What modern appliances are based on old designs?

[fan-of-fans]

Can you think of any appliances on today's market that are based on old tried and true design?

The Black and Decker Classic iron looks like the GE from the 1950s-1980s except unfortunately made in China. It's the only GE small appliance still made.

I believe the Hamilton Beach roaster oven is based on the Westinghouse design, so the older parts will fit. I'm sure quality isn't the same though.

Unfortunately I don't know of any large appliances that are the same or based on an older one.

Can anyone think of more?

 

[thespiritof76]

I had that blasted B&D Classic Iron...

I got it when I moved out on my own in 2009, and it ended up directly in my trashcan in 2011! I guess that is a fair life expectancy for an appliance of that quality. But I hated it!!! I mostly use my irons for sewing, pressing seams and such. For that, you pretty much have to leave your iron on for long periods of time, that stupid thing had a 5 minute timer, to where if the iron wasn't moved for 5 minutes, then it would shut off. I get that is a safety feature, but you couldn't disable the feature, and then after taking 5mins to pin something, stitch and whatever, then to go press. Only to find you have to sit there and wait for your iron to heat back up!=(...Very vexing! Then after its few short years, it sometimes wouldn't heat up at all..I was so done! I threw it away, and found a good old, late 50s GE Steam/dry Iron..I couldn't be happier!....

I hope this gives a little insight on those made to look like appliances...

 

[superocd]

Sanitaire commercial vacuums - While the Eureka F&G upright hasn't been produced for a few years, it still lives on as the Sanitaire heavy duty commercial upright.

KitchenAid stand mixers - still has the same basic design as the old Hobart-made machines.

Whirlpool top-filter dryer - Has been in production since the mid-late 60s, with minor changes.

Trane/American Standard heat pumps and cool only condensers - the spine-fin "garland" condenser coil and Climatuff (heavy duty piston) compressors are carryovers from GE when it had a residential HVAC division before being acquired by Trane in the late 70s, though they have applied the Climatuff trademark to their scroll compressor-equipped units (for two stage and BOL) for some time as well. The real Climatuff units look like reddish orange Dutch ovens and those were the compressors that were derived from the original GE Climatuff. The scroll units are, well, the typical slim and tallish Copeland units, just painted the orangish red for marketing purposes.

Kirby vacuums - They currently make the Avalir 2, but the head unit is the same since the Generation 3 which debuted in 1990.

Royal metal uprights - It's the same basic design since at least the 1950s, with the only differences being in motor types, nozzle design and the height adjustment mechanism.

GE/Hotpoint BOL dishwasher - Overall, it seems like it is based on the old Potscrubber design, though I'm not certain on the pump and motor as I'm sure those apparatus were heavily modified to meet DOE and water efficiency requirements.

 

[thespiritof76]

As far as the 3 vacuum cleaner companies you mentioned....

They may look like they are good quality, but even still they have been cheapened. Eureka actually still makes one F&G upright the model 1934B, it is listed as their "Light weight" upright. Metal Royals are no longer even made unfortunately, that ended a few years back. Really that leaves Kirby, and the G3 didn't come around until 1993. But none of those are really in the business to "look retro", just how it is.

Also, the main thing about the new Kitchen Aids are, that the main gear that drives the mechanism is nylon. It use to be made out of metal. They are still good mixers, but I have heard stories of them not lasting near as long in some cases because of that fact.

 

[fan-of-fans]

According to the Kirby site the G3 was made from 1990-1993.

The Eureka 1934B was discontinued in 2017 unfortunately. I have one and while it is plastic it's still nicer to use than a lot of bulky bagless plastic uprights.

On mixers, Sunbeam still makes Mixmasters, and they still have the rubber button on the beater that spins the bowl. But like anything these days they're made in China and not even close to the old ones. Also they did away with the round and square beaters and now they're both rounded. So they still fit the edge of the bowl but don't mix like the older ones did.

On the dishwashers, I think the BOL Whirlpools are still designed similar to their older ones too. Not certain though.

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www.vacuumland.org

 

[fan-of-fans]

Oh, and I agree those B&D Classic irons are poor quality. I've seen a few come in to Goodwill and the cord cover at the back is loose and the chrome on the base has rusted. Whenver I see a true vintage GE Steam and Dry come in, they're always in good shape, whether they have the cloth cord or blue plastic cord.

 

[superocd]

Come to think of it...

I have a B&D Classic iron and have had it for about seven years (it was definitely my first iron). I think that it is built pretty well and works great, though I only use it occasionally as 99% of the time my clothes are fine as-is out of the dryer and most of the apparel of my wife and I really don't require ironing.

And as far as the Eureka/Sanitaire F&G uprights being a victim of cost cutting is concerned, I experienced that firsthand with the base of my 2016 Sanitaire SC886. It had a vertical hairline crack along the side of it. It didn't harm anything, but it was still disheartening to say the least as there are tons of older USA-made Sanitaires in active use that have been through hell and back ten times over and a lot of them probably don't have cracks in the base. Fortunately every single part on these vacs are widely available & cheap so I just swapped the motor, handle, hood, etc. over to a new base. It was really frustrating because it is in a household with just two adults (my wife and I) and it certainly doesn't get thrashed around (it doesn't even have wear marks on the rubber bumper for crying out loud). I was shooting for a keeping this for a lifetime without having to replace nothing more than belts, brush strips and the occasional fan since I've always thought of these as the next best thing to a Kirby as far as longevity goes. Nevertheless, I still like Sanitaire vacs. To me, Dysons and other mass market vacs seem like they'd break very easily and while most mainstream.vacs perform decently, they cannot match the Vibragroomer brushroll and the strong suction power, close to the source.

 

[tolivac]

Sanitaire was sold from Electrolux to Bissel recently-will have to see what Bissel does to Sanitaire.Yes,the US made Saniatires were the best quality.Sadly these machines get beat to hell in commercial use-they get a nice life when used by home users.I thought the royal metal uprights were still made but as the familiar orange cord and bag commercial models.They are narrowing the model line down to fewer versions.Like to see them go back to the 7A motor models-worked just as well as the 10A models and MUCH quieter.

 

[launderess]

Ironite design for ironers

Has been copied/ripped off by more than a few.

First Pfaff, but now Reliable and others (including Singer IIRC) have versions:

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www.performancesewing.com

 

[askolover]

"Metal Royals no longer made..."

Royal still has them on their website, mostly commercial versions but there's one listed as residential (unless they have not updated their own site which is possible...still new ones found online and Amazon).  I think I read somewhere they are now made in China/Taiwan since they are now owned by TTI but who knows?

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www.royalvacuums.com

 

[tolivac]

Current metal Royal vacuums are now "assembled" in the US from foreign and domestic made parts.Would love to see the metal "Prince" and "Pony" type metal canisters make a comeback!Both are GREAT vacuums.Prince is GREAT if you have a lot of upholstered furniture.Can be better than an attachment.

 

[tomturbomatic]

When Whirlpool was designing the Calypso washer with the flapulating basket bottom, they had to do patent negotiations with the holder of the AVCO/Bendix/Philco patent for the "Nutation" mechanism which is what made the flapper agitation system work in those machines via U joints. I realize that it is no longer a modern design, but it was yanked through the decades for the Calypso.