"Universal" Coffee Maker

Description:

Art deco style vacuum coffee maker. Glass body (B & C), double-bulb-shaped. Lower pot (B) has out-turned handle, molded plastic, cream-colored, with thumb rest at top, attached with screws to metal gasket that encircles top lip of pitcher. Lower pot has out-turned lip and spout (opposite handle) at top, molded glass, three decorative silver bands around bottom of pitcher body, which has a detachable metal base (A), chrome-plated, circular, semi-sphere with flattened circular base, three triangular cream-colored feet. Base is streamlined. Two arched pieces of metal with molded plastic (cream-colored) handles on either side of base, architectural detail molded into plastic handles. Interior of half-sphere has white molded ceramic heating element with metal coils, attached to two-pronged plug on exterior. Metal, chrome-plated lid (D), circular, concave top, molded plastic knob, cream-colored, with ribbed flange edge to sit over lip of upper “brew pot” (C), which has same silver line decoration as lower pot (B). Upper pot has molded glass rod that is inserted into hole in center, bottom, marked: “CORNING ROD/U.S. PAT. 1927287/U.S. PAT. 1931076”, and is cracked at top. Upper pot is held on top of lower pot with white rubber gasket attached to long hollow glass pike at bottom, which is inserted into the lower pot. Bottom of base has attached circular metal plate, printed: “PATENTS PENDING/D-106778/PAT. NO. 2067470/UNIVERSAL/WATTS 550 VOLTS 110/120/ NO. 228/LANDERS,FRARY, & CLARK/NEW BRITAIN, CONN./U.S.A.”

May be missing a metal wire strainer, based on a marked patent (2067470).

Patents:

1927287, Sep 19, 1933, Raymond W Kell and Charles D Barth, for “Coffee maker”

1931076, Oct 17, 1933, Raymond W. Kell and Charles D. Barth, assignors to Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, for “Coffee maker”

D-106778, Nov 2, 1937, Oscar M. Anderson, assignor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Connecticut, for “Design for a coffee maker”

2067470, Jan 12, 1937, Oscar M. Anderson, assignor to Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Connecticut, for “Strainer for percolators”

Maker is Landers, Frary & Clark, New Britain, Connecticut (circa 1862). In the 1890s, took on the name “Universal”, in 1965 General Electric acquired the company.

Date Made: ca 1937

Maker: Landers, Frary & Clark

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United StatesUnited States: Connecticut, New Britain

Subject: Household Tools and EquipmentBeveragesCoffee DrinkingPatented

Subject:

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1988.0113.2Accession Number: 1988.0113Catalog Number: 1988.0113.2

Object Name: maker, coffee

Physical Description: metal (overall material)plastic (base material)Measurements: overall: 14 5/8 in x 9 1/4 in x 6 in; 37.1475 cm x 23.495 cm x 15.24 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746b2-6173-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_324293

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