This is a story of “they don’t make them like they used to.” Meet my trusty old Sunbeam frypan that arrived in my household in 1968. That makes it 58 years old! It has never left my kitchen in 58 years and has cooked up many chilis, stroganoffs, pancakes, and even cakes. When I taught high school in the 1970s, somewhere in the senior grades we studied small appliances with an emphasis on assessing need, versatility, and quality design. This “multi-cooker frypan” fit the bill exactly! The instruction booklet claims “the large cooking area and high-dome cover present an entirely new concept in baking casserole dishes, cakes in layer, loaf or form cake pans, quick breads, pies, custards and desserts. You will be able to cook much greater quantities of fried chicken and chops; even roast large, rolled roasts…and other meats. All these extras as well as the convenience of a Frypan – the greatest versatility ever offered in a single cooking appliance” (p. 6). In our home economics school kitchens, we used to test how a cake baked in this frypan would turn out. It always passed the test! Cakes were delicious.
My Sunbeam frypan has remained in use since 1968 (although now partially retired) because it has continued exceptional performance. The Sunbeam Corporation Annual Report of 1961 notes that the multi-cooker frypan was new that year (p. 3) in the United States. Photos of the frypan in advertisements often show that it was square and made of aluminum. However, the design must have evolved because mine, purchased in Canada in 1968 is round and made of shiny stainless steel. The base is heavy and must have copper or aluminum in it because heat distribution across the base is uniform and even. The bottom of the pan is smooth and without any special added finishes it is practically a non-stick surface. Consequently, I always use the pan for cooking pancakes. Over the years, the cord has become very twisted and a few years ago I was concerned that it might spark or ignite and so I had a young electrician who was doing other work for me look at it and tell me if the cord could be replaced. He took the probe apart and declared that the time it would take to replace it would cost more than I would want to pay, assured me the cord will continue to function, and added electrical tape to a few bends that looked like they might be vulnerable. The pan continues to work very well.
Pondering the life of this trusty appliance, I wondered whatever happened to Sunbeam? And so, I looked further. The Sunbeam brand dates to 1897 in Chicago when it began making sheep shearing clippers under the company name Chicago Flexible Shaft. In 1910 it released its first Sunbeam electric iron and began producing appliances for home use. In 1930, it introduced the Mixmaster stand mixer that quickly became the most popular small appliance in the US. In 1946, it officially became Sunbeam Corporation and over the 1950s and 1960s it grew to become the largest small appliance manufacturer in the world. The full corporate story is told in a Youtube video that is well worth watching. The video states: “This is what Sunbeam built in the 1940s and 1950s, not gadgets, not disposable conveniences but objects of mechanical precision and industrial beauty designed by immigrant engineers and fabricated by American hands….” The Company underwent several corporate mergers, buyouts, and increased global competition in the 1980s and 1990s, finally falling victim to a massive accounting fraud that led to bankruptcy in 2001.
The popularity of Sunbeam appliances in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s mirrored that of the US. The popular Mixmaster stand mixer came into my family home in the early 1960s and was the only mixer my mother ever had to buy. A 1967 advertisement from the Daily British Colonist (December 6, p. 21) shows the range of Sunbeam small appliances popular in British Columbia at the time.
Excellent performance and design to last, with attention to what consumers really want enabled Sunbeam to achieve its past glory. Now other values and fascination with what technology can do instead of what we want it to do, today drives small and large appliance manufacture.
Currently Sunbeam Corporation Canada operates under the umbrella of Newell Brands offering a range of appliances in four categories: kitchen, bedding, home comfort, and health and wellness. Online items in the kitchen category include toasters, popcorn makers, skillets & griddles, rice cooker, bread maker, coffeemakers and kettles, blenders, mixers, grinders, and an ice cream maker. Manufactured outside of the US or Canada however, the quality is definitely “not what it used to be”….sadly.
