Westinghouse RO-81 find!

[kenmore71]

This Westinghouse RO-81 roaster literally found ME today. I stopped over at a friend's parent's house because I knew they were having a garage sale that had many things from my friend's recently deceased grandmother's house. (Did you follow that?...it's not really that important)

I get out of the car and I immediately spot this sitting in the driveway. I knew that it had to come home with me. The sticker on it said "make offer." I threw out the figure $10 and they bit! I think part of it was seeing it go to someone that they knew and that would actually USE it.

After a bit of later research I learned that this model was produced from 1942-1948 with an interruption in production during the war years (mid 1942 to mid 1945). That would explain the largely "Art-Deco" design which is much more reminiscent of the mid to late 1930s. My guess is that this could have easily been either a wedding present or something that was aquired early on in "setting up housekeeping."

Here it is:

 

[kenmore71]

Art-Deco inspired design.

 

[kenmore71]

Complete with racks, cord and BOOK!

 

[kenmore71]

Very handy "lid-holder". They thought of nearly everything!

 

[kenmore71]

More art-deco inspiration in the lid.

 

[kenmore71]

And, just in case the booklet isn't handy, there is a convenient pull-out guide that also doubles as a shelf!

 

[kenmore71]

And, of course, you ALL want to see it lit up.

 

[arbilab]

I grew up eating Thanksgiving dinner out of exactly that model, including the console/cabinet. Thanks for the photo tour.

 

[launderess]

Plug It In And Watch Your Electric Meter Go Round

Those vintage roasters are lovely but apparently electric was cheap then or people simply didn't care! *LOL*

Had one but moved it on awhile ago. Still kept the recipe book though. Mines smaller than the one pictured and thinner as well.

Nice find. Isn't it grand when things go your way?

L.

 

[arbilab]

At 1320W, these are under the consumption we were discussing on the adjacent 120V dryer thread. A range or wall oven is 3kW by comparison, more than twice with comparable duty cycle. You're not channeling Algore, are you Laundress?

 

[rp2813]

Wow, that is a great find and a real steal.  My mom had a later counter-top model with the big red-nosed temp control/indicator light.  I had it for a long time but almost never used it and then when the indicator light stopped working even though the bulb was good, I decided I could part with it.

 

Am I correct in presuming the indicator lights on your RO-81 correspond to a low, medium or hot oven?  And the temp control's back lighting -- is that by default?  It strikes me as unnecessary.

 

I've never seen such an early model.  Thanks for posting!

 

[kenmore71]

As near as I can tell there is just one indicator light. It is connected in parallel with the heating element and appears to be mounted behind the lowest of the three plastic panels. I think the three panels were more a matter of styling than funtionality.

The "red nosed" roasters were the successor to this model.

Here's a link to an interesting site where I learned more than I ever thought I would about these roasters.

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/indroa.html

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations on your find.

A the time these roasters were introduced, they were a relatively inexpensive way to have a thermostatically controlled oven. Many gas apartment ranges did not have oven thermostats and some small apartments came without ovens so these appliances filled a need. From the looks of the manual, it was consulted a great deal so the RO was probably used frequently at one time.

 

[launderess]

@Arilab

Ya fool! *LOL*

Was referring to the fact many early roasters were rather skimpy in the insulation department. So while they may not draw *that* much current they will need to pull it more often to maintain the desired temp as heat disspates out from the unit.

 

[arbilab]

Completely agree on the skimpy insulation. The ROs were not to be touched while operating. I also misstated the duty cycle. Modern electrics are on 25% and off 75%, the RO was likely closer to 50/50.

But even if the element NEVER turned off, a 2hr roast would only take 1340 x 2 = 2.7kWh, x $0.15 = 41 cents. Assuming 50/50 duty cycle, still 41 cents for a 4 hour roast. Not exactly el breako the banko. At the price of retail firewood, a woodstove would cost more doing the same thing.

 

[kenmore71]

Today's dinner brought you by Westinghouse!!!

 

[kevin313]

Mark - what fun! And you are using just how Westinghouse intended - cook an entire meal at one time. From time to time, you will see Westinghouse glass baking dishes in the thrift shops and garage sales. The lid, which has a elevated glass handle, has a "W" on the underside of the handle. Pyrex or some other company made these just for Westinghouse.

Enjoy your "new" roaster! I know many people use these for turkeys, etc., but they are also great when you need to make large quantities of things - baked beans, speghetti sauce, chili, etc.

 

[xraytech]

Congrats on the fantastic Westinghouse find, I know you will come to love using it, just as I have.

 

I own several Westinghouse Roasters I've currently got 1 RO-81, 1 RO-91, and 3 RO-541's.

 

And to answer your question Kevin, the Glass casseroles that went with the Roasters were specifically made for them by the Hall China Co.

 

[bwoods]

wow

Nice find, Mark!

Appliances were so much more exciting back then. High quality, built like a Mack truck. And they were built by our own people, in the U.S., not Communist China.

Hope you enjoy it.

Amazing how these appliances can still work so well after all these years!