug to prevent coffee from boiling ?
I could swear I`ve seen one with the original instructions on Ebay some time ago.
 
My 2 Cents

I have to put my 2 cents here on this subject, my sister gave me a pot that you had to time to make coffee. Well it was slow as s**t. Didn't know why but I checked the wattage of the unit and it was only 400 watts, and really really really slow in getting the job done. I ended up pulling the plug on this unit as it couldn't make a pot of coffee in 20 minutes of time. I was hoping for the best and was routing for the coffee pot to do its job, but it let me down in a big way. Yes you will have to time it, but also check the wattage of the pot, the higher the wattage, the quicker it will make a pot.

Doug
 
My 2 Cents

Hi Doug!
The wattage on the percolator that I am looking at is rated at 550. Not too bad, I guess. I'm still undecided on it but it's because I have some percolators I need to sell. I need to post some pictures in Shoppers Square and see if anyone is interested.
 
What makes you think a Farberware Coffee Robot did not have an automatic brewing cycle? There is a thermostat in the bottom of the pot. The water is heated in the well where the pump goes, about a spoonful at a time. By the time the water has been circulated enough, the water in the pot reaches the shut off temperature and the wattage drops to keep the coffee warm. CU tested automatic electric coffee makers in 1939 and when they tested them again after WWII, they remarked at how well the Sunbeam Coffeemaster C20 was still performing.

When you said that it was the kind that did not shut off, I thought you were talking about one of those dime store specials where the little 2 or 4 cup pot sat on a little open coil heater and it was all manual.
 
One indicator of the quality is apparent from the handle design. Do you see how it is shaped to prevent knuckles from coming in contact with the hot metal of the pot? They were very well designed and constructed coffee makers.

You want to see a picture of the plating inside the pot before buying any chrome over copper coffeemaker.
 
Never said the Coffee Robot wasn't automatic

Or perhaps didn't mention.

That being said while certainly the Coffee Robot was one of the first automatic coffee makers (at least if one is reading Farberware's PR correctly), it wasn't a percolator. Instead the Coffee Robot used the vacuum pot method of making coffee which was popular in 1930's.

http://www.oldcoffeeroasters.com/robots.htm

Am no expert but believe reason it took so long for anyone to come up with an automatic perk pot was in getting thermostats sensitive enough to raise water temperature to proper level for brewing, then switch to lower power to keep coffee warm.

In the Coffee Robot as with all other vac pots once water reaches a certain temperature it will nearly all flow to upper chamber. The resulting lower pot will now become hotter because there is very little water left. At that point the thermostat can trip to turn off or lower heat. As lower pot then cools coffee will flow back under vacuum pressure.

Perk brewing means water never leaves the pot, but is recirculated. Thus some means must be found to stop brewing action after a certain point and switch heat to low or off entirely.

As with automatic dishwashing machines, idea and early inventor of automatic vacuum coffee brewing was a woman; Inez H. Pierce of Chicago, Illinois. S.W. Farberware merely improved upon her patents to create the Coffee Robot.

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/coftrip.html#vacc

OTOH here you have a 1953 patent from Westinghouse for an automatic perk pot.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2798143A/en

In 1954 GE patented a method to control brew strength.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2950375A/en

[this post was last edited: 11/2/2018-19:31]
 

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