SCM Proctor Silex Percolator

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pumper

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Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
315
Location
SE Wisconsin
I found this neat percolator at Salvation Army for $6. The basket did not have a perforated lid. It brews fine, but should there be a lid on this model?

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WOW!....how cool is that.....I have the same one.....

there should be a top on that basket, but will still work fine without it....I find using a papertowel as a better filter, you can flip the corners over the post as well, makes for less of a mess when its time to empty it...

I have several models, am partial to the ones that light
 
Yowzer!

That's a "find".  Like Yogitunes said, you can also get disposable basket filters, designed to go on the bottom of the basket to prevent grounds from slipping thru, but you can use them on top as well. 
 
Filters & Lid

I just cut a hole in the middle of my regular filters and put in the basket. I'm currently going through almost 7K listings on eBay and so far, none of the identical percs has a pic with a basket lid so I'm thinking maybe it didn't have one.
 
I bought a similar model on ebay months ago and thought the basket lid was missing. I did a lot of research...trust me, they were designed to operate without the common spreader lid so therefore they don't exist. The top on yours gives it a very cool look.

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I have both a non-lighted black version with a plastic basket and slightly newer lighted "lifelong" version in white (with round light lenses) with the stainless basket and neither have a lid for their baskets. Both of mine show that they are made in Canada but otherwise identical to the US models. 

When the coffee is ready, one of the lights in the lighted version turns off so only the left part of the selector dial remains lighted. On models with a small push-button on their knobs, the coffee basked is designed to be held with to the cover once the cover is clipped on it so you can remove it with the cover. When you push on the button, it releases the coffee basket. 

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Memories!

Seeing these Proctor-Silex perks brings back some great memories of one our family used at our country home in the Eastern Townships when I was a brat.   I had actually bought the perk at a yard sale for $2 in spring of 1978 for the house we had just bought.  It had avocado green base and I remember the former owner explaining to me that there was no upper lid for the coffee grounds basket and to use the disc-style coffee filters.  The perk did not light up, but it worked wonderfully and I thought it made a great cup of coffee.  The only flaw was that when perking, it sounded like the house was being shelled!!  
 
I have a Mary Proctor percolator from 1975 that has a plastic basket with a lid/spreader.  I wonder what the difference could be.
 
We had 2 or 3 of the lighted units , one still survives in my stash.  They never had a lid on the basket, the top of the pot served as a spreader over the basket. 

 

I always liked the glow of the light under the coffee, always seemed welcoming.
 
Umm, hate to pee in your coffee, but it's said that percolation poisoned the American coffee palate. I know it's entertaining, used it myself. There was that whole Maxwell House ad campaign featuring the noise set to orchestration. Boinka-boinka-boink-boink... aboinka-boink-boink. Might have been the first music video.

But really, how did Mr Coffee take over the whole market--without the noise and the video--if it didn't taste better?

Nevermind me. I quit drinking the stuff altogether roundabout the first of the year. After decades of dependence/habituation/ritual. Not because I'm any kind of sprouthead and it wasn't good for me. I just didn't want to be bothered making water brown and bitter anymore.
 
Mr. Coffee, and the Rest....

There is a little-known factor that explains why new coffee brands and new coffee-making equipment often garner raves.

It is this: Once your tastebuds become familiar with a given brew - no matter what bean or brand or equipment was involved in its making - they become overly familiar with it, "bored," if you will.

Which means that any new brew will wake them back up again, at least for a short time, until the tastebuds become familiar with the new one. By that time, many an impressionable coffee customer has plunked down money for the latest coffeemaker or stratospherically-priced coffee beans that have been through a civet cat's bum.

Mr. Coffee was not an exceptional coffee maker by any means - it was just that the change in method produced a new brew with which peoples' taste buds were not familiar. That and having Joltin' Joe DiMaggio in the commercials moved a lot of merchandise.

Full disclosure: Perc user here - one who has been through every fancy drip coffeemaker, grinder, grind 'n brew machine, and fancy coffee bean known to Man.
 
<span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Never was a fan of Joe DiMaggio or Mr. Coffee.  Prefer Danny Thomas and Norelco Dial-A-Brew instead.  My wife and I each have our own because she likes flavored coffee, and I don't.  We also have 2 more stashed away in case one dies.  Numerous electric and stovetop percolators too for some variety.</span>
 

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