The Antique Toaster that's Better than Yours

You can support this channel on Patreon! Link below
That title isn’t hyperbole or clickbait nonsense. This really is better than your toaster. At least, I think so. Seriously, can we make this the norm, please? If we figured it out in 1948, you’d think we woulda kept going with it. I mean, really.

Looking for the previous video?

How about the second channel video where we improve and fix these?

Want to read those patents that were on the screen? You’re in luck! They’re right here!
Here’s the patent for the toaster itself:
And here’s the patent for the thermostat:

Also, here’s a link to that fan-site I mentioned;

Do you want more of these videos to happen? Well then, you should know that you can support this channel on Patreon! Patrons of the channel have turned Technology Connections from sporadic hobby to… well, my job! And it’s super cool! If you’d like to join the fine folks you saw on-screen in pledging some support, please check out my Patreon page. Thanks for your consideration!

And thank you to the following Patrons!Yaniv, Tab Patterson, Francis Fisher, The War Academy, Conor Killeen, Paul Emmerich, Jason R Scheuren, Dave Anderson, Noah McCann, Eric Hansen, Dane Peterson, Steven First, Audin Malmin, Adam D. Ruppe, Rafał Wiosna, Matthew Giraitis, Kevin Landrigan, Harald E. Westlie, Carl Yazbek, Stephen Bell, Logan Kriete, Hunter Schwisow, Matt Falcon, Kieran Cox, Eric Wood, Paul Williams, Brent LaRowe, Lurker239, Felix Freiberger, James Ryan, Lukas Komischke, Steven Hidy, Robert Joscelyne, Jason Nevins, Jeffrey, BlancoGrande, Stephen Pick, Logan Beenken, Technicalleigh, John McLusky, Adam Coddington, Lolucoca, Steven Metcalf, Justin Talbot, Christopher Jett, Elijah Reeds, Mike Mason, Techmoan, Brendan Terrett, Kotanu, Christopher Luna, Paul Mills, Colton Aubrey Hooke, Brian G. Shacklett, Eduardo Kaftanski, Steve Stone, Chris Hartl, Gantradies, Andre N, Tony, Matthew Baron, Revenge, Andres Plaza, Charlie Hankin, Casey Kikendall, Sebi Jecklin, Warmo, The8TrackKid, Drew McClain, Michael Snowden, Ed Hall, Julian Rapoport, Christopher Bassett, Ryan Cozzubbo, Marcus Schwartz, Johan Schoeman, Matt Taylor, Patrick Musson, Lars JJ, Richard Lindsey, Kollin O'Dannel, PK, blouerat, Robert Toth, Joseph Hill, Marc Ethier, Giacomo Scaparrotti, Brady Brown, Stein Strindhaug, foophoof, Ernie Smith, Tim Juchcinski, Christopher Dickey, Denver Alexander, Jan Stavel, Mitchel J. Mullin II, Matthew Razza, Trix Farrar, Marco Anastasi, Pavlo Pravdiukov, Raymond LaRose, Howard Kraut, Mike Bailey, Yona, neko, Grayson Lang, Thomas Beaver, Jeffery Grajkowski, Christopher Splinter, Eric Merrill, Stefan Berndtsson, Michael Sims, Clint Eisinger, Christopher Leidich, Mike Friedman, André Waage Sørensen, Sam Douglas, Sam Redfern, mark barratt, Tully, Duncan Ward, fussel, Corey A Hudson, EpicLPer, Luc Ritchie, Michael Dragone, Eric Romero, Ryan Hardy, Taylor Martin, Nicholas, thefanification, Ewen McNeill, Shane Zamora, John Bailey, Alex Ilyin, Andrew "FastLizard4" Adams, Avi Drissman, Phil Taprogge, Rich Jeanes, Jonathan Skowronek, Tim Grov, Pieter van der Eems, Brian Condron, Reto Jost, Torin Zaugg, Vince Terranova, Andrew Montagne, David Scott, Mike Nichols, Brandon Enright, James Fialho, Christian Torelli, toasterking, Jason Brady, Norman Tatlock, ce keen, Nick Pollard, David Grossman, Manalope, Andy S, Robert, Johan Greefkes, Jacob Dixon, Rob Kefford, Eric Butterfield, Tim Skloss, Benjamin A., James-Ross Harrison, Nathaniel, Colin Cogle, Aaron Rennow, Yota Ninja, Bee Jay, Countzero, Kodapan, Eli Krumholz, Guillaume Tremblay-Beaumont, Sha Nasti, Charles Surett, Laria, Stephen B Hinton, thegeoffreak, f. scott b., Piotr Kowalski, Elliot Clark, Bob Slovick, Jason Burgett, Jib Systems, Andrew Rosenwinkel, Grazer, Tero Janhunen, Bob B, Mike Noe, Scott Rowland

[mariosshadow]

1960: We'll have flying cars in the future

2019: Look at this toaster from 1960 that does much more than yours!

[Komaru.]

I showed this video to my parents. My father is an engineer, my mother a teacher. They both very much enjoyed the content, and your style of presentation.
A month ago, on my birthday, I unwrapped a package from them. It was a gleaming, factory-condition Sunbeam Radiant toaster. Thank you for this moment.

