Posted on 09/22/2021 7:23:01 AM PDT by mylife
No Midwestern cookout is complete without a delicious chili or dip simmering in a Crock-Pot. But when the device was first unveiled by a Kansas City company in 1971, it promised something more: freedom.
Before the Crock-Pot was a household name, it was called the Naxon Beanery — and offered a more specific, bean-centric purpose.
Patented by prolific inventor Irving Naxon, the Beanery was originally intended for a Jewish stew of meat and beans called cholent, which is slowly cooked on Fridays in preparation for the Sabbath.
090121_crockpot_patent_MM.png U.S. Patent 2,187,888 The bean cooker that eventually became the Crock-Pot was first patented by prolific inventor Irving Naxon in 1940. A nifty creation, for sure, but the "bean pot" never caught on with the masses — so in 1970, Naxon sold his device to Rival Manufacturing. The Kansas City company was already famous for kitchen gadgets like the Juice-O-Mat juicer and the Knife-O-Mat sharpener.
Purchasing the slow cooker was actually an afterthought for Rival.
"No one paid any attention to it," Rival president Isidore Miller told the Kansas City Times in 1981. "We almost forgot about it."
As the story goes, Miller handed the Beanery over to Rival's test kitchen, where an employee named Marilyn Neill had an immediate an epiphany: This can cook way more than just beans.
“From that point on, I believe they gave those home economists in the test kitchen a lot more attention than they ever did before,” says Roxanne Wyss, a former Rival home economist.
The newly-renamed Crock-Pot made its official debut in 1971 at the National Housewares Show in Chicago, sharply dressed up in colors like avocado and harvest gold. Print ads and television commercials flaunted the Crock-Pot as a miraculous, time-saving device, assuring women in no uncertain terms: You can have it all.
(Excerpt) Read more at kcur.org ...
BTTT!!!
I still use a Ronson electric knife I gave Mom for Christmas 1966!
Although the hinge is broken and now heavily taped, I still store it in its original case. Cord, though a little stiff, has yet to crack.
I bought a new 2 piece crock-pot at a yard sale traveling thru Ohio 16 yrs ago and it’s still going strong.
Actual crock pots were used generations before the electric product was introduced
My Mom used a pressure cooker with this round thingy on top that spun around and rattled....used to scare me that it was going to explode!
My wife made croc just last night!
Had to replace mine a couple of years ago. Plastic handles on lid and cooker turned brittle and crumbled.
Often put together a pot roast or stew (beef or venison) while coffee is brewing in AM. Quick, easy and the house smells good all day.
My wife uses one of those constantly. Now We have to learn to use the Instapot.
add a dash of dry sherry.
Crock-Pot Meals.....are another name for Sunday Afternoon Dinner..........
You in Australia?
Will give it a try.
it makes a world of delicious difference
I use the plastic bag liners for them so they don’t need cleaning
I had one of those in Cinnamon red.......along with Copper colored frig and stove..... when raising my kids. Those were certainly the days of joy and goodness in this country.
Mine are developing. Getting harder to get the wife to fetch me food.
Our Instant Pot (IP) sent the old crock pot into basement storage. The IP is so much faster and versatile that I doubt the crock pot will ever be used again by us.
LOL - for sure!!
I loved home EC. Being the only guy in class had it’s advantages.
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