Westinghouse Stirring Ranges

[mixguy]

I remember seeing a Westinghouse advertisement back in the early 1960 using pyrex pots and some kind of magnetic stirrer. Any one ever come across anything like that? sounds like a great idea for cooking that required constant stirring like puddings.

 

[58limited]

I've never seen a stove like that, but I bet it is similar to the automatic stirrers we used in hospital laboratories when I was a lab tech in the army. The ones we had were small, but it was a hot or cold surface with a motor underneath. the motor had a magnet attached and turned about 120 revolutions a minute. You set your sample in a glass beaker on the surface and dropped a magnet encased in plastic into the solution - the magnet looked like a big tylenol caplet. It would begin to turn with the motor and stir the contents.

 

[danemodsandy]

Yeah, That Was Pretty Much It

The Westy stirrer, IIRC, was a sort of ice-cream freezer dasher kind of contraption that you set in the pot; a magnetic arm under the burner activated it.

MAN, that was a long time ago! I don't recall exactly what it looked like, it's been so far back.

 

[jamiel]

I've got the Consumer Reports in 1967 when it was tested...they said it did work but was messy and not really practical.

 

[toggleswitch]

~they said it did work but was messy and not really practical.

Like my first relationship.

OOOOH I remember those lab stir-ers! My father was a laoratory designer, in his arechtectural specializaiotn.
There are washers and dryers of lab glaas-ware that leaves stuff perfectly clean and sterile for use under microscope. but that is quite another thread.

Does anyone have a pic of this stir-er?

 

[mixguy]

So it was tested by Consumer Reports. About at practical as a cook & stir blender.

 

[dalangdon]

My sister had a dollhouse with functioning lights and a mechanism underneath it that you could use to move the doll family around via magnets (The had magnets in their feet). Wouldn't it be cool if you could hook one of those auto-stirrer up to that? LOL

 

[bongobro]

The only range that stirs your food for you...

I remember seeing commercials for this range about 1966 or '67, which would put it in the time frame of the Consumer Reports article jamiel and Toggleswitch referred to...

It was also the first Westy range with the "No-Turn Speed Broil" feature, and while the stirrer was discontinued, the Speed Broil feature has appeared on all TOL Westinghouse and White-Westinghouse ranges ever since...

I saw a magazine ad with Pearl Bailey circa 1983, purportedly taken in her home, raving about how there were "only two good cooks allowed in her kitchen"--the her White-Westy range and, of course, Pearl Bailey herself...

As our drum enthusiasts may remember, Pearl Bailey was the wife of big band drummer Louie Bellson...

 

[tomturbomatic]

John has one of the ranges, but the cables that turn the works inside the round disc where the medalion would be have all rusted very badly. I remember being shown the feature by my friend the HomEc teacher when the new stoves arrived in 1967, I think. The stirer came in two sizes for large and small pans. The top of the stirer was like a bail handle on a bucket in shape and gauge and the bottom was the same rod-shaped piece of metal that rode just a bit above the flat base of the pan except where it was raised to go over the disc in the middle that drove it. When we put it in water, it turned quite fast, but did not splash water out of the skillet. I guess it would turn slower in something thicker. It was only available on the TOL 30" and 40" ranges.

 

[peterh770]

I was wondering if these ranges would ever become a topic...

When we moved to Rome, NY in 1968, the house we moved into had one of these Westinghouse ranges. The stirrers were almost wire-like, a thin steel rod in a pentagon shape. The magnet at the bottom center of the thing, the rods coming out of each side, making a 90 degree bend straight up, then a 30 degree bend to a heat-resistant plastic connector at the top point. There were two sizes, a large one and a small one. Seems to me 2 burners had the stirring mechanism in it. They turned kinda clunkly, like 180 degrees, then a shift and another 180 degrees. They only turned in one direction, were really poor at keeping things from sticking or burning along the bottom of the pot.

 

[mixguy]

Not really effective stirring?

I take it this feature did not work well in making puddings and stirred custards, sauces, etc. I used a magnetic stirrer hotplate in high school in making darkroom solutions. I never imagined them to be effective with any mixture having much viscosity. The strength of the magnetic field would have to be great. I could be wrong, but don't magnets get weaker when heated. The motor used had to have strength and some type of speed regulation. I do recall the looking as described like a pail handle and being kinda spiraled. In the ad the appeared to be used in just boiling water in pyrex pots which were long ago discontinued and Visions by Cornning discontinued as well. I am sureprised this R&D idea got out to public. However we have not given up on the idea of having an automatic stirrer. I haven seen then in one form or another thru the years. The most recent one had three spring loaded arms that telescoped to fit the saucepan. It also had various sized "stirring blades" to fit the pot as well as constant and intermittent stir settings.

 

[maytagbear]

Yes, I remember that one, too,

and Cooks Illustrated said that it was (my paraphrase,) a good idea that did not live up to its promise.

A plug, in general, for Cooks Illustrated. They are ad-free, like CR. They are NOT affiliated with Consumers Union/Consumer Reports, but Cooks Illustrated/Boston Common Press seems to have taken over the niche of food and equipment testing that CR used to do. I have several concerns. When CR used to do food projects, they made an effort to test brands that were not just from their immediate area. Cooks Illustrated does not seem to make such an effort.

My other concern is the equipment testing. Cooks Illustrated seems to like more expensive equipment. Their 2006 test of stand mixers gave high marks to a 1000 +/- Hobart machine, and so on.

This being said, I do like Cooks Illustrated a great deal.

Whenever I have to make something requiring constant stirring, I either make it in the microwave in a big Pyrex measure, or I slip some music in my cd player, and stand facing the stove.

I like to make sauces, puddings, and the like in the microwave... they almost always need less stirring.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mixguy]

Microwave sauce/pudding cooking

I sometime use the microwave in cooking small quantities. I am pleased with the results, just have to make sure you mixture is well stirred be for cooking begins and stir ever 30 seconds to promote even cooking. Less stirring needed because food cooks faster with the energy coming from all directions, before much settling occurs. Learning to make a chocolate brown roux in the microwave, however, takes some mastering.