[scottmanley]

My Sunbeam looks even older than this one, really enjoyed finding out how it works.
(Edit: I replaced the cord tonight and found out it was made in January 1951)

[dereksmith]

I was at a goodwill yesterday and one of these beauts was on the shelf for 5 dollars and somewhere in my mind i was transported to watching this video at 4 am in bed 3 years ago. I couldn't exactly remember why sunbeam toasters were elite but i bought it and came back for all the validation I could have asked for. I am now in the toast phase of my life and you are the reason why.

[FnordOok]

"Oh god, he has a third one" The somewhat self-deprecating humor there is just funny as hell.

[quncle]

It's been 2 years since I watched this video. I finally found this toaster at a thrift store today. Just wanted to say thanks for giving me higher standards for my basic appliances.

[MUSTASCHO]

One of the aspects about these old devices that I find so stupefyingly magical when I see them operate is that they didn't have microcontrollers and modern electronic sensors to rely on. They had to use some elegant, genius physical workarounds, often making use of physics I never even knew about or would have thought to utilise.

[wraithgar]

It finally happened. After 3 years of keeping my eyes open at local antique and secondhand stores I found one of these toasters. Breakfast has never been so exciting. Thank you so much for this entire channel.

[andreasbucher]

I work in engineering and the cleverness in this thing makes me feel inadequate.
Totally worth a patent.

[mxc]

Heh, my grandpa still uses one of those daily. He learned how to fix it and it's been going strong since 1961.

[jumpanama]

As a mechanical engineer that HATES modern toasters... thank you for this. I've been looking for a good toaster for years.

[LPMutagen]

I saw this video when it first came out, rushed out to eBay to get my toaster only to find that they were like $75 so I decided to wait. Upon waiting they went up to $300. Finally, after waiting for 3 years, working ones are now around $150 and broken ones are around $50 to $75. I bought a broken one and it arrived today. It took a little while to figure out what all was wrong with it but all it amounted to was a screw that had fallen out and part of the darkness adjuster had gone missing so I had to make a new one. Now I've got it all tuned up and working and I couldn't be happier! Finally... I've gotten my closure on this toaster.

[paulgracey]

If you do not know why the Sunbeam Co. stopped making these in 1997 you do not know about "Chainsaw Al", noted as one of the worst CEO's of all time. Al Dunlap who died just this year, made his reputation through massive layoffs supposedly for cost cutting reasons, everywhere he went. The scheme was repeated in other companies, by other CEO's including the one in charge where I worked a whole career: the Hughes Aircraft Co. Al was worse, though, as his accounting frauds also contributed to his ability to generate impressive short term profits. Look him up.
Now to Sunbeam. They had a great reputation and like such companies they had a loyal, but aging workforce ripe for the picking. Al and the others of his ilk specialized in mining corporate reputations, and in the sunbeam case "modernizing" the product line as cheaply as possible.
That toaster needed an experienced worker to calibrate the sensitive switch, and of course the engineer/manager who oversaw the many mechanical (analogue) pieces that had to remain in tolerance to perform as the ones you have still did. They were probably among the first to be offered a packaged early retirement. The rest of the workers just had to find something else in a job market that had already been decimated by the recession of '93. In my case I survived several layoffs to eventually take my retirement after the part of Hughes I worked at had been sold for half again more than GM had paid for the whole company 5 years prior. I like to say that that deal reflected the Reagan era "Voodoo economics" made famous by George Bush Sr. way back when he ran for president in 1980 before he was invited to join Reagan on the ticket. GM had complained when they bought Hughes that the main capital of the company "Went down the elevators and out the front door every day at 4 PM." Then the first thing they did was start layoffs. Much of that "capitol" was among the first to skeedaddle, leaving behind a lesser grade of engineer, myself included due to cupidity about how the world works. Selling large amounts of the workplace buildings or leasing them to other companies followed on. Those of us remaining had to double up in our offices. Unpaid overtime became a necessity to fulfill contracts.
That toaster illustrates that we once had great engineering talent, and intellectual property to hold ourselves above the ordinary, much of it now in the hands of Chinese manufacturing, while we languish in a "bean counters" paradise.

[xnooknooknook]

You made me giggle so hard when I heard "Oh God he has a third one." I love this channel.

[PR-fkyb]

Thank you sir you just solved a 50 years old mystery for me... when I was young I was watching it every morning and could not comprehend how the mechanism worked and what made it come up and down. Now that I do understand I truly am flabergasted. Incredible feat of engineering.

[creative_angst]

My husband found this toaster for $5 at goodwill this weekend and went through a bag of bread calibrating it, and ultimately it's everything you advertise and more. It's the best Valentines day gift ever.

[poryqons]

the kinda faint _"oh god he has a THIRD one"_ instantly made me love this

[romelanthonysbismonte]

I appreciate the fact that you went through the trouble of animating the patent picture to give a clear picture of how the mechanism works. This is top quality content; thank you for providing it.

[SirRebonack]

A jump scare free toaster?! Take my money!!

[Jezee]

OMG!! I just watched a video on a $400 toaster with a touch screen and wifi and this Sunbeam toaster puts it to absolute shame! The amount of engineering and cleverness in this design so long ago is amazing. It seems to be a trend before I.C's and micro transistors that everything was overcome using pure physics and analog not electronic signals and I think this shows how things that tech can give us now can be done using clever engineering and more materials.